The Megyn Kelly Show - Michael Waltz on How Russia-Ukraine Peace Deal Happens, and Karoline Leavitt on Sparring with the Press and Being a Working Mom | Ep. 1011

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

Megyn Kelly is joined by National Security Advisor Michael Waltz to talk about the state of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, how the Trump administration is responding to the crisis, the critiques from left and right over President Trump's rhetoric about Zelensky and the war, how we can get to a permanent peace, the backlash to Trump referring to Zelensky as a "dictator," why both Russia and Ukraine are incentivized to reach a deal now, the looming threat of China, the latest horrifying example of Hamas' despicable brutality, what Trump means about "taking over Gaza" and his negotiation tactics, and more. Then Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, joins to discuss her experience interning for the first Trump administration, how she came to support Trump back in 2016 while in college, her experience running for Congress, her role of a working mom with a newborn, the critiques of that lifestyle by some on the right, her sparring with the press in the briefing room and what they say behind the scenes, Trump is delivering on his campaign promises, how he's dealing with various global crises, what Trump is really like behind the scenes, the AP Oval Office ban, and more.Birch Gold: Text MK to 989898 and get your free info kit on goldFYSI: https://FYSI.com/Megyn or call 800-877-4000Home Title Lock: Go to https://www.hometitlelock.com and use promo code MEGYN25 to get 25% off your subscription AND a free title history report to ensure that you’re not already a victim.Grand Canyon University: https://GCU.eduDailyLook: https://DailyLook.com to take your style quiz and use code MEGYN for 50% off your first order.Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKellyTwitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShowInstagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShowFacebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at: https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow

Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at noon east. Hey everybody, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show. Today, what a treat we have for you. We have got first, Mike Walsh. He's the National Security Advisor and man, does he have a lot on his plate. There is so much happening in the world of foreign policy right now. You've seen in the news, President Trump's getting beaten up by every paper, every left-wing cable operation, news operation. But there's a lot going on.

And he's got a lot of immense challenges. And Mike Walz is a critical piece of his solutions. So he'll join us for our first time together. And then Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary, will be here next. And you're going to love this interview. I just sat down with her. She is the youngest press secretary ever. Didn't even know that until I was preparing for today. We get into her background, her marriage, her baby. You're going to learn facts about her that you have never heard anywhere else. And then we talk quite a bit about her boss,

the press, what insights she's learned being upfront and personal with these guys and who her least favorite White House reporter is. And she did name a name. So I think you're going to enjoy that too. We continue to face uncertainty when it comes to the economy with a perfect storm brewing as Social Security and Medicare hit a breaking point as the largest generation is hitting retirement. A smaller workforce means a smaller tax base. You pair that with our growing national debt and rising cost of living and we could have a big problem. So what are you doing now to protect your family for the future? Gold can be a safe haven in hard economic times, and Birch Gold makes it easy to diversify a portion of your savings into physical gold. Birch Gold will help you

transition an existing IRA or 401k into an IRA in gold, and it does not cost you one cent out of pocket. Protect your future today. Text MK to 989898, get your free info kit on gold, and get a copy of the ultimate guide for gold in the Trump era. With a foreword by Donald Trump Jr., there's no obligation, just information. Birch Gold has earned the trust of countless Americans looking to safeguard their savings. Just text my initials MK to the number 989898 today. Mike Walls, thanks for being here. Yeah, thank you. So you're a busy man these days. The president's been a little busy these days. We told him a few days ago, Mr. President, you know we have four years, right? Right. Right. And you think about just what we've done in the

last month. I think we did more in a month than Biden did in all four years. On all fronts, domestic, international, and there's a lot happening when it comes to the international situation. I mean, it's like we were just talking before we got started. Oh yeah, then there's China, which hasn't been in the news really in the past couple of weeks.

So let's start with what is in the news. And today the dominant story is Ukraine and whether things are deteriorating now between President Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, there seems to be an escalating slight war of words between the two of them. Zelensky's complaining he wasn't brought in on the negotiation. Trump called him a dictator. Even some Republicans said that went too far.

What do you make of it? Well, this notion that he hasn't been consulted, I've just got to push back. It's just not true. Just a week ago, President Trump in the Oval Office had Putin on the phone for the, I mean, the first time they've engaged since the prior administration had him on the phone and then Zelensky on the phone within minutes. Both of them said only President Trump can bring this war to a conclusion, and you can't get us to a ceasefire and get this war to end if you don't talk to both sides.

So it is an age-old kind of approach in diplomacy called shuttle diplomacy. You talk to one side, then you talk to the other. Oh, by the way, we just got to a ceasefire and we see hostages being released in the Middle East. We talked through intermediaries, through the Qataris, through the Egyptians to Hamas. And then we talked to the Israelis. The United States has taken this position of shuttle diplomacy for quite some time. So people might be frustrated about how it's going, but Trump just in a very short amount of time has taken this conversation from endless war, as long as it takes, open-ended, death and destruction, you know, all over Europe and expanding now with North Korea to, is this war going to end, to it is going to end, and now we can debate about how. The reality is it was stuck

in what felt like a stalemate, a never ending standoff between these two countries. And so somebody is going to have to give. The criticism that's coming Trump's way from the right now is you gave up the farm too early. Like their criticism, and you tell me whether it's legit, is that he shouldn't have said NATO's off the table and they're going to have to go up some territory right off the bat because that should be the end settlement. It shouldn't be where we start. So but to your point on Zelensky, what has he heard the last three years? You know, blank check as long as you want. You know, what's the end state?

What's the strategy? What does victory look like? It was just completely open-ended. And oh, by the way, what he heard from Biden was the United States really doesn't have a say. You have a say. And now he's hearing something very different. I think that's difficult to hear, that this is going to end and you need to get to the table. In terms of the criticism, look, we've been dangling NATO membership in front of Ukraine since 2008 for 17 years. And behind the scenes, not everybody in NATO is on board with that. And I don't think the American people are on board with us bringing Ukraine into NATO in the middle of a war, which then obligates U.S. troops to get involved. So what

we did and what Secretary Hegseth did was state the obvious, talk to the white elephant in the room. And if we're going to get to the negotiating table with the Russians quickly, I think that needed to be said. And everybody in the room knew it, even though they were kind of aghast and clutching their pearls in Europe. And then the other piece was on the borders. Look, does anyone, and I've asked this of my European counterparts, is anyone willing to go to the microphone and say that we're going to expel every Russian from every inch of Ukrainian soil, including Crimea? Because that's essentially what the 2014 border, pre-2014 border was. No. I mean, it's a statement of reality. And that's the reality that we're living in, whether it's what's going to happen to 1.8 million people

living in death and devastation in Gaza. Like, can that really happen for the next 15 years? Or this. I mean, President Trump's very common sense. We're taking these issues head on. And I think no one should be of the notion that somehow he's going to get played by President Putin. That is not going to be the case. He's the dealmaker in chief. And, you know, if it weren't for him, we wouldn't even be having these conversations. So if Ukraine gives up some 20 percent of its territory, what Russia's taken thus far, whatever that rounding rounding number is and doesn't get into nato which i think many people believe would be way too provocative right now uh to even discuss or maybe for a long long time because that's really what was stirring up putin's anger in large part even before what does russia give right i can see what ukraine's

going to have to give here yeah what does russia to give? Well, this is always, you know, just in an objective look at it, going to be some type of territory, particularly after Ukraine's counteroffensive in 2023 failed. And again, we're talking all of Crimea here. Some type of territory for some type of security guarantee. We fully support France now saying that they'll get involved in the security guarantee. Macron is coming to the White House. UK saying that they will get involved in the security guarantee. There are some fundamental first principles here. One, this is a permanent end to this war, not another temporary stop like we had from 2014 to 2022, that there will be security guarantees involved for the future of Ukraine so that we ensure that this doesn't start up again.

