Rachel Morin's Killer Convicted, Trump Moves to Defund PBS and NPR, Biden Returns： AM Update 4⧸16
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Summary
My daughter suffered so terribly in a very brutal and violent way. Rachel Morin s suspected killer convicted on all charges. Harvard refuses to comply with the Trump administration s task force combating campus anti-Semitism. And Joe Biden makes his first public speech since leaving the White House.
Transcript
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Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Wednesday, April 16th, 2025. And this
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is your AM update. My daughter suffered so terribly in a very brutal and violent way.
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And these type of immigrants should not be in our country.
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Marilyn mother of five, Rachel Morin's suspected killer, convicted on all charges. Harvard
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refuses to comply with the Trump administration's task force combating campus anti-Semitism.
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And Social Security is more than a government program. It's a sacred promise. We made it a
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sacred promise. And Joe Biden makes his first public speech since leaving the White House.
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All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM update.
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24-year-old illegal immigrant Victor Martinez Hernandez accused of raping and murdering
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Marilyn mother of five, Rachel Morin, convicted on all four charges. After less than an hour of
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deliberation, the jury finding Mr. Martinez Hernandez guilty of first-degree murder,
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first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense, and kidnapping. Ms. Morin, 37, reported missing by
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her boyfriend on August 5th, 2023, after she didn't return home from a morning jog. Her body discovered
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the next day in a drainage ditch near the Ma and Pa Trail northeast of Baltimore. The autopsy revealing
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Ms. Morin suffered 15 to 20 blows to the head, dying from strangulation and blunt force trauma.
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Mother of the victim, Patty Morin, testifying in front of Congress last summer. My daughter suffered
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so terribly in a very brutal and violent way. And these type of immigrants should not be in our country.
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And because we have open borders, and because everyone is allowed in, and because the law is not
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being carried out at the borders, if they had done a DNA swab, the three times they encountered this
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person that's allegedly accused of killing my daughter, they would have known that he had an
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Interpol warrant for murder in his country. The killer, a Salvadoran national, fled his home country
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after allegedly murdering a woman there. After two attempts to cross the southwestern border,
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Mr. Martinez-Hernandez successfully entering the country illegally in February 2023. Maryland
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authorities matching DNA evidence from Ms. Morin's crime scene, with DNA recovered from an unsolved
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home invasion and assault in Los Angeles. That match helping investigators use cell phone data
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to track Martinez-Hernandez to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was arrested 10 months after the murder.
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Mr. Martinez-Hernandez is facing a sentence of life without parole in a Maryland prison.
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Illegal immigrants convicted of serious crimes, like those inflicted on Ms. Morin,
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are typically only subject to deportation after they complete their sentence. However,
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the Trump administration is exploring legal options allowing deportation or the transfer of
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inmates to El Salvador. President Trump discussing the idea on Monday with El Salvador President
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Nayib Bukele in the Oval. As many as possible, and I just asked the president, you know, it's this
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massive complex that he built, GL complex. I said, can you build some more of them, please?
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As many as we can get out of our country that were allowed in here by incompetent Joe Biden
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through open borders, we have millions of people that should not be in this country
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Harvard University President Alan Garber announcing the school will not comply with federal directives
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aimed at curbing illegal anti-Semitic activity on campus. The Trump administration immediately moving
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to freeze $2.2 billion in grants and contracts from the Department of Education, HHS, and the
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General Services Administration. These departments working in coordination under the DOJ as part of
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the Joint Task Force on Anti-Semitism. An additional $7 billion in federal funding is currently under
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review. On Tuesday morning, President Trump posting on Truth Social, quote, perhaps Harvard should lose its
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tax-exempt status and be taxed as a political entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological,
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and terrorist-inspired slash supporting sickness. Remember, tax-exempt status is totally contingent
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on acting in the public interest. In early April, the Trump administration issuing a formal list of
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demands to Harvard in a letter reading, quote, Harvard University has fundamentally failed to protect
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American students and faculty from anti-Semitic violence and harassment, in addition to other
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alleged violations of Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The requested areas of
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action including oversight and accountability for biased programs that fuel anti-Semitism, disciplinary
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reform and consistent accountability, governance and leadership reforms, and cooperation with law
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enforcement, among others. The complaints originating from a series of events on the Harvard campus
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following the events of October 7th, 2023, when the Hamas terror organization unleashed a wave of
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violence against Israel. Thirty-four Harvard student groups immediately co-signed a letter laying the
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blame for the horrific attack squarely on Israel. A group of Jewish Harvard students in January 2024
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sued the university for failing to adequately protect them against illegal demonstrations of anti-Semitism.
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In the suit, one student alleged encountering demonstrations, quote,
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celebrating the terrorist attack and referring to it as an act of justified resistance by
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brave freedom fighters. Another student reporting physical assault from pro-Hamas activists,
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alleging the school only took disciplinary action when forced by Congress. Following widespread
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condemnation for the lack of response from the administration, then Harvard President Claudine Gay
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forced to resign from the post in January 2024. She was also facing a plagiarism scandal.
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In January 2025, Harvard settled the lawsuit with the Jewish students, agreeing to adopt an official
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definition of anti-Semitism, to host an annual symposium on anti-Semitism, and to partner with an
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Israeli university. President Garber responding to the Trump administration demands, writing in a
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letter, quote, although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating anti-Semitism,
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the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the intellectual conditions at Harvard,
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such as they are. President Obama, a Harvard grad, praising the decision on X, writing,
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quote, Harvard has set an example for other higher ed institutions, rejecting an unlawful and
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ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at
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Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate, and mutual respect.
