The Megyn Kelly Show - August 18, 2026


UK PM Duped by Wiles Impersonator, Clancy Defense Begins, Lifeguard Honored at WH： AM Update 8⧸18

Topics
lifeguard rescue at White House
Hosted by
Megyn Kelly
Mentioned
Trump Nathaniel Rye Kristen Holmes Lindsay Clancy Ryder Williams E. Jean Carroll Kevin Reddington Andy Burnham Susie Wiles John Ossoff Kim Jong-un Patrick Michael Volfovich William Sullivan Armra Cholestrum Paula Musgrove Callan Clancy Allison Osga Natalie Harp Politico and 3 more
Jason Arday Found Dead, Mangione Pleads Guilty in Federal Case, USS Lincoln Relief： AM Update 8⧸17 Penn State Cocaine Ring Busted, Disney Sues Trump's FCC, Clancy Trial Day 15： AM Update 8⧸19

Episode Stats


Length

18 minutes

Words per minute

153.67

Word count

2,855

Sentence count

161

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Toxicity

1

sentences flagged


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Tuesday, August 18th, 2026, and this is your
00:00:08.400 AM Update. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham reportedly exchanging messages with someone
00:00:13.820 impersonating White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
00:00:17.920 What did she tell you? 0.99
00:00:19.200 She told us that she had thoughts of harming the children.
00:00:23.120 The prosecution resting its case in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial, as the defense begins
00:00:28.260 presenting evidence about her mental state before the killings.
00:00:32.040 The U.S. Supreme Court rejecting President Trump's final effort
00:00:35.260 to overturn the $5 million verdict awarded to E. Jean Carroll.
00:00:40.080 Both of you people have to be very proud.
00:00:42.040 The whole group is proud.
00:00:43.480 Teen lifeguard Ryder Williams honored at the White House
00:00:46.640 alongside the 10-year-old boy he rescued from the violent California surf.
00:00:51.660 All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.
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00:02:03.120 New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham reportedly exchanging messages with someone he believed
00:02:08.840 was White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles before becoming suspicious that he was communicating
00:02:14.300 with an impersonator. Politico reporting four officials confirmed the exchange with
00:02:19.460 One person briefed on the communications, saying Burnham exchanged, quote,
00:02:23.480 a few messages with the person and that the messages were, quote, of no significance.
00:02:29.000 It is unclear what exactly they discussed or when Burnham first began communicating with the person.
00:02:34.700 The situation reportedly concerning British officials enough that the UK embassy in Washington
00:02:39.340 raised it with the White House. Downing Street declining to comment, citing national security.
00:02:45.760 Wiles reportedly telling associates, then, that contacts from her personal cell phone
00:02:50.280 had been hacked, potentially giving the impersonator access to private numbers
00:02:55.140 belonging to influential people. However, the White House telling Politico the incident had
00:02:59.980 nothing to do with the chief of staff's devices being hacked. President Trump asked about the
00:03:05.020 report yesterday during an unrelated Oval Office event, though he did not appear familiar with the
00:03:10.160 story. The incident comes roughly a year after a separate impersonation campaign involving Wiles.
00:03:17.500 The Wall Street Journal reporting at the time that senators, governors, and prominent business
00:03:21.740 executives had received calls and text messages from someone pretending to be the White House
00:03:26.420 chief of staff, prompting an investigation by the FBI and White House. It is unclear whether
00:03:32.540 that investigation ever identified who was behind the impersonation campaign and whether the person
00:03:38.320 who reportedly contacted Burnham, is connected. The prosecution resting its case yesterday in
00:03:45.940 the murder trial of Massachusetts' mother, Lindsay Clancy, as the trial enters its fourth
00:03:51.300 week of testimony. Prosecutors calling roughly 70 witnesses over their case before the defense
00:03:57.280 beginning to present its own evidence yesterday afternoon. Five-year-old Cora, three-year-old
00:04:03.400 Dawson and eight-month-old Callan Clancy were killed inside their family's home in Massachusetts
00:04:08.900 on January 24, 2023. Clancy not disputing that she killed her children before attempting to
00:04:15.940 take her own life, suffering spinal injuries that left her paralyzed from the waist down.
00:04:21.520 Clancy pleading not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, with her attorneys arguing