There will have to be some type of territory concession. By Ukraine or by Putin? Because I thought we were on the list of what Putin's going to have to get. By both. And so he's going to have to give back. We can't even get to that conversation unless we engage both sides. I'm not one of those people who doesn't think you should be talking. I mean, it's ridiculous, right?

It can't be settled. That's what we've heard all week. Oh, my God, I can't believe you talked. But my only question is. And then I went to Riyadh with Marco Rubio and others and furthered those discussions. I just don't get, you know, when I took negotiations in law school, yes, shuttle diplomacy was part of what we learned. But the other piece was the best settlements involved both sides giving up a bit. Sure. Everybody should walk away slightly unhappy

or maybe even very. We just talked about security guarantees that you said right out the bat, Russia's not going to be happy. And they're going they're going to have to. And then I think the final piece, which is the back and forth with Zelensky this week is, you know, he himself came to New York last September, he's Zelensky, and started talking about critical minerals, partnerships. I mean, that was his idea as part of his victory plan that he proposed, including talking to President Trump about it. So now to act like this came out of the blue, we found a bit puzzling when we

personally sent our treasury secretary there to say, okay, let's do it. And I can't think of any better security guarantee than to be invested with the United States of America. As I said at the press conference with Caroline Levitt, they have an aluminum plant that could satisfy 100% of the United States imports if that thing was fully operational. They have critical minerals like gallium and tritium and vast reserves that could satisfy a third to a half of our import needs if they were at full capacity, if we had an investment mechanism. So, you know, what I've been on the phone all week with President Zelensky's team is saying, you need to see this as growing the pie. And 50% of a much larger pie is better than 100% of what you have now, which has been,

you know, essentially devastated or undeveloped. So to be co-invested with us for the long term, I think is a tremendous opportunity for them. And we have to restructure the conversation around our aid. The Europeans are doing it in the form of loans. They're actually paying for their loans on the interest of frozen Russian assets. Yet all of ours have been grants now for three years. I mean, the American taxpayer deserves some type of recoupment. And if we do that in a way that's mutually beneficial, then that's good for everyone. That wasn't even discussed under the Biden administration. It was just handouts.

And now finally we're talking about what about us? Yeah. What about our taxpayer? So let's talk about the possibility of securing Ukraine if and when this thing settles. The Russians do not want the Europeans, much less us, but we don't want to go over there and keep the peace. The Europeans reportedly, now you're confirming, may be willing to do it. So how do we get that past Putin? Not only are they saying they're willing to do it, they're putting operational plans in place with the NATO Secretary General and President Trump and I and others have openly said,

again, a first premise is Europe has to take more responsibility for their own security. How do we get that past Putin? And how do we feel about their ability, the European troops, to maintain peace and order and repel any potential aggression that comes up their way? The capability question is why they have to invest in their own defense. The other thing we've said that is unacceptable is we have a NATO summit, heads of state summit this June, and we will still be at a third of all NATO members haven't met the minimum of 2% of GDP that they pledged to do a decade ago, over a decade ago. They just want, right, this is a lot of kind of, you know, chirping and hand wringing about what the United States should do with its

taxpayer money yeah um and they need to come to the table and both macron and prime minister storm of the uk and the nato secretary general have said this was a kind of a shocking wake-up call guys you've been hearing us say this now we meant it we meant it and president trump means it and i mean it and secretary rubio means it pete hegseth means it. Is there any chance we withdraw from NATO? President Trump has talked about it. Two different conversations about security guarantees of European troops right on the edge of a hot war in Ukraine that is not a NATO member versus defending our NATO allies, you know, if attacked. Those are two separate conversations. We support NATO. We support

Article 5. But you've heard President Trump's, you know, he looks at it, if you had a club and only half to two thirds of the members were paying their dues, what are the other ones going to do? And the club required you to go to war if somebody in the club not paying their dues has a massive fight. And I have to tell you, I mean, just my own experience

as a Green Beret, a special operations officer who, you know, with multiple tours in Afghanistan, when we were there with our NATO allies, we called them, we had the fighting allies, the British, the Canadians, the Danes. And then we had others, frankly, that were kind of in the more peaceful parts that wouldn't even allow us. I tried to call a medevac from Germany where we needed help. They wouldn't allow them to come. We tried to call for air support for some other allies, and they weren't allowed to do offensive operations, I guess only if the plane was shot at. They had what was called national caveats. So you have kind of my generation with Secretary Hegseth and others that have seen this kind of, you know,

play out on the battlefield. And that's not to criticize the troops. They were constrained by their governments. And if we're all in this together, then we're all in this together. So what's your advice to Volodymyr Zelensky in trying to deal with President Trump right now? Because to me, it seems like he's gotten very provocative and may not fully understand who's calling the most important shots here. That's right. Number one, the first, second, and third thing coming from President Zelensky needs to be appreciation for the American people,

to appreciate what happened after the 2014 invasion. The Obama administration literally threw blankets at him. Who was the first to actually arm the Ukrainians? President Trump. Russia has invaded a neighbor under Bush, under Obama, and under Biden. It did not happen under the first Trump term, and he's going to end it in the second Trump term. So I think just an appreciation for that relationship.

You are not going to criticize President Trump into getting your way. Seeing that kind of backfire, I think, pretty spectacularly. But thirdly, appreciate that this is the opportunity, the opportunity that this is to be co-invested long-term to really benefit all sides from the critical minerals and resources they're blessed to have. Let's view this as an opportunity going forward. Yes, it's like I say to my kids when I say, here's something great. And they say, well, why isn't it this other color? And I say, I think the words you're looking for are,

thank you. Better said. But let's spend one second on the criticism of what Trump said the other day, and then I want to talk about Israel. He called Zelensky a dictator, which has had a lot of even right-wingers say that that's ridiculous. Zelensky's not a dictator. Putin's a dictator. He's had a lot of even right-wingers say that that's ridiculous.

Zelensky's not a dictator. Putin's a dictator. He's on the front of the New York Post today. Mark Levin, a big fan of the president, spoke out about this. Is that rhetoric that he just throws out there, or do you think he actually means that? What's happening with that word? Well, look, I think that he's enormously frustrated with Zelensky. He sees that martial law has been in place. I do think elections need to happen at some point. And all of these things can happen once we get to a ceasefire. And that, you know, I think President Zelensky, again, needs to understand that this is a very different dynamic now. This isn't just as long as it takes, as much as it takes,

and you do whatever you want to do. That we are determined to end this war. President Trump is going to do that. And what astounds me is the kind of these critical voices that were so demanding of a ceasefire and a stop to the fighting in Gaza, but yet are aghast that President Trump is doing, saying, moving, however it takes. They don't want to see it. So what's the alternative solution that anyone has on the right or the left? That's the good question, because I don't understand if there's no world in which we're

letting Ukraine into NATO. Who's opposed to peace? Yeah, I mean, they call it surrender. You've heard them comparing this to a Neville Chamberlain situation, peace in our time. There's a debate unfolding right now between Neil Ferguson, who's a good man, conservative, and J.D. Vance online over, about whether this is just giving it all up. You know, whether this is a surrender.

