The Megyn Kelly Show - February 19, 2026


Zuck Testifies at Social Media Trial, Potomac Sewage Disaster, Deadly CA Avalanche： AM Update 2⧸19

Topics
Potomac Sewage Disaster
Hosted by
Megyn Kelly
Mentioned
Trump Mark Zuckerberg Nicki Minaj Wes Moore Forlicia Cook Muriel Bowser Lee Zeldin Megan Caroline Levitt Russell Grant Scott Turner Mark Lane Ben Carson Patriot Meta Moon
Colbert Censorship Spin, Guthrie Sheriff Changes Story Again, US-Canada Hockey Final： AM Update 2⧸18 Today Show Cattiness, ＂Love Story＂ Lies, and SCOTUS Strikes Down Trump's Tariffs, with Maureen Callahan and Will Chamberlain ｜ Ep. 1257

Episode Stats


Length

17 minutes

Words per minute

153.36

Word count

2,737

Sentence count

205

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Toxicity

1

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Mark Zuckerberg testifies in a major trial that could fundamentally alter how social media companies operate. President Trump hosts a Black History Month event at the White House. A toxic mess in the Potomac River leads to an even messier blame game in Washington, and after hours of treacherous rescue efforts, nine missing skiers presumed dead in a California avalanche. All that and more coming up in a moment on your AM Update.

