The Megyn Kelly Show - Trump Eases Medical Marijuana Rules, Navy Chief Fired, Gallego Scrutiny Intensifies： AM Update 4⧸24

00:00:00.000 Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Friday, April 24th, 2026, and this is your AM

00:00:08.380 Update. We expect the research to significantly increase so that we can understand how to guide

00:00:13.820 patients and doctors in this effort. Medical marijuana reclassified at the federal level,

00:00:19.380 the Trump administration easing restrictions to expand research and access while stopping

00:00:24.360 short of full legalization. He's a hard charger, and he had some conflicts with some other

00:00:29.540 people mostly as to building and buying new ships.

00:00:33.980 Navy Secretary John Phelan abruptly pushed out of the Trump administration

00:00:38.040 a sudden firing tied to internal clashes over the pace of shipbuilding.

00:00:43.620 Pressure building on Senator Ruben Gallego as new reporting on a late-night outing in the country of Colombia

00:00:50.060 coincides with an ongoing Senate ethics investigation into alleged sexual misconduct.

00:00:55.720 and three political candidates suspended from a major prediction market

00:01:00.360 after betting on their own races in an insider trading crackdown.

00:01:05.200 All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM update.

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00:02:15.160 The Trump administration yesterday reclassifying medical marijuana as 1.00

00:02:21.300 less dangerous. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signing an order moving FDA-approved

00:02:27.120 products containing marijuana and marijuana products regulated by a state medical marijuana

00:02:32.600 license from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3. Under DEA guidelines, Schedule 1 drugs, including

00:02:39.080 heroin, ecstasy, and LSD have, quote, no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for

00:02:45.920 abuse. Schedule 3 drugs like Tylenol with codeine, testosterone, and ketamine have, quote, a moderate

00:02:52.620 to low potential for physical and psychological dependence. The move does not legalize marijuana

00:02:58.500 at the federal level. That would require an act of Congress. In an ex-post, A.G. Blanche writing,

00:03:04.100 quote, these actions will enable more targeted, rigorous research into marijuana's safety and

00:03:09.820 efficacy, expanding patients' access to treatments, and empowering doctors to make better informed

00:03:15.660 health care decisions. Deputy Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council Heidi Overton

00:03:21.060 yesterday in the Oval explaining the kind of research this move is expected to unlock.

00:03:26.480 It makes it easy for the researchers to actually study and understand medical marijuana,

00:03:31.680 especially in populations that are using it.

00:03:33.660 We know that one in 10 seniors right now

00:03:35.560 use medical marijuana in the past year,

00:03:38.840 and they report that it really helps them,

00:03:41.440 but we don't have the science or the understanding

00:03:43.180 to guide the patients and the doctors,

00:03:45.060 and so both patients and doctors are flying blind

00:03:47.740 without knowing how they interact with other medications

00:03:50.060 because the research has been difficult to do,

00:03:52.020 and so your promise today

00:03:53.220 says those state-licensed medical marijuana products

00:03:55.620 are now in Schedule 3,

00:03:56.760 and we expect the research to significantly increase

00:03:59.840 so that we can understand how to guide patients and doctors in this effort.

00:04:04.140 The DEA set to hold a hearing on June 29th to consider whether all cannabis,

00:04:09.320 not just medical marijuana, should be moved to Schedule 3.

00:04:13.180 Forty states and D.C. currently allow medical use of marijuana.

00:04:17.400 Twenty-four of those states and D.C. allow recreational use,

00:04:21.180 according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

00:04:23.920 The move drawing mixed reactions.

00:04:26.720 Investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald posting to X, quote,

00:04:29.840 The executive order last week on fast-tracking studies of psychedelic drugs

00:04:34.160 and this new one on marijuana are both unadulterated positives, even if they should go further.

