The Megyn Kelly Show - March 17, 2026


Vance to Head Fraud Task Force, Trump Pressures Allies on Iran, SBF Vying for Pardon： AM Update 3⧸17


Episode Stats


Length

19 minutes

Words per minute

161.32584

Word count

3,175

Sentence count

222

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Toxicity

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

6

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

A new Trump administration task force targeting benefits fraud nationwide, after investigative reports exposing large-scale scams inside Minnesota s welfare system. President Trump says the scale of fraud is likely much larger than what has already been uncovered. And disgraced crypto founder Sam Bankman-Fried is lobbying for a presidential pardon from prison.

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 .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:01.000 Olivia loves a challenge.
00:00:03.140 It's why she lifts heavy weights. 1.00
00:00:05.620 And likes complicated recipes.
00:00:08.800 But for booking her trip to Paris, Olivia chose the easy way with Expedia.
00:00:13.060 She bundled her flight with a hotel to save more.
00:00:15.660 Of course, she still climbed all 674 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
00:00:21.160 You were made to take the easy route.
00:00:23.880 We were made to easily package your trip.
00:00:26.560 Expedia. Made to travel.
00:00:30.000 Hey, good morning, everyone, and happy St. Patrick's Day.
00:00:35.220 I'm Mark Halperin, host of NextUp, filling in today for Megyn Kelly.
00:00:38.940 It's Tuesday, March 17, 2026, and this is your AM Update.
00:00:43.220 If we found half of the fraud that's taking place in this country,
00:00:47.720 we would have much more than a balanced budget.
00:00:49.860 A new Trump administration task force targeting benefits fraud nationwide,
00:00:54.340 following investigative reports exposing large-scale scams inside Minnesota's welfare system.
00:01:00.980 I've been a big critic of all of the protecting of countries.
00:01:04.720 If we ever needed help, they won't be there for us.
00:01:08.020 President Trump criticizing allies during Operation Epic Fury for their reluctance in getting
00:01:12.600 militarily involved with reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
00:01:16.420 The nation grappling with the fallout from a powerful weather bomb cyclone in the Midwest
00:01:21.880 and a scorching heat wave building in the Southwest.
00:01:25.100 And disgraced crypto founder Sam Bankman-Fried lobbying for a presidential pardon from prison.
00:01:30.860 The crypto industry's biggest allies in Congress say he should stay right where he is.
00:01:35.820 All that and more coming up in just a moment here on your AM Update.
00:01:43.760 Our sponsor, the Electronic Payments Coalition, says Washington politicians are always getting
00:01:48.800 in your wallet, and now they're messing with your credit card.
00:01:52.300 They say your credit card and the security it offers are under attack,
00:01:55.540 and that Senators Dick Durbin and Roger Marshall want to change the nation's payment system
00:02:00.320 to benefit corporate megastores like Walmart and Target at the expense of everyday Americans.
00:02:06.640 Credit cards can keep your payments secure and provide rewards that families use
00:02:10.300 to help make everyday purchases more affordable.
00:02:12.840 The Electronic Payments Coalition says the Durbin-Marshall mandates
00:02:16.780 would let corporate megastores cut corners on credit card processing,
00:02:20.140 routing transactions over cheaper, untested networks with weaker security and fewer protections.
00:02:25.800 Find out more at guardyourcard.com and consider telling Congress
00:02:29.260 to guard your card.
00:02:32.720 President Trump signing an executive order from the Oval Office yesterday
00:02:35.740 creating a Welfare Benefits Fraud Task Force,
00:02:38.660 a new federal initiative aimed at cracking down on fraud
00:02:41.800 across government assistance programs.
00:02:44.780 The effort will be led by Vice President J.D. Vance
00:02:47.140 with Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson
00:02:50.060 as the Vice Chair and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller
00:02:53.760 serving as Senior Advisor.
00:02:56.200 The executive order outlining staggering fraud
00:02:58.680 with Minnesota's taxpayer-funded welfare programs
00:03:01.440 potentially totaling in the billions.
00:03:04.520 From the order, quote,
00:03:05.780 there is strong reason to believe that similar problems exist in other states,
00:03:09.080 including California, Illinois, New York, Maine, and Colorado.