It's always easy to get peace if you surrender. I mean, that's almost laughable, Megan, that President Trump is just gonna give it all up to anyone. And if we look at what we had under Biden's lack laughable, Megan, that President Trump is just going to give it all up to anyone. And if we look at what we had under Biden's lack of leadership, do you want that? Or do you want someone who is going to go toe-to-toe with Putin, with Xi, with Kim Jong-un? I'll tell you where my confidence, my vote is. Explain this to me. I look at this.

I think part of this was that we moved so quickly. We had that confidence-building measure with the release of Fogel. That was in the works. That happened. That was great. And then, I mean, what was the last prisoner exchange we had? The world's largest arm dealer for a basketball player. That's right. So we essentially get that for nothing as a tremendous step forward. We have a call with both leaders the next day, and then we're in Saudi Arabia, and the world didn't feel like this was the normal process that happens over months and years.

I'll say another underlying premise here is time is not on anyone's side. The death and destruction is happening. The threat of escalation is always there. Zelensky's political situation is worsening. And we have an issue here of we're not going to give endless aid and other hundreds of billions of dollars. So I think everyone and Russia's economy continues to worsen with inflation, with interest rates at 25 to 30 percent. So everyone should be incentivized

to come to the table. So how much of a concern in this negotiation is? And President Trump, also stated that he is perfectly willing to tax, sanction and tariff the Russians as well. They've demonstrated a willingness to come to the table. Not everyone's going to like all the terms. We now need Zelensky at the table. Not everyone's going to like all the terms. We now need Zelensky at the table. Not everyone's going to like all the terms. And how we get there is the process that's unfolding. How much, if at all, does the threat of China play in all this? Because there's a lot of thinking that it would be great

if we actually could have a better relationship with Russia and focus on what many view to be our biggest adversary or potential, which is China. And right now, what we've seen over the past three years with this war is those two getting closer than the United States being out. Who on any aspect of the spectrum thinks that China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran getting tighter in terms of military cooperation, technological cooperation, economic cooperation is a good thing. No one that I know of.

And so if we start having different relationships and there is the prospect of a bilateral relationship with the United States and Russia that is very different and much less threatening, that arguably is not a bad thing. We need to clear up this issue of a major war in Europe to get to that point. Maybe I'm wrong, but as a sort of lay person who has never served overseas, to me, it looks like, look, it's lost. It's not that anybody won it or anybody really lost it, the Ukraine war, but, war, but Volodymyr Zelensky

limited the Russian gains to where he did. And now they've been at a stalemate. And now we're just seeing the death toll rise and the price rise. And at some point, somebody's gotta, if not cry uncle, just say, let's get out now. Let's cut the losses at this point because it's not going anywhere from here

other than more death and destruction. The war should have not happened. It really shouldn't. And it didn't happen under Trump's first term. We can unpack how that deterrence failed. Everything from Biden saying, well, maybe if it's a minor incursion, right, then maybe it won't be so bad to the giveaways on Nord Stream after the Colonial Pipeline hack. I mean, there are all kinds of things that I think led to deterrence failing. Then we have this incremental, just a little bit here,

a little bit there that essentially drug this war into a World War I style trench warfare, endless stalemate. Again, if you don't like this approach, President Trump's approach, then what is the alternative plan to continue this forever? What will the war situation look like at the end of this year or next year? How about Trump saying Ukraine started? People are going off about that. Well, look, he's focused on moving forward. And this came up in the Riyadh talks as well, this kind of long drawn out. And we could go back hundreds, if not over a thousand years of this side did this, that side did this, 2014, what happened in the Minsk one, Minsk two. And really why those, I think those talks were a good next step is we kept bringing it, Secretary Rubio, me and Steve

Whitcough back to, okay, let's move forward. President Trump is ready to move forward. Trump's well aware Putin invaded Ukraine. What's that? Trump is well aware. He said it. No, I mean, he said it repeatedly. I mean, the left is trying to spin this as though he actually thinks Ukraine actually started. I'm repeating what he has repeatedly said. Russia invaded a neighbor Georgia under Bush. Russia invaded its neighbor Ukraine under Biden. And Russia invaded its neighbor under Obama, but not under him. Those are his words. They invaded. Yes. Right. Now we can get in debate of who provoked who or what have you. What I would say to the left or say to anyone is you can't get both sides to the table in a deal

if you're trashing one side or the other publicly. And at the same time, if both aren't willing to come, then, you know, we've got all kinds of carrots and sticks and at the same time, if both aren't willing to come, then, you know, we've got all kinds of carrots and sticks and leverage the president's willing to use. Okay, let's talk about Israel. The news is just so awful. Isn't it? It's so awful. I feel like those Bebus little boys

were like the face of this thing. And there are so many mothers who I know watch this show and who I talk to via Twitter and so on, who've just been praying, you know, hoping beyond hope that maybe they were lying about the babies being dead. They've been claiming an Israeli airstrike killed them. There's zero evidence of that. We have every belief that Hamas did it or their supporters.

Now, the Israelis have evidence that they were executed. They were brutally executed. The reports online is that they were strangled. I don't know if that's- I, yeah, I don't want to get into that level of detail for the sake of the families, but they were, this was not an errant airstrike. It wasn't an errant, exactly.

That's the point. And by the way, just so the, I mean, it wasn't that long ago that we had college campuses, professors, administrators, literally celebrating Hamas, flying their flag. Seeing they were exhibited. Wearing their colors, you know, right? Cheering them on. And where are those people now?

Are they still willing to step out with that despicable anti-Semitic, I mean- I'll bet they are. I'll bet they are, because it's not like we didn't know on 10-8 and 10-9 and 10-10 of 23 what they had done. The reports of them burning babies were all over the airwaves and they were still on the college campuses cheering this on. There's something wrong. And you know who does not and refuses to have a two-state solution? Hamas. Yeah. Right? They fully intend to have more October 7th if given the chance. So we have to get as many people out as we can.

These people cheering those two babies' coffins like it was Mardi Gras, you think these are not people we can deal with. I don't blame Egypt and Jordan for not wanting them. We wouldn't take them. Why would we take them? So how on earth does Trump get any country to take that group of people long term?

Well, first, we have to address what has happened in the radicalization of a whole generation. And this was largely done under the auspices of the UN and UNRWA, who has UN-funded teachers in these schools teaching these children to not only hate Israel, but hate America and really just hate the world. And to love death. Yeah, and to love death. We also have them being rewarded and paid, financially incentivized to do this for the payments of families. That is often done with aid dollars. And one of the reasons that we once again have cut that back off and we've defunded UNRWA. So let's recognize that for what it is. And one of the reasons that we once again have cut that back off and we've defunded UNRWA. So let's recognize that for what it is.

And one of the reasons that we have this problem, what President Trump is speaking to is a practical reality. When we looked at drone footage of Gaza flying over the miles and miles and miles of just rubble. The place looks like Hiroshima. It has been devastated, coupled with no sewage, no water, unexploded ordnance everywhere, all from a war that Hamas started. But how do you rebuild that place with nearly 2 million people sitting on it? How do they even survive for the 10, 15 years it's going to take. So this is, once again, you don't like this plan of somehow offering these people a better solution, a better life that they've never really been offered. We understand the ideological

and emotional attachment to the land, but this is just practicality. And if not the neighbors, then you have countries like Indonesia, you have countries like Malaysia, you have countries like Indonesia, you have countries like Malaysia, you have countries like Azerbaijan and others. And this isn't mandatory, but it should be voluntary. If they want to leave and the entire world kind of heart breaks for these people, then let's step up and have real solutions. And what we saw after the visit of King Abdullah of Jordan was the Arab

world is pulling people together. They're pulling themselves together and saying, "'Okay, we're gonna come to President Trump "'with an alternative plan.'" Okay, tell me what happened there, because when Trump was like, "'Gaza, Gaziera, it'll be the Gaziera. "'We're gonna send them to Egypt and Jordan.