00:04:40.880 Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, releasing a statement reflecting the concerns

00:04:45.480 of many. Quote, Marijuana today is much more potent than just 10 or 20 years ago,

00:04:50.460 leading to increased psychosis, antisocial behavior, and fatal car crashes. Arkansans

00:04:56.440 don't want more dangerous drugs obtained more easily. A change to marijuana's drug classification

00:05:01.800 is a step in the wrong direction. Navy Secretary John Phelan, the latest high-ranking Trump

00:05:09.140 official to be forced out of the administration. On Wednesday, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell

00:05:14.900 abruptly announcing, quote, Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan is departing the administration

00:05:20.400 effective immediately. We wish him well in his future endeavors. Undersecretary Hung Kao now

00:05:26.740 stepping in as acting Navy secretary. The move comes as the Navy enforces a blockade of Iranian

00:05:32.980 ports amid a tenuous ceasefire in the ongoing conflict. Multiple outlets reporting on the

00:05:38.720 source of the internal tension between Phelan and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, largely centering

00:05:43.820 on the pace of shipbuilding efforts, a top priority for the Trump administration as it looks to expand

00:05:49.700 and modernize the Navy. A government accountability report from March 2025 finding the Navy had not

00:05:56.740 increased the number of ships in its fleet over the past 20 years, despite doubling its shipbuilding

00:06:02.900 budget. In December, President Trump, flanked by Secretary Hegseth and Phelan, announcing plans to

00:06:08.620 build a new kind of battleship dubbed the Trump class. While America's built many new warships

00:06:14.860 over the years they've been they've tended to be smaller and much smaller and not conducive to

00:06:22.640 where we are and where we're going and peace through strength but including we've been

00:06:28.860 building aircraft carriers we're going to be upping that also we haven't built a battleship

00:06:33.620 since 1994 these cutting-edge vessels will be some of the most lethal surface warfare ships

00:06:41.880 It will be actually the most ever built other than our submarines.

00:06:45.900 Each one of these will be the largest battleship in the history of our country,

00:06:50.560 the largest battleship in the history of the world ever built.

00:06:53.500 President Trump yesterday from the Oval weighing in on the shakeup.

00:06:57.280 He's a hard charger, and he had some conflicts with some other people,

00:07:00.960 mostly as to building and buying new ships.

00:07:05.380 I'm very aggressive in the new ship building,

00:07:08.100 and somehow he just didn't get along with them.

00:07:11.560 He's an excellent guy. You got to get along, especially in the military. You got to get along.

00:07:16.440 You know, and some people liked him, some people didn't. And that's usually the truth about

00:07:23.020 everything. But I found him to be a very good man and I liked him a lot.

00:07:27.140 President Trump also posting a statement to Truth Social that reads in part, quote,

00:07:31.460 John Phelan is smart, tough and respected by all. And although he has decided to move on from his

00:07:36.920 position as Secretary of the Navy, I very much appreciate the job that he has done,

00:07:41.400 and would certainly like to have him back within the Trump administration sometime in the future.

00:07:46.100 According to CNN, President Trump becoming convinced at a Wednesday meeting with

00:07:49.780 Secretary Hegseth that Phelan needed to be replaced, instructing Hegseth to, quote,

00:07:54.900 take care of it. The war secretary then informing Phelan he could either resign or be fired.

00:08:00.340 Phelan initially did not believe President Trump was aware of the decision, according to the outlet,

00:08:04.500 making calls to administration officials before heading to the White House in search of answers.

00:08:09.820 The Navy secretary ultimately meeting briefly with the president, who confirmed he was out of a job.

00:08:15.400 The move marking the latest in a series of high-level shakeups inside the Trump administration,

00:08:20.160 Secretary Hegseth recently dismissing three top-ranking Army generals from the Pentagon.

00:08:25.500 It also comes amid broader turnover at the cabinet level in recent weeks,

00:08:29.500 with three secretaries forced out or resigning.

00:08:32.300 DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-Daremer.

00:08:40.900 Coming up, scrutiny intensifying around Senator Ruben Gallego relating to new reporting about

00:08:47.080 a late-night outing in South America and an ethics probe involving sexual misconduct

00:08:52.200 allegations, and three political candidates suspended from a major prediction market after

00:08:57.580 betting on their own campaigns.

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00:10:07.760 there's not much time. Text MK to 989898 today. Senator Ruben Gallego, Democrat from Arizona,

00:10:16.940 staying out until 3 a.m. last summer, partying at a club on an official trip to Bogota, Colombia,

00:10:22.780 despite warnings of a credible threat to his life, according to the outlet Notice.

