The Megyn Kelly Show - July 18, 2025


WH Shuts Down Amnesty Bill, Mamdani Snubbed in DC, Leaked Memo on Anti-Trump Bias： AM Update 7⧸18


Episode Stats

Length

19 minutes

Words per Minute

148.74034

Word Count

2,828

Sentence Count

178

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

3


Summary

As President Trump is settling into his new administration, one of the top Democrats in Congress aiming to undermine the Trump agenda is Dick Durbin of Illinois. And, a photo appears to show President Trump with swollen ankles, prompting speculation about his health.


Transcript

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00:00:30.000 Good morning, everyone. I'm Megyn Kelly.
00:00:34.860 It's Friday, July 18th, 2025, and this is your AM Update.
00:00:39.700 The president has made it very clear he will not support amnesty for illegal aliens in any way.
00:00:44.900 Press Secretary Caroline Levitt slamming the door shut on White House support for amnesty legislation
00:00:49.900 following a Republican congresswoman's push for a new program offering some illegals temporary protections.
00:00:56.260 Democrat nominee for New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani getting the cold shoulder
00:01:01.220 from some in his party's leadership in Washington.
00:01:04.060 It exposed that Chief Judge Bozberg and his colleagues had a predisposition against the Trump administration.
00:01:14.060 And investigative journalist Margot Cleveland exposes deep anti-Trump biases within the federal judiciary.
00:01:20.380 All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.
00:01:23.740 As President Trump is settling into his new administration,
00:01:30.200 one of the top Democrats in Congress aiming to undermine the Trump agenda is Democrat Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois.
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00:02:00.480 And you could consider telling your senators to stop Dick Durbin's government takeover of your credit card
00:02:05.800 before it's too late.
00:02:07.660 Press Secretary Caroline Levitt shutting down any possibility of amnesty
00:02:14.980 after a Republican congresswoman introduces a bill offering legal status for certain illegal immigrants.
00:02:21.860 Florida Congresswoman Maria Salazar on Tuesday introducing the Dignity Act,
00:02:26.620 which would include funding for border enforcement, mandatory e-verify, and reforms to asylum claims.
00:02:33.740 The bill would also grant permanent legal status to so-called DREAMers,
00:02:38.420 those brought here illegally by their parents,
00:02:40.880 and would create a new program offering a seven-year temporary legal status for illegal immigrants
00:02:46.380 if they've lived here for five or more years and meet certain qualifications.
00:02:51.340 The Dignity program does not offer a pathway to citizenship.
00:02:55.080 Congresswoman Salazar flanked by a bipartisan group of fellow members of Congress
00:02:58.640 pitching the legislation to President Trump on Tuesday from the steps of the Capitol.
00:03:03.120 President Trump, sir, the same God who saved you from death in Pennsylvania one year ago
00:03:10.780 and who put your back in the Oval Office against all odds
00:03:14.820 is the same God Almighty who millions and millions are begging to for some type of dignity,
00:03:21.300 not amnesty.
00:03:23.160 Sir, I believe that you could be for immigration what Lincoln was for slavery
00:03:26.960 and Reagan was for communism.
00:03:29.160 It's in your hands, Mr. President.
00:03:31.260 May the Lord guide you.
00:03:33.740 Congresswoman Salazar insisting the bill is not amnesty as there is no pathway to citizenship.
00:03:39.580 Press Secretary Caroline Levitt at the Thursday press briefing responding to whether the president supports the Dignity Act.
00:03:45.860 From my understanding, the White House nor the president has actually read through this legislation.
00:03:50.760 We've been focused on, of course, the one big beautiful bill which passed,
00:03:54.160 which is another historic accomplishment of this president in record time.
00:03:57.000 The Genius Act this week, the rescissions package, that's been the focus of the White House.
00:04:01.940 But the president has made it very clear he will not support amnesty for illegal aliens in any way.
00:04:07.140 Ms. Levitt confirming on Thursday, President Trump has been dealing with some minor health issues.