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 Getting your kids to school safely is important to you.
00:00:07.340 It's important to us, too.
00:00:10.580 Toyota.
00:00:11.900 For what matters most.
00:00:17.580 Good morning, everyone.
00:00:19.020 I'm Emily Jashinski, host of After Party and the Megyn Kelly Wrap-Up Show on SiriusXM channel 111.
00:00:24.820 It's Thursday, February 19th, 2026.
00:00:27.500 And this is your AM Update.
00:00:30.000 Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies in a major trial that could fundamentally alter how social media companies operate.
00:00:37.660 We thank God for the strength and courage and grit and devotion of Black Americans.
00:00:42.840 President Trump hosts a Black History Month event at the White House.
00:00:46.400 President Trump and the federal government are standing by to step in.
00:00:49.760 A toxic mess in the Potomac River leading to an even messier blame game in Washington.
00:00:55.000 And after hours of treacherous rescue efforts, nine missing skiers presumed dead in a California avalanche.
00:01:02.840 All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.
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00:02:18.360 Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appearing in a Los Angeles court yesterday morning,
00:02:23.600 testifying in a high-stakes legal battle that could fundamentally change how social media companies operate.
00:02:29.340 At stake, whether platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat designed their products to be addictive to children,
00:02:38.180 regardless of the negative outcomes.
00:02:40.440 The case brought by a 19-year-old from Chico, California, identified only by her initials, KGM,
00:02:47.300 who alleges negligence and negligent failure to warn.
00:02:51.360 It is the first case of its kind to reach a jury trial,
00:02:55.080 with thousands more potentially coming depending on the outcome.
00:02:58.260 Legal analysts comparing the moment to the big tobacco trials of the 90s,
00:03:03.720 which ultimately forced cigarette companies to pay billions and overhaul product marketing,
00:03:09.660 preventing advertising that appeals to children.
00:03:12.720 During questioning, Zuckerberg dodging a question about the addictive nature of social media.
00:03:18.320 Attorney for KGM Mark Lanier asking if people are likely to use something more if it's addictive.
00:03:23.900 Zuckerberg replying, quote,
00:03:26.400 I'm not sure what to say about that.
00:03:28.000 I don't think that applies here.
00:03:30.060 Lanier questioning Zuckerberg about age limits on the platform.
00:03:33.820 Users are required to be at least 13 years old to sign up for Facebook and Instagram.
00:03:39.120 Zuckerberg testifying that some people lie about their age when signing up.
00:03:43.700 Lanier replying, quote,
00:03:44.700 Zuckerberg saying that the company works to remove all accounts operated by kids under 13.
00:03:59.240 Lanier also questioning Zuckerberg about his preparation for his testimony and other public
00:04:04.300 appearances.
00:04:05.700 Lanier pointing to an internal document advising him to appear, quote,
00:04:08.780 authentic, direct, human, insightful, and real.
00:04:12.980 Zuckerberg replying that he is not coached, then saying, quote,
00:04:16.500 I think I'm actually well known to be sort of bad at this.
00:04:20.280 Facebook and Instagram deny wrongdoing.
00:04:23.420 TikTok and Snapchat parent company Snap reaching undisclosed settlements with KGM in January,
00:04:29.520 just ahead of the trial.
00:04:30.740 The trial is expected to last several more weeks.
00:04:34.440 Beyond financial damages,
00:04:35.760 plaintiffs are seeking changes to the app's designs to prevent future harms to children.
00:04:42.200 President Trump yesterday hosting a White House event celebrating Black History Month.
00:04:47.320 The East Room, crowded with many of the president's prominent black supporters.
00:04:51.700 Black support for Mr. Trump nearly doubling between the 2020 and 2024 election,
00:04:56.420 from 8% to 15%, according to Pew Research.
00:05:00.060 The president honoring the contribution of black Americans throughout the nation's history.
00:05:04.360 But we thank God for the strength and courage and grit and devotion of black Americans who have
00:05:09.940 helped make America the most powerful country in the history of the world.
00:05:13.800 Nearly 10,000 African Americans fought for the Patriot cause in the Revolutionary War.
00:05:20.440 Did you know that?
00:05:21.140 10,000, and it's actually a number even, I've heard even higher than that,
00:05:25.320 helping secure our independence.
00:05:27.360 And every generation since, from the Buffalo soldiers to the Tuskegee airmen,
00:05:33.600 black Americans have stepped forward to defend the flag and to defend our country,
00:05:39.160 like few others, really, like few others.
00:05:41.640 And you've never really been given the recognition that you should get for that.
00:05:45.680 President Trump touting key wins for the black community under his administration.
00:05:50.020 More Americans are working today than at any time in American history.
00:05:53.440 So we have more Americans right now working than at any time.
00:05:57.420 And you know, when I say this stuff, I get the fake news back there.
00:06:00.000 A lot of it.
00:06:02.560 Thank you.
00:06:03.660 I agree.
00:06:04.860 And since I took office, African American employment has increased by 182,000,
00:06:11.300 the highest ever jobs.
00:06:14.480 182,000.
00:06:16.320 Nearly half a million black Americans have rejoined the labor force since we took office.
00:06:21.380 Mr. Trump inviting seven attendees on stage to speak, including Dr. Ben Carson,
