RFK Grilled on the Hill, Trump's Newsy Trip to Syria, Diddy Trial Revelations: AM Update 5⧸15
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Summary
HHS Secretary RFKJ. testifying at House and Senate budget hearings, delivering impassioned pleas for bipartisan cooperation in restoring American health. President Trump deepening ties with Middle Eastern leaders in a whirlwind tour, the star witness in the Sean Diddy Combs trial takes the stand for a second day, and the legendary Pete Rose now posthumously eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame after a little help from President Trump. All that and more coming up in a moment on Your AM Update.
Transcript
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Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Thursday, May 15th, 2025, and this is your AM
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Update. Let's work together and do something that we all believe in, which is have healthy
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kids in our country, for God's sake. HHS Secretary RFKJ testifying at House and Senate budget
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hearings, delivering impassioned pleas for bipartisan cooperation in restoring American
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health. I just want to thank you for everything, and maybe in particular our friendship. It's
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been a very loyal, great, beautiful friendship. President Trump deepening ties with Middle
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Eastern leaders in a whirlwind tour. The star witness in the Sean Diddy Combs trial takes the
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stand for a second day, and the legendary Pete Rose now posthumously eligible for the Baseball
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Hall of Fame after a little help from President Trump. All that and more coming up in just a
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HHS Secretary RFKJ sitting for a House Appropriations Subcommittee budget meeting
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Wednesday morning, and then in the afternoon, off to the Senate Health, Education, Labor,
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and Pensions Committee. In the morning session, Mr. Kennedy identifying key HHS goals for fiscal year
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2026 focus on ending the chronic disease epidemic and improve the efficiency of Medicare and Medicaid
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services. We won't solve this problem by throwing more money at it. We must spend smarter. We will
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shift funding away from bureaucracy toward direct impact. We will address nutrition, physical activity,
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and healthy lifestyles. We will emphasize healthy eating and Head Start and ensure the program continues
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to serve its 750,000 children and parents effectively. We will equip the FDA to expand its food safety efforts
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through research, regulations, independence, and education. We will rebuild public trust, trust that eroded
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through years of industry capture, corruption, waste, and misplaced priorities. Secretary Kennedy is overseeing
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a massive reorganization of HHS, reducing what the Trump administration says is redundant bureaucracy,
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and consolidating the department from 28 divisions into 15. Ranking member of the committee, Connecticut
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Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, launching a blistering attack on Secretary Kennedy.
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Under your budget proposal, Americans would die of needless and preventable deaths. Yourself and
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President Trump and Elon Musk are attacking health programs to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.
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By promoting quackery, we are endangering the health of the American people with pseudoscience,
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fear-mongering, and misinformation. Because of these cuts, people will die. And with respect to
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views on vaccine, quite frankly, I believe you are promoting quackery. Under your watch,
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our country is now failing to contain vaccine-preventable diseases. Measles, a disease
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eliminated in the United States just decades ago, has now claimed the lives of three Americans,
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The secretary later in the hearing going back to address Congresswoman DeLauro's comments on the
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I want to correct you. We have about 1,100 measles cases in this country. The growth rate last year
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was 15 additional, so we have plateaued. Mexico has roughly the same number with a third of our
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population, and they got 300 extra cases last week. Oh, you are wrong about what you said earlier.
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Mr. Kennedy asked by a Republican how Congress can help HHS promote healthy diets for young
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We are about to reissue the dietary guidelines, and we're going to do it very quickly. We took
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the Biden guidelines, which were 453 pages long, and were clearly written by industry that are
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incomprehensible, driven by the same industry capture and those kind of carnal impulses that put
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fruit loops at the top of the food pyramid. And we are changing that. So we're going to have
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four-page dietary guidelines that tell people essentially eat whole food.
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Secretary Kennedy then pivoting back to address an earlier comment from ranking member DeLauro about
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Congressman DeLauro, you say that you've worked for 20 years on getting food die out.
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All right, so let's work together and do something that we all believe in, which is
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have healthy kids in our country, for God's sake. There's no such thing as Republican children or
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Democratic children. There's just kids, and we should all be concerned with them.
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In the afternoon Senate session, Secretary Kennedy responding to a question about the dangers of
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gain-of-function research, the high-risk practice of making viruses more dangerous in the name of
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developing future treatments, which Secretary Kennedy believes led to the COVID pandemic.
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We've also proposed a methodology for regulating and for determining what is dangerous gain-of-function
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and what is legitimate scientific investigation and how to bring the public into that debate.
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We have some of the Democrats here who are, you know, talking about the great signs from NIH,
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but now we have a major agency, intelligence agency, the CIA, the FBI, the DOE, and the State
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Department have all agreed that NIH research almost certainly led to the pandemic, the COVID pandemic.
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So that's not the kind of the result that we should be allowing or enabling, and we're going to end that now.
