The Megyn Kelly Show - New Details About Biden Coup, CNN Loses Millions in Defamation Case, and Obama Drama, with Maureen Callahan | Ep. 985

Episode Date: January 17, 2025

Megyn Kelly is joined by Daily Mail columnist Maureen Callahan to discuss the breaking news that the Trump inauguration will be moved indoors due to weather, Megyn's announcement that she will be speaking at the Sunday pre-inauguration Trump rally, the bombshell new report about how Sen. Schumer's privately pressured Biden to drop out of the Democratic race, why Obama wouldn't do it himself, why we're learning about it now when it happened in July, Biden’s narcissism and cognitive decline evident in his final interview on MSNBC, Biden mumbling about politics and oligarchs, smug Lawrence O'Donnell's terrible questions, celebrity Mandy Moore lashing out over GoFundMe critics, Harry and Meghan's self-promotional wildfires tour, politicians in California continuing to embarrass themselves, breaking news about CNN losing millions in a defamation trial, Jim Acosta’s smug detachment from reality, CNN’s continued decline, speculation surrounding Michelle and Barack Obama’s marriage, Michelle’s decision to skip Trump inauguration, Justin Baldoni’s bombshell lawsuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Swift getting involved in the drama now, the significance of texts between Lively and Baldoni, and more.Callahan- https://www.instagram.com/maureen_callahan_writer/Birch Gold: Text MK to 989898 and get your free info kit on goldTax Network USA: https://TNUSA.com/MEGYNGrand Canyon University: https://GCU.eduFollow 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 everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show and happy Friday. Here with me in the studio for the full show, one of our favorites, Maureen Callahan. She's a columnist for the Daily Mail and I'm going to get with her in our conversation in one second. But first, I want to bring you guys all a special announcement. As you may know, we're going to be doing our show from Washington, D.C. on Monday, and that's because I am going to be going to the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump as the 47th president of the United States.

Bring in the whole fam. We cannot wait. And then we'll be bringing you a show on all platforms right after. So I'll have fun in the afternoon, watching the president get inaugurated, and then we will go, um, do a show for you so that you can hear what we saw, who we talked to and what it means for America. And we'll have some of our favorite guests there as well. It's going to air on Sirius XM PM at 6 PM Eastern time that day, and then we'll release it on podcast and YouTube. But before the inauguration, which as you know, is on Monday, on Sunday, I'll be joining president-elect Trump, vice president-elect JD Vance, Elon Musk, and more speaking at the president's final rally. It's his pre-inauguration rally.

He loves the rallies, right? Like he doesn't have to have a rally. He won, right? But he loves interacting with his voters and his fans and the American people. So, uh, they asked me to appear. It's my honor to do it. And I'd love to hear from you on what you'd like to hear me talk about. They give you like around eight minutes. It's not a ton of time. And, um, I'd love to hear from you on what you'd like to hear me talk about. They give you like around eight minutes. It's not a ton of time. And, um, I'd love to hear what you would be interested in, right? Cause it is an opportunity to take the message to some people who don't always hear us talk, right? Cause the news media will have to take some of these speeches and then we'll take you behind the scenes all weekend on our social accounts, you know, Twitter and Facebook

and Insta and TikTok, all of them, if TikTok's around, which it's going to be. I'm not, I don't actually think it's going away, even though the Supreme Court ruled against TikTok, like in favor of the ban. In any event, it's going to be a historic event, historic long weekend, and I am super excited to bring it all to you. All right, now let's get to Maureen. Increased tariffs on our trade partners, tax cuts, regulation changes. There's a reason why gold is a diversification tactic in a market that remains uncertain. Now more than ever, Birch Gold is releasing their ultimate guide for gold in the Trump era with a foreword by Donald Trump Jr. to get your free copy along with Birch Gold's free information kit on gold. Just text MK to the number 989898. Here are the

facts. The national debt continues to increase. Our interest payments on the national debt continue to increase. Gold can be your hedge against a weakened dollar. And Birch Gold can convert an existing IRA or 401k in whole or in part into a tax-sheltered IRA in gold. Text MK to 989898 and get your free copy of the ultimate guide for gold in the Trump era. There's no obligation, just information. Wouldn't you like to know why everybody's rushing to gold? With an A-plus rating from the Better Business Bureau, countless five-star reviews, and thousands of happy customers. Find out more about Birch Gold. Text MK to the number 989898 today. So that's exciting, the inauguration.

It's very exciting. It's very exciting. And you just shared with me that it's moved indoors. I can't believe it. I mean, the ABC News is citing based on a source, a report that it's moving indoors, which I don't know if it's true, but if it's true, and please God, let it be true, praise Jesus, Maureen, because it's going to be 10 degrees on Monday. And that's not the feels like, you know, when you go on your phone and you're like, check the feels like for the real thing. No. And it would be, I don't think that's ever happened before. Right. And they're telling you to get there no later than 8 a.m. for a noon inauguration. And then that goes for an hour. And then there's

the parade afterward. Like I am such a wuss on the cold. I've got that Ray nods, you know, where you don't get the circulation on the ends of your fingers. I can't last 10 minutes, nevermind six hours out there. So I really hope it's true. We've got to get like a Jackie O for a muff. Yes. I got to tell you tell you, I'm in favor of the fur. I know PETA is going to yell at me. PETA sends me a letter every week. I said, I only eat the non-cute animals like chickens. And they sent me a whole letter explaining why chickens are cute.

I called somebody a pig and they sent me a whole letter saying it's not, that's impolite to pigs. But pigs are smart, right? They have no sense of humor, none. They're not going to like my jacket that I put on. Well, the trick is you say it's vintage, buy vintage, came to you through a dead family member, you're recycling, you're upcycling. Right.