00:04:14.900 On Sunday, a cropped photo from a Sunday sporting event appearing to show Mr.
00:04:18.640 Trump with swollen ankles prompting speculation about the president's health.
00:04:22.900 And on Tuesday, a C-SPAN camera operator zooming in to President Trump's hand, showing it covered with makeup.
00:04:30.840 Press Secretary Levitt.
00:04:31.940 The president wanted me to share a note from his physician with all of you today.
00:04:36.980 In recent weeks, President Trump noted mild swelling in his lower legs.
00:04:41.380 This concern was thoroughly evaluated by the White House Medical Unit.
00:04:45.460 Bilateral lower extremity venous Doppler ultrasounds were performed and revealed chronic venous insufficiency,
00:04:53.120 a benign and common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70.
00:04:58.880 No signs of heart failure, renal impairment, or systemic illness were identified.
00:05:05.200 Additionally, recent photos of the president have shown minor bruising on the back of his hand.
00:05:10.700 This is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin,
00:05:16.880 which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen.
00:05:21.380 This is a well-known and benign side effect of aspirin therapy.
00:05:25.420 And the president remains in excellent health.
00:05:28.880 Democrat candidate for New York City mayor, the 33-year-old Democrat socialist Muslim born in
00:05:35.200 Uganda, Zoran Mamdani, receiving a notably chilly reception from some Democrats on a visit to
00:05:40.940 Washington, D.C. this week, in sharp contrast to the warm welcome lavished upon current Mayor
00:05:46.180 Eric Adams following his primary victory four years ago.
00:05:50.360 In 2021, Adams quickly invited by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to address the Democratic caucus
00:05:55.560 and also invited to the Biden White House. At the time, Democrats pointing to the Adams campaign as a
00:06:01.240 blueprint for future races, a moderate former cop with appeal to working-class voters.
00:06:06.520 This time around, Mamdani's day in D.C., reportedly lasting just four hours Wednesday and absent any meetings
00:06:13.000 with top leadership. Mamdani is running on a radical left-wing platform, promising rent freezes,
00:06:18.980 floating city-run grocery stores, vowing not to cooperate with ICE, wanting to replace cops with
00:06:24.860 social workers on domestic violence calls, and saying he would have Israeli Prime Minister
00:06:29.580 Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if Netanyahu were to visit New York. In D.C., Democratic New York
00:06:35.720 Congresswoman AOC hosting a breakfast meeting for Mamdani, CNN reporting just 40 of the 212 House
00:06:42.420 Democrats in attendance. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also a fellow New Yorker,
00:06:47.420 skipping the meeting. Mr. Jeffries did not endorse Mamdani in the primary, but is set to meet with
00:06:52.640 the candidate later today in Brooklyn. Before leaving the Capitol, Mamdani meeting with U.S.
00:06:57.280 Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders. Sanders, who is Jewish, reportedly advising Mamdani to be more
00:07:03.080 cautious in how he approaches talking about Israel. Mamdani is seeking to lead the city with the second
00:07:08.680 largest population of Jewish people in the world, many in the community, expressing deep concern
00:07:13.720 with what they view as anti-Semitism on his part, including Mamdani's past refusal to condemn the
00:07:19.580 phrase, globalize the Intifada. In mid-June, Mamdani's struggling on a podcast with The Bulwark to
00:07:26.000 articulate his feelings about the phrase so often shouted by pro-Hamas protesters in the streets of New York
00:07:32.360 City. I know people for whom those things mean very different things. And to me, ultimately,
00:07:39.920 what I hear in so many is a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for
00:07:45.860 Palestinian human rights. And I think what's difficult also is that the very word has been
00:07:51.320 used by the Holocaust Museum when translating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising into Arabic, because it's a word
00:07:57.340 that means struggle. And as a Muslim man who grew up post-9-11, I'm all too familiar in the way in
00:08:04.960 which Arabic words can be twisted, can be distorted, can be used to justify any kind of meaning. And I
