The Megyn Kelly Show - Trump Extends Ceasefire, Democratic Rep Resigns, Feds Probing Missing Scientists： AM Update 4⧸22

00:00:00.000 Good morning, everyone.

00:00:04.040 I'm Emily Jashinsky, host of After Party and the Megyn Kelly Wrap-Up Show on SiriusXM

00:00:08.540 Channel 111.

00:00:09.680 It's Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026, and this is your AM Update.

00:00:14.200 President Trump indefinitely extends America's ceasefire with Iran.

00:00:18.200 This was a very deliberate process to gather information into allegations that were extremely

00:00:25.940 serious and extremely complicated.

00:00:29.040 Democrat Congresswoman Sheila Sherphillis McCormick resigning from the House moments before facing punishment from the Ethics Committee.

00:00:37.160 A California man pleads guilty in a deadly wrongway car crash into a group of sheriff's recruits in a deal that keeps him out of prison.

00:00:45.640 And if there's any connections that lead to nefarious conduct or conspiracy, this FBI will make the appropriate arrest.

00:00:51.940 And the Fed's now investigating the growing list of missing and dead scientists linked to some of America's most consequential national security secrets.

00:01:01.280 All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.

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00:01:59.200 President Trump extending the U.S.'s ceasefire

00:02:01.920 with Iran indefinitely yesterday afternoon,

00:02:04.420 just hours before it was set to expire.

00:02:06.960 The announcement, a reversal

00:02:08.160 from an early morning CNBC interview

00:02:10.240 in which the president said

00:02:11.440 he did not want to extend the deadline

00:02:13.740 and expected to resume the bombing campaign.

00:02:16.800 Mr. Trump instead writing the following on Truth Social, quote,

00:02:20.180 We have been asked to hold our attack on the country of Iran until such time as their leaders

00:02:25.880 and representatives can come up with a unified proposal. I have therefore directed our military 1.00

00:02:31.120 to continue the blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will

00:02:36.060 therefore extend the ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted and discussions

00:02:41.540 are concluded one way or the other. The U.S. military blockade appearing to be a sticking

00:02:47.220 point for the Iranians in returning to the table. Yesterday afternoon, Iranian ambassador to the UN,

00:02:53.300 Amir Saeed Aravani, saying when the blockade ends, quote, I think the next round of the

00:02:58.260 negotiations will take place in Islamabad. Saeed referred to the blockade as a violation of the

00:03:04.480 ceasefire. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi, in a social media post, calling the blockade an

00:03:10.800 act of war, adding, quote, Iran knows how to neutralize restrictions, how to defend its

00:03:16.280 interests, and how to resist bullying. The Treasury Department yesterday afternoon

00:03:20.940 announcing a new set of economic sanctions against companies working with Iran on drone

00:03:26.220 and missile development. Democrat Congresswoman Sheila Sheffillis-McCormick of Florida resigning

00:03:32.780 from the House yesterday, just minutes before a high-stakes ethics committee hearing to

00:03:37.600 determined potential punishment after the panel found she had committed a series of ethics

00:03:42.280 violations. The findings stem from allegations that Sherphillis McCormick improperly kept a

00:03:47.720 $5 million overpayment in COVID relief funds sent to her family's health care company and funneled

00:03:54.260 some of that money into her campaign. The ethics committee in March substantiating 25 of 27 charges,

00:04:01.000 including campaign finance violations, false financial disclosures, and misuse of official

00:04:06.460 funds. According to CNN, over the course of its investigation, the panel making 30 requests for

00:04:12.640 information, using 59 subpoenas, conducting 28 interviews, and reviewing more than 33,000 pages

00:04:19.640 of records. Sherphillis McCormick releasing a statement online calling the ethics committee's

00:04:24.220 process an unfair witch hunt. Quote, rather than play these political games, I choose to step away

00:04:30.160 so that I can devote my time to fighting for my neighbors in Florida's 20th district. The

00:04:35.700 Congresswoman was also facing a push from Republican Congressman Greg Stubbe of Florida

00:04:40.020 to force a vote on her expulsion later this week. Expulsion votes are rare in Congress,

00:04:46.220 requiring a two-thirds majority. But in recent weeks, support for her removal had been growing

00:04:51.160 among Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who told Fox News yesterday,

00:04:56.000 quote, let's just get this over with. Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest,

00:05:00.080 a Republican from Mississippi, shortly after the announcement.

00:05:03.480 There will not be a sanctions hearing. This was not a rush to judgment, as some would claim,

00:05:10.460 that this was a very deliberate process to gather information into allegations that were

00:05:18.600 extremely serious and extremely complicated. There were multiple witnesses that were spoken to

00:05:26.700 over a two-year period. There were tens of thousands of documents that were subpoenaed,

00:05:32.480 gathered, and reviewed. And throughout this process, Ms. McCormick, who has now resigned

00:05:39.200 from Congress, had multiple ample opportunities to present exculpatory evidence to the committee

00:05:46.060 and to address the committee both by way of a voluntary statement and then also to comply

00:05:53.340 with the subpoena that was issued in this case.

