Schumer on the Rocks, Trump Admin vs. DC Judge on Deportations, Trump Polling Highs： AM Update 3⧸17
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Summary
Sen. Chuck Schumer is resisting calls for his resignation as a deeply divided Democrat Party sinks to record low approval. President Trump invokes the Alien Enemy Act of 1798 to deport gang members, and a D.C. judge blocks the move. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff says Russia is coming closer to accepting a peace deal as intensity on the battlefield ramps up, And a new NBC poll has good news for President Trump. All that and more coming up in a busy AM Update.
Transcript
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Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Monday, March 17th, 2025. And happy St. Patrick's
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Day. This is your AM update. So are you the right person to lead the party at this moment?
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Let me put it this way. First, I don't think there's anybody. Well, I think I know how to
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win seats back in the Senate. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer resisting calls for his
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resignation as a deeply divided Democrat Party sinks to record low approval.
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President Trump invokes the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport Trenda Aragua gang members
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and a D.C. judge blocks the move. The two sides are today a lot closer. We had some really positive
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results. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff says Russia is coming closer to accepting a peace deal as
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intensity on the battlefield ramps up. And a new NBC poll has good news for President Trump.
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All that and more coming up in just a moment in a busy AM update.
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's political career on the rocks after handing President Trump a big
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win by keeping the government open. On Friday, nine Democrats joined with Senator Schumer to advance
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the continuing resolution, or CR, paving the way to keep the government open for another six months.
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Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, New Hampshire Senator Maggie
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Hassan, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, Michigan Senator Gary Peters, Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz,
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New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, New Hampshire's Jean Shaheen, Independent Senator from Maine,
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Angus King, all also voting to advance the bill. House Democrats like New York Congressman Alexandria
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Ocasio-Cortez, California Congressman Robert Garcia, and Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna
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Presley slamming Senator Schumer and the others. It is almost unthinkable why Senate Democrats would vote
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to hand the few pieces of leverage that we have away for free when we've been sent here to protect
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Social Security, protect Medicaid, and protect Medicare. I think Senate Democrats, I think the
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Senate leader made an enormous miscalculation. This is not a time where we should be bending the knee
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to Donald Trump. Again, I don't think we should be moving in any way to elicit a praise from Donald
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Trump, who has no respect for Congress and the power of the purse. Axios reporting,
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quote, several members, including moderates, have begun voicing support for a primary challenge to
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Schumer, floating Representatives AOC and Dan Goldman as possible candidates. Soros-backed
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progressive group Indivisible also calling for Senator Schumer to step down. The group releasing
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a statement over the weekend saying 82 percent of its leaders in New York and 91 percent nationwide
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voted in favor of calling for Mr. Schumer to step aside. House Minority Leader Hakeem
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Jeffries in a Friday presser initially refusing to affirm his support for Senator Schumer.
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Is it time for new leadership in the Senate? Next question. However, by Saturday, Mr. Jeffries was
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appearing on MSNBC providing some public support for Mr. Schumer signaling leadership is sticking
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together, at least for now. Look, Chuck and I disagreed as it relates to the approach and outcome
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relative to what we viewed as a reckless Republican spending bill. At the same period of time,
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Chuck and I agree on the overwhelming majority of issues moving forward.
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Senator Schumer, who says he worried a shutdown would have given more power to President Trump and
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Doge, telling the New York Times, the interview podcast, he's still the best man to lead.
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So are you the right person to lead the party at this moment?
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Let me put it this way. First, I don't think there's anybody. Well, I think I know how to win
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seats back in the Senate, which I've proven. I'm not the only person, nor should I be. I'm sort of like
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an orchestra leader. And there's a great deal of talent in the orchestra. And my job is to highlight
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all those talents and emphasize those talents. As Democrats in Congress jockey over the future
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of their party, Democrat Party approval sinks to a record low in a new CNN poll. Democrat-aligned
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adults say 52 percent to 48 percent that the leadership is taking the Democrat Party in the
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wrong direction. 57 percent to 42 percent of Dems and Dem-aligned independents think Democrats should
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mainly work to stop the Republican agenda. The survey taken before Senator Schumer's deeply
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unpopular decision to support the CR rather than shut down the government. Among adults overall,
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the Democrat Party sits at a paltry 29 percent approval. That's a 20-point drop since January 2021
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The Trump administration deporting hundreds of individuals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798
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in spite of a judge's order trying to block the move. The act allows the government to detain and
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deport people from enemy nations in wartime or those who have invaded America. President Trump on Friday
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invoking the act against Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, a recently designated foreign terrorist
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organization. The proclamation stating members of TDA have, quote, unlawfully infiltrated the U.S.