00:08:11.560 think that's where it leaves me with a sense that what we need to do is focus on keeping Jewish New
00:08:17.180 Yorkers safe. And the question of the permissibility of language is something that I haven't ventured into.
00:08:24.880 In the month since that interview, Mamdani's team brainstorming a more politically viable answer.
00:08:31.080 Politico reporting on Tuesday, Mamdani is expected to clarify his stance on the use of the phrase.
00:08:37.180 New polling from Harris X shows a tightening race. Mamdani at 26 percent, statistically tied now with
00:08:43.440 disgraced former governor of New York Andrew Cuomo running as an independent at 23 and Republican
00:08:49.940 nominee Curtis Lewa at 22. Mayor Adams, also running as an independent and the sitting mayor,
00:08:56.040 trailing at 13 percent. The election set for November 4th.
00:09:01.440 Coming up, a deep dive into an internal memo revealing anti-Trump bias within the federal
00:09:06.980 judiciary. You're shocked. Shocked, right?
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00:10:13.300 A defining thread of the first few months of the second Trump administration, universal injunctions.
00:10:18.940 Rogue judges issuing sweeping rulings, grinding many parts of the Trump agenda to a halt.
00:10:24.100 This as the president moved to carry out a key campaign promise, the largest mass deportation
00:10:28.820 effort in history. At the center of some of the most controversial injunctions, chief judge of the
00:10:34.400 D.C. District Court, James Bosberg, issuing orders blocking deportation flights to El Salvador
00:10:40.340 under the Alien Enemies Act, then attempting to hold contempt proceedings for failing to halt
00:10:46.260 deportation operations already underway. The Federalist obtaining a memo exposing what appears to be deep
00:10:52.960 anti-Trump bias from Judge Bosberg and within the federal judiciary. We spoke with investigative
00:10:58.920 journalist at the Federalist, Margo Cleveland, about her scoop.
00:11:02.400 The Federalist has obtained a memo exclusively that involves a summary of the Judicial Conference,
00:11:12.200 which is a group that helps oversee the federal court system. It is led by Chief Justice Roberts,
00:11:21.700 and during the March meeting, they had a breakfast working meeting with Justice Roberts at which Judge
00:11:29.600 Bosberg expressed the concern, as he put it, of his colleagues that the Trump administration would
00:11:40.360 ignore the orders of the judges, the district court judges, and that would lead to a constitutional crisis.
00:11:50.360 Cleveland says the memo offers a rare window into the internal mindset of the very people tasked with
00:11:56.860 presiding over active cases against the Trump administration.
00:12:00.500 What is striking about that comment, which he made to Chief Justice Roberts, as well as the other
00:12:08.420 federal judges who were at this conference, there are about 30 of them, it's the lead judges of the
00:12:15.320 different circuits, is that it exposed that Chief Judge Bosberg and his colleagues had a predisposition
00:12:24.380 against the Trump administration. We have to remember that Donald Trump is not merely the president, that the
00:12:32.620 Trump administration is actually a defendant in scores of cases. And what was revealing is Judge Bosberg and his
00:12:42.860 colleagues had obviously discussed not just the president, but a party in litigation. And they expressed a bias about that party. The normal presumption is that parties will follow your ruling. And in fact, there is a presumption in law that public officials will follow the rulings.
00:13:05.880 But it's actually the contrary here. By voicing that in front of Justice Roberts, it laid it out plain that there was a bias by these judges. And frankly, I have a hard time understanding how these judges will be able to put that bias aside when the Trump administration is litigating and when they have to decide whether the Trump administration has obeyed an order or not.
00:13:32.680 According to the memo, Chief Justice Roberts expressing hope that those concerns would not materialize with the chief justice conveying, quote, his interactions with the president have been civil and respectful, such as the president thanking him at the State of the Union address for administering the oath. Cleveland finding irony in Judge Bosberg's concerns about the Trump administration's regard for the law.
