Megan Kelly hosts her May 21, 2025, AM update, dissecting allegations in Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's Original Sin regarding the Biden administration's concealment of cognitive decline. The report covers La Monica MacIver's assault charges against ICE officers, Sean Diddy Combs' trial testimony on drug use, and Marco Rubio's contentious Senate hearing where Chris Van Hollen accuses him of fostering global apartheid. Ultimately, the episode highlights a day defined by intense political scrutiny, legal battles, and deepening divisions within the administration and Congress. [Automatically generated summary]
It's Wednesday, May 21st, 2025, and this is your AM update.
There should be a lot of soul searching, not just among me, but among the legacy media to begin with.
CNN's Jake Tapper admitting legacy media needs to do some soul searching over their coverage of the very obvious cognitive decline of President Joe Biden.
Alina Hoppe wanted me to admit to doing something that I did not do, and I was not going to do that.
A New Jersey House Democrat facing charges following an altercation at an ICE detention center earlier this month.
New voices in the courtroom, witnesses take the stand in the criminal case against Sean Diddy Combs, shedding light on what they say really happened.
And Marco Rubio battles with Democrat senators in a fiery hearing.
All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM update.
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CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson joining the Megan Kelly show on Tuesday for their first extended interview, promoting their new book, Original Sin.
The book, citing interviews with more than 200 Democrat insiders and Biden White House staffers, details the behind-the-scenes efforts to conceal the true state of President Joe Biden's cognitive decline, including threatening or retaliating against reporters who dared to question Mr. Biden's mental fitness.
Many in the legacy media caving to that pressure or not needing any pressure at all to protect Mr. Biden, ignoring what was apparent to this listening audience for years.
President Biden was undergoing significant cognitive decline.
Your humble reporter questioning Mr. Tapper on his role in the cover-up.
It could only ever work if you allowed it, if the press allowed it.
Some of us tried not to and some of us were complicit.
The Biden White House did not like me.
Okay.
This is I do not have great connections with the Biden White House.
Well, clearly, you say you talked to over 200 sources for this book.
This is after the election.
That's the point, is that they were not being honest.
That's why.
Well, how did the Wall Street Journal get it in June of 2024?
And Jake Tapper and CNN couldn't find sources for this story then before he dropped out.
Annie Linsky and Siobhan Hughes did an amazing job in their reporting.
And they should be heralded.
And I heralded them.
I had them on my show right after the debate to talk about the great reporting.
But you did not put them on when they published that story, which was before the debate.
Correct.
If we're going to do this, let's just stick to the facts here, okay?
When there is a damaging report.
That's what I've been doing all along.
I'm just saying that didn't miss the biggest story of the century when it comes to presidential politics.
And one of us did.
Mr. Tapper called the book reporting process humbling, admitting that he should have pushed harder on the Biden White House and revealing he called Lara Trump to apologize for dismissing her 2020 concerns about Mr. Biden's cognitive decline.
He says it's now time for the corporate press to reflect.
And Alex and I are here to say that conservative media was right and conservative media was correct and that there should be a lot of soul searching, not just among me, but among the legacy media to begin with, all of us, for how this was covered or not covered sufficiently.
100%.
So, I mean, I'm not here to defend coverage that I've already acknowledged.
I wish I could do differently.
Mr. Tapper, who moderated the disastrous June 2024 debate that forced many on the left to finally admit President Biden was not up to the job, describing what that moment was like from the front row.
So we have iPads because you can't communicate, obviously, talking to your control room during a debate.
We have iPads.
I wrote, holy smokes.
Now, what I was thinking was, holy fuck, Dana writes to me on a piece of paper, he just lost the election.
And it was just, I mean, it is, I don't think this is hyperbole at all, the worst debate in the history of presidential debates going back to 1960.
I just can't think of anything even remotely close to it.
And then you saw him immediately after.
You write in the book and he seemed like unaware that something did I just see that?
Was that, did I just witness this 90-minute event?
For years, critics of the Biden administration have questioned who was really running the White House.
Original Sin offering the clearest answer yet, reporting that four senior aides effectively ran the country, with President Biden described as at most, quote, a senior member of the board.
Reporter Alex Thompson with more.
The people that we're naming would be Mike Donnellin, Steve Roschetti, Mike Donald's is top political advisor, Steve Richetti's top legislative advisor, Ron Clain when he was chief of staff, Bruce Reed, his basically longtime policy advisor.
Those are sort of the four.
They were literally Paul Burrow, Gray Hairs, Pooh Bahs, and they were with him the most of anybody.