"'We're gonna rebuild it, it's gonna be beautiful.'" Beirut was called the Paris of Mediterranean. Everybody's, I mean, Alan Dershowitz, who's been going there for 60 years, is saying it was like Singapore. Could have been a totally different situation. No, I'll tell you what happened. He said, listen, so we're going to invest

billions of dollars. United States will be, somehow be a part of it. How do we prevent this insanity from happening all over again? So say you shift these people around, you clear the rubble, you invest billions to rebuild, and another October 7th happens, and here we are. They're very determined to kill Jews.

We've been hearing the same old talking points for 70 years, and it keeps happening over and over again. So if he kind of shakes things up and proposes something radically new, which he did. Yes. But he also sees— But wait, that's what I did. Yes. But he also sees- But wait, that's what I'm going for. But he also sees an opportunity though in that- But this is my question to you, is do you think what's happening now

is what Trump intended to have happen, which is we're not necessarily going in there to build Gaziera, but we were hoping to start a conversation where the Middle Eastern countries would say, we might have a better idea. Let us handle it and get a little bit more aggressive, which they've been hands-off about it. I think both can be true. Right. Both can be true

at the same point. You can actually chart a vision to have, you know, this beautiful piece of real estate right, you know, just south of Beirut, which used to be called the Paris of the Mediterranean. If we clear up the security situation, we get the international community to actually fund the rebuilding, how do we prevent the same old thing from happening again? And how do we chart an actual positive future? And perhaps that has to kind of break some historic China. That's okay.

Come back with a different plan. And that's what people are doing. So does this thing go forward into phase two of the ceasefire? Because it turns out that Hamas did not return at least one of the bodies that they said they were going to, the mother of those two babies. It was a different corpse. I mean, it's just sick.

I mean, literally those conversations, I'll see Bibi's National Security Advisor Monday. Now Ambassador Witkoff is talking to them today. I mean, this is a moving fluid hour by hour situation. And we need to get as many hostages out as we can. At the same time, we make sure Hamas never exists to do this again. Which is trickier? Which situation that we spent this half hour

talking about, you know, keeps you up more at night? I could see, look, thanks partially, well, they all do. Europe is going to be harder. I mean, that is a tough, tough situation. And the president has said this as well. Iran is on its back foot. We have a historic opportunity in Lebanon now with our own government, Christian Arab-led government. We have the fall of Assad, the decimation of Hezbollah. We have a tremendous opportunity in the Middle East. We have to make sure that this never happens again to Israel and we will always stand with them. But we can see that pathway to get back to where we were the first term, which was the Abraham Accords. And the more we get back to talking about data centers and fiber and infrastructure and those conversations that become bigger, these historic animosities

become smaller and smaller. That pathway is going to happen. We just started this first step of a process of bringing the war in Europe to an end and charting that future. We've seen the introduction of American leadership in the Western Hemisphere again, and that's from the Arctic all the way down to the border, down and taking on the cartels to the Panama Canal. The Arctic, also known as our 51st state. And also known as Greenland. It's a combo. They could be 51 and 52. The reality is the Danish government has treated Greenland like a, you know, like kind of a backwater.

They don't have the defense assets over there. We see Russian icebreakers. We see the Chinese trying to get a hold of critical minerals. We see now shipping and fishing and other things happening to the north of our neighbor in Canada. By the way, Canada is near the last in terms of defense spending itself. Again- What a shock.

Shocker. Trudeau came to the dinner and said, no, no, we're on a pathway to get to the minimum 2% 10 years from now. That was a commitment they made 10 years ago. So just, it's unacceptable. And we also see Panama moving away from China. I've heard general after general

when I was in Congress and Admiral come to the table and pound the table about China in the Western Hemisphere and our food, energy, ports. And now within a month, we have the country overseeing the Panama Canal saying, we're coming back to the United States, we're moving away from China. One month. So all of this is in train. It's moving in the right direction. It's all moving in the right direction. It's not going to happen overnight. We told the president we have four years. He said, no, we don't. We're doing it right now. Maybe for 100 days at least. Yeah, right.

Thank you so much, Mike, for being here. My pleasure. Yeah. Thanks for serving too. Mike Walsh, everybody. Are rising costs or scaling challenges holding you back? Are you having trouble taking your business to the next level? Financial Yield Solutions, Inc., or FYSI, provides tailored solutions for businesses generating $1 million to $10 million annually. From tax planning, advertising, and retirement strategies to scaling operations, FYSI helps businesses thrive. For those considering selling their business, FYSI guides businesses thrive. For those considering selling their business,

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of every major sport, comedy, talk, podcast, and more. Subscribe now. Get your first three months for free. Go to SiriusXM.com slash MK show to subscribe and get three months free. That's SiriusXM.com slash MK show and get three months free. Offer details apply. Caroline, I'm so happy you are here. I'm so happy to be here. How are you? I'm good.

Are you exhausted yet? A little, yeah. No, I'm exhilarated. It's exhausting, but exhilarating all at the same time. Tell me everything. Do you love it? Is it, What is it? How is it? I love my job. Absolutely love it. I wake up every day and I feel very blessed to go through the gates of the White House. It's exhausting. It's all-encompassing. It's 24-7, but it's amazing. And I work for a great president who's doing what he said he was going to do. So

it makes my job quite easy, actually. You're so good at it. And I knew you were young. You're 27. I didn't know you were the youngest ever in this job. I didn't realize that until after the announcement came out when the president officially named me and put out the statement. And I saw that on the news myself. So I suppose that's... You were born to do it. How were you born to do it? What tells us about your background? Sure. I was raised in a family that was not political at all. Business family, small business. We owned an ice cream stand and a used truck shop that my family still runs up in New Hampshire, which is where I was born and raised. And the fact that I grew up in New Hampshire, it kind of opened my eyes to politics, obviously being the first in the nation primary state.

But I went to school on a softball scholarship. I was an athlete my whole life. And when I went to college, St. Anselm College, to play softball. We always go there. It's a very politically active school. And I realized, wow, I loved news and media and politics. And I was fascinated by it all. And I kind of threw myself into all of these different opportunities on campus. And then one thing led to the next. And here we are. So you interned for Trump 1.0? Yes.

For the White House? I did. While you were in college? Yes. Wow. Yes. What happened there? So 2016 was the first election I was eligible to vote in.

Voted for Donald Trump in the New Hampshire primary and of course in the general election and I applied for an internship. A student who was a few years older than me, who's actually a producer for ABC at the White House now, was a fellow student and she was an intern under Obama and I remember hearing her talk about it in class one day and I thought that's fascinating. I want to be an intern for Donald Trump. So I literally went on whitehouse.gov and applied for the internship. And they chose me. I don't know why, but they did. College-age student from New Hampshire, which isn't the reddest of states. No.

