The Megyn Kelly Show - Diddy Trial Twist About One Juror, Kohberger Plea Deal, Free Speech Under EU Threat?: AM Update 7/1

Episode Date: July 1, 2025

The jury begins deliberating in the Sean “Diddy” Combs racketeering trial, and a bizarre jury note raises questions about one specific juror. Bryan Kohberger takes a plea deal to avoid the death penalty. The Trump Administration declares Harvard in violation of federal civil rights law for failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students. A sweeping new EU law takes effect today, potentially allowing European regulators to pressure American tech companies to censor content globally. Riverbend Ranch: Visit https://riverbendranch.com/ | Use promo code MEGYN for $20 off your first order. Beam: Visit https://shopbeam.com/MEGYN and use code MEGYN to get an exclusive discount of up to 40% off.

Good morning everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. It's Tuesday, July 1st, 2025 and this is your AM Update. Verdict Watch begins in the Sean Diddy Combs criminal trial. Jewish and Israeli students were assaulted and spit on. They had their kippahs for fear of being harassed. The Trump administration finds Harvard University violated the federal civil rights of its Jewish and Israeli students and threatens to pull all federal funding from the Ivy League school.

It's a huge, huge risk if the European definition of hate speech becomes the American rule for hate speech. A deep dive into a new European Union regulation taking effect today that could force American companies to censor American content that has nothing to do with the EU. All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM update. It's time you've heard about River Bend Ranch. River Bend Ranch is located just a few miles from West Yellowstone, Montana and is known as one of the most respected Angus ranches in the nation.

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Use promo code MEGAN to get $20 off on your first order. It's absolutely delicious. You can taste the difference. Riverbendranch.com promo code, Megan. On Monday evening, News Nation correspondent Brian Enton reporting Idaho murder suspect Brian Kohlberger has accepted a plea deal in the November, 2022 killing of four University of Idaho students. Enton reporting and Howard Bloom confirming to the Megyn Kelly show that prosecutors will

drop the death penalty in exchange for Brian Kohlberger pleading guilty to committing the quadruple murders and serving life in prison. The trial was set to begin in Idaho August 18th. This Wednesday now, Kohlurger expected to plead guilty to slaying 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, 20-year-old Zana Kernodel, 21-year-old Madison Mogan, and 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves as they slept in their beds. The Goncalves family posting to Facebook, quote, it's true we are beyond furious at the state of Idaho. They have failed us. This was very unexpected."

Adding later a statement that reads in part, quote, "'Prosecutors vaguely mentioned a possible plea on Friday without seeking our input and presented the plea on Sunday. Lehtaw County should be ashamed of its prosecutor's office. The victims' families were treated as opponents from the outset. We weren't even called about the plea. We received an email with a letter attached, adding insult to injury.

They're rushing the plea, giving families just one day to coordinate and appear at the courthouse. Who do they think they are? After more than two years, this is how it concludes, with a secretive deal and a hurried effort to close the case without any input from the victim's families on the plea's details. As of late Monday night, none of the other victim's families had publicly responded to the news.

We are officially on verdict watch in the trial of Sean Diddy Combs. On Monday, the judge providing instructions to the jury before beginning deliberations. The judge laying out eight alleged acts for the jury to consider relating to Count 1, racketeering conspiracy. In order for the prosecution to secure a guilty verdict on that count, the jury must find that Combs, with at least one member of his alleged enterprise, committed at least two predicate criminal acts in a 10-year period. The eight possible acts the jury was offered are kidnapping, arson, bribery, forced labor, transportation to engage in prostitution, sex trafficking, witness tampering, and possession with intent to distribute drugs. To find Combs guilty of racketeering, the judge

instructing the jury, they must find the enterprise impacted interstate commerce. Jurors must also find that the criminal enterprise continued in a substantially similar form from 2004 through 2024, and due to the five-year statute of limitations on RICO charges, the criminal enterprise must have continued past 2019. The judge elaborating on each predicate crime, explaining, for example, that kidnapping only occurs if the victim does not consent, but consent, if given, can also be withdrawn. Former Combs assistant Capricorn Clark previously testifying to being kidnapped by Combs in 2011 prior to a confrontation with musician Kid Cudi. Counts 2 and 4 charging Combs with sex trafficking by force fraud or coercion.