Yeah. This one already gave its life. What are you going to do? Can't let it be in vain. Exactly. You know, but it is funny because when I was at Fox, you would never wear fur. You wouldn't, you wouldn't be allowed to wear fur in a, in a neck thing, in a, in a puff, in a hat. No, because it is so controversial still, or was. Now I feel like you've got the two sons of the president are big game hunters for God's sake. I don't think

it's as controversial in that circle. I don't. And you know what the actual truth of it is? And I learned this a long time ago. If you go to buy fake fur, quote unquote fake fur, often it's made from real fur. Oh, really? And the manufacturers just try to sort of dupe you into thinking you're not wearing real fur, but nothing will get through real fur. You won't feel it. I'm at the top of the food chain. I'm sorry, but like, why is it okay to eat animals? You know, cows and lambs and ducks and chickens and pigs, but then you can't wear a fur. I realize some of the fur making process is controversial,

but so is the process of killing the animals. 100%. It's really cold. Well, listen, I don't think he needs to justify this to anybody. I really don't. Apparently I do. Be like Meghan Markle. Stand in your power, stand in your truth, and just go with it. Well, listen to this. It's true. Trump just tweeted it out. Trump says it was his call to move it indoors. This is from true social. Um, I didn't see the beginning of the post. We must be talking about how cold it is.

Therefore I have ordered the inauguration address in addition to prayers and other speeches to be delivered in the United States Capitol rotunda as was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985. Also because of very cold weather. Can we pull a video or a picture of that, you guys, so we can see what that's going to look like? We will open Capital One Arena on Monday. Okay, look, that's the Reagan. Well, so it's smaller. I don't know how many people fit in the Capital Rotunda. Steve, can you look that up?

We're going to look it up so we can tell you because that's going to shift events. But it's smart. Honestly, it was going to be dangerous. He goes on, we will open Capital One Arena on Monday for live viewing, oh good, of this historic event. And to host the presidential parade, I will join the crowd at Capital One. Oh, that's so nice, after my swearing in. So he's going to go over with all the people who are traveling in to see it. And the man loves being with the American people. He really does feed off that energy. He really does. And it's like, it's also what a great,

because we were just talking before going on air that like, I'm going to cover it with like the regular rank and file press corps. And I was dreading being on that riser in that freezing cold weather. It's such a commonsensical thing to do. And it sort of sets the tone for this like incoming administration, which is people just want common sense to rule the day. That's a good point. I know. Cause it's truly like being outside for six hours in 10 degree weather, people with their young children, you know, you're just asking for negative things to happen, bad things to happen. It doesn't matter how many layers you bring. And by the way, there's zero chance the secret

service would allow space heaters. Usually they don't allow bags bigger than, you know, a tiny little handbag. So the thought of bringing something that could heat you up, like forget it. It's, and I don't even know if they would allow like a heated battery powered vest because they're so paranoid, understandably about, you know, what could that be something else? Yeah. What else? So anyway, it wasn't safe. Good call.

And I hope I'm still going. I hope I'm still invited. I'll go to the Capitol and read it if I have to. I'm watching this thing. Okay. Where to begin? Let's talk about the explosive New York Times piece on Joe Biden and the effort to coup him. Okay. Where to begin? Let's talk about the explosive New York times piece on Joe Biden and the effort to coup him. Okay. You have to fill me in. I did not see this piece. That's fine. So Chuck Schumer is now coming out. Let me start out with this a little,

little walk down memory lane. When this past summer at the RNC in Milwaukee, the gang from ruthless came on the program, my program. And they said, we're just going to break this news because everyone's talking about it in our like, you know, political circles, but no one will report it. And this is what happened. Shock. Yeah. Well, I mean, so look, I think knowing Schumer, we have speculate what he does, but I'm sure that he had poll numbers and all kinds of things indicating it was a huge problem for the party down ballot. Obviously. And this is the moment, right?

Biden said, I'll resign if somebody shows me that I can't win. So he goes in with polls. So I think he took advantage of it and had this conversation. Ultimately, didn't get the answer he wanted. When he came out of the meeting, he said, good meeting, which to me immediately was a huge sign. Right. If you're meeting with a nominee of your party 100 days before an election and you don't say, I fully support Joe Biden. And you know he's twisting in the wind. Yeah, I fully support him. Our conference supports him. We can't wait to vote for him in November. Something short of that indicates there's something else that happened.

And then what we found out when we got to Milwaukee, it's the worst kept secret. Every single journalist, whether it's, you know, you name the publication, we've talked to him over the last few days. Every single person knows exactly what happened, but they asked Chuck Schumer and it's a one-on-one meeting and he denies it. So they're not reporting. So there was a meeting and now it's all over. The Times admitting Schumer did go to see Biden in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware when he was still hanging on, wouldn't yet step down. And the headline in the New York Times is, I'm urging you not to run. How Schumer pushed Biden to drop out. It says this is based on an interview with half a dozen people who participated in that private push. It's from an upcoming book called Madhouse. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York sat

in the foyer of President Biden's Rehoboth Beach House, tired and tense. He had not slept the night before, and on the four-hour drive from Brooklyn to Delaware, he had rehearsed out loud what he planned to say, reviewing note cards as he prepared for what he thought might be the most high-stakes speech he would ever give to an audience of one. The roughly 45-minute conversation, which took place in a screened-in porch overlooking a pond, was more pointed and emotional than previously known. He said to him, if you run and lose to Trump and we lose the Senate and we don't get back the House, that 50 years of amazing, beautiful work goes out the window. P.S., that's what happened. But worse, you go down in American history as one of the darkest figures. He would

end with a directive. If I were you, I would not run. And I'm urging you not to run. He says, Mr. President, you're not getting the information as to what the chances are. When he asked whether Mr. Biden has talked to his pollsters about his chances of winning, the president shook his head. Schumer says, well, I have talked to them. My guess is you have about a 5% chance. None of your pollsters disagree with me. Only twice did Mr. Biden interrupt to ask a question and both times it was, do you really think Kamala can win? Mr. Schumer said he didn't know, but that she had a far better chance. The two embraces Mr. Schumer headed back to't know, but that she had a far better chance. The two embraces Mr. Schumer headed back to the car where he broke down in tears

as he recounted the meeting to his aides. He didn't know what Mr. Biden would end up doing, he told them, but he felt he had gotten through to him. How about that? By the way, they also report that Obama went to Schumer and said, you have to do it. He's not gonna listen to me. He doesn't't because of our

fragile relationship, admitting they don't like each other. The most surprising thing in that account to me is the detail that Schumer was driven and did not fly private like so many of our politicians do. I would suspect that that conversation was even more pointed. That to me feels like a very polite version because it's easy to forget. It wasn't all that long ago, how stubbornly Biden was hanging on. And I really believe that whether it was Schumer, Pelosi, the both of them basically said, we're going to bury you. Yes. We know where the bodies are buried. Like it's going to get very ugly if you don't voluntarily pull the plug you have until date certain to do so. That's what I think went down.