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Let's hope other institutions follow suit. Harvard is the first university to directly challenge the
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Trump administration's crackdown on campus anti-Semitism by refusing to comply with the
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new conditions tied to federal funding. The federal task force saying Harvard's response is indicative of
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a, quote, troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities and
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colleges, that federal investment does not come with a responsibility to uphold civil rights laws.
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Coming up, defunding NPR. Is it happening? And President Biden makes his first public remarks since leaving the White House.
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The Trump administration taking aim at publicly funded outlets NPR and PBS. The White House
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preparing a formal request to Congress to rescind $1.1 billion in already approved funding for the
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Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports NPR and PBS, part of a larger $9.3 billion revision
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package targeting various government programs. Both NPR and PBS receiving a mix of direct and
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indirect funding from the federal government. NPR reporting 8% of their 2022 budget coming from the
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Corporation for Public Broadcasting and another 6% from federal, state, and local governments.
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PBS reporting 14% of their operating budget coming from the feds. Republican lawmakers long accusing both
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outlets of using public funds to push a left-wing agenda. CEOs for the outlets appearing in March
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on Capitol Hill to answer for their political bias. Here's an exchange with NPR CEO, Catherine Marr.
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And in 2020, unfortunately, NPR's managing editor for news refused to cover the story and he branded it a
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quote, waste of time. How many times did you all interview Adam Schiff about the Russia collusion?
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I'm sorry. Sorry. I don't have that number. It was 25 times. You know how many times NPR interviewed
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chairman of this committee, oversight committee, Jamie Comer, about the Biden impeachment inquiry
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for the Hunter Biden tax evasion and illicit business dealings of the Biden family?
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I'm sorry. Sorry. I don't know. I believe that's zero. So it's 25 to zero.
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Lawmakers also pressing Marr on the political makeup of NPR's newsroom.
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In the D.C. area, editorial positions at NPR, he said he found 87 registered Democrats,
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Uh, we do not track the numbers or the voter registration, but I find that.
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It was award-winning journalist who worked 25 years at NPR. Mr. Berliner, was he lying when
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I am not presuming such. I just don't have, we don't track that information about our journalist.
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In 2017, PBS were producing a documentary called Real Boy about a teen girl's gender transition.
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I am a boy with the wrong body parts. I'm a little over two months on testosterone.
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A teen in transition fights for acceptance. And my name is Ben, because I changed it.
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You are Rachel. That is who you are. He's going down a path that is going to be a huge struggle.
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Your tax dollars at work. A request to rescind federally allotted funds requires only a simple
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majority in both chambers to pass, with lawmakers given 45 days to act. If approved, it will mark
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the first permanent funding cuts of the second Trump administration.
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President Biden on Tuesday making his first public remarks since leaving the White House.
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Mr. Biden addressing an advocacy group for the disabled in Chicago,
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highlighting Democrat talking points on Social Security.
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We know just how much Social Security matters to people's lives. Everyone in this room
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fights for people with disabilities who rely on Social Security to survive.
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You make sure folk get the benefits they earn after a lifetime of hard work.
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The work they do is more than just a profession. What you do, it's a calling. It's not just a profession.
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And Social Security is more than a government program.
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It's a sacred promise. We made it a sacred promise.
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Seventy-three million Americans receive Social Security.
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From their first paycheck for their entire life, they pay into Social Security.
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In return, they count on Social Security to be for them when they're going to need it.
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Folks must never, ever betray that trust or turn our backs on an obligation.
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The Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee timing the launch of its first 2026 ad campaign with Mr.
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Biden's event. The DSCC targeting GOP Senators Tom Tillis of North Carolina and Susan Collins of
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Maine with digital ads featuring a dial tone and captioned, quote,
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Trump and Elon Musk are threatening sweeping cuts to the Social Security Administration,
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making it harder for seniors to get their benefits. Republicans could stop this, but they won't.
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Democrats consistently portraying doge efforts to rid the government of waste,
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fraud and abuse as a plot to eliminate Social Security.
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It is unacceptable, unconscionable and un-American that Donald Trump, Elon Musk and House Republicans
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are dismantling and closing Social Security offices, jacking up wait times and preventing
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hardworking Americans from securing their benefits.
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What Elon Musk and Donald Trump, our co-presidents, are doing right now
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is effectively cutting the benefits that people were promised and they are making people suffer
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This administration is intent on slashing Social Security
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so that they can get more tax breaks for their billionaire buddies.
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Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt questioned about Mr. Biden's remarks on Tuesday afternoon.
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My first reaction when seeing former President Biden was speaking tonight was I'm shocked that
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he is speaking at nighttime. I have thought his bedtime was much earlier than his speech tonight.
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I understand the topic of his speech will be Social Security.
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Let me make it very clear ahead of former President Biden's remarks.
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The president, this president, President Trump, is absolutely certain about protecting Social Security benefits
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for law-abiding, tax-paying American citizens and seniors.
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President Trump differentiating between making cuts and cutting fraud.
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I'm not going to touch Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.
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We're not going to touch it. Now, we are going to look for fraud.
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Other than if it's fraud or something, we're going to find it's going to be strengthened.
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Public polling consistently showing support for eliminating government waste and fraud.
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I'm Megan Kelly. Join me back here for The Megan Kelly Show,
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live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at noon east,
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on youtube.com slash megankelly, and on all podcast platforms.