And a non-political family wind up voting Trump in 16. Not like voting for him this time around. Yeah. So I wrote two editorials in the St. Anselm Crier, our school newspaper. And one of the titles of one of the editorials was Why Donald Trump Just Keeps on Winning. And at the time, I realized he was speaking in layman's terms. And he was saying things that I felt like really resonated with people of my background, right? Blue collar, small business, middle class working family. My, you know, neither of my parents went to college. They worked very hard for everything they have and watched my family business have some downturn during 2008 and the

financial crisis. I was very young at the time, but that's my lived experience. You weren't getting shunned by your friends? No, I wasn't. The Forgotten Men and Women, I think that message really spoke to me and a lot of people that I grew up with in that kind of blue collar town. And when I got to college, I realized not everybody feels that way, especially my professors. And it really propelled me to just use my voice and, you know, dive into politics. Well, how so? Because people ask that all the time. Do I tell my

college student to fight openly for his or her beliefs or do I have them go along to get along, get the A's, get into the best law school, med school, business school by playing the game until you have more liberty? Yeah. Where do you fall? Gotta speak your truth. It's the only way I believe. And I think when you show courage and sharing your values and opinions, people respect you more and it will work out and you'll land where you're supposed to be. Right. And maybe you won't get that job you were hoping for. You'll get denied by that school. But like God has a plan and it will work out for you for a reason. Yeah. And I think it's much more liberating to just be honest. And I think this election showed that there's many more people in this country who

feel the way that we do on the right than on the left. And I think the silent majority isn't silent anymore. And I think all parents should encourage their children to use their voice and have courage and, you know, speak their truth. So I know the past couple of years before you went into the White House, you were doing campaign work and comms work for Trump. But what about in the interim? Like what'd you do after Trump 1.0? Yes. So Trump 1.0 started as an intern and then was offered a full time job, which led me to working in the press office under Kayleigh McEnany, who was my old boss and remains a very good friend to this day. And then went back home and actually ran for office. I briefly worked for Congresswoman Elise Stefanik,

who will soon be our United Nations ambassador. And she has a, you know, a PAC that supports and encourages women to run for office. And I had a conversation with her about being in New Hampshire and the district that I was from. And, you know, with her about being in New Hampshire and the district that I was from and, you know, really sparked my interest to run myself. So I went back home and kicked off a congressional campaign, which was an amazing experience. I was in a very

competitive primary. A lot of money from the D.C. establishment went into the race against me. There was a lot of negative ads. I won the primary, ultimately lost the general election. New Hampshire is a tough state to win at the federal level, unfortunately, for a few reasons, but it worked out. Did that thicken your skin right up though? Totally. Oh my gosh. There's a reason for all these steps in the journey. I have so much respect for anyone who puts their name on a ballot because

nothing is off limits. They will go after you and your family and everything is on the line when you decide to be a public servant and run. But I don't have no regrets. I met amazing people and it taught me so many skills and life lessons. And it was a wonderful experience. You're a nicer person than I am. I definitely do not have respect for anybody who puts their name on a ballot. I can think of several people who never should have done that. There's some people, yeah. But you're generous. All right, so at the same time,

you're building a family life. You fall in love. I didn't know until today that you married a man who's a lot older. Yes. He's 59, you're 27. Yes. How did that happen?

I met my husband during my congressional campaign. A mutual friend of ours hosted an event at a restaurant that he owns up in New Hampshire and invited my husband during my congressional campaign. A mutual friend of ours hosted an event at a restaurant that he owns up in New Hampshire and invited my husband. And I was speaking and we met, we were acquainted as friends, and then we fell in love, as you said. Was there any like, I can't date him, he's 59 or 57? Yes, of course.

I mean, it's very atypical love story, but he's incredible. He is my greatest supporter. He's my best friend. He's my best friend. He's my rock. And he's built a very successful business himself. So now he's fully supportive of me building my success and my career. And he's the father of my child, of course,

and he's the best dad I could ever ask for. And so supportive, especially during this very chaotic period of life. Poor man. He had no idea what was going to happen. I walked into your life and it's been a circus ever since, but God bless him because he's fully on board. So he's an Italiano. Yes, he is. He's a lover. He's a romantic man. So there's your babe who was born in July. That's your little boy.

My little boy. What's his name? Nicholas, and we call him Nico. Yeah. I know we talked about this a little backstage at the Superbowl, but how are you handling, I mean, true new motherhood is not even a year and this crazy job. Yeah. It's a lot. No denying it. He's seven months. Uh. I had him in the midst of the presidential campaign three days before the president almost lost his life in Butler, Pennsylvania. My son was born on the 10th. The president was shot on the 13th. It was my first day home with him from the hospital. And it kind of threw me right back to work much sooner than I would have probably

expected or hoped. But becoming a mother in the midst of this very chaotic political world that I work in has been the best thing I could have ever imagined because it gives you great perspective and it humbles you. And my son doesn't give a crap about my job. He just wants me to come home and snuggle and play toys and be present. So it's, you know, a difficult balance to prioritize being good at my job and being good as a mother. But I just try to prioritize my time and carve out that time when I can. And I'm so grateful to have the support system I do. A great husband who can be very present with our child. And then'm so grateful to have the support system I do. A great husband who can be very present with our child. And then of course, a wonderful mother and father and friends

who chip in when I need them. Your parents must be so proud of you. I think so. I hope so. A grandchild and access to President Trump in the same year. My mom actually was in town this week to help with our baby because my husband had some work things to attend to. And she came to my briefing yesterday. She was in the room. I was like, are you sure you want to go in? She'd get annoyed by pesky reporters being rude. Well, I brought in some backup yesterday. I brought in my colleague, Walt and Stephen and Kevin. So a lot of the questions were for them. So I asked her after, I said, how was it? She was like, thank God all the questions weren't to you today. I would have been dying in there. So she

enjoyed it very much. My Nana who died at 101, she was in her elderly years, not that able to like get out and around. So if I had a important court argument that was on tape, I would show it to her and she would get so mad at the judges. She didn't think that they should be allowed to ask me any questions. She didn't like opposing counsel. Why is he saying that about you?

They don't totally get it. It's a motherly bias that we have for our babies. All right. So you are balancing with the baby. Can I just ask you one other question on that? Because we talk about it all the time, especially on the right. And I too am a working mom and always have been. I've, you know, been a professional woman since I graduated from college or law school.

But now there's, I think, a good thing, which is like the restoration of valuing so-called traditional moms, and that's great. The women who take care of their kids full time, most of my best friends are doing exactly that. But it seems like in the right, there's a bit of a shift toward like, you can't do what Caroline's doing.

That's actually like an unsafe or a dangerous or a bad choice for families, for children, which I reject wholesale, but you hear it more and more. Do you hear that? And what do you think of it? I would reject that it's a bad choice. Is it a tough choice? Absolutely. You know, as a mother, you want to be with your child 24 seven. You have that maternal instinct. Like 27. Not all the time. Well, right now, yes,

because he's seven months and just squishy and lovable, but I'm sure that will change. No, but you do have that maternal instinct, but also recognizing I'm doing this work for my son and for all children to make this country better. And it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It's also very, it's temporary, right? In four years, my son will be four years old and the president will no longer be at the White House. And then I'll move on and do something else. But, you know, this chaos of 24-7 work is a temporary matter. And that's what at least I tell myself to get through

these very long and hard days. But I would reject that you can't be a good mom and be good at your job. I think you can do both. It certainly not, it's not for everybody. And it's takes a lot of, of work and will and faith and prayer. And it's hard, but it can be done. And I would reject that. We can't chase our great conservative moms out of the workforce. Right, we need them. And we get rid of you, we get rid of Katie Britt, we get rid of Usha Vance.