Count 2 relating to star witness and former girlfriend Cassie Ventura from about 2009 to 2018. The judge instructing the jury they must be unanimous on at least one specific instance of sex trafficking in order to convict. The judge also telling the jury they can choose how long they would like to deliberate each day, allowing them to stay later than 5 p.m. if they so choose. Not long after deliberations began, the foreperson sending a note to the court raising concerns about juror number 25. The quote, we have a juror number 25 who we are concerned cannot follow your honor's instructions, end quote. Juror number 25 is reportedly a 51-year-old Hispanic man, a veterinarian, who said he has a PhD in molecular biology

and neuroscience. He told the court during jury selection that he likes nature documentaries, operas, and hiking. He has a domestic partner, he said, who is a male graphic designer. The judge granting each side 10 minutes to formulate a response, remarking on each proposal saying quote, in large part they are the same.

The judge then sending a reply to the jury quote, I remind every juror of their duty to deliberate and their obligation to follow my instruction on the law. With that instruction in mind, please continue deliberating. It remains unclear how the juror was unable to follow the judge's instructions. Then, just prior to 5 p.m., the jury is sending two more letters to the judge, one alerting the judge that deliberations would end at 5 p.m. that day, the other reportedly asking the judge if it counts as drug distribution when an individual asks for a controlled substance and the person hands it over.

This lawyer's answer? Yes, it counts. While no one knows for sure, the question suggests the jury did not check not guilty on the racketeering count, at least not yet. The judge announcing that he will respond to their question after attorney input tomorrow and dismissing the jury for the day. We will bring you the verdict and all updates as soon as we have them. The Trump administration on Monday announcing Harvard University violated its students' civil rights.

This, the latest move in a months-long effort by the Trump administration to crack down on illegal displays of on-campus anti-Semitism and on-campus ideological indoctrination. A Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights investigation concluding that Harvard failed to address harassment of Jewish and Israeli students on campus in violation of Title VI of the Federal Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt on Monday describing some of the investigation's findings. The majority of Jewish students reported the experience, experienced negative bias or discrimination

on their campus while a quarter of Jewish students at Harvard felt physically unsafe. Jewish and Israeli students were assaulted and spit on. They had their kippahs for fear of being harassed and concealed their Jewish identity from classmates for fear of ostracization. Harvard campus was racked by demonstrations, as you all know, violent protests that violated the university's rules of conduct. The demonstrations called for genocide and murder denied Jewish and Israeli students access to campus spaces.

These are all facts that Harvard cannot dispute. And that's why the administration has found them in violation of Title VI and has threatened to withhold their federal funding. The Trump administration accusing Harvard of acting, quote, deliberately indifferent toward Jewish and Israeli students facing harassment. In March, President Trump's Department of Education announcing a full review of more than $255 million in contracts and more than $8.7 billion in grants. Since that review, the administration has cut off more than $3 billion, with threats

of more on the way. It has also revoked the student visa certification, barring the school from enrolling foreign students. Harvard in return launching two lawsuits, one relating to funding cuts, the other relating to the visa program. Trump officials now warning Harvard's failure to institute adequate changes immediately

will result in the loss of all federal financial resources. A Harvard spokesman on Monday rejecting the Trump administration's findings, saying the school has taken steps to address anti-Semitism by strengthening policies and encouraging open and respectful civil discourse. Harvard University and administration officials have been engaging in direct negotiations as recently as this month. A formal notice of a civil rights violation like this typically precedes a lawsuit from the Department of Justice and

could force a settlement agreement. Coming up, a new law taking effect in the EU today, posing a significant threat to American free speech, even if you have no plans of ever crossing the pond. If there's something all of us can believe in, it's hard work, self-reliance, and showing up for the people who can count on us. And I want to tell you about Beam's Dream Powder. Beam is proudly founded in America. It's run by people who value hard work, integrity, and delivering results.