00:04:26.000 she should not be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from severe mental
00:04:30.600 illness, including what they say was postpartum psychosis. Prosecutors arguing Clancy understood
00:04:37.320 what she was doing and acted intentionally, contending she sent her husband Patrick to
00:04:42.260 pick up takeout and medicine before killing the children. Under Massachusetts law, prosecutors
00:04:48.180 must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Clancy was criminally responsible at the time.
00:04:53.800 After the Commonwealth rested, defense attorney Kevin Reddington, asking the judge for a required
00:04:58.860 finding of not guilty or, alternatively, to reduce the charges from first-degree to second-degree
00:05:04.840 murder. Judge William Sullivan denying the motion for now, clearing the way for the defense to begin
00:05:10.240 calling witnesses. Clancy's sister, Allison Osga, among the first defense witnesses, describing a
00:05:16.840 decline in her sister's mental health in the months before the killings. Osga testifying that by
00:05:22.120 December, she knew Clancy was experiencing suicidal thoughts and receiving psychiatric
00:05:26.940 treatment, recalling her sister feeling numb and hopeless. Osga saying Clancy initially appeared to
00:05:33.080 improve after leaving McLean Hospital, where she had sought mental health treatment, but still
00:05:38.080 seemed to be struggling when Osga saw her roughly two weeks before the children were killed.
00:05:43.240 On cross-examination, Osga telling prosecutors she is a social worker and mandated reporter,
00:05:49.360 meaning she is legally required to report suspected child abuse or neglect,
00:05:53.740 saying she never believed the children were in danger.
00:05:56.940 Clancy's mother, Paula Musgrove, then taking the stand, describing growing concern over changes
00:06:02.320 she saw in her daughter beginning in the fall of 2022. Musgrove recalling an October message
00:06:08.600 from Clancy, telling her, quote, I'm really sick, something is wrong, prompting Musgrove to travel
00:06:14.520 from Connecticut to stay with the family. Musgrove testifying Clancy continued struggling
00:06:19.380 through November and December, losing weight, becoming increasingly fearful, and repeatedly
00:06:24.640 telling her mother she did not feel like herself. Musgrove then recalling a conversation in December
00:06:30.360 when Clancy revealed something even more concerning. I know that this is difficult
00:06:35.840 in December of 2022. Do you recall the time that you were in the kitchen with Lindsay and Patrick
00:06:44.920 and she made a statement about her state of mind to her husband, Pat, and you were there?
00:06:51.400 Yes.
00:06:52.460 I know it's difficult.
00:06:54.020 Just tell us what you remember.
00:06:55.980 I remember her being very nervous.
00:06:59.380 I remember her saying, I just have to tell you guys something.
00:07:03.300 And then she told us.
00:07:05.400 What did she tell you?
00:07:06.580 She told us that she had thoughts of harming the children.
00:07:10.620 Thank you very much.
00:07:12.140 Prosecutors focusing on evidence suggesting Clancy appeared to be improving closer to the killings,
00:07:17.540 including a January 22nd message Musgrove sent her daughter saying it was nice to see her doing
00:07:23.320 better. Musgrove pushing back on that interpretation, testifying she still had
00:07:28.200 concerns and intended the message as encouragement while her daughter was trying to get better.
00:07:33.920 The defense ending the day with testimony from emergency room physician Dr. Michael
00:07:39.000 Volfovich, who did not treat Clancy but reviewed her medical records at the defense's request.
00:07:45.220 Reddington attempting to have Volfovich weigh in on whether Clancy's injuries indicated
00:07:50.180 a genuine attempt to take her own life, with a judge preventing the doctor from offering
00:07:55.160 an opinion about her intent based on the wounds.
00:07:58.800 Volfovich ultimately testifying the injuries were, quote,
00:08:01.720 consistent with self-injurious behavior.
00:08:05.020 Prosecutors declining to cross-examine him, the judge then adjourning court for the day,
00:08:09.780 the trial set to resume later today.
00:08:11.800 Coming up, President Trump reaching the end of the road in his appeal of the $5 million
00:08:18.880 E.G. Carroll verdict. And teen lifeguard Ryder Williams recognized at the White House,
00:08:25.180 joined by the 10-year-old boy whose life he saved.
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00:09:35.400 slash M-E-G-Y-N. The Supreme Court yesterday declining for a second time to take up President
00:09:43.360 Trump's bid to overturn the $5 million civil verdict awarded to writer E. Jean Carroll,
