The Megyn Kelly Show - Charlotte Immigration Crackdown, Trump Eyes Venezuela, Major Update in Comey Case: AM Update 11/18

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

The Trump administration surges DHS agents into Charlotte as part of a new crackdown on illegal immigration. President Trump signals he may be open to U.S. military intervention in Venezuela as pressure mounts on Nicolás Maduro. The DOJ’s case against former FBI Director James Comey hits a hurdle after a judge flags potential major investigative missteps. New data shows AOC outperforming top Democrats in key messaging tests, fueling speculation about her 2028 ambitions. Lean: Visit https://BrickhouseSale.com for 30% off All Family Pharmacy: Order now at https://allfamilypharmacy.com/MEGYN and save 10% with code MEGYN10 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Tuesday, November 18th, 2025, and this is your AM update. Charlotte's a beautiful city, but in this case, its leadership has absolutely failed it. The Trump administration surging DHS agents to Charlotte, North Carolina, the latest effort to crack down on illegal immigration. We're ruling out U.S. troops on the ground. I don't rule out that. I don't rule on anything. President Trump, eyeing possible military intervention in Venezuela. amid a battle against drug cartels. The DOJ's case against former FBI director Comey facing a potential setback,

and new data suggests AOC could be a serious contender in 2028. The question is, for what? All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM update. Do doctors have Black Friday sales? Do they? It's a good question. The doctors at Brickhouse Nutrition do. they just announced their Black Friday 30% off sale. That's their biggest of the year. The most impressive health and nutrition products in the industry are now 30% off.

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At least 130 people arrested in the first several days of what DHS dubbed Operation Charlotte's Web, headed by Customs and Border Protection. DHS has not provided a timeline for how long the operation is expected to last, but it began over the weekend. An agency spokesperson telling CNN that criminal records of those arrested include known gang, membership, aggravated assault, hit and run, DUI, DWI, illegal reentry after prior deportation, and more. DHS Assistant Secretary Trisha McLaughlin yesterday on Newsmax saying federal agents are targeting Charlotte because local officials refuse to cooperate with ICE. Charlotte's a beautiful city, but in this case, its leadership has absolutely failed it.

We know that there is more than 1,400 criminal legal aliens who are in their jails, and they refuse to turn over those individuals to ICE law enforcement, which really, that means a revolving door of justice in these criminal legal aliens will go back onto Charlotte's streets to re-perpetuate their crimes. We're talking about serial child pedophiles, murderers, rapists, gang members, people who pose real public security threats to the American people. And so, of course, We are surging resources there, and we won't stop until Charlotte is safer. Hundreds of community members mobilizing in opposition to the operation marching through the streets. Students at a Charlotte High School staging a walkout on Monday, CNN reports a popular

Colombian bakery closing after the owner says agents tackled people outside of his shop. In one Sunday incident, video posted to X, showing the driver of a van, reportedly a U.S. citizen, steering toward federal agents while they were conducting an operation. DHS saying the driver fled the scene, triggering a high-speed chase with agents, recovering firearms from the vehicle upon apprehension. North Carolina Governor Josh Stein, a Democrat on Sunday posting a video message to social media, accusing federal agents of stoking fear. My team and I have been in regular contact with state and local law enforcement

to ensure that they have the resources that they need to keep you safe. Public safety is our top priority. On Friday, before Customs and Border Protection came to Charlotte, I encouraged North Killenians to follow the law, remain peaceful, and bear witness to what you're seeing. To the CBP, if you know that we have violent criminals in Charlotte who are undocumented, we want them out too. Everyone wants to be safe in their communities,

but the actions of too many federal agents are doing the exact opposite in Charlotte. We've seen masked, heavily armed agents and paramilitary garb driving unmarked cars, targeting American citizens based on their skin color. This is not making us safer. It's stoking fear and dividing our community. Despite the governor's statement, Mecklenburg County officers where Charlotte is located do not assist with federal immigration operations, a policy reaffirmed in a joint statement released by Charlotte City and county officials just this past Saturday. It reads in part, quote, CBP operations are causing unnecessary fear and uncertainty in our community. We stand with all residents who simply want to go about their lives, contributing to our larger community. Yesterday on Fox, CBP's senior advisor, Ron Vitello, defending the operation.