I'm dying to read the really bloody, savage Roman Empire version of this. Same. Well, they also report that Chuck Schumer demanded the meeting, yes, because Obama asked him to do it and said, I can't be the one. He's not going to listen to me. Because his members in the Senate, he said, quote, I cannot hold them back anymore. Remember when Biden sent that letter? I think it was January 8th. They dated it as saying it's done. Stop. It was a bad night. July, July 8th. It was like, it's done. Move, move on. I'm fine. I'm staying in it. Like put on your big girl pants. We're going forward. And he kind of declared the debate over. Well, this is saying that behind the scenes, the, it wasn't over and it, the top senators were in a tailspin

understanding that he couldn't do it. And they were about to write a letter saying that he needed to step down and that Schumer was saying to Biden, like, you don't want that. They're going to come out en masse against you, Democrat senators. And they also reported that Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island in the news this week for being the top Dem cross-examining Pete Hegseth on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Remember, he was the one who was like, I voted for all the nominees of every president since I've been on this committee, you know, 20 years ago, and I don't think that you can do it, Mr. Hegseth.

He was the worst white mic technique ever. Right when he got into all the juicy parts, he pulled way back and we were all like, what? But I'm sure Hexeth was happy. So anyway, Jack Reed, who is a West Point grad, former paratrooper, apparently said he could no longer support his commander in chief unless Mr. Biden could produce two neurologists to issue a public report saying he was fit to serve and then hold a news conference where anyone could ask questions. Where were these effing reports at the time? Nevermind before the June debate. Agreed, agreed. And also, so two things. One, I want the Jill Biden story. I want the full unabridged Kitty Kelly National Enquirer version of all the machinations going on. I want to know why we are now being subject by this very same media that claims to have learned its lesson to the longest goodbye in modern American history

to one of the worst presidents. Like this feels like the breakup that will not end. Like America broke up with him after that debate. And then we made it really final after the election, which really was like Biden 2.0 with Harris. Like I forgot it was Harris actually, because I keep thinking like, we left you. We don't want to litigate this relationship anymore. There's not good stuff. But he's still out there trying to make his closing argument about how great he was and how what a threat Donald Trump is. I mean, what I do think is interesting, too, about this is it does confirm Biden's got some political instincts asking twice, do you really think

Kamala can win? He knew he couldn't admit to himself that he was going to lose given his infirmity. But at some level, he still knew she's not the answer. And, you know, reportedly Obama knew that too. It's like, where's the in-depth piece on like who ultimately said it must be her? Like she's, it's got to be Kamala because of the black women in our party, whatever. Like how did they allow themselves to get into that position? First of all, right.

If you don't think she can do the job, why are you picking her for your VP, right? His insurance policy. Exactly, his insurance policy. And it's also, it goes to why DEI is falling apart all over the place right now. And secondly, what I remember Pelosi saying, because remember when she was doing the rounds also it goes to why dei is falling apart all over the place right now yeah and secondly what i remember pelosi saying because remember when she was doing the rounds and she was going well

if joe thinks she's the best then she's the best she's the best choice like she wouldn't say it nancy pelosi with like her jerry her her whole sort of like it's really time to go every time i see her interviewed she's got like a dirty tissue clumping in her hands. Like, you know what I mean? It's like, just go, just go. Don't get, don't get Feinstein'd out of office with the eye and the wheelchair and have some dignity, have some dignity. But to the Kamala thing, what I remember Pelosi saying was like, oh, she's smarter than you think because she spent that Sunday in which she told the American people her first question to Joe when he called was, are you sure? Are you sure you're going to drop out? She hung up the phone and she started whipping calls.

Yeah. Whipping calls and getting the party right behind her. She got him to endorse her. Remember his announcement, I'm leaving, came and then within five minutes came the, oh, and I endorse Kamala, which I think most Democrats would tell you is what did it, that they couldn't have an open primary after Joe Biden's like, I endorse Kamala. That would have been a little awkward. So why, how did she get him to do it? How did she get Joe Biden, who clearly did not believe in her, to issue that. I don't know. Maybe she hung over his head like, I know how mentally compromised you've been all this time. You know, again, she knows where a lot of those bodies are buried as well. And she, I think, also knew that in this sort of strategic

warfare that is this game, it would be Biden's ultimate F you to Obama who never thought Biden had what it took in the first place. I just feel like you're right. We need to know how is it that Jill Biden somehow didn't see what all these senators saw? Why, who else demanded that two neurologists evaluator and release their report? Right. And when did they know? Because it wasn't just that debate. It's they've totally gotten away with it. They've Trump won, but there's been no accountability in there and there won't be. And the same media, you know, who failed to notice that a neurologist came to the White House eight to 10 times over the previous year didn't break this story. They didn't even break the fact that Chuck Schumer met with Biden. Ruthless broke that.