00:10:28.380 Senator Gallego joining a congressional delegation to, quote,

00:10:31.660 strengthen bilateral relations with Colombia, according to a press release relating to the

00:10:36.260 August 2025 trip. Embassy staff reportedly informing the senator's security detail

00:10:41.520 of the threat, which was relayed while he was at dinner. After some discussion,

00:10:46.200 three sources telling Notice the senator decided to stay out, walking to the nightclub after dinner.

00:10:51.860 Senator Gallego and his chief of staff reportedly extending an invite

00:10:55.420 to other staffers on the trip, though it is unclear if any joined.

00:10:59.340 Notice reporting there are no allegations of inappropriate behavior between Senator Gallego

00:11:03.880 and any embassy staff members. The following morning, Senator Gallego's chief of staff

00:11:08.780 reportedly had to get a key to access the senator's room to wake him up for the bus set

00:11:13.700 for the airport. A source close to Gallego telling Notice,

00:11:16.780 it is standard procedure for the chief of staff to conduct a wake-up call involving

00:11:21.060 knocking on the door and retrieving him. A spokesperson for the senator responding in

00:11:25.280 a statement that Gallego, quote, coordinated closely with embassy security throughout the

00:11:30.060 trip, including on the evening in question, and followed all security guidance. The report comes

00:11:35.600 as Senator Gallego faces increasing scrutiny due to his close friendship with now-former

00:11:40.920 Congressman Eric Swalwell, who resigned from the House last week amid sexual misconduct

00:11:45.440 allegations. Mr. Gallego speaking to reporters shortly before Swalwell's resignation about the

00:11:51.260 nature of their friendship. Eric Swalwell lied to all of us. But to be clear again, I also had no

00:11:57.640 knowledge of predatory behavior, sexual assault, or harassment. Have you ever engaged in any

00:12:05.040 inappropriate sexual misconduct or behavior toward your staff, other staff, other women outside of

00:12:09.720 your marriage? No. In a separate matter, Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, Republican of

00:12:14.720 Florida last week, referring accusations of sexual misconduct regarding an alleged incident

00:12:20.120 involving Senator Gallego and Eric Swalwell to Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

00:12:25.500 The congresswoman last Thursday on CBS elaborating on the accusations.

00:12:29.940 Without, I guess, getting too graphic, there is a woman that allegedly is coming forward

00:12:36.000 with attorneys, wants to go on record about an incident that occurred between the two of them 0.65

00:12:41.320 at the same time. And the event was sexual in nature, allegedly. But it's not just that.

00:12:47.960 There's also two apparently issues of campaign finance violations. I'm definitely not in the

00:12:53.460 Senate, but I think that Thune should probably take that seriously and look into it, especially

00:12:56.780 given the nature of what's become apparent regarding Eric Swalwell. Earlier this week,

00:13:01.760 Majority Leader Thune confirming the matter had been referred to the Senate Ethics Committee

00:13:05.360 for investigation. Axios reports Senator Gallego is cooperating with the committee.

00:13:10.740 The senator denies all accusations of wrongdoing, a spokesperson telling Axios, quote,

00:13:15.080 these are right-wing conspiracy theories being parroted by a fringe far-right member of Congress.

00:13:19.940 The secretive investigation process can take months or even years to complete,

00:13:24.860 unless, of course, we see another congressional resignation first.

00:13:29.840 Prediction Market Calci announcing Wednesday it has fined and suspended three political candidates

00:13:36.720 for insider trading after determining

00:13:39.300 they placed bets on their own campaigns.

00:13:42.480 Calci, an exchange overseen

00:13:44.240 by the Federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission,

00:13:46.760 or CFTC, allows users to trade

00:13:49.540 on the future outcome of real-world events,

00:13:52.480 spanning everything from election results

00:13:54.240 to oil prices to weather patterns and much more.

00:13:58.160 The suspension's coming as prediction markets

00:14:00.140 draw heightened scrutiny,

00:14:01.620 with massive well-timed trades raising serious concerns

00:14:04.440 about the use of privileged or insider information to win thousands or more.