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Secretary Kennedy also doing battle with Democrat Senator from Connecticut, Chris Murphy, who was newly bearded.
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You went on the Dr. Phil show and said that the measles vaccine was never fully tested for safety.
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You said there's fetal debris in the measles vaccine.
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President Trump signed an executive order in early May halting federal funding for gain-of-function
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research in overseas labs and authorizing U.S. agencies to pause domestic projects they deem
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President Trump meeting with the new president of Syria just one more stop on a breakneck tour
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Mr. Trump, the first U.S. president in 25 years to meet a Syrian leader.
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Ahmad al-Shara taking office in December after his Islamist coalition ousted longtime dictator
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Bashar al-Assad from power, the international community expressing caution at the group's
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rise, unsure whether Mr. Shara, once linked to jihadist movements, may prove as authoritarian
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as Assad or as jihadi as he's been in the past.
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Though Mr. Shara has rebranded himself as a nationalist leader, concerns remain about his
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militant background and the Islamist roots of his coalition.
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President Trump extending an olive branch to the new leader, lifting long-standing sanctions
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on Syria, offering the war-torn nation a chance at a prosperous and modern future.
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President Trump inviting Syria to join the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations with
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Israel for the first time since the establishment of the Jewish state.
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Mr. Trump reflecting on the meeting from Air Force One.
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I think very good. Young, attractive guy. Tough guy. You know, strong pass. Very strong
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pass fighter. But he's got a real shot at pulling it together. I spoke with President
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Bernardo, who I'm very friendly with him. He feels he's got a shot at doing a good job.
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He's got the potential today. He's a real leader. And, you know, he led a charge and he's pretty
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amazing. Did you see him? Did you get to see him? He was there. And he was with us at the event.
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Later in Qatar, President Trump meeting with the emir, remarking on the opulent palace and
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very warm welcome. I just want to thank you for everything. And maybe in particular,
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our friendship. It's been a very loyal, great, beautiful friendship. And the job you've done
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is second to none. You look at this is so beautiful. As a construction person, I'm seeing perfect
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marble. This is what they call perfecto. And just a great job you've done. And what a beautiful place.
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And we appreciate those camels. I haven't seen camels like that in a long time. And that was
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some greeting. We appreciate it very much. The leaders then signing a joint declaration
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of cooperation between the two nations. The agreement, though non-binding, signals goodwill
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and good faith between the U.S. and Qatar. An early result of the cooperation agreement,
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a $200 billion contract for Boeing. President Trump, despite his recent criticism of Boeing
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in failing to deliver two new Air Force One jets on time and on budget, facilitating this deal between
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the U.S. company and the Qatari government for the purchase by Qatar of 160 Boeing planes,
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marking the largest wide-body aircraft order, that's planes with two passenger aisles,
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in Boeing's history. Here, a shout out to Boeing's CEO, Kelly Ortberg.
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Kelly's telling me from Boeing, it's the largest order of jets in the history of Boeing. That's
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pretty good. 140. Was that a 140 or 160? It's actually 200, including the 40. So it's over $200
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billion. But 160 in terms of the jets, that's fantastic. So that's a record, Kelly.
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And congratulations to Boeing. Get those planes out there.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also signing a defense cooperation agreement with Qatar
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and an intent agreement for a Qatari purchase of MQ-9 drones. These new deals reflective of
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President Trump's approach to securing peace in the Middle East through economic investment
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and military cooperation. The visit aiming to solidify ties with Qatar, a strategically vital
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but historically tenuous ally that hosts one of the largest U.S. military bases in the region,
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yet maintains links to Hamas and the Taliban. Later today, the first direct peace talks set
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to take place in Turkey between Ukraine and Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
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inviting President Trump to attend in hopes of compelling Russian President Vladimir Putin
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to personally attend the talks as well. On Air Force One, Mr. Trump telling reporters he may
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consider rearranging his packed agenda. What happens on Thursday if President Putin doesn't show
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up in Turkey for the talks with Ukraine? What will you do? Well, I don't know if he's showing up. I know
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he would like me to be there. And that's a possibility. If we could end the war, I'd be thinking about
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that. Now, tomorrow, we're all booked out. You understand that? We're all set.
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I go. You and he tomorrow. And so we have a very full situation. Now, that doesn't mean I wouldn't do
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it to save a lot of lives and come back. But, yeah, I think they're thinking about something. I don't
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know that he would be there if I'm not there. We're going to find out. Marco's going. And Marco's been
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very effective. Coming up, day three of the Diddy trial, star witness Cassie taking the stand for a
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second day. And baseball legend Pete Rose just may get his name in the Hall of Fame after all.
