The Megyn Kelly Show - Penn State Cocaine Ring Busted, Disney Sues Trump's FCC, Clancy Trial Day 15： AM Update 8⧸19

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00:00:30.000 good morning everyone i'm mark alperin host of next up with mark alperin filling in today

00:00:37.020 for megan kelly it's wednesday august 19th 2026 and this is your am update large amounts of cocaine

00:00:44.280 kilos were brought from philadelphia and new york where they were cut and packaged for sale

00:00:49.900 primarily to penn state students 14 people charged an alleged cocaine trafficking ring

00:00:55.500 tied to two Penn State fraternities, Disney taking the Trump administration to court,

00:01:00.560 accusing the FCC of illegally targeting ABC over its programming, the defense continuing to build

00:01:06.620 its case that Lindsey Clancy was severely mentally ill at the time of her children's death as

00:01:12.260 prosecutors challenged, which she reported to doctors before the killings. I'd still love to

00:01:18.160 know who your pollster is. And that's when they told me it was a social experiment. And a mysterious

00:01:22.580 company admitting its polling numbers were completely made up as questions swirl over

00:01:27.820 what the fake operation was really trying to do. All that and more coming up on your AM Update.

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00:02:29.220 14 people now facing charges in Pennsylvania accused of taking part in a sprawling cocaine

00:02:35.060 trafficking operation allegedly run through two Penn State fraternities. 13 of the defendants

00:02:41.020 were Penn State students at or around the time of the alleged crimes in 2023 and 2024. The 14th

00:02:47.940 is the father of one of the accused students, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday,

00:02:53.280 detailing what investigators say they uncovered. What we learned during this investigation was

00:02:58.780 that between 2023 and 2024, large amounts of cocaine kilos were brought from Philadelphia

00:03:05.900 and New York to State College, where they were cut and packaged for sale primarily to Penn State

00:03:12.020 students. The two main dealers were senior members of the Delta Upsilon and Sigma Chi fraternities.

00:03:21.240 Agostino Abatiello was at the very top of the chain. Thomas Robinson was a rung below that on

00:03:28.460 the ladder. The evidence showed that cocaine was primarily packaged at the fraternity houses

00:03:34.120 and that packaging was done by fraternity brothers and oftentimes pledges. In fact,

00:03:40.920 we found a pattern of events that showed cutting and bagging cocaine was for some pledges an

00:03:48.540 indoctrination into the Delta Upsilon and Sigma Chi fraternities. At least four of the defendants

00:03:55.520 are still Penn State students. AG Sunday also describing the alleged sales is largely taking

00:04:01.160 place within the students' social circles between friends, fraternity brothers, and acquaintances,

00:04:06.600 including at fraternity houses and social events asked whether the alleged use of pledges could

00:04:13.180 eventually result in hazing charges sunday declining to answer citing an ongoing investigation

00:04:18.540 the defendants now facing charges ranging from misdemeanors to serious felonies

00:04:24.120 ag sunday announcing the breakdown agostino abatiello thomas robinson and two others

00:04:30.380 Mohammed Harabi and Lars Zipfat are charged with felony corrupt organizations because this was a

00:04:38.040 coordinated and organized cocaine trafficking operation with regular trips to those source

00:04:43.800 cities and large amounts of cocaine being brought back to these fraternities. They are also charged

00:04:50.420 with conspiracy, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity, and related offenses. A fifth person,

00:04:57.640 Robert Zinola is charged with felony conspiracy and criminal use of communication facility

00:05:04.600 and related misdemeanors. These are the five primary dealers. The eight other student-age

00:05:11.540 defendants in this case have been charged with misdemeanor counts of drug possession and

00:05:16.600 paraphernalia. The only non-student charge is Thomas Robinson's father, Paul Robinson,

00:05:22.300 who we allege took steps to conceal evidence including a safe containing drugs in cash

00:05:28.740 and obstruct this investigation several of the defendants appearing before a center county judge

00:05:34.720 monday where they were released on unsecured bail ranging from 250 000 to 1.5 million dollars

00:05:42.220 according to the center daily times one notable exception alleged ringleader agostino abatiello