00:13:54.000 What is extremely ironic about this situation is that while Judge Bosberg is saying that he and his colleagues don't trust the Trump administration to follow the rulings of the court.
00:14:09.000 Judge Bosberg, Judge Bosberg, mere days later, entered an unlawful ruling against the Trump administration in ordering not just the planes to turn around, but in ordering the Trump administration to stop these removals.
00:14:26.280 The Supreme Court would later make clear that that case was not properly before Judge Bosberg.
00:14:34.380 So it wasn't Trump who was violating the law.
00:14:37.940 It was actually Judge Bosberg.
00:14:40.700 Separately, the question of ignoring court orders came up Thursday at the confirmation hearing of Deputy Attorney General Emile Bovey, who was nominated for a judgeship on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
00:14:51.860 Bovey accused by a now-fired DOJ attorney of telling government lawyers considering deportations under the Alien Enemies Act that they might have to, quote, consider telling the courts, F.U., and ignore certain court orders.
00:15:07.280 The media calling this employee, Erez Ruveni, a whistleblower, suggesting the DOJ did then go on to ignore court orders under the AEA by Judge Bosberg.
00:15:18.380 Attorney General Pam Bondi writing on X, quote,
00:15:20.940 This disgruntled employee is not a whistleblower.
00:15:24.220 He's a leaker, asserting false claims seeking five minutes of fame, conveniently timed just before a confirmation hearing and a committee vote.
00:15:32.460 Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Chuck Grassley, rebutting attacks on Bovey, noting, quote,
00:15:38.340 Most of the emails reflect internal legal debate about how to interpret and apply court orders, something that would not occur if officials intended to ignore them, end quote.
00:15:49.020 Grasley noting at the time of Mr. Bovey's alleged comment, there was not even a case filed regarding Alien Enemy Act removals, let alone any court orders to defy.
00:16:00.060 Bovey denying under oath that he ever advised any DOJ attorney to violate a court order.
00:16:05.220 Margo Cleveland got her hands on a different internal DOJ email, this one from Ruveni's supervisor, who summarized Bovey's actual instruction as,
00:16:15.340 He advised our team that we must avoid a court order halting an upcoming operation to implement the Alien Enemies Act at all costs.
00:16:24.440 If he was seeking to disregard court orders, there would have been no reason for that directive to be given.
00:16:34.060 They would just ignore the orders.
00:16:35.800 But to the contrary, the Department of Justice was instructed to try to prevent an order from being entered.
00:16:44.140 I think that what is really telling here is that it really is another sign that the Trump administration has gone to great lengths to do everything within its authority to obey what the courts are saying.
00:17:00.420 It's the courts that are the ones who are going rogue and entering lawless orders.
00:17:06.440 Cleveland says she does not believe Judge Boasberg is likely to recuse himself from any Trump-related cases.
00:17:12.720 It's difficult to say whether there is any sort of remedy.
00:17:17.560 It isn't Judge Boasberg admitting that he's ruling against Trump.
00:17:22.160 It's not the other judges saying they're ruling against Trump.
00:17:26.300 It's really exposing a bias.
00:17:28.840 And the judges have an obligation to recuse in a case where they have a lack of partiality and there is an appearance of bias.
00:17:39.160 I do not think that that is likely to happen.
00:17:41.680 I think that if confronted with these comments, the judge or the judges would frame it as we were merely presenting concerns to the court that the judges have, and that is the purpose of the judicial conference.
00:17:55.920 Yes, it is the purpose of the judicial conference to raise concerns to the court.
00:18:00.940 But one of those concerns should not be that a party is going to disregard your orders.
00:18:07.940 That shows a fundamental lack of impartiality.
00:18:11.840 And that'll do it for your AM update.
00:18:16.400 I'm Megan Kelly.
00:18:17.280 Join me back here for The Megan Kelly Show.
00:18:19.100 We've got Maureen Callahan for the show today.
00:18:21.660 Live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at noon east.
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