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and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.
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On Saturday, the ACLU and a group called Democracy Forward filing a lawsuit alleging that the White
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House was preparing to deport five Venezuelans under this act. Chief Judge of the D.C. District Court
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James Bosberg initially ordering that those deportations be paused for two weeks. The judge
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later in the day expanding his order to, quote, all non-citizens in U.S. custody subject to the
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Alien Enemies Act. This, notwithstanding the fact that the Supreme Court has held that the Alien
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Enemies Act precludes judicial review of any removal orders, holding, quote, such great war powers may be
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abused, no doubt, but that is a bad reason for having judges supervise their exercise. In a truly
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extraordinary order, Judge Bosberg went further, verbally mandating the immediate return of two
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planes already airborne carrying deportees to Honduras and El Salvador. The Associated Press reporting the
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verbal directive to return the planes was not included in the judge's written order. The president of El
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Salvador, Nayib Bukele, posting on X early Sunday morning, a headline detailing the judge's order
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and the caption, oopsie, too late, with a laughing emoji. Shortly after that, President Bukele published
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a video showing dozens of handcuffed men departing a U.S. plane and processing into an El Salvadorian prison
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complex. Secretary of State Marco Rubio posting on X, quote, we sent over 250 alien enemy members of
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Tren de Aragua, which El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price.
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Fox News reporting press secretary Caroline Levitt says the Trump administration did not refuse to
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comply with a court order. Ms. Levitt says, quote, the order, which has no lawful basis, was issued after
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terrorists, TDA aliens, had already been removed from U.S. territory. The next hearing is set for Friday.
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Today, the Trump administration is appealing the judge's interference. Coming up, as the Ukrainian
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battlefield intensifies, U.S. and Russian officials inch closer to a ceasefire. And five years later, the New York
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Times dares to say Americans were misled on COVID. You think?
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As the war against Ukraine rages on, the U.S. and Russia inch closer to a ceasefire agreement.
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President Trump likely to speak on the phone later this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin,
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the second call since Mr. Trump's second term began. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff,
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fresh off a trip to Moscow, involving hours of talks with President Putin,
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telling CNN the two sides are closer than ever before.
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Before this visit, there was another visit. And before that visit, the two sides were
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miles apart in where they were. The two sides are today a lot closer. We had some really positive
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results coming out of Saudi Arabia, discussions led by our national security advisor, Mike Waltz,
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and our secretary of state, Marco Rubio. I described my conversation with President Putin
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as equally positive. So the two sides have, we've narrowed the differences between them.
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Mr. Witkoff says President Trump aims to finalize the deal within weeks,
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describing to CBS the issues both sides are hammering out.
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There are regions that we all know the Russians are focused on. There is a nuclear reactor that
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supplies quite a bit of electricity to the country of Ukraine. That's got to be dealt with.
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There's access to ports. There's the Black Sea potential agreement. There's just there's so many
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elements, Margaret, to the implementation of a ceasefire here. And everybody is committed,
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all stakeholders, including the Europeans, to doing everything we need to do to get to a
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successful resolution here. Russian forces currently control about 20 percent of Ukraine.
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Late last week, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz telling Fox News the Ukrainians may have to give
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up the Donbass region as part of a settlement. That region compromising about nine percent of Ukrainian
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territory. The majority of its residents are primarily Russian speakers. ABC's Martha Raddatz
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pushing back on the notion that the Russians should be allowed to retain any captured territory.
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Russia could be given the Donbass in addition to hanging on to Crimea, even though they invaded Ukraine.
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Martha, we have to ask ourselves, is it in our natural interest? Is it realistic? Are we going to drive
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every Russian off of every inch of Ukrainian soil, including Crimea? And what the strategy of the
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Biden administration was, was as long as it takes, as much as it takes, no matter what the timeline is,
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which is essentially endless warfare. Late last week, Reuters reporting a Ukrainian government
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official acknowledging Kiev cannot recapture their territory through military force. The unnamed
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official saying, quote, Ukraine cannot recover all of its territory right now by military force.
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Yes, we understand this. We understand that some of our land will need to be returned diplomatically,
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which can, of course, take time. Ukrainian forces retreating from a small area of captured
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Russian territory in Kursk. The New York Times reporting the withdrawal comes, quote, amid a swift
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Russian advance backed by relentless airstrikes and drones. Ukrainian soldiers telling the Times the
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strategy now is about controlling defensive positions and preventing the Russians from opening a new front
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in this war. The fighting only intensifying as negotiators work toward peace.
