The Megyn Kelly Show - Jack Smith Grilled, Trump Hosts AI Summit, NYT Executive Allegedly Killed by In-Laws: AM Update 9/30

Starting point is 00:00:02 Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Wednesday, September 30th, 2026, and this is your AM update. You use your ability and the powers of your office. To lie to the court, to lie to Congress, to lie to the American people. Former Special Counsel Jack Smith back on Capitol Hill facing hours of grilling over how deeply his investigations into President Trump intruded into Congress, Republican groups, and even the media. You'll now have one front door for. for every single question. Everything will be answered easily and quickly. President Trump putting artificial intelligence front and center yesterday, launching a new government website and meeting with tech leaders. A New York Times executive in the middle of an ugly custody battle gunned down in broad daylight.

Starting point is 00:00:51 Police say the suspected killers are the victim's elderly in-laws. And remnants of a hurricane that hit Mexico Monday night, now threatening to dump months' worth of rain on parts of southern Colorado. as the flood risk spreads into Oklahoma and Texas. All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM update. I have got to talk to you about cozy earth's bamboo, stretch knit pajamas. I love mine. They are silky smooth and buttery soft and you can feel it the second you put them on. They are naturally temperature regulating and breathable so they keep you completely cool without ever waking up hot or clammy. They are cool.

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Starting point is 00:02:26 investigations of President Trump. Smith is the Biden-era prosecutor who brought two federal cases against then-former President Trump, won over the 2020 election and its aftermath, the other over-classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, neither ever-reaching trial. Smith dropping the election case after Mr. Trump won in 2024, while Judge Aline Cannon had already dismissed the documents case after ruling Smith had been unlawfully appointed.

Starting point is 00:02:54 Now Republicans examining how far Smith's investigation reached beyond the president himself. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, used the hearing to lay out newly released records showing Smith's team obtaining and reviewing text messages involving 44 members of Congress, Republicans, and Democrats, while collecting communications from 87 phones used by officials in the first Trump White House. Senator Grassley also releasing 197 subpoenas issued by Smith's team, seeking testimony, communications, and records tied to more than 430 Republican individuals and organizations. Those records also sweeping up communications involving nearly 50 journalists at more than a dozen

Starting point is 00:03:37 news organizations, including Fox News, CNN, CBS, NBC, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Reuters, the Federalist, and the Associated Press. Smith rejecting Republicans' accusation that any of it amounted to political targeting, the former special counsel telling senators he still stands behind both prosecutions, insisting politics played no role in his decisions and saying he would bring the same cases today against a former president of either party. The sharpest fight centering on those congressional phone records, Smith arguing his team was not investigating the lawmakers themselves, but trying to establish who President Trump and those whom prosecutors considered his co-conspirators

Starting point is 00:04:20 were contacting around January 6th. Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana challenging Smith. You saw it just the records of the Republicans. And you knew that violated the speech and debate cause, didn't you? That is incorrect. We sought to comply with that. Did you take con law? I'm sorry, Senator. Were you in the quad playing frisbee during con law at Harvard Law School?

Starting point is 00:04:49 I did take constitutional law, yes. Well, then you had to know it violated the speech and debate clause. In fact, when you went to Judge Bozberg, You didn't even tell him you were seeking the phone records of members of Congress, did you? Because you knew he wouldn't agree. He would say, hey, counselor, anybody who knows a law book from a J-Crew catalog knows that this violates the Constitution. But you didn't tell him, did you? We sought non-disclosure orders from the court.

Starting point is 00:05:19 You didn't tell him, did you? In seeking non-disclosure orders, we did not disclose. You didn't tell him, but you're unbiased. You have no personal feelings. You make me want to throw up in my mouth. Then came one of the morning's more embarrassing moments. Republican Senator Eric Schmidt of Missouri confronting Smith over what he suggested was evidence placing the special counsel in Atlanta in February of 2024.