00:05:48.880 reportedly dubbed Pablo Pledgecabar the 24 year old failing to appear for a scheduled arraignment

00:05:54.920 Monday before surrendering to authorities yesterday morning Abitiello then denied bail

00:06:00.180 and taken to the center county prison the grand jury alleging he continued distributing cocaine

00:06:05.540 among friends as recently as February of this year well after the broader operation described

00:06:12.160 by prosecutors according to court records cited by the center daily times when Abitiello later

00:06:17.820 learned law enforcement was talking to people about drug dealing at penn state he allegedly

00:06:22.940 begged them not to disclose his involvement abattiello now due back in court for a preliminary

00:06:28.540 hearing on september 2nd it is unclear when the other defendants will be back in front of a judge

00:06:34.380 penn state reacting to the charges by placing delta epsilon on interim suspension while the

00:06:40.060 university conducts its own investigation sigma chi meanwhile is not recognized by penn state

00:06:45.580 and operates outside the university's oversight.

00:06:49.120 Penn State releasing a statement reading in part,

00:06:51.120 We are horrified by the serious allegations against current and former students.

00:06:58.060 Disney and ABC taking the Trump administration to court asking a federal judge

00:07:02.380 to stop the FCC from moving forward with an unusually early review of the broadcast licenses

00:07:08.160 for eight Disney-owned ABC stations.

00:07:11.220 The lawsuit filed yesterday in federal court in Washington accusing the FCC

00:07:15.180 of violating the company's First Amendment rights,

00:07:18.440 alleging the agency is using its regulatory authority

00:07:21.200 to punish ABC over programming the administration does not like.

00:07:25.840 Disney asking for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction

00:07:29.260 blocking the license proceedings while the case plays out the dispute

00:07:33.480 involving eight local stations owned directly by Disney

00:07:37.120 whose broadcast licenses fall under FCC authority

00:07:40.440 because the stations use the public airwaves.

00:07:43.240 Their regular license renewals are not scheduled until 2028, with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr ordering the accelerated review this spring.

00:07:52.540 Reuters reporting the agency had not ordered an early review like this in more than 50 years.

00:07:57.980 The legal showdown coming after nearly two years of escalating battles between ABC, President Trump, and his administration.

00:08:04.900 in december 2024 abc agreeing to pay 15 million dollars towards president trump's future

00:08:11.240 presidential foundation and museum to settle his defamation lawsuit against the network

00:08:15.720 that case stemming from george stefanopoulos claiming on air that president trump had been

00:08:20.360 found civilly liable for rape when the jury verdict found him liable for sexual abuse in

00:08:26.380 march 2025 chairman carr opening an investigation into disney's dei practices questioning whether

00:08:32.740 the company had engaged in illegal discrimination through race and gender-based employment policies.

00:08:38.680 The tensions escalating again that September after Jimmy Kimmel responded to the murder of

00:08:43.660 Charlie Kirk with this assessment. We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang

00:08:49.520 desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one

00:08:54.700 of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it. The remarks triggering

00:09:00.180 widespread backlash with chairman carr warning during an interview with conservative podcaster

00:09:04.520 benny johnson that local broadcasters carrying abc could face scrutiny from the fcc abc pulling

00:09:11.880 jimmy kimmel live from the air on september 17 before bringing the show back six days later

00:09:17.360 the fcc turning its attention to another abc program early this year the agency issuing new

00:09:23.620 guidance in january warning that programs driven by partisan purposes may not qualify for an

00:09:29.360 exemption from federal equal time rules for political candidates then in february the fcc

00:09:35.360 opening investigation whether the view should continue receiving that exemption after the

00:09:40.260 program interviewed democratic senate candidate from texas james tallarico the question becoming

00:09:45.920 whether abc's daytime panel show qualifies as a bona fide news interview program or whether

00:09:52.260 appearances by candidates trigger requirements to provide equal opportunities to their opponents

00:09:57.680 Kimmel, meanwhile, landing in another controversy in April after delivering this joke about First Lady Melania Trump during a mock White House Correspondents' Dinner roast.