00:09:49.600 bringing the appeals process in that case to an end. Carroll, a longtime advice columnist,
00:09:55.180 first publicly accusing Mr. Trump in 2019 of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf-Goodman
00:10:01.220 dressing room in Manhattan in the mid-1990s. The president repeatedly denying the allegation,
00:10:07.940 maintaining he never assaulted Carol and does not know her, describing her claims as a politically
00:10:12.780 motivated hoax. Carol suing Mr. Trump for defamation later that year over statements he made,
00:10:18.740 denying her allegations. Then in 2022, Carroll filing a second lawsuit, this one including both
00:10:26.100 a sexual abuse claim stemming from the alleged department store encounter and another defamation
00:10:31.820 claim over statements Mr. Trump made that year. The lawsuit made possible after New York enacted
00:10:37.280 the Adult Survivors Act, which opened a one-year time frame for adults to bring claims of sexual
00:10:43.280 assault, regardless of how long ago the alleged abuse happened. The second lawsuit reaching trial
00:10:49.160 first, with a federal jury in 2023 finding President Trump liable for sexual abuse and
00:10:55.400 defamation and awarding Carroll $5 million in damages. The jury not finding Mr. Trump liable
00:11:01.500 for rape. President Trump appealing, arguing in part that the trial was unfair because jurors
00:11:07.420 were allowed to hear other allegations of sexual misconduct and the infamous Access Hollywood
00:11:12.840 tape. A three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the verdict, the full
00:11:18.580 appeals court later declining to reconsider that decision. Mr. Trump then taking the case to the
00:11:24.420 U.S. Supreme Court. In June, the justices declining to hear his appeal for the first time,
00:11:29.740 his attorneys then making the highly unusual move of asking the high court to reconsider that
00:11:35.020 decision, which was denied yesterday, the justices not offering an explanation. Carol already
00:11:41.200 receiving more than $5.6 million last month, the award plus interest after a federal judge
00:11:47.080 ordered the money Trump had deposited while appealing, released to her following the Supreme
00:11:52.300 Court's initial decision not to hear the case. That ends the legal fight over the $5 million
00:11:57.340 verdict. The other case, stemming from Carroll's first lawsuit, still ongoing. A different jury
00:12:03.740 in January 2024, awarding Carroll $83.3 million in damages, the Second Circuit later upholding
00:12:12.060 that judgment too. President Trump now asking the Supreme Court to overturn that, arguing in part
00:12:17.940 that he is immune from being sued over statements he made while serving as president. The Supreme
00:12:23.600 Court has not yet decided whether it will hear that appeal. 16-year-old lifeguard Ryder Williams
00:12:30.780 visiting the White House yesterday,
00:12:32.480 reuniting in the Oval Office
00:12:33.960 with 10-year-old Nathaniel Rye,
00:12:36.660 the boy he rescued from the violent California surf
00:12:39.280 last month.
00:12:40.840 The meeting coming after dramatic video
00:12:42.740 of the July 25th rescue
00:12:44.340 at Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz
00:12:46.840 spread across social media,
00:12:48.800 catching President Trump's attention.
00:12:51.020 Ryder, a first-year lifeguard,
00:12:52.460 spotting Nathaniel losing his footing in the water,
00:12:55.760 then racing into surf,
00:12:56.940 reportedly reaching up to 10 feet
00:12:58.540 as the boy was swept farther from shore.
00:13:01.640 The video showing Ryder locking both arms around Nathaniel
00:13:04.560 as wave after wave crashes over them,
00:13:07.380 refusing to let go as the surf repeatedly drags the pair back toward the ocean.
00:13:12.580 Another lifeguard eventually reaching them,
00:13:15.020 with rescuers and bystanders forming a human chain
00:13:18.040 closer to shore to help bring Nathaniel to safety.
00:13:21.940 Nathaniel's father previously telling ABC7
00:13:24.380 the 10-year-old lost consciousness during the ordeal
00:13:27.260 and saying he believes another two or three seconds could have made the difference between
00:13:31.320 life and death. Ryder later returning to his lifeguard tower and continuing to work,
00:13:37.780 making additional rescues that same day. President Trump inviting Ryder and Nathaniel to the White
00:13:43.360 House after seeing the viral footage, previously announcing that Ryder would receive what he
00:13:47.920 described as a, quote, high civilian honor. The president praising both boys during Monday's
00:13:53.720 Oval Office visit. We're honored to have all of you and again what you did was incredible and
00:14:00.180 everybody saw it and you'd watch it over and over. I know when I first saw it I said roll that back