Starting point is 00:05:44 At the time Fulton County DA Fannie Willis was separately prosecuting Mr. Trump. Did you go to an NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks on February 3rd, What city would that be in? Atlanta. No. So your testimony today is that you did not go to a hawks game on February 3rd, 2024. Is that correct? I have no recollection of that.

Starting point is 00:06:07 Okay. Did you ever meet Nathan Wade or Fannie Willis in your time at special counsel? No. What would you say if I had a series of text messages from your team that said you were in Atlanta at a warrior hawks game on February 3rd, 2024, the day after Willis and Wade announced their affair? I don't think you know that we have this stuff. So I'll give you a second to process it so you don't, you know, perjure yourself. You just took it down really quick.

Starting point is 00:06:33 If I could look at that again. Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota then jumping in. We need a copy of the actual text. Can you give the witness the courtesy of giving him a copy of that? Mr. Smith, please address it. Just very briefly. And this can, if this is the correct basketball game, I recall going to a University of Maryland basketball game where Caitlin Clark was playing right around that time.

Starting point is 00:07:02 And the Marshal Service was there with me. You could check if that was the exact date. It was Maryland playing Iowa, I think February of 2024. But again, you could check that out if that's what we're talking about. Could it then be that University of Iowa is the Hawkeyes? Could that be it if he was at an Iowa game? Is that correct? It was because Caitlin Clark was coming to Maryland to play.

Starting point is 00:07:26 I know, but that might be the confusion over the names of the team, but perhaps you should have looked at it more carefully. Klobuchar adding on X later, glad one of us knew the difference between the Atlanta Hawks and the Iowa Hawkeyes. Yes, if only that same one of you knew the difference between a man and a woman when it comes to sports. But the truth is, while Eric Schmidt has reliably stood up for girls and women's rights against the trans lobby, Amy Klobuchar has made clear she's fine with boys co-opting girl sports in Minnesota. Save your sanctimony, madam. One confrontation on the hill turning personal,

Starting point is 00:08:04 Republican Senator Darlene Graham of South Carolina pressing Smith over investigators obtaining the phone records of her late brother, Senator Lindsey Graham, and questioning how his office justified keeping the subpoena secret. Mr. Smith, do you really believe that Lindsay was going to destroy evidence that was not even in his possession? No, I believe your brother was a patriotic public servant. Then why does the gang order say that disclosure of the subpoena would result in destruction of our tampering with evidence? Because disclosure of that subpoena could result in Donald Trump attempting to intimidate witnesses as he had before and after. We had an ample basis for that.

Starting point is 00:08:49 evidence in question belonged to Lindsay and was in the possession of Verizon. It makes absolutely no sense that anyone would be able to destroy the evidence you are seeking. Do you know what I think? I think you're just trying to bully my brother and other allies of President Trump. You caused my brother and a lot of other senators, a lot of stress, and that makes me sick. Cali, putting the chance of Jack Smith actually being charged with a federal crime this year at 16%. Give Calci our sponsor a try by using code Megan Kelly or by clicking the link in the description. All new users get $25 free when they trade $25.

Starting point is 00:09:37 President Trump devoting much of yesterday to artificial intelligence, launching a new government website and sitting down at the White House with some of the biggest names in tech. The day beginning with the unveiling of America.gov, an AI-powered portal designed to become a single front door for Americans trying to navigate federal government services. Mr. Trump describing it this way. For our entire lives, we've become used to a government so big it makes the citizen feel very, very small. Instead of forcing citizens to search through the endless maze of tens of thousands of terrible government websites and rules, and more than 10,000 forms. You have over 10,000 forms to do basic acts. You'll now have one front door for every single question. Everything will be answered easily and quickly.

Starting point is 00:10:28 A digital home built around your time and your life, you'll save hours and hours, many hours, hundreds of hours, perhaps a year. The administration planning to greatly expand what Americans can actually do on the site next year. Airbnb co-founder and U.S. chief design officer Joe Jebbya, saying that beginning in 27, users are expected to be able to complete forms and track applications for a number of services directly through

Starting point is 00:10:55 America.gov. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announcing Americans will also be able to use the site to apply for their first U.S. passport, a major hassle, which you cannot currently do online, beginning next year. From there, the focus shifting from how the government uses AI to what Washington should do about the companies building it. Mr. Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson hosting a White House lunch, attended by a who's who of the tech industry, they were all there. The gathering coming as some of the executives developing the most advanced AI systems are calling for stronger safeguards.