00:05:56.800 The Congresswoman has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

00:06:00.680 Trouble not yet over for Shafellis McCormick.

00:06:03.360 In a separate case, she was indicted in November on charges tied to that same $5 million overpayment.

00:06:09.900 Federal prosecutors allege she and several associates stole COVID relief funds

00:06:14.820 and laundered the money into her 2021 congressional campaign.

00:06:18.760 She faces up to 53 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

00:06:22.500 with trials set for early 2027.

00:06:25.080 Here, the congresswoman reacting to that indictment last November.

00:06:28.800 Thoughts on the indictment, please.

00:06:30.380 Well, it's an unjust indictment, and it seems like these intimidation tactics have been pervasive.

00:06:34.960 We spent all week seeing different members getting censured,

00:06:37.860 all in hopes of intimidating and kind of distracting from the Epstein files. 0.66

00:06:42.040 And I look forward to my day in court so I can prove myself and actually state the truth.

00:06:46.120 But if this is what Congress is becoming, where they're always trying to intimidate you,

00:06:49.100 scare tactics, especially attacking minorities, black and brown people, then we're going to have

00:06:53.700 to keep fighting for the district. She becomes the third lawmaker to resign in the past week

00:06:58.980 after Congressman Eric Swalwell, a Democrat, and Tony Gonzalez, a Republican, stepped down

00:07:04.220 under the threat of expulsion over separate sexual misconduct allegations.

00:07:10.220 Coming up, a California man pleading guilty in a deadly wrong way crash that plowed into a group

00:07:16.180 of sheriff's recruits now set to avoid prison time and federal agencies launching a coordinated

00:07:21.900 review into a series of deaths and disappearances involving scientists tied to sensitive nuclear and

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00:08:53.040 A California man pleading guilty Monday in connection with a deadly November 2022

00:08:57.940 wrong way crash that struck a group of LA County Sheriff's recruits and is expected to receive

00:09:03.340 no jail time. Then-22-year-old Nicholas Gutierrez falling asleep at the wheel while driving to work

00:09:09.720 early in the morning. Prosecutors say his car crossed into oncoming traffic, plowing head-on

00:09:15.400 into a group of 76 recruits on a training run. 27-year-old Alejandro Martinez dying months later

00:09:22.180 from his injuries, and more than two dozen recruits injured in the crash, 10 sustaining

00:09:26.860 serious injuries. At the time, Gutierrez booked on suspicions of attempted murder of a police

00:09:32.460 officer. During that process, he was brought to a hospital for medical examination, a toxicology

00:09:38.300 screen coming back clean, according to Gutierrez's attorney. Later in the day, officers were leasing

00:09:43.740 Gutierrez without bail, citing interviews with co-workers and neighbors who said they did not

00:09:49.040 believe the crash was intentional. Days later, he spoke to NBC4 about the accident. What would you

00:09:54.780 want to say to the families or those recruits that you saw out there that day? I didn't intentionally

00:10:02.020 do it. I wish it never happened. I feel bad it happened. Gutierrez's attorney saying her client

00:10:09.100 has multiple family members in California law enforcement, including his father, a retired

00:10:13.700 corrections officer, and quote, harbors absolutely no animosity toward law enforcement. Gutierrez

00:10:19.260 agreeing to plead guilty on one count of felony vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and

00:10:24.700 nine felony counts of reckless driving in exchange for a suspended eight-year sentence and five years

00:10:30.500 of probation. He is barred from driving for five years. L.A. County District Attorney Nathan

00:10:35.740 Hockman releasing a statement, quote, today's plea and sentence cannot undo the devastation

00:10:41.000 of that day, nor will it bring back the life that was lost. But it does mark a step toward

00:10:45.980 justice and a measure of closure for the victims and their families whose lives have been forever

00:10:50.500 changed. The sentencing is set for May 8th. Victims and families will be allowed to address

00:10:55.560 the court. We spoke with the MK True Crime Show host, Phil Holloway, who says this outcome is

00:11:01.100 indefensible. This is completely unacceptable in my view. It's unacceptable that Nicholas Gutierrez

00:11:07.400 walks free completely after his criminal negligence killed LASD recruit Alejandro Martinez. And it

00:11:15.920 devastated all the other lives too, by the way, and the families of those others that were injured.

00:11:20.180 An eight-year suspended sentence is not one that speaks to justice, and to be frank, our law enforcement officers throughout the nation, including the future law enforcement officers that might consider recruit training, deserve better than this type of sentencing.

00:11:37.540 We asked Holloway whether prosecutors are putting too much weight on the lack of intent here.

00:11:42.400 If the prosecutor is hanging his or her hat on the fact that this was not intentional, then that's absolutely ridiculous because if it were intentional, it would, of course, be a murder charge.

00:11:56.520 But criminal negligence, by definition, is a case that does not involve criminal intent, but it is inappropriate to sentence someone to straight probation when their criminal negligence causes the death of another person.

