Trump vs. Judge on Alien Enemies Act Escalates, Biden Autopen Questions, Putin Call： AM Update 3⧸18
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Summary
The Trump administration is doubling down on deporting more than 100 Tren de Aragua gang members from Venezuela in spite of a judge s order demanding their return to the United States. Did he know what he was doing? Did he authorize it? President Trump announces President Biden s last minute pardons signed by President Obama are null and void. And Russian President Vladimir Putin and American President Trump are expected to speak later today in hopes of securing a ceasefire in Ukraine. Senator Chuck Schumer cancels a book tour citing alleged security concerns amid reports of progressive groups planning protests of him.
Transcript
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Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Tuesday, March 18th, 2025, and this is your AM
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Update. If a district court judge can be involved in the conduct of a foreign policy,
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under no definition do we have a democracy in this country.
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The Trump administration doubling down on deporting more than 100 Tren de Aragua gang
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members from Venezuela in spite of a judge's order demanding their return to the United States.
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The whole subject of Autopen, did he know what he was doing? Did he authorize it?
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President Trump announcing President Biden's last-minute pardons signed by Autopen are null
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and void. Is that legal? And Russian President Vladimir Putin and American President Trump
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expected to speak later today in hopes of securing a ceasefire in Ukraine.
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Senator Chuck Schumer cancels a book tour citing alleged security concerns amid reports of
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progressive groups planning protests of him. All that and more coming up in just a moment
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A federal judge ordering the Trump administration back into court yesterday following the successful
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deportation of Trenda Aragua gang members under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The DOJ's motion to
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vacate the hearing denied by D.C. District Court Judge James Bosberg. On Saturday, that judge ordering a
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two-week pause on the administration's plans to conduct deportations under the Wartime Act,
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which also applies in case of an invasion, stating any planes already in the air must turn around and
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return to the United States. This order granted in spite of Supreme Court precedent stating that the
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Alien Enemies Act does not allow judicial review of removal orders. Judge Bosberg, demanding answers
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from the Trump organization on Monday as to why, he says, they did not comply with his order.
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The Trump administration contends the planes were already in international territory at the time
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of the order and thus out of the judge's jurisdiction. Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller
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explaining to reporters the administration's position this ruling is a dangerous overreach.
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And if we got into a place in this country where district court judges could direct which general
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on the battlefield is going to be in charge of making which decisions, could direct what
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intelligence we could share. If a district court judge can be involved in the conduct of a foreign
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policy, under no definition do we have a democracy in this country.
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Borders are Tom Homan telling Fox Business the White House complied with the original,
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Well, actually, we did comply with his written order on the five aliens that he didn't want deported,
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and we complied with that. But look, you know, I agree with Caroline Levitt. I don't think I had
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authority to have a plane of terrorists turn around in the middle of international waters and bring
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terrorists back into this country. DOJ lawyers on Monday requesting the D.C. appellate court
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reassign this case to another judge. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt describing some of the crimes the
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They led a multi-state sex trafficking operation involving smuggling women into the United States,
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holding them in stash houses in Louisiana, Florida, New Jersey, Texas, and Virginia,
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and forcing them into prostitution. And they kidnapped and murdered a 33-year-old woman in Texas.
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They sexually and physically assaulted a woman and her daughter in Wisconsin. They conducted a mass
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shooting in Illinois. Tren de Aragua is the same organization responsible for the rapes
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and murders of little Jocelyn Nungare and 22-year-old Laken Riley. Ms. Levitt says the
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government is paying El Salvador about $6 million to house these illegals on our behalf. Critics of
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the administration say invoking the act poses a grave threat to American citizens.
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There are U.S. citizens of Venezuelan descent who are worried that they're going to be targeted,
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wrongly accused of being members of Tren de Aragua, deported without evidence, without a hearing.
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A lot of them are my friends, are my neighbors. They live in Miami. And what he is doing to
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Venezuelans is disgusting. But you know what? You voted for that, you're finding out.