Now, if you were to ask them, and I still think even if you put them on Truth Serum today, they would say he was fine.
Then there's this other sort of group that aren't the Pulitzer, but are just as powerful.
And they were the ones that kept the schedule, affected personnel, and really built the bubble.
And that would be Annie Tomasini, who's deputy chief of staff and previously Oval Office Operations.
And then Anthony Bernal, who was the top aide slash enforcer for First Lady Jill Biden and had incredible influence to the point that even people in the Biden White House would refer to her as one of the most powerful First Ladies in history.
The book facing criticism not just from the right, but from the left as well, including some Biden allies, including former ambassador and Democratic fundraiser Rufus Gifford, who pushed back on its account of a now infamous fundraiser hosted by George Clooney and Julia Roberts.
According to Original Sin, Mr. Clooney, a longtime friend of President Biden's, was reportedly stunned, stunned, when the president did not recognize him, George Clooney.
That anecdote appearing to align with Mr. Clooney's later op-ed following the June 2024 debate, where he acknowledged only after the disastrous debate that he had earlier seen Mr. Biden's decline.
But Gifford, who attended the event, says the book got it wrong, insisting there was no moment where Mr. Biden failed to recognize Clooney.
Mr. Tapper responding to that pushback.
We just went through, as a country, years and years of the Biden people lying and denying.
And I'm not particularly interested in pretending any of that is credible.
We are very sure of our story.
It wasn't just in our book.
It was thoroughly fact-checked in the New Yorker, who did an excerpt of it.
And we stand by it.
And I don't really care what Rufus says.
The full interview with Tapper and Thompson, including many new details from the book, is available on the Megan Kelly Show feed on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.
On Monday, interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Haba announcing two actions tied to a recent clash between Democratic lawmakers and law enforcement at an ICE detention facility.
On May 9th, Representatives Bonnie Watson-Coleman, Rob Menendez, and La Monica MacIver arrived at Delaney Hall in Newark seeking a tour.
Newark Mayor Roz Baraka, a vocal critic of the facility, also showed up.
Tensions escalated, leading to a scuffle.
The Trump administration accusing the Democrats of storming the facility.
Mayor Baraka was arrested for misdemeanor trespassing, but released the same day.
Body cam footage shows Congresswoman MacIver physically engaging with the officers.
On Monday, U.S. Attorney Haba dropped the charges against Baraka, quote, for the sake of moving forward, offering to personally tour the facility with him.
Haba then announcing charges against Congresswoman MacIver for allegedly assaulting and interfering with law enforcement, saying she had, quote, given her every opportunity to come to a resolution.
Congresswoman MacIver firing back, calling the charges, quote, purely political, saying she looks forward to clearing her name in court.
On CNN, the congresswoman implying she rejected a plea deal.
Well, the Justice Department and Alina Haba wanted me to admit to doing something that I did not do, and I was not going to do that.
Once again, I came there to do my job and conduct an oversight visit, and they wanted me to say something differently.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other members of the House Democrat leadership condemning the move in a joint written statement, quote, the criminal charge against Congresswoman La Monica MacIver is extreme, morally bankrupt, and lacks any basis in law or fact.
The statement characterizing the charges as, quote, a blatant attempt by the Trump administration to intimidate Congress and interfere with our ability to serve as a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch.
President Trump asked about the charges on Tuesday.
The days of woke are over.
That woman, I don't, I have no idea who she is.
That woman was out of control.
She was shoving federal agents.
She was out of control.
The days of that crap are over in this country.
We're going to have law and order.
Coming up, a participant in the infamous so-called freak offs takes the stand in the Sean Diddy Combs trial and Secretary of State Marco Rubio's fiery Senate hearing next.
Days of Woke Are Over00:07:25
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Testimony in the Sean Diddy Combs criminal trial continuing on Tuesday.
Mr. Combs' former assistant, David James, taking the stand for a second day of testimony.
Mr. James worked for Mr. Combs from 2007 to 2009, telling prosecutors he often set up hotel rooms for Mr. Combs.
The work involved prepping clothing, a toiletry bag, a medicine bag, food, and drinks for Combs.
The witness saying the medicine bag typically contained 25 to 30 pill bottles, including ecstasy and Percocet.
James testified to frequently procuring drugs for Combs' friends, including cocaine.
James would restock items for Mr. Combs, including baby oil, lubricant, and condoms.
James said he would ask Combs' security for cash reimbursement for these items, held in a Louis Vuitton bag always carried by Combs' security.