Starting point is 00:11:31 Somebody, save us from ourselves. While the president has repeatedly warned against regulations he believes could slow American development and allow China to catch up. The closed-door discussion reportedly lasting more than two hours. The president making clear he remains opposed to heavy-handed government regulation of the industry. President Trump saying the discussion also focused on how much responsibility the companies themselves should bear for policing the technology. Well, there's a belief that there should be tremendous self-regulation, and we automatically have regulation with the Department of Justice, the FBI, all of that. But the self-regulation is very important. And there's something else that was discussed, and that's local communities.

Starting point is 00:12:13 This is a group that loves local communities. They live our country. And they're going to work with local communities for the data centers in particular. And they're going to work to make the community happy. That might be supplying oil and gas. It might be supplying education. It may be helping teachers along financially, helping people along financially. The executives agreeing to a voluntary framework calling for

Starting point is 00:12:38 advanced AI systems to undergo internal and outside review, as lawmakers continue debating how much oversight the rapidly developing tech actually needs. Later in the afternoon, President Trump and the tech execs speaking with reporters outside the White House, meta-CEO Mark Zuckerberg, describing the safety framework. I think what we can all agree on is that the American public and our customers want to know that what we're building is working in the way that we all intend. So we drafted a set of principles and commitments around building robust internal controls and detecting if there are any issues with the technology coupled with multiple layers of auditing and controls, starting with internal risk review, external auditors and evaluators, and agreeing that we're going to

Starting point is 00:13:27 have all of our boards of directors independently review the reports that come from the auditors. I think that these are good steps forward. Anthropic co-founder Dario Amadeh, one of the leading voices for an AI slowdown, sounding cautiously optimistic. AI has incredible benefits. I've talked about the medical benefits of the technology. As the president has said, whoever wins AI wins, I think that's very important. But I think the technology has very real risks. And, you know, the mechanism, how we address those risks is still under discussion. But we all need to work. We all need to work together to make. sure that we can win and we can win safely. If we do this right, if we work with the president,

Starting point is 00:14:09 everyone here, we can win safely. Coming up, a couple of married 77-year-olds now in custody, accused of gunning down their daughter's spouse who worked for the New York Times in broad daylight. And a hurricane hitting Mexico Monday night, now sending a flood threat north from Colorado down to Texas. Everyone's talking about weight loss injections because the results can be so dramatic. They work by lowering blood sugar and reducing appetite. But what if you're looking to lose weight but are not interested in painful weekly injections, especially when you hear about some of those intense side effects? That's why doctors created a weight loss supplement called

Starting point is 00:14:56 lean. And the results could be remarkable. Lean says the studied ingredients in their product have been shown to lower your blood sugar, burn fat by converting it into energy, and curb your appetite and cravings so you are not as hungry. But listen, lean is not for the casual dieter with only a few pounds to lose. The doctors at Brickhouse Nutrition created lean for frustrated dieters with 10 or more pounds to lose. You could get started with 20% off and free rush shipping, adding lean to your healthy diet and exercise plan. Visit takeleen.com and enter mK for your discount. That's promo code mk at takelein.com. A New York Times executive, gunned down in broad daylight, over the weekend in the parking lot of a northern California sports complex. Police say the

Starting point is 00:15:44 suspected killers are the executive's 77-year-old in-laws. 40-year-old Jonathan McKinsey found shortly after 3 p.m. Saturday in the middle of the parking lot at Dublin sports grounds, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Jonathan McKinsey pronounced dead at the scene. A Dublin police sergeant happening upon the shooting while driving near the complex, as dispatchers reportedly began receiving multiple 911 calls. Witnesses helping officers locate Shoyang Zhang and Shili Chen nearby within minutes. The married couple identified by police as Jonathan McKinsey's in-laws, both arrested on suspicion of murder and booked into Santa Rita jail. Witnesses telling the New York Post two masked attackers approached McKinsey in the parking lot before reportedly taking turns firing.