00:03:13.380 Such extensive undetected fraud could only exist in a system that ignores it.
00:03:17.640 The order directing the task force to, quote,
00:03:20.200 coordinate and accelerate a comprehensive national strategy
00:03:23.880 to stop fraud, waste, and abuse within federal benefits programs,
00:03:28.560 including programs administered jointly with state, local, tribal, and territorial partners.
00:03:34.160 The move, part of a broader push by the Trump administration
00:03:37.340 to crack down on what officials say is rampant waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars.
00:03:42.880 Just last month, President Trump nominating longtime federal prosecutor Colin McDonald
00:03:47.520 to lead a newly created role at the Justice Department,
00:03:50.900 Assistant Attorney General for National Fraud Enforcement,
00:03:54.960 tasked with coordinating major fraud investigations across the country.
00:03:59.160 The push coming after a wave of investigative reporting on massive fraud
00:04:03.020 tied to Minnesota's benefits programs,
00:04:06.020 City Journal and independent journalist Nick Shirley
00:04:08.260 documenting schemes involving alleged fake providers,
00:04:11.780 fraudulent claims, and organized network siphoning taxpayer money
00:04:15.460 from programs meant for the needy.
00:04:18.160 President Trump saying the scale of the fraud
00:04:20.120 is likely much larger than what has already been uncovered.
00:04:23.900 You've been seeing it, and seeing it pretty big in Minnesota, $19 billion.
00:04:29.800 But that's only for one little aspect of the fraud.
00:04:32.440 It's $19 billion, and California, as they say, is 10 times worse than other states are.
00:04:39.520 And this is not a Republican-Democrat thing.
00:04:44.040 This is wherever it's taking place.
00:04:46.440 It seems that it's usually in blue states.
00:04:50.240 If it's in a red state, we're going there, too.
00:04:53.260 But it seems that it's heavily, heavily, heavily Democrat.
00:04:55.920 If we found half of the fraud that's taking place in this country,
00:05:02.080 and I think you have a chance of doing that,
00:05:04.460 we would have much more than a balanced budget.
00:05:07.180 White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller yesterday arguing
00:05:10.020 the total losses tied to fraud across federal programs
00:05:13.300 could ultimately reach into the trillions of dollars.
00:05:16.920 What we found since President Trump came into office
00:05:19.460 is that the Democrats have set up a system
00:05:21.620 to funnel hundreds of billions and ultimately trillions of dollars
00:05:25.360 to migrants that are in our country,
00:05:27.580 oftentimes from places like Somalia.
00:05:30.100 So as an example, ICE recently asked
00:05:33.400 a group of illegal immigrants that were in detention
00:05:36.320 whether or not they were receiving Medicaid.
00:05:39.200 Half of them raised their hands and volunteered
00:05:41.540 that they were on Medicaid.
00:05:43.880 We are going to see the first ever effort in American history 0.94
00:05:46.980 to reclaim the ultimately trillions of dollars
00:05:50.040 that were stolen from taxpayers.
00:05:51.040 When this theft is exposed,
00:05:52.760 we will see that if all of it were stopped,
00:05:55.080 it would be enough to balance the budget.
00:05:57.620 The extraction of wealth from American taxpayers
00:05:59.900 to people who don't belong here 1.00
00:06:01.860 is the primary cause of the national debt,
00:06:05.280 and this is the first ever effort to shut that down.
00:06:07.900 Vice President Vance also outlining
00:06:09.560 how the task force aims to close gaps in the system,
00:06:12.580 allowing fraudsters to flourish.
00:06:14.480 We started to figure out one big hole that existed
00:06:17.780 is that the agencies of the government
00:06:19.720 weren't actually talking to each other.
00:06:21.440 So Treasury would have evidence of financial fraud,
00:06:23.760 but wasn't talking to the Department of Justice about it.
00:06:26.000 Health and Human Services had evidence of Medicaid fraud,
00:06:28.780 but wasn't talking to the Department of Treasury about it.
00:06:31.220 So what this executive order does
00:06:33.020 is force the entire apparatus of the federal government
00:06:35.980 to do two things.
00:06:37.180 Stop the fraud on the American taxpayer
00:06:39.200 and make sure that the benefits that ought by right
00:06:42.120 go to American citizens, 0.50
00:06:43.460 go to American citizens and not to fraudsters.
00:06:45.740 President Trump offering a sweeping update Monday
00:06:49.780 on Operation Epic Fury in Iran,
00:06:52.200 saying more than 7,000 targets across the country