00:06:26.880 HUD Secretary Scott Turner, and D.C. resident Forlicia Cook, who lost her grandson to gun violence.
00:06:33.820 Cook delivering this passionate defense of Mr. Trump.
00:06:36.940 One thing I like about him, he keeps it real just like grandma.
00:06:40.540 Thank God for this president.
00:06:42.300 Because he allowed his people to come to my house to interview me to talk about the murder of my grandson.
00:06:51.360 It seemed like nobody cared and nobody heard me.
00:06:55.280 Then they invited me twice before Congress to testify for the beautiful bill that's going to change crime in the district.
00:07:04.520 If you kill somebody, you take a life, you do life.
00:07:09.720 Just that simple.
00:07:11.420 If you do a harsh crime, you do harsh time.
00:07:14.740 Just that simple.
00:07:16.620 And if we need National Guard, and which we did years ago, he brought it on.
00:07:22.660 I love him.
00:07:24.600 I don't want to hear nothing you got to say about that racist stuff.
00:07:27.640 And don't be looking at me on the news hating on me because I'm standing up for somebody that deserves to be standing up for. 0.88
00:07:34.260 Get off the man's back. 0.84
00:07:35.680 Let him do his job.
00:07:36.980 He's doing the right thing.
00:07:38.400 Back up off of me.
00:07:39.860 The president largely sticking to the script in the event, his remarks including guests lasting about 50 minutes,
00:07:45.880 and including this shout out to rapper Nicki Minaj, who was not in attendance.
00:07:50.160 How about Nicki Minaj?
00:07:52.100 Do we love Nicki Minaj?
00:07:53.720 Right?
00:07:54.760 I love Nicki Minaj.
00:07:56.500 She was here a couple of weeks ago.
00:07:58.080 So beautiful.
00:07:59.460 Her skin's so beautiful.
00:08:01.000 I said, Nicki is so beautiful.
00:08:02.800 Her nails, her nails, they're like that long. 0.53
00:08:06.440 I said, I said, Nicki, are they real?
00:08:09.120 She said, she didn't want to get into that.
00:08:13.540 But she was so beautiful.
00:08:15.320 It's so great.
00:08:16.160 And she, and she gets it.
00:08:18.280 You know, more importantly, frankly, she gets it.
00:08:22.300 Coming up, hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage spilling into the Potomac, leading to a toxic political battle. 0.97
00:08:29.760 And tragedy in California.
00:08:32.180 Nine skiers presumed dead in an avalanche near Lake Tahoe.
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00:09:40.780 A major sewage spill, believed to potentially be the largest in U.S. history,
00:09:48.260 involving millions of gallons of stinky wastewater pouring into the Potomac River,
00:09:53.820 now fueling a political storm in the nation's capital region.
00:09:57.880 The crisis beginning on January 19th.
00:10:00.680 A collapse in the Potomac Interceptor sewer line,
00:10:03.560 running along the Clara Barton Parkway in Montgomery County, Maryland,
00:10:06.640 triggering an uncontrolled overflow of wastewater into the Potomac River.
00:10:12.460 The Interceptor, operated by the D.C. Water Utility Company,
00:10:16.400 typically carrying up to 60 million gallons of wastewater daily from Virginia and Maryland
00:10:21.240 to Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant on the banks of the Potomac in D.C.,
00:10:26.580 according to The Hill.
00:10:27.380 As of February 6th, approximately 243 million gallons of dirty water
00:10:33.180 flowing into the river as a result of the pipe break, reports the New York Times.
00:10:38.360 Days after the break, weeks of below-freezing temperatures complicating repair efforts.
00:10:43.820 D.C. Water implementing an emergency bypass system in late January,
00:10:47.960 rerouting the flow away from the damaged pipe.
00:10:51.180 USA Today reporting no overflow has gone into the Potomac since January 29th,
00:10:55.380 though there are still intermittent spills,
00:10:59.200 the most recent occurring on February 10th, according to The Times.
00:11:03.340 Officials saying emergency repairs are likely to take four to six weeks,
00:11:08.100 with additional work continuing for up to nine months.
00:11:11.360 In the meantime, environmental testing detecting high levels of bacteria,
00:11:15.340 including E. coli, staph, and MRSA.
00:11:18.300 While the drinking water has not been affected,
00:11:20.720 officials warning the public and pets to avoid contact with the water.
00:11:24.040 D.C. Water pinning the cause of the pipe failure on aging infrastructure,
00:11:28.800 noting the Interceptor is more than 60 years old and had already been flagged for upgrades.
00:11:33.980 The disaster going largely unreported in mainstream media.
00:11:37.400 That is until President Trump weighed in,
00:11:39.540 posting to Truth Social,
00:11:40.860 quote,
00:11:40.940 There is a massive ecological disaster unfolding in the Potomac River as a result of the gross mismanagement
00:11:47.040 of local Democrat leaders, particularly Governor Wes Moore of Maryland.
00:11:51.880 While state and local authorities have failed to request needed emergency help,
00:11:56.080 I cannot allow incompetent local, quote,
00:11:58.340 leadership to turn the river in the heart of Washington into a disaster zone.
00:12:02.980 Mr. Trump, following up in another post on Tuesday, quote,
00:12:05.760 Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.,
00:12:08.440 who are responsible for the massive sewage spill in the Potomac River,
00:12:12.100 must get to work immediately.
00:12:14.340 If they can't do the job, they have to call me and ask politely to get it fixed.
00:12:19.160 Maryland Governor Wes Moore, a Democrat and frequent Trump critic,
00:12:22.760 responding to reporters on Tuesday,
00:12:24.920 pointing the blame right back to Mr. Trump.
00:12:27.160 I know this is breaking news to everyone,
00:12:29.160 but the president is not telling the truth.