00:10:07.800 Of course, our First Lady Melania is here. Look at Melania. So beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow. 0.98

00:10:16.160 Two nights later, an armed man attempting to breach the actual White House Correspondents' Dinner while President Trump, the First Lady, and other senior administration officials were inside.

00:10:24.820 Commissioner Carr then ordering the accelerated review of those eight ABC station licenses.

00:10:30.960 Carr maintaining the timing was tied to the FCC's ongoing investigation into Disney's DEI policies rather than Kimmel's programming.

00:10:39.260 The fight over the view continuing into the summer.

00:10:42.260 Commissioner Carr posting a montage from the program to X on July 30th after Disney argued the show qualifies for the news exemption.

00:10:50.200 car riding quote disney claims that its decisions are based on quote newsworthiness rather than

00:10:56.440 partisan purposes and thus exempt from political equal time rules then adding quote here's some

00:11:03.080 of the show as long as republicans are in power in the majority there will never be accountability

00:11:08.440 there will never be checks and balances there will never be oversight white women republicans 0.52

00:11:14.540 i just read a poll that the suburbans are now voting republican that is like roaches voting

00:11:21.480 for raid you're not voting for republicans you're voting for a cult if people still follow this 0.97

00:11:27.120 fascist pig then i don't know what else to say they are the epstein file protect the protection 0.94

00:11:32.700 party the democratic great candidate democratic party we need to win abc reportedly telling the 0.96

00:11:39.020 fcc that the investigation has already affected its booking decisions with the network becoming

00:11:43.920 more cautious about inviting political candidates onto The View. Disney CEO Josh DeMauro telling CNBC

00:11:52.560 last week the company is standing by what he called ABC's, quote, journalistic integrity,

00:11:57.700 adding, quote, we're not going to be told how to run that side of our business. The FCC responding

00:12:03.320 in a statement to Reuters that broadcasters have a legal obligation to operate in the public

00:12:07.860 interest, adding, quote, Disney is obviously very concerned about the FCC's proceedings.

00:12:13.660 The FCC will follow the facts and law wherever they lead.

00:12:19.100 Coming up, day 15 of the Lindsay Clancy murder trial, with the defense continuing its case

00:12:24.160 that she was not criminally responsible for killing her three children and a mysterious

00:12:28.740 company claiming it fabricated political polls in Los Angeles and Wisconsin after its bogus

00:12:34.220 numbers began making headlines.

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00:14:20.380 the lindsey clancy murder trial entering its 15th day in massachusetts with the defense

00:14:28.420 continuing its case that clancy was not criminally responsible when she killed her three young

00:14:33.560 children in january 2023 clancy pleading not guilty to three counts of first degree murder

00:14:39.520 with her attorneys arguing severe mental illness including alleged postpartum psychosis that left

00:14:46.000 her unable to understand the wrongfulness of her actions. Prosecutors contending Clancy understood

00:14:51.440 what she was doing and acted intentionally with the Commonwealth required to prove criminal

00:14:56.320 responsibility beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense beginning Tuesday with testimony from

00:15:01.560 Clancy's former mother-in-law, Susan Clancy, a registered nurse who spent nearly four decades

00:15:07.080 working in labor and delivery. Susan describing Clancy as a loving and nurturing mother and

00:15:12.520 telling jurors the family became increasingly concerned as clancy struggled with anxiety

00:15:17.020 sadness and insomnia in the months after their youngest child's birth susan testifying she

00:15:23.200 helped connect clancy with psychiatric nurse practitioner julie paul describing clancy as

00:15:28.020 quote begging for help prosecutor shannon buckingham challenging parts of that account on cross

00:15:34.100 examination pointing to statements clancy reportedly made to a therapist suggesting she was not

00:15:39.560 particularly close with their in-laws and generally did not have them watch the children.

