The Megyn Kelly Show - October 21, 2025


Trump's National Guard Victory, Real Story Behind Drug Boat Strikes, KJP on Tour： AM Update 10⧸21


Episode Stats

Length

19 minutes

Words per Minute

161.0596

Word Count

3,190

Sentence Count

230

Misogynist Sentences

7

Hate Speech Sentences

8


Summary

A major win for the Trump administration as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals allows the National Guard to deploy to Portland. President Trump carries out another strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs to the United States. And Corrine Jean-Pierre s book tour is off to a ridiculous start. All that and more coming up in a moment on Your AM Update.


Transcript

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00:00:30.000 Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Tuesday, October 21st, 2025, and this is your
00:00:38.720 AM Update. A major win for the Trump administration as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals allows the
00:00:44.960 National Guard to deploy to Portland. We'll have so much critical mineral and rare earths that you
00:00:51.480 won't know what to do with them. President Trump and the Australian Prime Minister agreeing to a
00:00:56.300 framework deal aimed at increasing cooperation in producing rare earth minerals.
00:01:01.860 You get in line and you start to crack down on some of these foreign terrorist organizations
00:01:07.140 and these narco-terrorists. And if you don't, then we will.
00:01:10.860 President Trump carries out another strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs to the United States.
00:01:16.140 But what's the end game here? And Corrine Jean-Pierre's book tour is off to a ridiculous
00:01:22.220 start. All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.
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00:02:27.980 The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals delivering a major victory to the Trump administration on Monday,
00:02:33.860 permitting National Guard troops to be deployed to Portland, Oregon to protect immigration operations,
00:02:39.940 as predicted by AM Update. After more than three months of turmoil and attacks,
00:02:45.060 at an ICE facility in Portland, the Department of Homeland Security on September 26th,
00:02:50.560 requesting from the Department of War, quote, immediate and sustained assistance to safeguard
00:02:55.780 federal personnel, facilities, and operations in the state of Oregon. The next day, President Trump
00:03:01.420 writing on Truth Social that he had directed War Secretary Pete Hegseth, quote, to provide all
00:03:07.380 necessary troops to protect war-ravaged Portland. Secretary Hegseth on September 28th, calling up 200 members,
00:03:14.800 of the Oregon National Guard into federal service, quote, immediately for a period of 60 days.
00:03:21.140 The city of Portland and the state of Oregon suing, and despite the case being assigned to the
00:03:26.220 Trump-appointed judge, Karen Immergut, plaintiffs won a temporary restraining order, or TRO,
00:03:33.140 prohibiting the federalization and deployment of members of the Oregon National Guard. In response,
00:03:39.140 the Trump administration capitalizing on the words, Oregon National Guard, instead sending 100 members
00:03:46.380 of the already federalized California National Guard to Portland, with plans to send more, possibly
00:03:52.640 from Texas and other states. Judge Immergut then issuing a second TRO, stopping Trump from deploying
00:03:59.460 any federalized members of the National Guard to Oregon. Judge Immergut ruling that Trump likely
00:04:05.260 exceeded both his statutory and constitutional authority in sending the Guard to Portland,
00:04:10.920 the Trump administration only appealing the first TRO, explaining that it believed Judge Immergut
00:04:16.460 would be required to dissolve both of them if the Trump administration prevailed, since they relied
00:04:21.980 on the same legal reasoning. By a two-to-one vote, the court siding with Trump's Department of Justice
00:04:28.040 and issuing a stay on Judge Immergut's ruling, from the majority opinion. Quote,
00:04:34.060 We conclude that it is likely that the president lawfully exercised his statutory authority,
00:04:39.320 which authorizes the federalization of the National Guard when the president is unable,
00:04:44.500 with the regular forces, to execute the laws of the United States. The evidence the president relied
00:04:49.880 on reflects a colorable assessment of the facts and law within a range of honest judgment.
00:04:55.720 The two judges in the majority, Judges Bridget Bade and Ryan Nelson, both appointed by Donald Trump
00:05:02.600 in Trump 1.0. Though the Ninth Circuit has been traditionally dominated by liberal judges,
00:05:08.880 thanks to Trump 1.0, it is now more balanced with 16 Democrat-appointed judges and 13 Republican
00:05:15.340 appointees, thus increasing Mr. Trump's chances of getting a fair hearing before this court.