Starting point is 00:16:34 McKinsey, with the New York Times since 2003, most recently serving, as director of engineering for their games division. Police have not announced a motive, but the killing comes amid an ugly divorce and custody battle between McKinsey and Candice Jang, the accused killer couple's daughter. The New York Times reporting Zhang and McKinsey each sought domestic violence restraining orders against the other last year. Candice Jang accusing husband McKinsey in court filings of physical abuse, including an incident Zhang says left her with a fractured vertebra. A separate police report shows Zhang also accused McKinsey of striking the couple's six-year-old child in the face. Police, responding to that complaint, reportedly found the couple's two-year-old

Starting point is 00:17:17 alone in an upstairs bedroom after dad McKinsey had gone shopping for more than an hour, all of which resulted in McKinsey being charged with two misdemeanor counts of child abuse, McKinsey pleading not guilty and being released on the condition that parenting classes be completed. A pretrial hearing had been scheduled for next month. McKinsey filed for divorce in December, seeking a separate restraining order against wife Jang. That filing revealing, guess what, McKinsey was actually a woman, but had undergone surgical procedures in order to appear male. McKinsey previously accusing wife Zhang and Zhang's parents of abuse tied to McKinsey's so-called gender identity. McKinsey alleging the mother-in-law called McKinsey a, quote, monster,

Starting point is 00:18:03 after McKinsey's young son began wearing his sister's dresses and accusing the father-in-law of punching McKinsey in the chest during recovery from double mastectomy surgery in 2010. According to booking records, Zhang and Chen, now facing charges including first-degree murder, felony conspiracy, willful discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, and child endangerment. They are set to be arraigned later today. Hurricane Polo's tropical moisture driving a serious flood through. from the Rockies into the plains after the storm made landfall in Mexico's Baja California-Sur region Monday night. About 28 million people were under floodwatches as of yesterday, according to the

Starting point is 00:18:45 Washington Post. By early this morning, what is left of Polo reaching eastern Colorado, where a separate weather system could pull it toward the mountains and keep it spinning over the region for much of the day. The National Weather Service in Pueblo, Colorado, warning wildfire burn scars are especially vulnerable to flash flooding, the danger spreading farther into the plains today and tomorrow. The post-identifying heightened flood risks along I-80 from Nebraska through Des Moines and into eastern Iowa, and along the corridor from Kansas City through Wichita, Oklahoma City, and Dallas, into the Texas Hill Country. Fox Weather meteorologist Britta Merwin explaining why the first real drenching after a long,

Starting point is 00:19:27 hot, dry stretch could be a problem. All of this mess in the southwest will continue to push farther east as we work our way through the middle part of the work week. And this is a huge threat to states like Oklahoma and Texas who find themselves in a level three out of four flash flood potential on Wednesday and Thursday. Part of the problem here, folks, is the summer that we've had in the central plains. No rain, triple-digit heat for more than two months. And in fact, we haven't had more than a hundredth of an inch of rain in months. And the first real drenching rain that we're going to get is way too much. We're talking about over half a foot of rain in two days. So this is going to cause big problems. Again, similar to the Southwest story, this is fueled by

Starting point is 00:20:15 tropical moisture. In Texas, rainfall totals could reportedly reach double digits by the end of the week, while today's storms could bring damaging winds or even an isolated tornado. And that'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megan Kelly. Join me back here for the MK Show, live on SiriusXM's the Megan Kelly channel 11 at noon east on YouTube.com slash Megan Kelly and on all podcast platforms.

The Megyn Kelly Show - Jack Smith Grilled, Trump Hosts AI Summit, NYT Executive Allegedly Killed by In-Laws: AM Update 9/30

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