Now here we are as he's about to leave office, right? It's too late to 25th Amendment him out of office. He's about to leave. Now finally we get the, we all knew that he can't put two sentences together. We were demanding neurology reports behind the scenes. It's the biggest political story of the last 20 years, I think. I really do. And I don't understand how, as a reporter, you could just shy away from it. I mean, again, if this were a Republican, I mean, all the gloves would be off. You know, he would have been 25th Amendmented or forced to resign. And the whole thing, too, about letting him play out his term as though, well,

we owe it to him. I know. I'm sorry. He works for us. Right. It's not the other way around. We don't owe him anything. We don't owe him anything. You got all the money from selling out, you know, national security. We have the book. This is how, this is how much though, I think people have Biden fatigue. Like those photos that came out of Biden and Hunter with those Chinese businessmen where he had said multiple times, I never facilitated a meeting. I was never present at a meeting. But, like, nobody cares. It's just like, just go. Just go.

Take your dirty money and your dirty family and go. Yes. Well, that's what – I don't know if you saw this, but Scott Jennings was on CNN yesterday asking, wasn't Scott Jennings saying, how did he get rich? So who was it? It was somebody on CNN saying, it was Kevin O'Leary. Yeah, from Shark Tank saying, where did all of his money come from? The guys here, we have it. Actually, let's watch it.

It's not about, Kevin, it's not about not letting people get rich. It's about not letting rich people control the political process and not having our politicians captured by those rich people. It's fair. But I just want you to know the country. Common sense laws to make sure that the people at the top don't abuse the people at the bottom. And our system in Washington is broken. That's fair.

It's all fair. But half the country is still wondering how Joe Biden got rich. Yeah. OK, so how did he get rich? How did he get rich? If Joe Biden got rich, how did he get rich? Does anybody understand how that happened? I actually think that, Kevin, your question about Joe Biden's legacy and how he will be seen is actually extremely important. Yeah, and it's not going to turn out the way Abby Phillip wants it to.

So how did he get rich? Does anybody know how he has the Porsche and the Rehoboth Beach Beach House? And Hunter Biden has all these millions from never really having any sort of successful career. No one seems to much care on the Dem side. Nobody cares. The vintage Corvette that Biden loves to brag about the when the fires were raging. I mean, they're still ongoing, but when they were raging and Biden finally showed his face and said, I've got one piece of good news. You know, my son lives here and it looks like his house is still standing. Like, oh, you mean that

like Malibu beachfront house that like his sugar daddy paid for? Like, are you kidding me? I mean, I would love to also know how Nancy Pelosi got so rich. Well, did you see it? So Biden, one of the comments he made in his farewell address was about stopping trading from U.S. congressmen. And many have speculated that was a shot at her, you know, because obviously she was the one who really took him down with her public pronouncements of let's just wait, give him time to decide after he'd said 10 ways from Sunday, I'm staying. Right. So I actually agree with that principle. I don't understand how these people can have of let's just wait, give him time to decide. After he'd said 10 ways from Sunday, I'm staying. So I actually agree with that principle.

I don't understand how these people can have inside information about what's gonna happen on the law and to certain companies and they're allowed to trade on it. That is called insider trading if you were I'd do it. Here was Biden last night. It's the long goodbye to your point. And he sat after his farewell address.

There was another address. This was like the dessert with Lawrence O'Donnell. I can't wait to see what the ratings were for this. And okay, here's why Biden thinks he's leaving with a record low approval rating. That wasn't how it was teed up, but he does. FYI, I have a record low approval rating. And here's how he's looking back at his as his term in office

and the regrets that he he's feeling this is not too did it cross your mind to put your name on the checks calling that i kept being here from other people president sent me a check for 7500 president did it why aren't you helping me? Well, it was a bill we did, but anyway. It did cross my mind, but the mistake we made was, I think I made, was not getting our allies to acknowledge that the Democrats did this. Ironically, I almost spent too much time on the policy and not enough time on the politics. That was his problem. He wasn't self-promotional enough. Well, he did only have four hours a day that he was working. That's just true. In his defense.

So, I mean, we got to give him some grace. Can you imagine if you'd been doing that interview and responded with that? I just wish for one, someone would just give it right back. Like this is related and then we'll go right back to this. But the other day at the Hegseth hearing, and you covered this when the, I forget which congressman or senator said, hey, how many of you have shown up on the floor drunk to cast a vote? Like while they're going on with like, have you cheated on your wife? Like how many of them are cheating on, like it's a bastion of moral authority. Get the F out of here. Right. So anyway, Lawrence O'Donnell interview was also, he's such a blowhard. He's

such an insufferable, overfed blowhard. Like he begins the interview by saying, you know, when you were giving your farewell address the other night from the Oval, I was right there. I was sitting right there with your family and I was looking at you. Like, he has to let us know he was in the room before we can begin with this bullshit proceeding. You're very important, Larry. Thank you. You're so important. You're on your way out the door. Your network is failing. Great. Okay. Enjoy your time in the sun. But it really goes like Biden is part Irish or largely Irish, and it's like completely counter to the notion of the Irish goodbye. Yes.

Which is like my favorite thing to do, which is like, you just sneak out. Nobody knows you left. You don't have to go through the whole rigmarole, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I would love that for him. It would be such a great look. Just fade away. Right. Like we've asked you to. It's funny. We have a friend who does it all wrong where he's like, I'm doing the Irish goodbye. That's not it. If you say it. It's not it. That's not it at all. Here's more. You remember one of his other big things the other night when he gave his farewell address was we have this tech oligarchy in this country now. It's a very dangerous thing for all sorts of reasons, mostly because they're supporting Trump now. But Lawrence O'Donnell asks him about oligarchy, and he does not appear to have any idea what it was he was talking about. Watch. How does this oligarchy affect people out there who've never used the word oligarchy? The people who you're saying might not get a fair shot because of the way this is going. Look, if the decision is made that the multi-billionaires, the super, super wealthy, the wealthiest people in the world,

begin to control all the apparatuses from the media to the economy, then who do I get to fight back for me? Who do I get to... I mean me? Who do I get to... I mean, look, I think everybody deserves just a shot. Not a guarantee, just a shot. How the hell can you make it in society today if you don't have access to an education? You don't have access to adequate health care.