00:06:54.800 have been struck,
00:06:55.860 claiming U.S. attacks have cut ballistic missile launches
00:06:58.240 by 90%, drone attacks by 95%,
00:07:01.680 and destroyed more than 100 naval vessels,
00:07:04.780 along with dozens of mine laying ships
00:07:06.340 threatening commercial traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
00:07:09.460 Mr. Trump now urging other nations,
00:07:12.300 especially those heavily dependent on oil shipments
00:07:14.960 through the Strait,
00:07:16.220 to join the effort keeping the critical waterway open.
00:07:19.500 We strongly encourage other nations
00:07:21.660 whose economies depend on the Strait far more than ours.
00:07:25.460 You know, we get less than 1% of our oil from the Strait.
00:07:29.140 Some countries get much more.
00:07:30.820 Japan gets 95%.
00:07:32.500 China gets 90%. 0.96
00:07:34.560 Many of the Europeans get quite a bit.
00:07:37.520 South Korea gets 35%.
00:07:40.200 So we want them to come and help us with the Strait.
00:07:44.920 The president criticizing several allies
00:07:47.420 for what he described as reluctance
00:07:49.700 to participate in the operation.
00:07:52.440 Numerous countries have told me they're on the way.
00:07:56.100 Some are very enthusiastic about it,
00:07:58.980 and some are.
00:08:00.020 And some are countries that we've helped
00:08:01.380 for many, many years.
00:08:02.880 We've protected them from horrible outside sources.
00:08:08.200 And they weren't that enthusiastic.
00:08:11.040 We have some countries where we have 45,000 soldiers,
00:08:15.680 great soldiers, protecting them from harm's way.
00:08:19.820 And we have done a great job.
00:08:23.200 And we want to know, do you have any minesweepers?
00:08:26.820 Well, we'd rather not get involved, sir.
00:08:30.700 I said, you mean for 40 years we're protecting you
00:08:33.540 and you don't want to get involved in something
00:08:35.240 that is very minor?
00:08:36.940 I just want the fake news media and everybody else
00:08:40.320 to remember that that was said
00:08:42.660 because I've been a big critic of all of the protecting
00:08:47.040 of countries because I know that we'll protect them.
00:08:50.340 And if ever needed, if we ever needed help,
00:08:53.960 they won't be there for us.
00:08:55.360 I've just known that for a long period of time.
00:08:57.940 Despite the tensions, the president saying
00:08:59.560 the Iranian threat has been largely neutralized,
00:09:02.500 describing Iran as a, quote, paper tiger. 0.51
00:09:06.040 Oil markets reacting Monday.
00:09:07.580 Brent crude, the international benchmark,
00:09:09.620 dropping to just over $100 a barrel
00:09:12.140 after reaching highs of over $106.
00:09:14.820 as President Trump says some other nations
00:09:17.720 are responding to calls for assistance,
00:09:20.220 though declining to name which ones.
00:09:22.540 Mr. Trump also highlighting U.S. oil production,
00:09:25.400 pointing to expanded drilling efforts,
00:09:27.080 including new activity in Venezuela.
00:09:29.800 We're number one in oil by double.
00:09:32.180 Now we drill baby drill. 0.98
00:09:33.860 We're double any other nation.
00:09:36.320 And it's going to be soon triple any other nation.
00:09:39.480 And that doesn't include Venezuela,
00:09:41.160 who's been great.
00:09:41.920 By the way, millions, literally millions of barrels of oil
00:09:45.600 are being taken out.
00:09:48.620 And it's been a great help.
00:09:49.980 And it's been to their great benefit.
00:09:53.120 I think it's a tremendous oil source.
00:09:55.920 And we're getting, we're stepping it up very rapidly.
00:09:59.920 The big companies are going in.
00:10:02.340 And they will actually, numbers in a pretty short period of time,
00:10:06.320 numbers that they've never been able to do,
00:10:08.260 will be doing.
00:10:09.120 There's a lot of oil under that land.
00:10:13.000 The president asked about the possibility of making a deal with Iran.
00:10:17.420 Mr. President, you've said that Iran does want to make a deal.
00:10:21.120 Now, in the third week of this bombing campaign,
00:10:24.040 what would that deal look like?
00:10:25.480 What are the asks that you're making of the government in Iran?
00:10:28.620 They want to make a deal.
00:10:29.480 They're talking to our people.
00:10:31.620 I don't know if they say that to you.
00:10:33.100 Maybe they do.
00:10:33.740 Maybe they don't.
00:10:34.380 Don't forget, they are a country that for years, I didn't know this until recently,
00:10:40.860 they're a country based on disinformation.
00:10:43.440 And now they're using disinformation plus AI.
00:10:46.760 And that's a terrible situation.
00:10:49.220 They're negotiating.