00:14:09.980 Yesterday, the DOJ announcing the arrest of a U.S. Special Forces soldier

00:14:14.080 involved in the operation to capture former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro,

00:14:18.600 accusing him of placing roughly $30,000 in bets on outcomes tied to Venezuela and Maduro,

00:14:24.980 winning more than $400,000.

00:14:27.280 Calci and other prediction markets also facing multiple ongoing lawsuits,

00:14:31.200 alleging they are actually unlicensed gambling markets.

00:14:35.200 A number of states exploring various forms of regulatory action.

00:14:38.960 Against that backdrop, Kalshi now moving to tighten its rules,

00:14:42.200 flagging what it calls newly released safeguards

00:14:44.720 designed to block political candidates from trading on markets

00:14:47.700 tied directly to their own races.

00:14:50.220 The three candidates penalized include

00:14:52.080 independent U.S. Senate candidate from Virginia, Mark Moran,

00:14:55.040 former Republican congressional candidate Ezequiel Enriquez in Texas,

00:14:59.440 and Democratic Minnesota State Senator Matt Kline,

00:15:02.920 who is currently running for Congress.

00:15:05.120 Kline and Enriquez cooperating with the investigation,

00:15:08.140 agreeing to pay fines and accept five-year bans

00:15:10.520 from the platform.

00:15:12.060 Kline confirming in a statement on X

00:15:13.620 that he placed a $50 bet on winning his primary,

00:15:17.340 adding he was unaware it violated exchange rules,

00:15:19.920 writing, quote,

00:15:20.800 this was a mistake and I apologize.

00:15:23.160 Kline, now a co-author of legislation

00:15:24.860 under consideration in Minnesota

00:15:26.460 that would ban prediction markets altogether.

00:15:29.440 Moran, however, taking a different approach, publicly disputing the allegations in a social

00:15:33.700 media video, saying he placed the bets to expose the dangers of prediction markets.

00:15:39.500 You've heard your attention. Now, earlier today, a call she came out and they said

00:15:43.300 that I insider traded on a market about me running for office. Now, I've been waiting for this.

00:15:52.020 And why is that? It's to call attention to something much larger, how elections can be bought

00:15:58.120 and our democracy is up for sale and call sheet is responsible i am doing this not to make money

00:16:07.780 people call me a grifter they call me many things but like in reality like i've only lost money i

00:16:13.300 have not made any money and so it takes someone to be sacrificial lamb essentially to go out there

00:16:19.800 say the things that need to be said that our elections can be bought that the donor class

00:16:23.800 controls, and these prediction markets are only helping to facilitate those with money

00:16:28.100 to continue to buy us off. In a post accompanying the video, Moran arguing the platform can be

00:16:33.840 manipulated by large donors to influence public perception, claiming market movement itself can

00:16:39.280 sway voters when amplified by media coverage. He also denies engaging in insider trading,

00:16:44.620 telling The Washington Post he had already publicly discussed his plans to run before

00:16:48.380 placing any bets. Moran telling The Washington Post he wagered $77 on entering the race,

00:16:54.540 earning a $424 payout, and placed an additional $105 bet on becoming the Democratic nominee,

00:17:01.820 despite planning to ultimately drop out of the Dem primary and run as an independent.

00:17:06.940 He says Calci initially proposed a settlement including an $800 fine, a platform ban,

00:17:12.220 and a required public statement, terms he flatly rejected. Moran telling The Wall Street Journal

00:17:17.220 he has no intention of paying the fine. In a statement, Kalshi indicating serious infractions

00:17:22.160 can be referred to the DOJ or CFTC, but that has not happened in these three cases. It's unclear

00:17:28.760 if Kalshi will move to collect the fine from Moran. And that'll do it for your AM update.

00:17:36.100 Have a great weekend. I'm Megyn Kelly. Join me back here for the MK Show later today,

00:17:40.760 live on SiriusXM's The Megyn Kelly Channel, 111 at noon east, on youtube.com slash Megyn Kelly,

00:17:46.060 and on all podcast platforms.

The Megyn Kelly Show - April 24, 2026

Trump Eases Medical Marijuana Rules, Navy Chief Fired, Gallego Scrutiny Intensifies： AM Update 4⧸24

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