I would take umbrage of the mayor's comments. You know, she wants everybody to live peacefully in Charlotte Mecklenburg. That's not the way this works. If you come across the border illegally, you're in the country illegally, and you're subject to arrest. And they are going after the worst of the worst, and the data proves it so far. Borders are Tom Homan making clear two months ago, sanctuary cities will come under more scrutiny, not less. We're going to flood the zone. We've got 10,000 more agents coming on. We're going to flood the zone. So we're going to send the boots on the ground to the places that we know there's

a problem. Address the biggest problems first. And that's your biggest cities, or sanctuary cities. whether it's New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, I've said it a thousand times. They'll get exactly what they don't want, more agents in the communities, and more works on enforcement. Because if they won't let us arrest a bad guy in the safety and security of a county jail, where it's safer for the agent, safer for the alien, certainly safer for the community. If they're going to release them back in the community, then we've got to send a whole team to look for that person, which they release a lot of people and send a lot of teams. If we can't find them in the community, then we'll find them at the work site.

And when we go in the community, I'm going to make this clear. The Sanctuary Treaties, again, we'll get something they don't want. When we find a bad person, and we will, if they're with others, that aren't a criminal threat where they're in the country illegally, they're coming too. Charlotte drawing national attention this summer after 23-year-old Irina Zarutzka was stabbed to death on public transit. Though the alleged perpetrator of that attack is a U.S. citizen, the brutal slaying committed by a repeat offender, highlighting criticisms that state and local leadership is failing to maintain law and order.

President Trump ramping up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro. On Monday, the State Department announcing its intent to designate the Cartel de los Solis, a foreign terrorist organization, effective November 24th. This will allow the U.S. to freeze the group's assets and will make it illegal to support this group in any way. U.S. officials describing the cartel as a criminal network based inside Venezuela and led by Maduro, along with other senior Venezuelan government officials. Maduro denies affiliation with the group. The designation comes amid

expanding U.S. military presence in the region. The world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, arriving Sunday off the coast, meeting at least seven other warships already stationed in the area. Since September, the U.S. carrying out at least 20 deadly strikes, killing at least 80 people on what the administration calls narco-terrorist drug vessels, mostly originating from Venezuela. Yesterday from the Oval Office, President Trump declining to rule out direct military intervention in Venezuela. When ruling out U.S. troops on the ground. No, I don't rule out. That, I don't rule out anything. We just have to take care of Venezuela.

They dumped hundreds of thousands of people into our country from prisons. You know, we have a tight border right now. Nobody comes in. But we had millions of people pouring through. A year ago, we had millions of people pouring through our border. And many of them came from Venezuela, including Trenda, Aragua, the gang. But they sent them in like we're a dumping ground. So I'm not in love with the people running Venezuela.

I love the people of Venezuela. But what they've done to this country. And I really say this, what Biden and the Democrats have done to this country can never, ever be forgotten. Maduro in power since 2013 is a longtime U.S. adversary, turning the country into a narco state, triggering a wave of U.S.-bound refugees and collaborating with countries like China and Russia. The Biden administration refusing to recognize Maduro as the legitimate ruler of the country following disputed elections. The Trump administration continuing that policy and doubling the reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest to 50 million bucks.

Over the weekend, Maduro reacting to mounting U.S. pressure on him, at a political rally, with this bizarre call for peace. Peace, peace, peace. President Trump telling reporters, he has, quote, sort of made up his mind on the issue. Yesterday, adding, he is open to speaking with Maduro. Yeah, I probably would talk to him, yeah. I talked to everyone.

Is there anything that he could say, that you would be okay, you can say. It's hard to say that. It's just that, look, he's done tremendous damage to our country. He has not been good to the United States. So we'll see what happens. At a certain period of time, I'll be talking to him. Coming up, the DOJ's case against former FBI director, James Comey, could be in trouble following a recent ruling.