00:05:20.840 Judge Susan Graber, a President Bill Clinton nominee, issuing a blistering dissent. Quote,
00:05:27.220 Today's decision is not merely absurd, it erodes core constitutional principles,
00:05:32.320 including sovereign states' control over their states' militias and the people's First Amendment
00:05:36.900 rights to assemble and to object to the government's policies and actions.
00:05:41.720 Lawyers for Oregon and Portland immediately asking for an on-bank rehearing, another appeal before
00:05:48.060 the Ninth Circuit's chief judge and 10 randomly selected judges. An unnamed judge on the Ninth
00:05:53.960 Circuit also calling on the court to vote on whether to hold an on-bank hearing. Lawyers on both sides
00:05:59.140 have until midnight Wednesday to file arguments on whether there should be such a rehearing. Regardless,
00:06:04.980 Monday's decision is unlikely to be the last word on this issue. Judge Immergut has scheduled a trial
00:06:10.140 on the full case on October 29th. President Trump on Monday meeting with Australian Prime Minister
00:06:17.920 Anthony Albanese at the White House, signing an agreement to increase production and refinement of
00:06:23.720 rare-earth minerals, which are key components for producing electronics and advanced technologies.
00:06:29.880 China currently controls the vast majority of the world's extraction and refinement capabilities,
00:06:34.480 yesterday's meeting coming just shy of President Trump's November 1st deadline to cement a new
00:06:40.160 trade deal with China. President Trump routinely emphasizing the importance of rare-earth mineral
00:06:45.840 production to U.S. national security. The infamous Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President
00:06:52.120 Volodymyr Zelensky in February was supposed to end with a signed rare-earth agreement between the U.S.
00:06:57.700 and Ukraine, that deal ultimately not signed until late April of this year. Here, Mr. Trump amplifies the
00:07:04.440 goal of flooding the market with rare-earth minerals. We are discussing critical minerals
00:07:10.620 and rare-earths, and we're going to be signing an agreement that we work together very much on
00:07:14.880 rare-earths, critical minerals, and lots of other things. In about a year from now, we'll have so much
00:07:20.540 critical mineral and rare-earths that you won't know what to do with them. They'll be worth about $2.
00:07:26.040 The partnership underscoring a broader push to loosen China's grip on the global supply chain.
00:07:31.100 President Trump is planning to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month at the
00:07:35.700 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in South Korea. On a somewhat lighter note, one reporter
00:07:41.760 yesterday asking President Trump about disparaging comments made by the Australian ambassador to the
00:07:47.780 U.S., Kevin Rudd. Mr. Rudd in the past called Mr. Trump, quote, the most destructive president in
00:07:53.880 history, a, quote, traitor to the West, and, quote, a village idiot. The ambassador has previously
00:08:00.380 apologized for the comments, President Trump responding to the question, apparently unaware
00:08:05.700 the ambassador was seated across the table.
00:08:07.880 Even things the ambassador said about you in the past, the Australian ambassador?
00:08:12.120 I don't know anything about him. I mean, if he said bad, then maybe he'll like to apologize.
00:08:16.780 I really don't know, uh, did an ambassador say something bad about him? Don't, don't tell me.
00:08:22.600 Where is he? Is he still working for you?
00:08:24.380 Yeah, yeah.
00:08:27.380 You said bad?
00:08:28.880 Before I took this position, Mr. President Biden.
00:08:30.860 I don't like you either.
00:08:32.880 I don't, and I, and I probably never will.
00:08:35.080 So, funniest president ever.
00:08:38.820 Coming up, former acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf weighs in on speculation that
00:08:44.480 the Trump administration is considering and possibly pushing for regime change in Venezuela.
00:08:50.500 And former White House Press Secretary Corrine Jean-Pierre not ready to ditch her old bad habits.
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00:10:07.320 On Sunday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announcing another U.S. strike on a vessel allegedly carrying drugs from South America to the U.S.
00:10:19.720 Secretary Hegseth posting to X, quote,
00:10:21.520 The vessel was known by our intel to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known narco-trafficking route, and was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics.
00:10:33.360 Hegseth saying the vessel was affiliated with a Colombian guerrilla group known as ELN, a designated terrorist organization, and was operating in the U.S. Southern Command's area of responsibility.
00:10:45.220 This announcement marking the seventh known strike in recent weeks, killing more than 30 alleged drug smugglers, most of the destroyed vessels originating from Venezuela.