00:10:51.000 And we always talk.
00:10:52.260 Somebody said, well, would you talk?
00:10:53.960 Why would you even talk to them?
00:10:55.220 I talk to everybody.
00:10:56.380 Because sometimes good things come out of it.
00:10:59.860 But I don't know if they're ready yet.
00:11:02.340 They're taking a pounding.
00:11:04.240 I don't know if they're ready yet.
00:11:05.520 And we don't even know their leaders.
00:11:07.080 Look, all of their leaders are dead, as far as we know.
00:11:11.320 But they're all dead.
00:11:12.620 We don't know who we're dealing with.
00:11:13.820 Coming up here, the country reeling from a powerful weather bomb cyclone in the Midwest
00:11:20.460 and a scorching heat wave building in the Southwest.
00:11:23.420 And a disgraced crypto kingpin pushing for a presidential pardon.
00:11:27.660 But even some of Congress's biggest crypto allies want nothing to do with it.
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00:12:37.240 Severe weather rocking large swaths of the nation.
00:12:42.160 A blizzard battering the Midwest and Great Lakes,
00:12:44.860 while a dangerous early season heat wave grips the Southwest.
00:12:48.780 NBC News reporting nearly 30 million Americans were under winter storm alerts Monday,
00:12:54.240 with more than 120 million people from the Mississippi Valley all the way to New England under wind alerts,
00:12:59.540 and 60 million from Florida to New York, facing severe storms and possible tornado threats.
00:13:06.460 An intense bomb cyclone blizzard battering the Midwest,
00:13:09.680 plunging more than 230 million Americans into below average temperatures from Sunday to Monday,
00:13:15.140 according to Fox Weather.
00:13:16.740 USA Today explaining the conditions that create these brutal storms.
00:13:21.280 Meteorologists say this type of winter storm forms through a process known as bombogenesis.
00:13:26.320 This typically happens when a cold air mass collides with a warm air mass and a mid-latitude cyclone occurs.
00:13:32.680 As the cyclone intensifies and the system's pressure drops quickly in a short period of time,
00:13:37.540 it becomes a bomb cyclone.
00:13:39.540 Think of it as a winter hurricane, say a Category 1,
00:13:42.720 that's often accompanied by strong winds, blizzard conditions, and rain or snow.
00:13:47.400 CBS News, ABC, and Fox all capturing the dangerous conditions.
00:13:51.000 These wind gusts are so strong, but it's creating snow drifts like this all across downtown Green Bay,
00:13:58.460 as the city saw its biggest snowfall in one day on Sunday in more than a century.
00:14:04.640 The nasty weather also caused more than 3,000 flight cancellations across the country Sunday,
00:14:10.820 more than half of them in Chicago and Minneapolis.
00:14:13.980 Dozens of crashes reported in Minnesota,
00:14:16.360 this semi-truck spinning out in the middle of I-35 in the Twin Cities area.
00:14:21.140 Power outages exist across the state of Michigan and Wisconsin.
00:14:25.500 It's near whiteout at points, and the dangers are just extreme.
00:14:30.120 Transportation systems hit particularly hard.
00:14:32.220 Flight-aware reporting more than 4,900 flight cancellations
00:14:35.600 and roughly 20,000 delays nationwide on Monday,
00:14:39.500 with Chicago and Minneapolis among the hardest-hit hubs.
00:14:42.640 The National Weather Service, or NWS, reporting as of yesterday morning,
00:14:47.160 more than 25 to 35 inches of snow,
00:14:50.260 blanketing southeastern Minnesota, central Wisconsin, and northern Michigan.
00:14:55.200 Around 120,000 customers in Michigan without electricity Monday afternoon,
00:15:00.500 with nearly 12,000 outages in Wisconsin, according to PowerOutage.us.
00:15:06.380 With much of the country facing extreme cold and windy storms,
00:15:09.780 the southwest facing the opposite extremes, with an historic heat wave.
00:15:14.680 Roughly 39 million people under heat alerts yesterday,
00:15:17.520 as an early-season heat wave intensifies, reports NBC.
00:15:21.400 Quote, highs above 90 degrees Fahrenheit are expected to be widespread
00:15:25.280 in Southern California, with parts of Arizona and Nevada reaching the triple digits.
00:15:30.740 The NWS reporting some areas will see temperatures
00:15:33.100 20 to 30 degrees above normal for this time of year.
00:15:36.860 Yesterday, Phoenix, Arizona, in the low to mid-90s,
00:15:39.860 AccuWeather forecasting temps as high as 107 degrees.
00:15:44.120 By Friday, according to the NWS,
00:15:46.420 the heat wave will extend south and east across the week,
00:15:49.520 reaching as far as Mississippi by Sunday.
00:15:53.660 Sam Bankman-Fried, or SBF as he's known,