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We have to be prepared for the racial profiling of Latino boys ages 14 to 18 who right now have that
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conversation with your kids because they need to know their rights in the face of what this president
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is doing. The Alien Enemies Act only applies to non-citizens. Even naturalized citizens cannot be
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legally deported under this act. Democrat congressman from Texas Jasmine Crockett telling
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CNN the Alien Enemies Act is antiquated. The government has other ways of deporting terrorist
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gang members, she says. We already have tools that are available to remove undocumented violent people
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from our country. And so the idea that you want to go into a zombie law, it is the fact that we can't
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trust this administration to actually use a scalpel, but instead they love to use a butcher knife on
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things. And so giving them this wide latitude to just kind of go across and just claim that anybody
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is anything is wrong. And so we do have courts, we do have processes, we do have laws, and we should
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just go ahead and use those. Tom Homan responding to that criticism from outside the White House on Monday.
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You say to those who claim you're using a 200-year-old law to circumvent due process?
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An old law? Not as old as the Constitution. We still pay attention to that, don't we?
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Mr. Homan vowing the deportation flights will continue.
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President Trump declaring early Monday morning the pardons signed by Joe Biden's auto pen at the end of
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his presidency are null and void. Mr. Trump writing on Truth Social, quote, Joe Biden did not sign them,
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but more importantly, he did not know anything about them. The necessary pardoning documents
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were not explained to or approved by Biden. President Trump saying the staffers who did
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know about the auto pen signatures may have committed a crime. An auto pen is a mechanical
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device used to replicate the president's signature with a real pen as opposed to a stamp or a digital
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copy. Auto pens have been used by the White House for decades, the earliest models employed by
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Thomas Jefferson. Typically, they're only used for mass communications like Christmas cards
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and more routine documents. President Obama employed the auto pen twice on major pieces of legislation,
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extending the Patriot Act in 2011 and again in 2013 to sign a fiscal bill. Both times the move was met
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with some controversy. The questions surrounding the Biden administration's use of the auto pen
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originally raised last week by the conservative Heritage Foundation. Their investigation finding the
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signatures on President Biden's January 19th pardons for his family members, Dr. Fauci, General Milley,
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the J6 Select Committee, all appear to be identical. Throughout the week, the Heritage Foundation's
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oversight project identifying dozens more of President Biden's identical signatures on official
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White House documents. Given President Biden's now widely recognized cognitive decline, President Trump
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challenged the validity of any auto pen signed documents.
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The whole subject of auto pen, did he know what he was doing? Did he authorize it? Or is this somebody
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in an office, maybe a radical left lunatic, just signing whatever that person was?
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We may use it as an example to send some young person a letter because it's nice, you know,
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we get thousands and thousands of letters. But to sign pardons and all of the things that he signed with
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an auto pen is disgraceful. But I would say that they're not anymore, because I'm sure Biden didn't
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have any idea that it was taking place. And somebody was using an auto pen to sign off and to give
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pardons. The New York Post reporting late last week, two Biden White House staffers suspected a key
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aide may have abused the auto pen privileges. The staff are telling the Post, quote, everyone was
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suspicious of this individual exceeding their authority when claiming to speak for the president.
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There is no clarity on who actually approved what, POTUS, meaning the president, or the aide.
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The Constitution does not require that a pardon be written at all, nor does it contain edicts about
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signatures. If President Trump is challenging whether Mr. Biden agreed to the pardons at all,
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that could lead to a legal dispute. So far, the White House has not announced any official
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challenges to the pardons. President Trump acknowledged to reporters, if his claims go further,
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it would be up to the courts to decide. Coming up, President Trump is set to speak with Russian
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President Vladimir Putin later today, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer cancels a book tour
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citing security concerns amid reports of progressive groups planning protests at them. All that and more
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Later today, President Trump set to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the ongoing
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negotiations toward a ceasefire in Ukraine. In recent weeks, President Trump more open to
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discussing some concessions that will have to come from the Russians. The president providing
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some details on board Air Force One. I'll be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday.
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What sort of concessions will you be seeking to have Putin make to get a deal done?