00:10:55.980 We spoke to former acting Secretary of Homeland Security under the first Trump administration, Chad Wolf, about President Trump's new approach to combating cartels.
00:11:06.740 He's indicated we're essentially at war with these narco-terrorists.
00:11:10.580 So I think that's the approach that they're sending.
00:11:13.360 So you ask the question, well, why don't we arrest them?
00:11:16.480 When you're at war with folks, you're not sending in law enforcement individuals to arrest folks, right?
00:11:22.360 You're taking a different approach.
00:11:23.740 And I think that's what the Trump administration is trying to send a signal in doing that.
00:11:28.360 And part of this is President Trump and his team clearly wants to send a signal to others in the region that if you continue this type of action, you continue to smuggle illicit narcotics into the United States, the same actions could fall on you as well.
00:11:42.380 White House officials posting videos online showing these seemingly unsuspecting vessels in question zipping across the sea when all of a sudden the screen flashes and moments later, what's left is a plume of smoke and scattered wreckage.
00:11:56.120 Some lawmakers expressing concern over the strikes, U.S. senators from Arizona, Mark Kelly, a Democrat, and Rand Paul from Kentucky, a Republican, saying the administration is overstepping its authority.
00:12:08.720 Wolf disagrees.
00:12:09.880 The president and his team, and they've alerted Congress to this fact as well, you know, they're going to take that threat off of the playing board.
00:12:18.400 You know, they're doing this, obviously, in international waters, so they have the legal right to do this as well.
00:12:23.680 But, again, I think the Trump team's taking a look at that as well.
00:12:27.640 I think it's important that, you know, the cartels or these narco-traffickers, however you want to refer to them, they're not common criminals.
00:12:35.640 These are, in some cases, sophisticated, multinational organizations, billion-dollar operations.
00:12:43.240 You can't just arrest your way out of it.
00:12:45.260 You've got to take action.
00:12:46.340 In addition to the strikes against alleged Venezuelan drug boats, President Trump confirming last week that his administration has authorized CIA action in Venezuela.
00:12:56.820 Ruled by authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela has long been at odds with the U.S.
00:13:02.420 Secretary of State Marco Rubio regularly asserting that Washington does not recognize Maduro as the country's legitimate president.
00:13:10.220 Chad Wolf again here.
00:13:11.280 The Venezuelan people picked another leader, but yet Maduro is still holding power.
00:13:16.980 And so, you know, you've got a couple of things going on there.
00:13:19.640 You've got Maduro, who is not, in the United States, the rightful leader of the Venezuelan people.
00:13:25.600 At the same time, you've got a Venezuelan economy and country that is failing if it's not failed already.
00:13:32.420 And so you've got the Chinese.
00:13:34.900 You've got the Iranians operating out of Venezuela.
00:13:37.040 You've got a whole host of things that are going on in Venezuela that the United States is looking at.
00:13:42.740 President Trump and his team are looking at and say, we don't like any of it.
00:13:45.720 They're taking action because they don't believe that, you know, the individual Maduro in this case is the is a rightful leader of the Venezuelan people.
00:13:53.880 These moves fueling speculation among some that the administration could be laying the groundwork for regime change.
00:14:01.080 Wolf has his doubts.
00:14:02.920 I think this is a pressure campaign more than anything else right now.
00:14:05.820 I think the Trump team wants to inflict maximum pressure to have Maduro either leave power if he so chooses or somehow, you know, destabilizes and that the people decide to take actions in their hands.
00:14:20.740 When you have someone like Maduro who leads through intimidation, fear, he's got the military and others.
00:14:27.340 And the question becomes, how long do you allow this to operate in your backyard, particularly as he exports terror, as he exports various drugs, elicit narcotics to the United States?
00:14:38.500 The president is sending a very clear signal not only to Maduro, but to others in the region.
00:14:44.360 Either you get in line and you start to crack down on some of these foreign terrorist organizations and these narco terrorists.
00:14:51.160 And if you don't, then we will.
00:14:55.520 Former Biden White House Press Secretary, Karee Jean-Pierre, the first black queer female press secretary ever.
00:15:03.000 She would want you to know that.
00:15:04.580 Joining the Bulwark podcast with host Tim Miller yesterday, promoting her new book, Independent, in which Jean-Pierre explains why she's abandoning the Democratic Party after more than two decades.