Right. This is not the way, Amy Coney Barrett is not a, that's not, that should not be the place the conservative movement lands. I agree. All right, so now you start as White House press secretary, and were you thrilled to get that invitation? Of course. Yes. I was very humbled and honored. And I was

campaigning with the president over the past year through the court trials. We sat in that courthouse in Manhattan with the Bragg trial, so many rallies. And we worked so damn hard to win that election. But you must have really wrestled with how you were going to meet the high bar set by Karine Jean-Pierre. Sorry, was that out loud? No, she was terrible. Yeah. I mean, come on.

Yeah. So how is your approach different, would you say? I think it's vastly different. And if you ask people, even in the legacy media, even the Trump haters, they will tell you the approach has been much different. Not just for me, but the entire White House. Oh, absolutely. They come in my office every day and they'll admit that off the record. Maybe not on the record, but they will say they appreciate the access and the transparency and the preparation that goes into my briefings.

And everybody on our team, by the way, who goes out to the cameras and speaks. We have great policy experts who are great spokespeople for the president, and they appreciate the information that they're being given. They're also exhausted, by the way, because we are doing so much. And not even in like a wussy, sad little way. They must be exhausted. It's just nonstop. It's insane. Yeah. So who's your least favorite? Well, I did have a bit of a tiff this morning outside with our friend Peter Alexander at NBC News. So it was great. We'll drop in a clip of it where he was really pressing you on whether there's going to be criminal prosecutions for this alleged fraud and the waste, fraud and abuse. According to an IG report from the Social Security Administration, there was $71 billion worth of fraud in one single fiscal year that we know about. And so

that is a lot of fraud, Peter. To be clear that $71 billion was from 2015 to 2022. So it wasn't in just one year and it was- $71 billion. But it wasn't in one year, just over multiple years from 2015 to 2022. So are you defending $71 billion in fraud, Peter? That's a lot of money. Why is the media so against cutting waste, fraud, and abuse from the government? I don't get it. We won't be deterred. We will not be deterred from people like you and the press.

You said something that wasn't true, which is you said that they have found before that they believe there have been tens of millions of people who are receiving money who are dead on the Social Security list. The same report that you referred to said that none of those individuals are. Peter, did you watch the full clip of the interview that I did when I said that? And I said there are a lot of unanswered questions and we suspect there could be tens of millions of people. And I'm saying the IG report- So you just said what I said is not true. In fact, it was true. That's a suspicion that this administration has and we're committed to finding out the truth. It perplexes me and also infuriates me why

the media continues to make excuses for our government spending billions and billions of dollars in wasteful money. Maybe they don't mind, but I know there's millions of people watching that do mind. So we're going to keep doing what we're doing with Doge. It was a pretty incredible exchange where it was like 71 billion has been spent on fraudulent payments. And he's like, oh, but that was over many years. Well, hello. It was like, there's one report that showed $71 billion. What are you talking about? Eyes on the ball. Yeah, exactly.

All right, so that's good. I'm glad to hear the NBC guys out. Good choice. Sorry, Peter. Well, how do you prepare? Because you can't know everything and you could get asked anything. And unlike Karine Jean-Pierre,

you're not out there reading and furiously flipping through your tabs to try to find an answer somebody else has written for you. So how are you preparing? So I did prepare a binder for the first briefing. My great assistant Keegan put it together. And then I showed up to work and it was like this thick. And I was like, I can't even move this. I can't use this. It was too cumbersome for my brain and the way I learn and think and study to have that. It felt like added weight. And I said, I want to just go in there and speak from my mind and from my heart. Like your boss. Like my boss. And I've been working for my boss now on the campaign. I know the policies we're enacting. We've been talking about them for years.

And so, and in school, I was that way, like studying, I would just read, you know, highlight, memorize, articulate. And then it goes off to the side. Yeah. And you talk. Exactly. And so that's been my method of preparation. No nerves? The first briefing, I was certainly nervous. I think any human would, and I'm not afraid to admit that. But it must have been cool to get up there. It was.

You know, once I got up there, I realized, okay, like I can do this. I can do this. I know what I need to know. And now I feel very, you know, comfortable and confident. And, you know, I will never get complacent because I understand the weight of the responsibility on my shoulders speaking on behalf of the president of the United States. So I remain as prepared today as I was on that first day. And I hope that's true four years from now. And I have, we have amazing people in that building who are so smart and know everything about every topic.

And I rely on them. I call Stephen Miller or Mike Waltz's team or Kevin Hassett all the time. And I'm like, please explain this to me because I don't understand, but you do. So what's going on? What's the most interesting or surprising thing you've seen at the White House? You know, like this isn't a building you spent a ton of time in before. No. The people you see every day, especially with President Trump and his calendar of meetings, you know, walking through the West Wing lobby, you can see anybody from Tim Cook to Tiger Woods, as I saw yesterday. So, you know, when you see

amazing. It sounds exciting as Joe Biden's White House with the cocaine. Yeah, it's good. Exactly. It's good. It's Hunter hanging around. Right. You just never know what each day will bring. And that's what I love most about this job is every day is new and exciting. I'm sure it's true of every president, but especially this one. All right. Let me turn and ask you about some items in the news. Yeah. Mr. Trump does not like polls that say he's going in the wrong direction. And a few came out this week suggesting his favorables have gone down any place from three to eight points. Eight points is the more left leaning pollsters. It feels like some people may be feeling like it's too much too soon. That's what the CNN poll seems to show when asked like what specifically is upsetting you?

Others suggest, well, I expected an economic turnaround faster. I'm only 30 days in it. How do you read those polls? And what do you want the electorate to know? Each poll is a snapshot in a moment of time, right? So they have to be taken, I think, with the greater context of everything that's going on. Overall, the president's favorability rating remains higher today than it ever was in his first term. The majority of Americans support what we're doing. The number that has always stuck out to me

is when you ask people, is Donald Trump doing what he said he was going to do? That number is astronomically high, anywhere from 65 to 85% based on the poll you're looking at. That to us tells us we need to keep moving forward and not get distracted by critics or certainly not the media because the president was very transparent and clear about what he wanted to accomplish. He still has clear majority support on things like immigration and the crackdown. But let me ask you, somebody who's been with him on the campaign trail for years now, where you live and die by polls, or at least most politicians do, he will come out and rip the polls for sure. If he gets too many bad ones, we're going to hear

him rip on them soon. But like behind the scenes, does he react to them? You know, do you think they actually do influence him in some way? Like, okay, maybe I inch this way. I don't think so. I think he pays attention to the polls, but I don't think it changes him or what he's doing. He is who he is, right? And he's our leader and he calls the shots and we are there to execute his agenda and deliver on his message and communicate that. And he's doing, again, exactly what he sought out to do. And so I don't think it influences his decision-making process, but certainly as you pointed out, he pays attention to them. Do you, have you seen anyone on a doge cot?

A doge cot? I haven't seen the cots, but I have seen the doge geniuses as we call them. Yes. Can you spot them from a mile away? Yes, because they just look like the smartest kid you had at your school. High IQ. High IQ, focused, gritty, like ready to work

and very friendly. Gritty is interesting. So not like pocket protector nerdy, like ready to work and very friendly. Gritty is interesting. So not like pocket protector nerdy, like tech nerdy, where you're like a little more grungy. Yes, I would say. I don't have the best visual. Yeah. So that's interesting.