You don't have access to the opportunity to have a job that you can handle, where you can make ends meet. How is that Elon Musk's fault? If you have a job you can't handle, like Biden can't literally handle being president, the hypocrisy. Okay. So it was Biden's administration that went to Facebook and said, that's that laptop Hunter laptop. That's a Russian plant. It's fake news. They're the ones, Twitter disabled the New York post account because the post was the only one reporting on it. And it was fake news, fake news, fake news. It's a media that's been in lockstep with him and has been censoring stuff that they don't quite like, you know, so spare me. Yeah. Is this because Mark Zuckerberg grew his hair out and said he's getting rid of DEI and censorship?

That's what he is. And now he's part of the oligarchy, right? That keeps the little man down and from getting a job. Right. Right. Right. No. Oh, Megan, the searching. What? Like he was like nodding off. Yes. Almost like a junkie, like nodding off and then like springing back up and like the eyes casting about for the word and then the like phrase that connects to the thought. But the thought got lost. I mean, it's like he found like his favorite little bit, like everyone deserves a shot. Oh, yeah.

I'm familiar with this. This is in there. Right. Got the chip for this one. Right. By the way, Kamala Harris just did the same thing. I'll play it in a minute, but let's stick with Biden for now. Because listen to this one. Speaking of him just being out there, like gone, the question was about what Beau, his son who is deceased better man than I am.

Bo and Hunter have always had faith in my instincts. But I think you've heard Barack get mad at me when I was a kid all the time. He said, I know, I know, all politics is personal. Yeah. Well, it's about understanding what motivates the other guy, other woman, and what their interests are.

What? I don't understand that. I thought maybe you got it, because I got lost early on. I have nothing to add. I can't be helpful. Did he say like Barack used to say to me when I was a kid? That's how it sounded. I think he meant what I used to kid. I used to kid or he used to kid me. I very unclear. And he also spoke about Bo in the present tense right there. I mean, I blame Jill Biden. I blame her.

You do. Yeah. I would never let this happen to my husband. Oh, for this, for this. Like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But neither one of them can let go. Yeah. But at least he's got the excuse of being infirm.

Like she's still a young woman ish. She's not young, but like she's 74, I think. She's 74. She's together. She can she can see what's happening. Oh, I think. She's 74, but she's together. She can, she can see what's happening. Oh, 100%. But I also would not rule out Biden's malignant narcissism and egotism. And I think, you know, this will sound crass, but I truly think it's true. The only thing keeping him alive at this point is presidential power and access to the money and the celebrities and all of it. And the glory he gets from reading

the news coverage of his administration, which mirrors back to him. It's exactly why, like, he wasn't believing Chuck Schumer, because apparently his team was only supposed to give him good news. Yeah. They kept all the bad polling from him. It's like even in the wake of that debate, that was a dereliction. But the Democrats paid a very high price for that dereliction. Can we play that Kamala Harris soundbite, you guys, where she goes back to her standard words that we heard throughout the campaign? She's speaking out now, promising she's not going to go quietly. So that's good. I know. And of course, she, too, only has like she's uncomfortable until she finds the chip in her brain with the pre-rehearsed lines

that her handlers have approved. Here it is. I am fully aware that I am the public face of a lot of our work. And so I have the benefit of running into people all over our country who thank me. And I will tell you, I'm fully aware that when they are thanking me, they are thanking our team for the extraordinary commitment that you each have. And as a team have to lifting up the American people, lifting up their condition, lifting up their hopes and dreams and understanding she at all the nobility of public service. The hand gestures are getting even bigger. They are. She looks like she's signing ASL,

like some press conference for a governor, you know, like get out. And by the way, it's not like you would ever know that a major American city is being burned to the ground. Like it looks like it's been hit by a nuclear bomb. Yeah. You would never know. No. These people are like congratulating themselves on the way out the door. No, look at me and my legacy. But I just should have focused more on politics, not my great policies. And everyone's thanking me everywhere because of hopes and dreams. Right. That's it. God, did we dodge a bullet with her? And I don't know if you played the soundbite from

her the other day telling Californians what to do, which was like, it was totally inane. We did not play it. I don't, do we have it? We'll find out. It was basically like, oh, we did. Oh yeah, we did play. Okay. You did. Yeah. It was basically like be safe and listen to announcements. Do what you can. It's like, it's very, you are so right with your Meghan Markle comparison, like the verbosity, like all the words deployed to say nothing. But with nothing, nothing left over. So you saw she went out, Meghan Markle, to the wildfires. I did.

Did you approve or disapprove? I thought, wow, I definitely now think my theory that Netflix was the one to pull the plug on her show. And it wasn't her idea or her unilateral decision because had it been, she would have been like, now's the time I go to ground. Nobody needs to see me in this devastation. Nobody's looking. You think she went out there knowing that it had been pulled and just sort of reminding the world here I am. Yep. Benevolent caregiver. Yeah. I've got my most concerned face on. Well, reportedly that woman she was hugging was a member of her own team. Oh my gosh. Really?

Yeah. Yeah. She saw a camera. She doubled back and it was time for a hug with a concerned face. You know, the baseball cap lid just high enough so we can see everything. Just high enough. Just high enough. I saw footage of her also at like donating like bags of clothes, like cut a check.