On cross-examination, Mr. James testifying he was instructed not to submit those personal items for reimbursement, accepting those cash repayments instead, because Combs did not want to have a company record for those items.
Prosecutors then calling male stripper Shere Hayes to the stand.
Mr. Hayes testifying that he met Mr. Combs and Ms. Ventura in 2012.
According to Hayes, Ms. Ventura hired him while she was using a fake name.
When he arrived at the Trump International Hotel in New York City, Ms. Ventura told Mr. Hayes she and her husband, quote, liked to create a sexy scene involving baby oil.
Ventura allegedly telling Hayes that her husband would eventually enter the room, but Hayes was instructed not to look at him.
Hayes telling prosecutors he participated in about eight to 12 of these sessions in total and that Combs never appeared to be intoxicated.
Hayes says the events were typically planned a few hours in advance and he would be invited by Ventura.
The defense clearly trying to show that Ms. Ventura freely participated in these freak offs, even handling the sex worker logistics.
The witness telling prosecutors, quote, my understanding was we were creating a scene, a sexy scene that was enjoyable to her partner, going on later to say he never saw filming or violence in any of their encounters.
Special Agent Gerard Gannon, the agent in charge during the search of Mr. Combs' Miami home in March 2024, also taking the stand, telling prosecutors agents found platform high heels, sex toys, baby oil, personal lubricant, and lingerie in Mr. Combs' closet, as well as parts to AR-15 rifles and loaded magazines.
Court will resume later today with more testimony from Special Agent Gannon.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio returning to Capitol Hill on Tuesday for testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, his first appearance in securing unanimous Senate confirmation.
The three-hour hearing erupting in fireworks several times.
Secretary Rubio clashing with Democrat lawmakers furious over the Trump administration's America First Foreign Policy Vision.
Democrat Senator from Maryland Chris Van Hollen using his entire allotted time to rip into Secretary Rubio without asking a single question.
You've made a mockery of our country's refugee process, turning it into a system of global apartheid where political ideology and race, more than truth or need, matter.
Like the McCarthy-era witch hunts of the 1950s, your campaign of fear and repression is eating away at foundational values of our democracy.
Attorney Joseph Welch to cut through the hysteria with the simple question.
He asked Senator McCarthy, have you no sense of decency?
And I would ask you the same, Secretary Rubio.
You have shown through your words and your actions what the answer is.
And I have to tell you directly and personally that I regret voting for you for Secretary of State.
I yield back.
Secretary Rubio defending the administration's foreign policy agenda, including cuts to foreign aid, changes to immigration enforcement, and the overall restructuring of the State Department.
Well, first of all, your regret for voting for me confirms I'm doing a good job.
I can't respond to everything he said because much of these are untrue, but I'll go through a few.
First of all, I'm actually very proud of the work we've done with USAID.
For example, I don't regret cutting $10 million for male circumcisions in Mozambique.
In the case of El Salvador, absolutely.
Absolutely.
We deported gang members, gang members, including the one you had a margarita with.
And that guy is a human trafficker, and that guy is a gangbanger.
Mr. Rubio referencing Senator Van Holland's previous travel to El Salvador to visit the deported Kilmar Obrego Garcia, a credibly accused MS-13 gang member in Salvadoran custody.
Secretary Rubio also clashing with Democratic Senator from Virginia, Tim Kaine, over the Trump administration's recent acceptance of white refugees from South Africa.
Those refugees citing fears of racial persecution under a South African law allowing race-based land seizures without compensation.
Democrats condemning the policy, accusing the Trump administration of racial bias.
Hear now some of that exchange.
So a well-justified fear of persecution.
Yeah, they thought that their farms were being burned down and they were being killed.
I think that's a pretty good justification for wanting to come.
But prioritizing the fact that the UN says you are entitled to entrance as a refugee if you demonstrate a well-justified fear of persecution.
No, no, no, you're not entitled to a female.
Well, I'm not the one arguing that.
Apparently, you are, because you don't know the fact that they're white.
And that's why to say that that would be unacceptable.
No, I would say that the United States is a very easy thing.
The United States has a right to pick and choose who they allow into the United States.
Even based on the color of somebody's skin.
You're the one that's talking about the color of their skin, not me.
The president of South Africa will visit the White House later today.
And that'll do it for your AM update.
I'm Megan Kelly.
Join me back here for The Megan Kelly Show, live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at Noon East, on youtube.com slash Megan Kelly, and on all podcast platforms.
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