They like to stay behind the scenes, these guys. Of course. They're working 24 seven. Elon has them on those computers finding all this waste, fraud and abuse. Right, and there's a lot to find in Elon's there all the time. Yes. Hannity asked the two of them something about this

when he had Trump and Elon together, but it's clear the media is trying to drive a wedge between them now. Totally. I called it out at the briefing. I said, it is so evident what all of you are trying to do, and we are not going to let you get away with it. It may have worked in the first term. It's not working now. And I say this, this is no BS, no spin. This White House is so unified. We are

having so much fun. Elon and the president are having so much fun. They are genuinely friends. And everybody is moving at the direction of the president and of Susie Wiles, our incredible chief of staff, whom I have the utmost respect for. She's another working mom. Another working mom. Yeah. There's a lot of working moms and dads in the West Wing, by the way. Got to give a shout out to the working dads in there, too. I mean, they're the president and vice president, although the president doesn't have young children like J.D. does. Yeah, the vice president has three beautiful young children. Stephen Miller has three young children. James Blair, who's one of our deputy chiefs of staff, has three young children. Two of our deputy communications directors on the comms team

have newborns. There's babies. Yeah, the Easter egg roll is going to be crazy. Yes, we look forward to it. We thought we had a lot with X inside the oval. Yeah. Wait until we get to Easter. Yes, which was so cute. Oh, he's adorable. I was in there when I saw the nose picking. I was like. There was a report that the Resolute desk was sent out for a cleaning. Is that related? Are those two events related? No, they are not. I would like to put the kibosh on that fake news. I've seen it has nothing to do with X. I mean, who could blame him if it were? Trump's a germaphobe. I'm not a germaphobe, but he was digging for gold. Nobody was stopping him. The cameras where he was unfazed. Every toddler

has done it. So cute. Okay. Back into the news and this is a turn, but the Biba stories in the news today, those two babies. Terrible. I like, it's affecting me. It's like, it just is a mother. I agree. And you have a baby that's like seven months. It It like I get chills thinking about it. And there's no I was saying yesterday I spoke to the president about it yesterday morning and he had seen the footage of the coffins. And I asked him, how should we even describe this? And we're talking to our team after I was drafting up a tweet and I was like, there are no words to put out a statement to describe this horrific scene. I cannot imagine the pain of that father and husband

who just lost his entire family, and to say we mourn with him is an understatement. It's so sad. I just, the images of that mother holding her babies. She looks so scared. So scared. There's no words. And I think I'm pretty good with my words. And there are no words to just describe how sad and heartbreaking it is. But I think it underscores why we need to end this conflict, why we need to eradicate Hamas. And the president sees these images and he's moved by them.

And that's why he told Hamas very directly in the Oval Office, you will release all of these hostages or there will be all hell to pay. He dictated that statement months ago. And look at what has happened. There was an extension to the ceasefire. More hostages have come home. We released Mark Fogel from Russia. The whole world should take President Trump very seriously. He wants innocent people to be let out of captivity and free from captivity. And he is a peacemaker. He believes in peace to his core, and he's going to do whatever it takes to establish it. Trump is good at stoicism,

which we tend to like in our men, right? Very much so. At least we on the right. Yes. But when he sees something like that, I'm curious about his reaction when that news was brought to him and they were literally celebrating these dead babies in coffins over there.

Do you think he feels it on like that gut level that we do? Absolutely. Absolutely. He does. I could hear it. I was on the phone, so I couldn't see his expression, but I could hear it in his voice. Anybody with a heart, with a humanitarian heart has to feel for these innocent Israelis and these families. It's just disturbing. It's got to be happening now, like this particular family and being released in the way that they are for a reason. And all I can hope and pray is that God is steering this in the way it's happening so that we're reminded of that these are monsters. I don't see these people as human. I really don't. Somebody who could strangle a nine-month-old baby, you're not a human being. I don't know what you could strangle a nine month old baby. I'm,

you're not a human being. I don't know what you are, but you can't be negotiated with, you can't be accommodated. You must be annihilated. I like, and that's president Trump's job. And in a way it's your job. You know, it's, it's why I almost see when we were talking about you going back to work. Okay. Four days after you had a baby, it's hard for a number of reasons, physically and emotionally, but it's almost like a soldier being called up. Yeah, I suppose. I haven't thought of that analogy, but I felt compelled to go back to work just knowing the gravity of the work that the president was trying to do at that time. We were campaigning and pitching to people why he should be elected, and obviously it worked. And that's been such a fun part of this experience is seeing the president go from campaigning to governing

and watching all of his promises come to life. You talk about the monsters of Hamas, the illegal immigrants that we have here that have taken the lives of American citizens. I was at the rally in Georgia when a few days after Lakin Riley was killed and Lakin's mother was backstage with the president and met him for the first time.

And I witnessed that encounter and God bless that woman. But then to see her at the White House for the bill signing, the first piece of legislation that the president signed into law, named after her beautiful daughter, was so special. And she was there, teary-eyed, saying, President Trump is a man of his word. To see that come to life, and to see the president fulfill these promises that are—

Like the mom of Mark Vogel. Exactly. The guy that Russians produced. 95-year-old mother. The president met her in Butler. She was supposed to have a call-up on stage. It was inserted into his speech. He was going to call her on stage so she could advocate for the release of her son. The day he got shot. The day he got shot. So she never made it on stage. Oh my gosh. And she told CBS News following the

assassination attempt, you know, that the president was so warm to her. And he told her backstage, if I'm elected, I will bring your son home. And he did it within four weeks. So Trump gets Vogel home right away. Trump made, I mean, basically made this hostage deal happen between Hamas and Israel, saving lives, and at least in this case, returning the bodies of the dead to their families so they can be properly buried. Trump does what he says he's going to do with Lake and Riley's mom. Trump spent the time with the Gold Star families from the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal when Joe Biden never did, who stood by him then when they tried to attack him for going to Arlington Cemetery and somebody taking his picture in a certain area.

They all stood by him, came out publicly and saying, stop that, he's been good to us. It just, you know, you might say, if you were an objective observer, not suffering from TDS, that this is actually a good man. What do you think people are missing? Why do the lunatics who suffer from TDS not see it?

Why can't they get beyond their hatred of him? I think they're blinded, unfortunately, by their hatred. And they don't see the good because likely the news outlets that they pay attention to don't share the good that we're doing. I have MSDNC, as we call it, on my TV in my office all day long because I want to see what they're reporting and what they're saying. And I need to laugh every now and then too. And they're never reporting on the good that we're doing on a daily basis at the White House. It's always negative. 100% of the coverage is negative. So when you are being indoctrinating with such bias,

of course you're going to believe that this person is an evil monster. Couldn't be further from the truth. I know that just looking at what he's done, but also on a personal level working for him. But again, I think it's a smaller and smaller percentage of people in this country who feel that way. I think the vast majority of Americans see the president as a strong and tough leader who when he says he's going to do something, he's going to do it. And that's just been proven by his

first term record. And then, of course, the first four weeks, look at all that he's done. My observation over here is that some of that little dip in the polls is due to these guys. It is wall-to-wall negative coverage. Look at this one CNN poll, all right, today, which shows a dip to some extent in the approval. They get to, listen to this, the Trump policies. Trying to deport 11 million undocumented migrants. Okay, whatever. Illegal aliens.