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New polling from NBC News showing strong numbers for President Trump among registered voters.
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44 percent saying the country is on the right track versus 54 percent saying it's on the wrong track.
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That happens to be the best polling in 20 years. NBC's national political correspondent,
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Steve Kornacki, putting those numbers into perspective.
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The mood of the country. This really jumped out. We ask folks, is it on the right direction
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or the wrong direction? That 44 percent you say right direction, that's up since November. And if that
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doesn't seem like a lot, the last time it cracked 40 percent, you got to go back to 2012. The last time
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President Trump's approval rating also hitting his best ever mark as president. 47 percent approving
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to 51 percent disapproving. Among independents, the split is 30 percent who approve, 67 percent who
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don't. On immigration, the president scoring his highest marks. 55 percent of voters approve of Mr.
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Trump's handling of border security and immigration compared to 43 percent who disapprove. 56 percent say the
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president brings the right kind of change compared to just 18 percent who say he brings the wrong kind
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of change on immigration. For all of the media attacks against it, Doge faring all right. 46 percent
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say it's a good idea compared to 40 percent who say it isn't. On the economy, the president not faring
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quite as well. Just 18 percent of voters rating the economy as excellent or good. 54 percent disapprove of
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Mr. Trump's handling of the economy. 44 percent approve. In recent weeks, the media focusing very
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heavily on concerns of recession. Your attitudes about the economy showed another decline on Friday.
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How concerned are you because of that about a recession? Do you think we're headed for a recession?
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Will these policies be worth it if they lead to a recession, even a short-term recession?
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Treasury Secretary Scott Besson on Sunday's Meet the Press criticizing the media's
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coverage of the administration. Look, what I am not going to say that went on for a long time
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under the Biden administration and for a lot of the media, and I'm not going to point fingers,
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but they used to say it was a vibe session and the American people don't know what they talk about.
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Clearly, they are traumatized from what's happened with this affordability crisis that was brought on
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by the previous administration. They want relief. We've been in for eight weeks. We are putting
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the policies in place that will make the affordability crisis go down, inflation moderate.
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I am confident that the American people will come our way, even if some of the media narrative doesn't.
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Five years after the debut of Two Weeks to Slow the Spread, New York Times columnist Zeynick Tufekci
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dares to write, we were badly misled about the event that changed our lives. Really?
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Tufekci, whose own Times colleague, Apoorva Mandavilli, once suggested it was racist to suggest
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the virus came from a lab leak, now writes, quote, in 2020, when people started speculating that a
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laboratory accident might have been the spark that started the COVID-19 pandemic, they were treated
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like kooks and cranks. Ms. Mandavilli's tweet, not specifically acknowledged anywhere in her piece.
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Ms. Tufekci admits in her column that some officials hid crucial facts and misled the public
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in order to promote the appearance of consensus. In 2023, independent journalist Matt Taibbi revealed
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the Biden administration was working in conjunction with social media companies to
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censor information relating to COVID. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford professor and leading
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advocate against lockdowns, was censored and ostracized and smeared by then-NIH head Francis Collins,
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who called him a fringe epidemiologist. Joe Rogan, too, along with anyone who dared question the Biden
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administration's COVID dogma, was mocked by the media, including the Times, as anti-science.
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Ms. Tufekci's latest column comes after years of her promoting masks, despite the evidence showing
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they did not work, and attacking contrarian voices. For example, a November 2020 Times column is headlined,
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On masks and clinical trials, Rand Paul's tweeting is just plain wrong. The column reading, quote,
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mask wearing is courteous, a sound method to reduce the suffering from this terrible pathogen
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and help us get our lives back as much as possible. In May of 2021, Ms. Tufekci dared to question the CDC,
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asking if updated guidance stating vaccinated individuals need not wear masks was politically
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motivated. Can you believe this woman is now writing this for the New York Times?
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In September 2022, Ms. Tufekci authoritatively wrote,
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not only will a booster with the new vaccines decrease the likelihood of infection and severe
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illness and help reduce transmission of the virus, it could also decrease the likelihood of
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developing long COVID. That came a full year after the science showed the vaccine did not stop the
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spread of the virus. The New York Times finally playing some COVID catch up with zero admissions
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about its own failures in presenting facts. We don't forgive you. And that'll do it for your AM
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update. I'm Megan Kelly. Join me back here for the Megan Kelly show. We are live and back from vacay
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on Sirius XM Triumph channel, 111 at noon east on youtube.com slash Megan Kelly and on all podcast platforms.
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