I know. Shut your mouth. There's no reason for her to go there personally. She understands 100%. She'll be the center of all the cameras. The story will be about her, which is exactly what she wanted. And now she and Harry are angry at Justine Bateman, according to page six, that she called them disaster tourists. Their feelings are hurt because they really do just want to help Maureen. It's not

about them. Again, like failing to ever learn a lesson, read a room. Like, okay, you got called disaster tourists. Take it. Take the hit. First of all, it's true. Good for Justine Bateman. Why'd you go to Uvalde if you're not? Please. That was the most disgusting thing. The most like if there's, there's certain people when they do something, I think to myself, I will never put another penny in their pocket. Right. Alicia Keys, her pro Hamas posts. Totally what she denied. I said, never again, not a penny in her pocket. These people are disgusting. And so they, they feel that we need to know that they are offended by this. Again, while LA is burning and people are going to be left with nothing, and these people are going to be screwed. They have no insurance, the federal government,

if you try to get help from them, good luck. It's designed to break you. Oh, well, you were pointing out in a column the other day. It's not just these two losers. A bunch of celebrities are out there like, oh, you know, help my family. These multi-millionaire stars, like, could you participate in my GoFundMe for my relatives? It's like, who was it? Mandy Moore. Yeah, Mandy Moore of this is us fame. Meanwhile, her, her partner who I love, um, Jack Milo, Milo Ventimiglia. He didn't do that shit. No, he was on the site and somebody found him surveying his home in ashes. He didn't make it all about like, whoa, is me. You know, he just answered the questions. He was dignified and he certainly didn't ask people to give him money for himself or his family. But Mandy Moore actually started GoFundMe for her in-laws. Well, she said in her post,

so they're all so slippery. She's like, by the way, I didn't start this GoFundMe, so don't blame me. I'm just like being a good person and putting it out there for my brother-in-law who lost like $60,000 worth of musical equipment. Like cry me a river. You lost your instruments. They should have been insured for one. I don't care. So she goes, we're asking for $60,000. Oh, and if you don't like it, kindly F off.

No one's forcing you to do anything, which is not the point. And I cannot tell you how gratifying it was to go through all these sort of comments from people who were like, Mandy Moore, like I thought you were like a decent person. Like, fuck you. Right.

Like she made 23 million reportedly just from This Is Us alone. She doesn't have to work another day in her life. She could replace that $60,000 worth of musical equipment. Easily. I bet her couch cost her that. Exactly. Her custom made couch.

Yeah. Even Gwyneth Paltrow isn't doing this stuff. You know what I mean? That's saying something. That says a lot. No, and you also don't see Gwyneth Paltrow flying in and inserting herself into the story under the auspices of, they really need me to ladle out the soup. They really need me to hand out sweatshirts. Like any celebrity or somebody who's as well known as Megan and Harry are, who does that is doing it for a reason. They know exactly what's going to happen. It's totally different from like a Gary Sinise who will hold a concert and have people come and

pay an admission charge with the deal that I'm going to take all these proceeds and give them like to our vets, right? And that's where like you're using your celebrity for good. It's on the table that it's your celebrity that you're, you know, you're gonna do this thing. Yeah. Yeah. They're just there trying to look like random good Samaritans. And I was talking about this.

I went on Billy Bush's show. He just launched it this week. And I was saying to me, it's like, when you go on to donate to somebody's GoFundMe, I always click the anonymous thing because I know I'm me. And I know, like, I don't want people writing stories about like, oh, she, she gave this or what it that's the, that it's not just besides the point. It undermines the point of doing it. Like true charity is something you do just for the other person, just to help them. It shouldn't reflect back on you at all. You're yes. You should be fading down into nothing. The point is not to get a thank you. If you do it because you also feel good, that's great. But you don't do it to promote

yourself, which is totally what they were doing. Totally what they were doing. I mean, I loved Prince, but one of my favorite things about him, which I learned after he died, was the extent of his charitable donations and how involved he was with programs for underprivileged youth. You never knew it. It was the same with George Michael. You never knew it. And it goes to one of my favorite sayings, which is, if you do something good for someone else and more than those two people know about it, you did it for the wrong reason. This is one of the reasons why, even though Vivek gets under my skin sometimes with his weird little posts about how we need more Urkels, that wasn't on my skin. I just teased him because, but I will tell you, I do know a story personally,

a person I had on this show who got canceled over complete BS. This is before Vivek was on the scene as a politician or anything. He was just private businessman. And he heard the story and contacted me and said, I want to pay all of her legal bills. Amazing. I know. And he's, I've never heard him tell this story. Like he's, he wasn't looking for credit for it. Right. I mean, that just speaks to a true, like a good character of a person. These two, it's a totally different story. So shame on them. Shame on, uh, Mandy Moore. Uh. It's a disgrace. They just go away. Meanwhile, while we're on LA, they're in a full meltdown there in terms of their politics. The fire chief almost got fired. Then she had some long heated closed door meeting with the mayor where they had

it out. By the next day, Saturday, they came out as a sort of united front, like, we're going to resolve our differences in private. But she continues to rip on the fact that the fire department didn't get the resources it needed, the fire chief. And now what you're seeing is reports that there's been a rebellion against her and that there's a push growing for her, the LA fire chief, to step down because she hasn't been taking care of the firefighters in her ranks or listening to their many complaints. So she raised at least one publicly saying, don't defund us the $17 million. Like we need more resources, but you're hearing more and more firefighters from within and including the head of the firefighters union come out and say, we've been sounding the alarm. No one's been listening to us. And actually some are saying this fire chief needs to go. Among other things, she's been too focused on DEI and getting more

women. The New York Times has a report on this out right now. She's super focused on getting more women in the fire force because some women in previous years complained that they'd been harassed, et cetera, by some of the guys. So the answer, I guess, is to just make women the dominant population in LAFD. First of all, I've been listening to your coverage about this and the line you had the other day about, well, I might die, but at least I'm in the presence of what? An obese lesbian. Hey, I was actually at the bank yesterday and next to me at the teller was a firefighter and they were talking about this. He and the teller were talking about this. And he said, this is the thing about why we are wary of female firefighters. He said,

we're afraid that they might lose their courage in an emergency, like to run into a burning building with all of that stuff on you, like trying to get people out. I think men who do it are crazy, wonderfully crazy. Afraid. Yes. So my, but also, you know, this sort of ties into the Biden because I'm looking at what's going on in California and seeing Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass, who is wearing this insufferable smile on her face at all times and this fire chief. And it's like, there is no such thing as accountability as shame anymore. It seems the worse of a job you do, the better you give yourself on a performance ranking. You're like, you think you're doing a five when the public thinks you're doing a zero,

when all evidence to the contrary exists, such as your entire town burning to the ground. And you don't seem to have much urgency. I mean, as it goes on and burns, like the problems with staffing and getting the adequate trucks and water there remain. Schellenberger, who's been doing a great, great job on this, tweeted this out today or last night. He's tweeting out an article that reads,