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Because when you're well rested, you're unstoppable. Beginning today in the European Union, a new sweeping set of regulations takes effect under the Digital Services Act. These rules could force tech companies to censor content posted anywhere in the world, including from Americans with no connection to the EU. We spoke with senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom, Jeremy Tedesco, about the threat posed to free speech in America. The Digital Services Act is a clear and present threat to Americans' free speech rights. It takes the EU's speech standards, which are very draconian, related to hate speech

and misinformation, and it applies them to American companies that run online platforms. And it backs up those standards with billions of dollars in fines if the companies do not comply with the EU's perspective of what is disinformation, what is misinformation, what is hate speech. So now with the code of disinformation becoming mandatory July 1, that means these companies are facing the actual consequence of 6% of their global revenue being fined if they don't comply with the Digital Services Act and what the EU bureaucrats want them to censor online. And so it's a huge problem. It's really a tax on American companies and a tax that is in existence to censor speech.

Violations of the Act carry up to a 6% penalty on global revenues from companies like Metta, Apple and X, potentially amounting to billions of dollars in fines. In January, free speech defenders rejoicing at Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's announcement that the social media giant was cancelling its brigade of so-called fact-checkers. We're going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X. Fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the U.S.

According to Tedesco, under the Digital Services Act, the EU is employing its own army of third-party fact-checkers to monitor for offending content across the globe. They basically delegate the responsibility for determining what is hate speech or what is disinformation to these third-party nonprofits or NGOs and You know, we've heard a lot in the US about how NGOs have been involved in this censorship regime this censorship industrial complex Well, that is exactly how the digital services act is designed in those trusted flaggers as they call them Go to the companies and tell them this content needs to be taken down, this content needs to be taken down, this is misinformation, this is

hate speech. And the companies, if they don't comply with the trusted flaggers recommendations, all those penalties, all the enforcement mechanisms of the DSA can come in and be triggered. Tedesco says the vast majority of the censorship will happen behind the scenes without most people ever noticing. These speech restrictions, you're not going to see them. Every once in a while, you might see the tip of the iceberg where some DSA take down mandate is resulted in somebody's account being suspended.

Over 99% of the censorship that's occurring is occurring behind the veil. The DSA requires these companies to proactively mitigate against the speech that the EU thinks is problematic, speech that is, again, fully protected under the US Constitution, speech they consider to be hate speech or disinformation. These are effectively our people's views about contentious issues of the day. The EU is telling these companies, if you don't proactively mitigate, and what that means is writing algorithms, training their AI, and taking other measures to limit the reach of or eliminate speech from their platforms.

But if the companies don't do it to the EU bureaucrats' preferences, they can impose those 6% in fines on global revenue. The EU, Tedesco warns, has a far more expansive definition of hate speech than what Americans are used to, pointing to the case of one ADF client in Finland who was charged with hate speech for sharing a Bible verse on social media. A lot of what the EU thinks as hate speech or disinformation is fully protected speech in the United States under the free speech clause of the US Constitution. One of our cases, Pai V. Reisenden is a Finnish parliamentarian. She posted a Bible verse about marriage and the Finnish officials charged her with three hate crimes. And she's gone through two cases, one though so far,

now she's going through her third case simply for posting a Bible verse on X, Twitter at the time. And that wasn't a DSA related enforcement effort, but that demonstrates to you exactly what members of the EU think is hate speech. It's you posting a Bible verse for all your friends online to see. And so it's a huge, huge risk if the European definition of hate speech becomes the American rule for hate speech when it comes to being able to engage in discourse online.

Tedesco describes a number of options the Trump administration has in neutralizing the digital services acts threat to American free speech. Ambassador Andrew Puzder was nominated and recently confirmed as the ambassador to the European union. So what we'd love to see, um, is that the Trump administration, uh, tell ambassador Puzder, you know, a big priority in your work in Brussels is going to be eliminating this extra territorial effort underway in Brussels to regulate speech online globally.

That comes in a lot of different forms. It can be diplomatic, it can be trade negotiations, it can be talking with member states who are objecting to the DSA, encouraging them to take advantage of their legal options. And that'll do it for your AM Update. I'm Megyn Kelly. Join me back here for The Megyn Kelly Show, live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at noon East, on YouTube.com slash Megyn Kelly, and on all podcast platforms.