00:12:31.120 In fact, the federal government has had responsibility for that for the past century.
00:12:36.500 And now we were actually some of the first folks to respond.
00:12:41.460 Our Department of the Environment was already on the ground testing water sewage,
00:12:46.180 testing the water quality, making sure that our people were safe.
00:12:49.000 I love the fact that the president of the United States is finally realizing that this was his job,
00:12:52.720 and he hasn't been doing it for the past month.
00:12:56.040 So I say, listen, we'd welcome you to help to address the remaining 1%.
00:13:01.060 It hasn't been complete while we've been doing your job.
00:13:04.480 Meanwhile, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin offering a more technical view of who is running what aspects of the cleanup.
00:13:11.120 In a Tuesday ex-post, Zeldin writing that D.C. Water is leading the cleanup and remediation efforts,
00:13:16.800 quote,
00:13:17.020 At no point in the lead-up to today had D.C. Water or the state of Maryland requested EPA to take over their responsibilities,
00:13:24.080 and EPA has continued to offer its full support to state and local leaders from the onset.
00:13:28.780 Yesterday, Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt urging local leaders to formally request government assistance.
00:13:35.240 The next step in this process is for any of the three local jurisdictions involved,
00:13:40.920 whether that's the Commonwealth of Virginia, the state of Maryland and Governor Moore,
00:13:44.980 or the District of Columbia to step forward and to ask the federal government for help.
00:13:49.700 President Trump and the federal government are standing by to step in,
00:13:52.740 but of course we need the state and local jurisdictions to make that formal request.
00:13:57.500 That's part of the legal process to move forward.
00:14:00.000 Last night, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser officially requesting a presidential emergency disaster declaration.
00:14:06.980 Mayor Bowser requesting that President Trump, among other actions,
00:14:10.480 direct FEMA to establish interagency coordination among federal agencies, affected states, and D.C.
00:14:16.600 She was also asking for additional federal technical and testing support to expand water quality monitoring,
00:14:24.280 and for full federal reimbursement of cleanup costs.
00:14:29.940 Nine backcountry skiers presumed dead following a Tuesday morning avalanche near Castle Peak,
00:14:35.940 outside Lake Tahoe in California, with eight bodies located so far.
00:14:39.960 The slide hitting around 11.30 a.m. as a guided expedition was returning to the trailhead on the final day of a three-day trip.
00:14:48.120 Fifteen people were on the outing, six survivors activating emergency equipment,
00:14:53.220 but brutal weather slowed rescuers for hours, crews finally reaching them more than 12 hours later.
00:15:00.160 Nevada County Sheriff Shannon Moon yesterday with details on the skiers.
00:15:04.140 Of the 15 that were on this guided trip, they were nine women and six men.
00:15:10.920 We were able to rescue one man and five women.
00:15:15.500 So the survivors, ranging in ages from 30 to 55 years of age,
00:15:21.360 eight of the additional, nine additional skiers have been located deceased.
00:15:25.980 We are still looking for one of the members at this time.
00:15:30.240 Due to the ongoing challenges of the weather, the avalanche conditions,
00:15:35.320 the effort remains ongoing, as well as our search for the remaining skier.
00:15:39.240 Of the two that were injured, one individual was stabilized last night and released.
00:15:43.460 One is still being treated at the hospital.
00:15:45.860 I've been told both subjects are non-life-threatening injuries.
00:15:50.160 The survivors, including five guests and one guide.
00:15:54.060 Sheriff Moon describing the difficult search and rescue effort.
00:15:56.760 We had two different teams deploying, roughly 50 skilled folks deploying into the scene,
00:16:04.820 both from the south side and from the north side, trying to come in to this area.
00:16:10.380 Extreme weather conditions, I would say, is an understatement.
00:16:14.000 Lots of snow, gale force winds, winds making it impossible to see.
00:16:19.760 So it was very much a slow and steady pace, going with snowcats, skiers going up into the area,
00:16:28.940 which is still considered a very high danger for avalanche.
00:16:32.900 The skiers staying in remote cabins during the three-day trip.
00:16:36.860 Officials issuing an avalanche warning early Tuesday morning.
00:16:40.240 It is unclear if the skiers ignored the warning before heading back to the trailhead.
00:16:44.900 Sheriff Moon saying an investigation is ongoing.
00:16:47.480 The deceased skiers located through emergency beacons.
00:16:52.100 The bodies have not yet been recovered, according to Nevada County Sheriff Captain Russell Green,
00:16:56.500 who added that recovery efforts would begin when conditions improved.
00:17:02.940 That'll do it for your AM update.
00:17:04.900 I'm Emily Jashinsky, host of After Party.
00:17:07.240 Catch the Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM's The Megyn Kelly Channel 111 at noon east
00:17:12.240 on youtube.com slash megynkelly and all podcast platforms.
00:17:17.480 What matters most to you?
00:17:23.860 Is it unforgettable adventures?
00:17:26.400 Connections with lifelong friends?
00:17:28.980 Peaceful moments of reflection?
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00:17:39.900 Whatever your answer is, Toyota is here to bring you closer to the things that matter to you.
00:17:46.160 Because they matter to us too.
00:17:48.580 Toyota.
00:17:49.460 For what matters most.