00:15:44.820 Buckingham then attempting this line of questioning. In fact, the defendant, she told you that it was

00:15:51.860 great and that she was glad she went to church that day on Christmas Day. Yes, she did. Now,

00:15:56.460 are you an active member in the Catholic Church? Yes. So you're aware that murder is considered a

00:16:04.780 mortal sin. Counsel, can I see you over here? Judge William Sullivan stopping the questioning

00:16:10.120 before Susan could answer, later instructing jurors to disregard Buckingham's questions

00:16:14.740 entirely. The defense next calling, clinical and parental psychiatrist, Dr. Donald Condi,

00:16:20.720 who has never met or evaluated Clancy, but reviewed records from several of the providers

00:16:25.340 who treated her before the killings. Judge Sullivan allowing Condi to testify over a

00:16:31.080 prosecution objection dr condy criticizing some of those treatment records as sparse telling jurors

00:16:36.840 they contain numerous check boxes but relatively little written detail about what occurred during

00:16:41.880 clancy's appointments defense attorney kevin reddington highlighting a november 2022 record

00:16:47.380 in which clancy reportedly described feeling disassociated and quote not in touch with reality

00:16:52.920 dr condy testifying that disassociation can be associated with psychosis and can leave a person

00:16:59.380 feeling as though the world around them is not real dr condy also questioning why providers did

00:17:05.140 not order blood work that he said could have helped evaluate possible medical or hormonal

00:17:10.100 contributors to clancy's symptoms reddington then turning to another diagnosis that appears

00:17:15.940 in clancy's medical records some people with bipolar disorder especially given the fact that

00:17:22.180 Depression is a prominent symptom in bipolar disorder, becomes suicidal, and can even commit suicide.

00:17:31.260 So that's a very serious possibility that has to be considered.

00:17:34.800 Did any of the nurse practitioners consider that as a possible diagnosis?

00:17:41.180 The records indicate that Ms. Clancy was frequently asked if she had a plan to kill herself,

00:17:47.640 even after she reported having what was called passive suicidal ideation.

00:17:53.820 But it was reported very, very frequently in the records.

00:17:57.840 Dr. Conde also pointing to what he characterizes as an unusually intense exercise regimen,

00:18:03.420 including Cancey reportedly running a road race on the day she gave birth to her youngest child.

00:18:08.440 The doctor testifying that if Clancy had been suffering from bipolar disorder,

00:18:12.960 treatment with SSRI antidepressants could potentially worsen manic symptoms

00:18:17.520 without an accompanying mood stabilizer. Prosecutors emphasizing the limits of Condi's

00:18:22.720 conclusions on cross-examination, establishing that he never interviewed Clancy and was drawing

00:18:27.600 his opinions from her medical records. Buckingham also pressing Condi on the fact that those records

00:18:32.940 do not show Clancy reporting that she was hearing voices until after the killings.

00:18:38.240 Later Tuesday, clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Paul Zeisel taking the stand. Dr. Zeisel is

00:18:43.560 a psychologist who met with Clancy while she was hospitalized after the killings. Dr. Zizel

00:18:49.540 discussing psychological testing designed in part to detect whether a patient is exaggerating,

00:18:55.000 minimizing, or fabricating symptoms, testifying that Clancy's results showed, quote, she was not

00:19:00.880 faking. The doctor accounted a phone call he allowed Clancy to make to her husband, Patrick,

00:19:05.620 while she was hospitalized after the killings. Zizel testifying, Clancy told Patrick during that

00:19:10.680 call that she had heard a male voice directing her to kill the children and herself. The

00:19:16.200 psychologist also denied that he had suggested the idea of hearing a voice to Clancy before

00:19:21.040 she made that claim. Trial set to resume later today.

00:19:26.620 A mysterious company claiming it fabricated a poll of the Los Angeles mayor's race after the

00:19:31.800 bogus numbers were promoted by Mayor Karen Bass and picked up by at least one news outlet.

00:19:37.000 according to the los angeles times a company calling itself median strategies claimed last

00:19:42.360 week that bass was leading los angeles city council member nitya raman by nearly 12 points

00:19:47.960 ahead of the november 3rd mayoral runoff median claim the result came from a survey of 560 los

00:19:54.680 angeles voters conducted between july 30th and august 5th with a 4.1 margin of error none of it

00:20:01.480 was real after repeated questions from la times city hall reporter noah goldberg median reportedly

00:20:07.000 admitting monday that had not actually conducted the poll the company instead telling the la times

00:20:12.200 it had been created as a quote short-term social experiment designed to test how supposed polling