00:12:12.400 Holloway says this result is not typical.

00:12:15.460 In my professional career, both as a prosecutor and as defense counsel,

00:12:19.460 I've been involved in many cases involving car crashes that are based on criminal negligence.

00:12:26.160 And almost uniformly, there's some type of prison sentence involved if there's serious injury,

00:12:32.780 and of course, absolutely, if there's a death involved.

00:12:37.020 The FBI, Department of Energy, and Department of Defense now jointly investigating

00:12:41.620 a troubling series of cases involving top scientists who have died or gone missing in

00:12:46.340 recent years. At least 11 of these individuals have died or disappeared since 2022. Most of

00:12:52.400 them connected to nuclear research, national laboratories, or advanced space and propulsion

00:12:57.760 work. Some authorities cautioning the cases are not necessarily linked, pointing to a range of

00:13:03.080 known circumstances, including suicide or violent crime. One former energy department official

00:13:08.140 telling CBS, quote, people do just die. Strokes, herd disease, suicide, mugging, it happens.

00:13:14.420 However, several cases have drawn closer scrutiny due to overlapping details involving individuals

00:13:19.560 tied to nuclear or advanced weapons research, many of them based in New Mexico, and in multiple

00:13:25.840 instances last seen leaving their homes on foot with little more than a handgun. 48-year-old

00:13:31.460 Steven Garcia, a contractor working at a facility producing components for nuclear weapons,

00:13:36.320 vanishing in August of last year after leaving his Albuquerque home on foot.

00:13:41.180 Anthony Chavez and Melissa Casillas both connected to Los Alamos National Laboratory,

00:13:46.680 a nuclear research facility, also disappearing last year under similar circumstances,

00:13:51.940 each last seen walking away from their homes.

00:13:54.980 And earlier this year, retired Air Force Major General William Neal McCaslin,

00:13:59.400 a former head of the Air Force Research Laboratory, disappearing from his Albuquerque home,

00:14:04.120 reportedly also leaving with only a handgun.

00:14:07.860 These cases and more are drawing increasing public concern

00:14:10.600 over the last several months, with President Trump weighing in last week.

00:14:15.240 Well, I hope it's random, but we're going to know in the next week and a half.

00:14:19.420 I just left a meeting on that subject, so pretty serious stuff.

00:14:23.080 But we're going to be not, hopefully, I don't know, coincidence,

00:14:27.200 whatever you want to call it, but some of them were very important people,

00:14:31.360 and we're going to look at it over the next short time.

00:14:34.120 The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration confirming to CBS News it is aware of the reports and is reviewing cases involving personnel across its labs and facilities.

00:14:45.100 FBI Director Kash Patel Sunday on Fox detailing the investigation.

00:14:49.620 The FBI is going to be spearheading the effort collectively with our partners at the Department of Energy and the Department of War.

00:14:56.220 These missing and killed scientists and former professional members of the Department of Energy vary in wide range.

00:15:05.240 And we're working, most importantly, with our state and local partners who have the jurisdiction on each of these cases,

00:15:10.220 whether they be a homicide or a missing persons case, they have the evidence.

00:15:14.220 What we're going to do is collectively pull it all into one place,

00:15:17.200 and then we're going to look for connections, like you said, on whether there are connections to classified access,

00:15:21.860 access to classified information and or foreign actors.

00:15:24.420 and then we will produce that information to the White House and the world because it's of such

00:15:29.100 great public importance. And if there's any connections that lead to nefarious conduct

00:15:33.020 or conspiracy, this FBI will make the appropriate arrest. In a parallel effort, House Oversight

00:15:38.680 Chairman James Comer launching his own inquiry. Here, the chairman Monday on Fox News elaborating

00:15:44.360 on his efforts. One dead or missing scientist, that's a mystery. Two might be a coincidence,

00:15:50.980 but 11? How do you take that? Well, it does appear that there's a high possibility that

00:15:57.660 something sinister is taking place here. This has been going on, obviously, for the last three

00:16:04.460 years. So what I found in three and a half years as chairman of the House Oversight Committee is

00:16:10.280 sometimes government agencies don't do a good job of sharing information on situations like this.

00:16:15.440 So we've asked all those agencies, the Department of Energy, NASA, the Department of War, to all share information with us so that we can see if we can put it together and find any missing links to try to solve what's going on here.

00:16:29.940 Because it's very unlikely that this is a coincidence.

00:16:32.760 So Congress is very concerned about this.

00:16:35.320 Our committee is making this one of our priorities now because we view this as a national security threat.

00:16:42.120 For now, the mystery continues.

00:16:45.440 that'll do it for your am update i'm emily joshinsky host of after party catch the megan

00:16:51.380 kelly show live on sirius xm's the megan kelly channel 111 at noon east on youtube.com

00:16:56.620 slash megan kelly and all podcast platforms

The Megyn Kelly Show - April 22, 2026

Trump Extends Ceasefire, Democratic Rep Resigns, Feds Probing Missing Scientists： AM Update 4⧸22

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