00:15:17.020 As a black woman who was obviously part of the Democratic Party, and I'm speaking for myself here, and again, I'm trying to start a conversation, but black women have been the backbone of the Democratic Party.
00:15:31.100 Black women have been on the front lines of the Democratic Party.
00:15:34.660 And what I have seen over and over again is that for the most part, in large part, we are left out of the process or we are forgotten.
00:15:44.920 And I feel like groups who have stood by the party leadership get forgotten and are not included.
00:15:52.560 I want them to work for my vote.
00:15:55.220 I want to actually stand outside of the two party lines and speak up and push from where I am.
00:16:01.940 The system should not be about parties.
00:16:03.800 It should be about people, people power.
00:16:06.840 Dems leave black women out of the process.
00:16:09.280 That will come as news to Kamala Harris, Joe Biden's vice president and the most recent Democrat nominee for president.
00:16:16.540 Also, while Jean-Pierre says she wants Democrats to work for her vote, she also said on CBS yesterday she could not vote for a Republican.
00:16:25.160 What's she thinking?
00:16:26.080 Green Party?
00:16:27.380 Throughout the interview, Karine Jean-Pierre casting blame on Democrats, accusing them of ignoring the voices of millions of people and throwing marginalized communities under the bus.
00:16:37.420 Which actually is true.
00:16:39.580 However, her burst of honesty was fleeting.
00:16:42.180 Blink and you'd miss it.
00:16:43.440 Here she is arguing that President Biden regularly appeared publicly while president and quite frequently dealt with the press and the people.
00:16:52.320 We did have legislative wins.
00:16:54.640 Sure, but he didn't talk about them that well, though.
00:16:56.980 He couldn't talk about them.
00:16:57.860 He wasn't campaigning that many years.
00:16:59.440 Wait, first of all, first of all, he did talk about them.
00:17:02.120 Whether it broke through or not, he did, Tim.
00:17:06.160 He did talk about.
00:17:07.360 I mean, he talked way less to the press than Donald Trump does.
00:17:10.860 Way less.
00:17:11.260 And he wasn't out there at all.
00:17:12.980 He wasn't good off the cuff.
00:17:14.380 He wasn't doing press conferences.
00:17:15.880 Let's just be real.
00:17:16.820 Like, he didn't do paid events.
00:17:19.040 That's not true.
00:17:20.140 Tim, you're conflating all of it.
00:17:21.880 That's what you're doing.
00:17:22.880 No, first you're telling me he didn't talk well about it.
00:17:25.360 Then you're telling me he didn't talk at all.
00:17:27.240 He didn't do either.
00:17:28.040 He didn't talk very often.
00:17:29.100 I know when he did, it wasn't very good.
00:17:30.700 He sounded very old.
00:17:31.460 Maybe you weren't paying attention to what we were doing at the White House.
00:17:34.260 I paid attention.
00:17:35.000 I'm with you on the policies.
00:17:36.520 I'm talking about his performance.
00:17:38.020 The president spoke to the American people a couple times a week.
00:17:43.800 He traveled and did domestic travel and talked directly to the American people.
00:17:50.240 He traveled.
00:17:51.340 Sure, Jan.
00:17:51.920 The truth is that by 2024, Axios was reporting that Joe Biden had held fewer press conferences
00:17:58.420 and media interviews than any of the last seven presidents.
00:18:02.720 Not surprising since he only worked 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with aides saying they couldn't schedule
00:18:07.320 him on the weekends, mornings, or in the evenings.
00:18:10.300 Contrast that with Donald J. Trump, who can seem literally inhuman in his appetite for work
00:18:16.540 and for communicating with the press and the people.
00:18:19.280 Listen to the Associated Press's White House reporter eight months ago describing it here.
00:18:24.280 One of the questions we get the most as White House reporters is, what is the difference
00:18:28.620 between covering President Trump and President Biden?
00:18:31.300 One of the first and most obvious changes is how often President Trump speaks to the media.
00:18:36.260 We're hearing from him several times a day sometimes.
00:18:39.060 For example, on Friday, he spoke to the press when he left the White House to fly to North
00:18:42.940 Carolina.
00:18:43.640 He spoke to the press when he landed in North Carolina.
00:18:45.700 He spoke to the press two more times in North Carolina.
00:18:48.680 And then again, when he was in California, visiting a wildfire site out there.
00:18:53.680 This is a type of pace that we're coming to expect from President Trump.
00:19:00.380 And that'll do it for your AM Update.
00:19:02.200 I'm Megan Kelly.
00:19:03.120 Join me back here for The Megan Kelly Show, live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at noon east,
00:19:07.660 on YouTube.com slash Megan Kelly, and on all podcast platforms.
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