DEI and corruption behind L.A. fire catastrophe, says new whistleblower. And this is his headline. DEI did not hurt the L.A. fire department's response to the catastrophic fire, say the media. But anything that trumps meritocratic standards would. And now whistleblowers within the L.A. F.D. say the department lowered standards on ladders, hoses and pushups to meet DEI quotas for women. This is exactly what Hegseth was trying to say at his confirmation hearings earlier this week. No, they're not Senator Gillibrand dumb enough to put it down on a piece of paper saying the women have to meet this lower standard and the men have to meet this higher one. It is a matter of practice in too many areas of the military and obviously the LAFD to do it with a wink and a nod. And it's unacceptable when you have lives on the line. So, I mean, this is tangential, but I was looking at an episode the other night of

Only Murders in the Building. Yeah. And cast as an NYPD detective is an obese Black woman. And I'm thinking to myself, would she really pass the physical fitness requirement to be a police officer? I mean, have you seen the NYPD, the videos? Yes. Yeah. Yes. But like, that's, that's the, that's the messaging we're getting in the mirroring. We're getting like, this is supposed to be like a thing where you don't even realize for a second, like, no, that doesn't fit. Yeah. That doesn't apply. Right. The real, it should not apply. Right. Right. It's fine. You can choose whichever color you want to make her, but why does she have to be obese? Exactly. We're

trying with the, there's technically a standard. They're all supposed to be meeting on physical fitness. Um, why are we leaning into somehow that's a problem? And this is one of the things that we were supposed to have learned from Afghanistan and Iraq went, you know, an all-volunteer army, very few American men and women really looking to join that fight after a while. And the army and the military had no choice but to lower standards. So they were letting in people who either physically couldn't do it, intellectually didn't have the capabilities. You know, I mean, this is a very long tale we're dealing with.

But meanwhile, Pete was making such a good point the other day at the confirmation hearing that we don't hear enough of. And Anna Kasparian was on the show the other day trying to make the opposite point. I disagreed with her, but we didn't get a chance to get into it. And she was great, by the way.

But she was saying, look, we have a recruiting shortage. And if we have talented women who want to sign up for the military and for combat, the more the merrier because we need more bodies now. And by the way, Pete's never said women shouldn't be in the military. It's about combat. So I know I take her point. But what Pete was saying at the hearing was that we're seeing already a surge in signups by young men who are ready to rejoin because we've had this lag. And I believe, as I think Pete does, as I think Trump does, that one of the main reasons we're seeing the lag, two of the main reasons are DEI. They do not want to volunteer to put their lives on the line only to be lectured to that they're bad because they're white men. That's one. One of those two things, because black men get lectured too because

of their manliness. So that's one. And then two is we've been totally reckless with our blood and treasure. We've been starting these wars. They've been never ending. We keep sending more over there. We try to impose democracies on countries and regions that will not have it. We double down on dumb. And then when they die, like in the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, we say we handled it perfectly. That's what Biden says. No mistakes. It was stellar. It nailed it. Why would you go sign up to fight for a man like that commander in chief like that? Pete's point is that if we do things right, if we treat the military right, if we have the right messaging, if we choose the right battles and we give them the tools to win, like instead of tying their hands behind the back on bullshit rules of engagement, we're going to see that surge in signups again.

If we teach pro-America lessons in school as opposed to you should hate your country, we're going to see enlisted numbers go up. The answer is not to lower the standards so we can take the obese ones and the ones who don't pass the IQ test and women who are out of shape are not strong. The answer is to find a way to get to those able bodied, young male fighting age guys who otherwise would have been running to the recruitment offices. 100%. And you also have to think, you know, if you are a young man thinking of joining up, like they're thinking, who's going to be in my foxhole? Is it going to be a DEI hire? He's going to try to drag me out behind like an assault or not? You know, I mean, it's such a practical, again, common sense thing. And finally, now we're having these grown up discussions about it because over the past four, eight, 12 years to do so is to be a racist, is to be a bigot, is to be one of my favorite epithets,

an ableist. Oh God. An ableist. I'm an ableist when it comes to our armed forces. I am. Likewise, you know, so I just, uh, I'm, I'm gratified by everything that's sort of happening. And I think what's going to happen in LA.A. is a complete flushing out of this toxicity. Like, Gavin Newsom is done. Yeah. Karen Bass. I mean, holy. Like, when she was being interrogated, like, after deplaning, but before they, like, let her off.

By the Sky News reporter. And she's looking at the ground and her eyebrows are knitting as he's asking questions. And I was literally thinking to myself, like, is she like functionally a moron? I think so. The answer I think is yes. You do? Yeah. But she wasn't the one who put this fire chief in.

It was Garcetti, right? He was the previous mayor. Wait, I get my Gs confused out in Los Angeles. It was the previous mayor who came right before her, the guy who just got voted out. And, um, he, he put her in and she kept her though. She kept her right. Because none of these Democrats is going to be the one to say the DEI hire is not on point. Right. And Karen Bass's, uh, situation Garcetti. Yeah. Um, she's probably a DEI hire too. A lot of the women, a lot of the voters are already on record saying, I could not vote for the white guy, Rick Caruso, when he's running against a black woman. In no world could I do it. Well, this is one of the reasons why I think it's an apt, we have a minute,

but discussion, like do we, how many federal dollars do we send to California if they're not going to change their leadership? If they're going to double down on dumb, like how many times do you go in and rescue people who are suffering natural consequences? I just, I don't know how we as Americans could turn our backs on the hardworking people who are really going to suffer. I don't know how the federal government just leaves them to it. To me, it's as bad as FEMA people being told to ignore homes with Trump stakes in them. Unfortunately, you're right, but it is somewhat galling because it's like. I agree.