00:15:56.820 the disgraced founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX,
00:16:00.660 and trading firm Alameda Research now facing opposition in Congress
00:16:05.500 as he pursues a possible pardon from President Trump.
00:16:09.960 SBF convicted in 2023 on wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering,
00:16:15.120 and other charges tied to the collapse of his crypto empire,
00:16:18.940 which imploded in 2022 amid evidence of potential fraud.
00:16:23.400 Once the poster boy of the crypto industry,
00:16:25.560 SBF donating millions to Democratic politicians
00:16:28.780 and some Republicans while lobbying for crypto-friendly regulations.
00:16:32.740 The collapse of FTX wiping out about $8 billion in customer funds,
00:16:38.540 along with more than $1 billion each in investor money
00:16:41.000 tied up in FTX and its sister firm, Alameda,
00:16:44.440 sending the crypto market into a tailspin.
00:16:46.820 Authorities arresting SBF in the Bahamas in December of 2022.
00:16:51.560 He was ultimately convicted on all counts
00:16:53.480 and sentenced in 2024 to 25 years in prison,
00:16:56.900 while also being ordered to forfeit roughly, yes, $11 billion.
00:17:01.640 Now the former crypto executive appears to be seeking clemency from President Trump.
00:17:06.500 FBS using his social media accounts run through a proxy
00:17:09.720 to praise President Trump and criticize the Biden administration.
00:17:14.020 One February post praising President Trump's effort to lower prescription drug prices.
00:17:18.700 Quote,
00:17:18.860 Pharma gouges Americans on prescriptions.
00:17:21.720 Trump Rx is how you start to stop that.
00:17:24.600 It's a huge step in the right direction.
00:17:26.320 Now insurance companies need to get on board
00:17:28.640 so that Americans don't have to choose between fair prices and insurance coverage.
00:17:34.260 In a Saturday ex-post,
00:17:35.680 SBF arguing that while oil prices have recently spiked,
00:17:39.600 they remain significantly lower under President Trump
00:17:41.940 compared to the Biden years' urging critics to, quote,
00:17:44.780 Calm down.
00:17:46.280 Politico reporting SBF is struggling to gain traction on Capitol Hill.
00:17:50.880 Senator Bernie Marino, Republican from Ohio,
00:17:53.000 and a big-time crypto supporter,
00:17:55.240 telling the outlet, quote, 1.00
00:17:56.440 The guy's a piece of shit. 1.00
00:17:58.640 The guy shouldn't be pardoned. 1.00
00:17:59.700 The guy should go to jail for a long, long time.
00:18:03.460 Another crypto ally in Congress,
00:18:05.180 Senator Cynthia Loomis, Republican of Wyoming,
00:18:08.040 also throwing some cold water on a pardon effort.
00:18:10.240 Quote,
00:18:10.780 I hope the president doesn't fall for that.
00:18:12.600 He hurt a lot of people.
00:18:14.000 He should have to spend some time contemplating that.
00:18:17.800 President Trump granting clemency to other high-profile figures in the crypto world
00:18:21.020 since retaking office,
00:18:21.960 including online black market Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht
00:18:26.040 and Binance founder Chang Peng CZ Zhao,
00:18:30.580 who pleaded guilty to money laundering-related charges.
00:18:33.460 However, SBS effort appearing to be a tougher battle.
00:18:36.920 President Trump telling the New York Times in January
00:18:38.740 that it is not planned to pardon Bankman Freed,
00:18:41.220 asked directly about the possibility of the president responding,
00:18:44.200 quote,
00:18:44.780 I don't know him at all.
00:18:46.480 No.
00:18:49.300 All right, that'll do it for your AM update.
00:18:51.240 I'm Mark Halpern, host of Next Up.
00:18:52.900 Catch the Megyn Kelly Show today,
00:18:54.980 live on SiriusXM's The Megyn Kelly Channel,
00:18:57.480 111 at noon east on YouTube slash Megyn Kelly
00:19:01.060 and on all the podcast platforms.
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00:19:20.320 We'll be back.
00:19:21.180 What do you want next to me?
00:19:21.840 Have a great see.
00:19:22.800 We've had a greatie.
00:19:24.720 Have a great day.
00:19:25.420 We've had a great day on today.
00:19:26.840 We've had a great day on today.
00:19:27.320 We're back in the Commonwealth of besoies bevat Desiree and praisee,
00:19:28.680 and we've had a great day.
00:19:29.000 Have a great day on knowledge.
00:19:30.140 We've had a great day on peopleセ ему.
00:19:31.080 Have a great day on Earth.
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00:19:33.020 You've had a great day on ì—£oth.
00:19:33.500 Ideas have full day on Monday.
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00:19:35.640 morning to biosmos,
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