00:20:18.040 data could spread through political media without being independently verified median refusing to

00:20:24.520 identify the people behind the operation and declining interview requests the fake poll

00:20:29.720 including one particularly eye-catching finding involving reality television star spencer pratt

00:20:35.240 who finished behind bass and ramen in the june mayoral primary median claimed 16 of its supposed

00:20:42.240 respondents had voted for pratt and that roughly 85 of those voters now planned to support bass

00:20:48.160 the company portraying those voters is gravitating toward bass as the more moderate choice over ramen

00:20:53.400 who is aligned with the democratic socialists of america that finally becoming the basis of a

00:20:59.140 california post story suggesting pratt voters could become the deciding factor in the runoff 0.94

00:21:04.320 bass herself then promoting the fake results from her campaign account writing quote doing the work

00:21:10.140 showing up and gaining momentum let's do this la that post has since been deleted goldberg beginning

00:21:17.300 to look more closely at median finding it only began posting on social media august 9th and had

00:21:22.420 20 followers in his first post the company promising to fix what it called polling's quote

00:21:27.940 credibility problem by taking no money from campaigns or political parties media and then

00:21:33.120 releasing a poll in wisconsin showing democratic socialist francesca hung leading the gubernatorial 0.99

00:21:38.820 race by more than 20 points hung narrowly lost the race days later meeting acknowledging it had

00:21:44.160 gotten wisconsin or unquote by quite a margin before releasing its los angeles poll the very

00:21:49.360 next day goldberg telling cnn on monday what happened when he tried to figure out exactly

00:21:54.680 who was doing this polling. So I reached out to them first on Friday to see what was going on. I

00:22:00.240 asked who their lead pollster was because they didn't have anyone referenced on their website.

00:22:05.360 I asked who their lead pollster was and if I could get on the phone with that person.

00:22:08.740 They didn't respond. I reached out again on Friday. And then on Monday, I said, hey,

00:22:12.220 checking back in. That's when they said that they were discontinuing their polling operation.

00:22:16.760 That's what they told me first. And I said, OK, that's fine. You can discontinue your polling

00:22:20.420 operation. But I would still love to see the crosstabs of your poll. And I'd still love to

00:22:24.400 know who your pollster is and that's when they told me it was a social experiment bass's campaign

00:22:29.220 responding after the poll was exposed telling the la times quote this poll was reported on by a news

00:22:34.900 outlet the campaign adding that any bad faith attempt to influence an election should be

00:22:39.420 investigated and prosecuted exactly who created media and strategies or whether its stated

00:22:45.380 explanation was the real purpose remains unclear goldberg telling cnn there is now speculation

00:22:51.120 online, that the operation may instead have been designed to manipulate political prediction

00:22:55.740 markets, though he stressed that theory has not been established. Here is more of him on CNN.

00:23:02.000 Well, an interesting thing is also happening now, which is the prediction markets when it comes to

00:23:07.540 politics. And by putting out a fake poll, you could potentially change the prediction markets

00:23:12.520 and make or lose a lot of money, too. Yeah. So I think one of the theories that is circulating

00:23:17.800 online is that maybe this wasn't a social experiment and really the goal was to affect

00:23:24.120 the prediction market. So if you put out a poll that says Karen Bass is ahead, that's going to

00:23:29.620 make the prediction market go in Karen Bass's favor. And then if you were to bet on Council

00:23:35.280 Member Rahman, you would get better odds and a better payout. So that's one of the theories

00:23:39.200 that's circulating. I haven't heard back from Median Strategies since I last spoke with them,

00:23:43.680 but I do want to know more.

00:23:47.800 That'll do it for your AM update. I'm Mark Halperin, host of Next Up. Find more at nextuphalperin.com

00:23:53.380 and catch the Megyn Kelly show today live on SiriusXM's The Megyn Kelly Channel,

00:23:58.280 111 at noon east on youtube.com slash Megyn Kelly and all podcast platforms.

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The Megyn Kelly Show - August 19, 2026

Penn State Cocaine Ring Busted, Disney Sues Trump's FCC, Clancy Trial Day 15： AM Update 8⧸19

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