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The DOJ's case against former FBI director James Comey in the spotlight. In a sharp ruling issued Monday, federal magistrate judge William Fitzpatrick ordering the government to turn over grand jury transcripts and materials to Comey's legal team. Comey facing obstruction of Congress and false statement charges stemming from his 2020 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee relating to questions about whether he authorized anyone at the FBI to serve as an anonymous source and news articles. The charges brought by U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan in the Eastern District of Virginia. Halligan swearing into the position on September 22nd, securing the indictment three days later just prior to the Statute of Limitations expiration date. Magistrate Judge Fitzpatrick identifying 11 separate issues with the government's handling of the case, citing what he calls, quote, a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps,

and quote, that he says could have undermined the integrity of the grand jury proceedings. The dispute partly centering on materials seized years ago from Comey's friend and former attorney, Columbia professor Daniel Richmond, during a previous leak investigation. According to the judge, the government exceeded the scope of the original warrants issued in that case and may have failed to properly screen out potentially privileged communications between Comey and Richmond before reusing that material in this new prosecution. The judge also finding that an FBI agent, who testified before the grand jury, had recently viewed potentially privileged Comey Richmond communications, calling that, quote, highly irregular

and a radical departure from past DOJ practice. The judge criticizing several statements made by Halligan to the grand jury. The specific lines are redacted, but in one example, he says the government misstated the law in a way that implied Comey did not have a Fifth Amendment right not to testify. The Constitution protects the defendant's right not to testify, and jurors are not permitted to draw negative conclusions from that choice. Judge Fitzpatrick, concluding this combination of alleged errors and missteps, warrant the rare step of releasing normally highly secret grand jury materials to a defendant. Attorney Mike Davis of the Article III project, posting to X, quote, nonsense. Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick, appointed by partisan D.C. area Democrat judges in 2022, is going out of his way to carry water for

James Comey. Fitzpatrick, through his highly irregular ruling, is grasping at straws to make his findings that Lindsey Halligan somehow did something wrong. She did not. They know the evidence against Comey is damning, so they are doing everything they can to stop Lindsay Halligan. Prosecutors challenging the decision, asking a separate judge to pause the order, quote, the government believes the magistrate judge may have misinterpreted some facts he found when issuing the latest order to release the grand jury materials to the defendant. U.S. District Court Judge Michael Nachmanoff agreeing to issue a stay on the order, alerting the feds to file their objections by the end of business on Wednesday,

giving Comey's team until Friday to respond to the government's objections. If Comey's legal team is ultimately granted access to the grand jury materials, they are likely to use them in support of a motion to dismiss this case entirely. Comey denies any wrongdoing and is pursuing several challenges aimed at getting the charges thrown out before trial, which is currently set for January. Axios reporting on an interesting nugget gleaned from a recent research project conducted by Democrats' Super PAC Future Forward. The most effective political ad in California's recent ballot measure asking voters to approve

redrawing congressional districts did not come from California governor and obvious presidential hopeful Gavin Newsom, but rather was from U.S. Congresswoman from New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Several high-profile Dems contributing ads framing California's vote as part of a larger national battle over who controls Congress. AOC's ad right here. California, you know we don't back down from a fight.

And this November, the fight belongs to you. Donald Trump is redrawing election maps to force through a Congress that only answers to him, not the people. If he gets away with it, all bets are off. For our health care, our paycheck. and our freedoms. With Prop 50, we can stop him. Prop 50 levels the playing field and gives power back to the people. Fight for democracy in all 50 states. Yes, on 50. The group testing responses to

16 different ads in support of Prop 50, which did pass by a large margin. AOC's ad increasing support for Prop 50 by more than five points outperforming every other message tested, including one from President Obama. Future forward head of data, Aaron Strauss, saying, quote, of all the ads on our side, one stands out as the clear winner, AOC's spot that connects the perhaps esoteric issue of redistricting to real-world impacts. Despite KG answers about future plans, Axios reporting in September, 36-year-old AOC is bringing in more senior staff with the team positioning for a run, either in the Senate or perhaps for the top job. president. This latest report signaling AOC could be a serious competitor to Gavin Newsom,

who is not hiding his presidential ambitions, at least not very well, among primary voters in his own backyard. Let the inviting begin. And that'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megan Kelly. Join me back here for the MK Show live on Series XMs, the Megan Kelly channel, 11 at noon east, on YouTube.com slash Megan Kelly, and on all podcast platforms. Thank you.