00:14:06.040 I want to see that again. Is that really happening? And both of you people have to be very proud. The
00:14:12.620 whole group is proud and your father is the happiest man in the world you know because I
00:14:17.960 You asked him a question.
00:14:18.860 I said, so if that didn't happen, your life would be ruined.
00:14:23.280 And you said it would be a whole different life, right?
00:14:26.180 Absolutely.
00:14:27.040 Amazing.
00:14:28.160 It's incredible what Ryder did.
00:14:29.620 I'm just beyond grateful to him and Aaron and the rest of the team and even the Good
00:14:33.700 Samaritans that were there.
00:14:35.140 I mean, it's just such a privilege to be sitting next to him today and be able to celebrate
00:14:38.820 his birthday tomorrow.
00:14:40.120 A reporter asking President Trump what young Americans should take away from Ryder's actions.
00:14:45.000 I mean, look, they're going to look up to Ryder.
00:14:48.380 They're going to look up to Nathaniel, the way Nathaniel handled it.
00:14:51.140 He was cool, considering the problems I was watching.
00:14:55.180 He was very cool.
00:14:57.880 And they're going to gain respect.
00:15:00.360 I think, you know, very importantly, they're going to gain respect for what these people do,
00:15:04.320 having to do with lifeguards and having to do with safety.
00:15:08.480 This was an unbelievable experience.
00:15:12.160 anybody watching like it's not my world but i i respect that world i always had but never maybe
00:15:18.840 so much as i do now so i thought you bring you know to your profession to what you do and what
00:15:24.060 you do so well you brought tremendous uh grace and experience really tremendous grace tremendous
00:15:31.560 a feeling that it's so amazing to see this happen to see it before your eyes i just thought it was
00:15:39.520 really a very worthwhile event
00:15:41.600 to have it at the Oval Office, so
00:15:43.380 congratulations.
00:15:45.500 Ryder then reflecting on what was going through
00:15:47.440 his mind during the rescue, and what
00:15:49.560 he hopes comes next.
00:15:51.660 In those dangerous moments that we have, we always
00:15:53.620 try to fall back on our training. We are trained so
00:15:55.580 well by many to
00:15:57.220 handle that situation as best we can,
00:15:59.540 so I'm really just thinking about how to get the boy out of the water
00:16:01.680 as fast as I can, and
00:16:03.360 for shaping my future, I want
00:16:05.700 to be a firefighter in the future, hopefully go
00:16:07.580 at the paramedic school. We're giving recommendations. We may have some good
00:16:15.060 recommendations. Ryder receiving a certificate of commendation during the visit, the question
00:16:20.660 and answer session later taking a much different turn as President Trump clashed with CNN senior
00:16:26.460 White House correspondent Kristen Holmes. Holmes first asking the president about comments from
00:16:31.640 Democrat Senator John Ossoff of Georgia, who accused Mr. Trump at a campaign rally Sunday
00:16:37.200 of being more interested in building his White House ballroom and traveling with
00:16:41.180 executive assistant Natalie Harp than doing his job. Later in the availability, the president
00:16:47.140 discussing his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after directing the Pentagon
00:16:51.980 to substantially reduce joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises. Another reporter asking about
00:16:58.720 the decision before Holmes shouted a follow-up question about whether Kim Jong-un had requested
00:17:03.820 the change, President Trump then singling her out.
00:17:33.820 news. Go ahead. The Trump administration's Rapid Response 47 account later responding to
00:17:39.580 Holmes's earlier question about Senator Ossoff's comments, calling Holmes, quote,
00:17:44.840 a disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession and accusing her of using the
00:17:50.740 Oval Office event to take, quote, a cheap shot at a member of the president's staff. The post
00:17:56.560 adding, quote, these scumbags are the lowest of the low. CNN responding with a statement of its 0.99
00:18:02.160 own, reading in part, quote, public officials are free to challenge reporting they disagree with,
00:18:06.940 but personal attacks on journalists for asking questions are beneath the office and inconsistent
00:18:12.140 with the principles of a free press. We stand firmly behind Kristen and reject these attacks
00:18:17.760 in the strongest possible terms. And that'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megan Kelly. Join me
00:18:25.420 back here for the MK Show, live on Sirius XM's The Megan Kelly Channel, 111 at noon east,
00:18:30.320 on youtube.com slash Megan Kelly and on all podcast platforms.