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As President Trump is settling into his new administration, one of the top Democrats in
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Congress aiming to undermine the Trump agenda is Democrat Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. And
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according to our sponsor, the Electronic Payments Coalition, Senator Durbin has a new plan, a
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government takeover of your credit card. Today, Americans have thousands of choices in credit
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cards, but they say Senator Durbin's plan will result in less competition and less security,
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which means more risk for your credit and your identity. You can learn more for yourself at
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guardyourcard.org. And you could consider telling your senators to stop Dick Durbin's government
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takeover of your credit card before it's too late.
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Star witness Cassie Ventura returning to the stand for a second day of testimony in rapper
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Sean Diddy Combs' criminal trial. On Tuesday, Ms. Ventura testifying for about four and a half
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hours about the nature of the so-called freak-offs, graphic, extended sexual encounters she participated
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in at Mr. Combs' behest. The testimony continuing on Wednesday, Ms. Ventura providing more details on
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the infamous security camera footage of a 2016 incident at the Intercontinental Hotel, showing
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Mr. Combs in a towel, throwing Ms. Ventura onto a hallway floor, kicking her and dragging her
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violently. Ms. Ventura telling prosecutors she left the hotel after a security guard responded to the
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incident, later texting Mr. Combs, quote, I have a black eye and a fat lip. You are sick for thinking
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it's okay to do what you've done. Please stay far away from me. Ms. Ventura saying Mr. Combs showed up
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at her apartment later that day, quote, banging, kicking, yelling outside her door. The witness
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telling prosecutors that behavior was, quote, pretty normal for Mr. Combs. Ms. Ventura testifying she was
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afraid Mr. Combs might release embarrassing video footage of the freak-offs, saying the rapper
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threatened to release the videos when, quote, he was angry about something or just really wanted me to
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fear. The witness also describing a 2013 incident where Mr. Combs woke her up yelling at Ms. Ventura
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for not packing for a trip. Ms. Ventura saying two of her friends jumped on Mr. Combs' back because he
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was trying to attack her, quote, we ended up from the living room into the master bedroom when he threw me
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down. I hurt my eyebrow on the corner of my bed, the witness gesturing to a scar on her eyebrow.
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The witness, we should point out, took the stand eight and a half months pregnant. Her walk to the
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witness box, Mr. Combs tried to prevent, asking if she could be seated before the jury was brought in
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so as not to elicit any extra sympathy for her, the judge overruling that request. There's been
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evidence that Ms. Ventura at times told Combs she wanted to join the freak-offs and that she
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paid the sex workers who participated in them. The defense clearly crafting a strategy to show that
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while extreme, Combs' sex life with Cassie was not forced upon her by the equivalent of a mob boss,
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Combs. As for Combs' alleged physical assaults of Ms. Ventura, they have not been charged as a
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separate individual crime by any prosecutor. Mr. Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges,
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including racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
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Legendary baseball player Pete Rose's lifetime ban from the MLB lifted on Tuesday by League
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Commissioner Rob Manfred. The commissioner changing league rules to say once a player has died,
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the lifetime ban ends. The decision means Mr. Rose and 16 other players are now at least eligible
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for induction into the MLB Hall of Fame. Mr. Rose was a 17-time All-Star and three-time World Series
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champion and the MLB's all-time leader in hits and in games played. The MLB banning Mr. Rose in 1989
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following allegations that he bet on games as a player and manager for the Cincinnati Reds. Mr. Rose admitted
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to the allegations years later, but saying he only bet on his team to win. President Trump,
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a fan of Mr. Rose, advocating for his inclusion into the Hall of Fame at least as far back as 2016.
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In February of this year, the president posting to Truth Social, quote,
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Major League Baseball didn't have the courage or decency to put the late, great Pete Rose,
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also known as Charlie Hustle, into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Now he is dead, will never experience the
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thrill of being selected and can only be named posthumously. What a shame. Pete Rose only bet
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on his team winning. Baseball, which is dying all over the place, should get off its fat, lazy ass
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and elect Pete Rose, even though it is far too late, into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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Commissioner Manfred visiting the White House in April, confirming after the meeting that Pete Rose
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was a subject of conversation. Former sportscaster John Condit interviewing 83-year-old Pete Rose
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just days before his death in September about the lifetime ban.
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I've come to the conclusion, and I hope I'm wrong, that I'll make the Hall of Fame after I die,
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which I totally disagree with, because the Hall of Fame is for two reasons, your fans and your family.
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It's for your family if you're here. It's for your fans if you're here, not if you're 10 feet under.
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I didn't hurt any of my fans by betting on the game of baseball. And by the way,
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betting on the game of baseball to win. Every game I played in, I won to win.
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The next Hall of Fame vote set for December 2027. We'll see if old Charlie Hustle, who earned that
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nickname because he never phoned in a walk to first base or a slide into home plate, actually makes it.
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And that'll do it for your AM Update. I'm Megan Kelly. Join me back here for The Megan Kelly Show,
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live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at Neist, on YouTube.com slash Megan Kelly, and on all podcast platforms.
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