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Well, I think we'll, you know, be talking about land. It's a lot of land. It's a lot different
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than it was before the wars, you know. And we'll be talking about land. We'll be talking about power of
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lands. That's, you know, that's a big question. But I think we have a lot of it already discussed
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very much by both sides. Ukraine and Russia. We're already talking about that, dividing up
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certain assets. Mr. Putin will reportedly be seeking ironclad guarantees that Ukraine will not
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be allowed to join NATO. Mr. Trump has repeatedly stated that will not happen. No word yet on what
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such guarantees might look like. Russian officials also stating their opposition to NATO observers
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deploying to Ukraine. President Trump has expressed openness to sending French and British forces as
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peacekeepers after the war. President Trump believes those forces, in combination with U.S. economic
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investment in Ukraine, will be more than enough to thwart further Russian aggression. Press Secretary
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Caroline Levitt describing the negotiations as on the 10-yard line. Mr. Trump has recently floated the use
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of sanctions against the Russians if necessary to speed along negotiations.
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President Trump putting Iran on notice. Any further shots fired from Houthi rebels will be considered
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shots fired by Iran. The Houthis are a rebel group in Yemen that have been engaged in a civil war since they
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took over the capital in 2014. Their rallying cry is reportedly death to America, death to Israel, a curse upon
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the Jews, victory to Islam. Hmm. President Trump writing on Truth Social, Iran is, quote,
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dictating every move, giving them the weapons, supplying them with money and highly sophisticated
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military equipment and even so-called intelligence. The president warning Iranian leadership consequences
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of aiding the Houthis will be dire. The group stepping up attacks on ships in the Red Sea, which connects the
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Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean shortly after the October 7th, 2023 attack on Israel. Secretary of State
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Marco Rubio says in that time, the Houthis have attacked U.S. warships 174 times and commercial vessels
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145 times. The group recently threatening to ramp up attacks even more. On Saturday, President Trump ordering
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strikes on the rebel group, the initial wave of strikes taking out more than 30 targets at multiple
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locations. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warning the group their fate is in their own hands.
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This campaign is about freedom of navigation and restoring deterrence. The minute the Houthis say
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we'll stop shooting at your ships, we'll stop shooting at your drones, this campaign will end. But until then,
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it will be unrelenting. The Red Sea is one of the most important global shipping lanes. According to the
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White House, before Houthi attacks, 25,000 merchant ships passed through the Red Sea annually, that number
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declining to about 10,000 thanks to Houthi threats. The alternative route is three times as long, forcing
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ships to travel all the way around Africa, driving up shipping prices and wait times. President Trump
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says the offensive is not just good for America, it's good for the world. Senate Minority Leader Chuck
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Schumer postponing his book tour as activist groups and some Democrat lawmakers condemn his vote to
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keep the government open. Senator Schumer was scheduled to appear in Baltimore, Washington, New York City,
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Philly, and L.A. to promote his new book, Anti-Semitism in America, a warning. A representative
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stating, quote, due to recent security concerns, Senator Schumer's book events are being rescheduled. NBC
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reporting the New York event was supposed to be a conversation between the senator and New York
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Congressman Richie Torres. Mr. Torres openly criticizing Mr. Schumer's decision to advance
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the continuing resolution on the budget, posting on X, quote, bailing out the Republicans without
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extracting anything in return is political malpractice. Specific security threats were not cited, though the
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Soros-backed progressive group Indivisible had planned protests surrounding stops on the tour.
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Indivisible is just one progressive group calling for Mr. Schumer to resign. On Friday, 11 members of
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the Sunrise Movement, a group fighting for radical climate change policies, were arrested outside of
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Senator Schumer's office in Washington. A Change.org petition calling on Democrats to boycott donations
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to Senate Democrats until Mr. Schumer steps down, gathering more than 25,000 signatures. The petition
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reading, quote, Mr. Schumer has been effectively impotent as minority leader, offering no comprehensive
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plan or strategy to combat the efforts by Trump and Elon Musk. Amid the fallout, Senator Schumer's
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longtime legislative director is departing the office. Axios reporting the move's been in the works,
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allegedly, for a number of months. This, as anger toward Mr. Schumer continues unabated amongst the
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team blue rank and file. So was it a fear of threats that led him to cancel the tour or of low
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attendance? That'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megan Kelly. Join me back here for the Megan
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Kelly Show. We're live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at noon east on youtube.com slash Megan Kelly
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