Right. That's what they're called. The public's still with him. 51% of U.S. adults support. And then we get down to USAID. Shutting down the agency that provides humanitarian aid in low-income countries. Oh, amazingly, 59% of the American public opposes that. I would have gathered that you would have styled that a little differently. Interesting framing of a program that has sent

hundreds of millions of dollars to overseas programs that do absolutely nothing for humanitarian purposes. With the trans opera in Colombia, it's a no. Why are we funding vasectomies in Mozambique? Why are we funding DEI in Serbia and sex changes in Guatemala? That does nothing for working class people in this country. And that is just one agency of many, one program of many that Doge and the administration are looking into. It is fascinating, but also infuriating what they are discovering on a daily basis. Are you getting a closer up view? Yes. But are you getting more insight on how they do it now that you're in this role? Yes, absolutely. And it's much more simple than the media is spinning it to be. They're making it seem like it's this chaotic operation. It's actually not.

It's very simple. Doge. Doge has individuals who are, again, genius level tech nerds, if you will, for lack of a better term, who are onboarding at every agency as political appointees, just like I onboarded at the White House as a political appointee. This is what happens from administration to administration. Instead of like under Biden and Harris, you have a bunch of left-wing bureaucrats who are onboarding. Now we have outsiders who are here to shake up the swamp onboarding to administer President Trump's agenda. They are working at the

direction of the secretaries at these agencies. You saw our new Secretary of Ag, Brooke Rollins, put out a photo, a selfie yesterday with some of the Doge engineers that are now Ag employees. And they're helping her dig into the books, go line by line to identify the waste and the fraud and abuse. So this is a whole of government effort. The president obviously appointed Elon to head it up. The Department of Government Efficiency is a promise they campaigned on. And ultimately, the president is directing all of this. But every secretary across the board is on board with this idea. They're welcoming this. Yes, absolutely. And we're all working together. They're making

it sound in the press like Elon's in there with his magnifying glass, looking up our salaries and his competitors, you know, financial data. And this is all about, I guess, Elon's get rich quick scheme. I'm not sure why he needs to look at our data. Yeah. I loved his comments addressing it at CPAC yesterday. He was like, there's no country in the world who can afford me. Even if they did want to buy me, they can't afford me. He has nothing to gain from this. He truly cares about humanity and the future of our country. And it is a fact that the United States of America is going to go bankrupt unless we have massive reform and change. And that's what the people voted for. And so we will not be deterred by the Peter

Alexanders or the mainstream media hacks who are, you know, trying to fear monger people. And I think it's really sad that the media is trying to do that. Shut down his agenda. Exactly. What, speaking of media hacks, can we talk about it? The Associated Press? Sure. I'd love to. It's, is it censorship to tell them they can't go into the Oval or on Air Force One? Their argument that this administration is not standing up for the First Amendment is preposterous. You have a president of the United States who, within hours of taking the oath of office, welcomed journalists into the most intimate corner of the American presidency, the Oval Office, to ask him questions for more

than an hour on every topic under the sun. He has done that on a near daily basis. And when he's not doing that because he's too busy with meetings, even though he'd love to do it every day, I, as his press secretary, am out there. We have administration officials going to the cameras every single day. They are hearing from this White House and this admin. Their transparency is off the charts. And the Associated Press still has their White House credentials. They still have a seat in the press briefing room. They are still welcome to cover this administration. But nobody has a right to enter the Oval Office. It is a privilege to cover the United States. And I said it in my first briefing, we are going to hold people accountable that push lies. And the president

believes deeply that American news outlets should be reporting the truth about the Gulf of America. And that's not all with the Associated Press' style book. I mean, they don't even want to call women mothers. They want to call us birthing people. You know, they removed Hamas from their style book for some very odd reason. I have a whole list. It's actually in my purse. I carry it around with me as a souvenir of all of the crazy things in the AP style book. So look, they are welcome to cover this White House. And there are hundreds of outlets on that campus who show up every day in good faith to cover this administration with accuracy and truthfulness that don't have the privilege of being in the Oval Office every single day because they're not the AP.

Well, guess what? We're going to start giving those media outlets a seat at the table. They deserve to be in front of the Resolute Desk asking the President of the United States questions. What gives the AP greater privilege than- No, nothing should. Nothing. If they would behave the way they behaved 50 years ago, maybe they would still have their seat. Absolutely. But if you look at what's happened to them over the past 10 years, it's been complete leftist, radical capture. Yes. And they are no longer that unbiased organization. Are you surprised that all the organizations, including Fox and Newsmax, signed this letter

as part of the White House press correspondence saying, we stand with them? It was a little surprising, some of the names on the list, but it doesn't faze us. You know, again, there are thousands of reporters across the country who will fly to Washington, D.C. to cover this president in a minute and they just did AP I can cover President Trump just fine from my desk exactly you'll be okay you can get the pool reports we'll send them to you you can get the pool fees somehow I've managed yeah exactly and like I said we just had a local media row we had um a bunch of outlets come to Washington, local radio stations, local TV. They were so honored to be and grateful for the opportunity.

And they're covering the White House with honesty and transparency. And they reached 60 million people across the country, across the heartland. So we'll get our message out just fine without the Associated Press and the Oval Office. Asked one question of President Biden about his mental health.

And he did not get called on or offered a question for the next 18 months. That's true. No one had a problem with that. No one was saying, we stand with James Rosen. What you're doing is wrong. You're effectively freezing him out of the briefing room by doing this.

Or of the Fox News reporters, Peter Doocy and Jackie Heinrich, who didn't get questions for, I believe it was 12 weeks from the previous press secretary. And we are still welcoming the legacy media into that room. And you'll take questions from the AP. I take questions. I took, we took four questions from Caitlin Collins yesterday. I mean, we take questions from everybody. We're not afraid of that because we have truth and facts and statistics on our side. But the legacy media doesn't deserve this superior access. There's many other outlets who have far greater reach, like this Megyn Kelly show. I'm sure you have many more viewers than MSNBC will tonight.

100%. Yeah. I mean, to quote Trump about Rosie O'Donnell on the AP, they're a bunch of losers and they've been losers for a long time. That's the truth. Sorry, do better and you'll probably get more of a red carpet laid out for you. You too can get back in the old. It's not like he's saying, cover me nicely. He knows they're not going to do that.

He's saying, I'm the president. I renamed this thing. You accept name changes like that when it presents some woke ideology. This is an affront to me and my administration. No doubt. So maybe I'm in the wilderness on it, but I'm team Trump on that one. Thank you. Not team White House press corps. Caroline, good luck with everything. Thank you. Thanks for having me. It's good to see you, Megan. Yeah, likewise. Thank you. More to come. Ah, she was amazing, right? What a pair we have. And those two are so lucky that they're willing to serve.

Okay, before we go, I want to tell you that this episode is coming out a little late today because I came down to DC. I interviewed my guests. And then now I'm heading over to CPAC where I'm going to be offering some remarks. And you'll see Caroline there as well. And all of these guys are there. But we'll be releasing those just a bit later. I'm not sure if we're gonna do it later tonight

or early tomorrow morning, but it'll hit our feed. So keep refreshing. And thanks to all of you for not only tuning into the Megyn Kelly show this week, but also our new AM update that shows crushing it. Thank you so much for tuning in, whether it's on youtube.com slash Megyn Kelly or on podcast, you guys seem to be liking it.

And while it is definitely extra work for us, I think we all feel like it's a worthwhile endeavor. And in the Trump era, you've got to stay on top of the news and you'll get left behind. So we're all going to do it together. Thanks for listening, guys. Have a great weekend.

And we'll talk to you later. Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear. We'll talk to you later. Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear. Grand Canyon University, a private Christian university in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona, believes that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

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