You stick with these leaders. They are suffering for it. And I do think they're going to learn their lesson. I hope you're right. I hope you're right. My woke friend who told me the other day, she was hearing all sorts of, you know, we're going to vote Republican.

We see what we did. It was wrong. She said they're weakening already. They're already being like, well, you can't stop fire. Well, you can. You can. All right. Stand by. We've got a second hour. This is going to be even better than the first. I can't wait to get to the stories. Don't go away. Maureen's with this whole show. Are you overwhelmed with back taxes or unfiled returns? Well, get ready because since COVID relief ended, the IRS hired 20,000 new enforcement agents proposing millions of

pay up notices for 2025. If you are worried about IRS collection tactics, you don't have to face them alone. Tax Network USA can help. Tax Network USA is the nation's premier tax relief firm and has negotiated over $1 billion in tax relief for clients. Their services include penalty forgiveness and hardship programs. Whether you owe $10,000 or $10 million, their experts are ready to assist you. Even if you're behind on taxes, Tax Network USA can guide you through the process. Contact them for personalized support. Handling IRS matters without professional help is risky. Protect your financial security with guidance from Tax Network USA. To schedule a complimentary

consultation, just call 1-800-958-1000 or visit tnusa.com slash Megan. Don't let the IRS's aggressive tactics control your life. Empower yourself with Tax Network USA's support and take charge of your financial future. Visit tnusa.com slash Megan today. This just breaking, Maureen. CNN, bad news, just found liable in a defamation case for $5 million. And now the jury recommending that they move on to the punitive damages phase, which is no bueno for CNN. Here's what happened. Um, a, um, a U S Navy veteran by the name of Zachary young was put on CNN screen in a report done by a reporter named Alex Marquette.

It, it aired on Jake Tapper's show. And in this report, Alex Marquette suggested, CNN suggested that this guy Young was an illegal profiteer working in Afghanistan with those who needed to be evacuated, charging them thousands of dollars to flee the country following the U.S. military withdrawal. And this guy, Young, was in touch with the CNN reporter. And before they ran the piece saying, no, not true. And what are you going to say? Because they reached out to him for comment, as you must. And he said, send me a list of questions, you know, and I'll answer them. And they introduced texts in the lawsuit that he brought for defamation against CNN, including one in which Alex Marquette is texting another internal CNN-er how annoyed he is that this guy Young has been in touch, saying he starts it with FFS, meaning for fuck's sake, fucking unjust Texas. Like he's annoyed that his source, you know, his, the subject of his story wants to talk about like, normally, normally you're happy. Normally that's great news. If they yell at you, that's fine. Either way, interaction is fine. And then there was a text shown of Marquette's text where he told CNN's assistant managing editor, Matthew Phillips, we gonna nail this Zachary Young motherfucker, which is not a great text, not a great text

when defending a defamation case. So now the jury has just come back finding CNN liable and saying they need to pay Mr. Young $5 million in compensatory damages, adding that he should also be awarded punitives. The trial will be heading into a second phase to determine the amount of punitive damages. Oh, this is, I mean, look, I hate to see, you know, defamation cases succeed against our fellow media members. Cause you never want to be in that position, right? I mean, I I'd be lying if I said you didn't think, well, wow, geez, like nobody's perfect there There but for the grace. But this sounds rather egregious. These texts make it pretty clear. This reporter was not necessarily 100%

interested in reporting what was real and true. No. And you know what else is really, I shouldn't be shocked because it's CNN, but I was glued to that coverage and I read everything I could about it. And instead of CNN really going down the rabbit hole of how Biden was able to do this, despite every top general telling him not to do it, despite every top advisor telling him this is not the way, he went ahead and did it. And people died and babies were thrown over barbed wire fences to U.S. servicemen. The desperation, we left American conspirators behind. We told them, we will protect you.

And when push came to shove, we were like, we're out. Sorry, every man for himself. And it was these ex-military guys, I don't know if Zachary is ex or still, but who took it upon themselves, many remotely from America, to organize people, to organize former Navy SEALs to get these poor people out. But CNN instead thought the better story was, oh, one of these guys is trying to line his pockets. Like that kind of tells you where their weather vane is. When you have texts like that, you just settle. Yeah.

You just settle. You know, like there will be situations in which the press behaves badly, in which you have bad texts, in which a reporter in the field makes bad decisions. And as a media organization, you settle those cases. That is why ABC settled with Donald Trump, paid him $15 million in his defamation lawsuit, because George Stephanopoulos just kept saying he raped somebody, that he was found liable for rape when it wasn't true. It's like sometimes you have to know as the corporation, the big daddy, when to fall on your sword and just say, we effed up and we're going to minimize the damage to our brand. I mean, CNN's in a spiral right now. It's got basement ratings

and like their big news this week has been Jim Acosta is moving from 10 a.m. to midnight. Right. And I guess they sold it to him by saying, it's primetime on the West Coast. Right, and Wolf Blitzer getting kicked out of primetime and he's getting a morning show. Like, what 67-year-old is like? 76, I think.

76. I'd love to get up at 4 a.m., 5 a.m. Sure. For this. Yeah, great. I know. And Jim Acosta on his like most recent show has been I think he was thanking President Biden for defending the press.

Stop it. Meaning him. Stop. It's worse than you think. Watch this. He warned the free press is crumbling in this country. Journalists exist to seek the truth, to tell people's stories, to lift up voices that may not be heard otherwise, to shine a light on injustice and to hold the truth, to tell people's stories, to lift up voices that may not be heard otherwise,

to shine a light on injustice and to hold the powerful accountable. I want to take a moment to show you something. A woman sent me this sign eight years ago. She carried it here at a march in Washington. She wrote on the back of the sign to me and the press here in D.C., you have our support. To Nora, wherever wherever you are right back at you. Oh my God. The sign reads, I march for Jim Acosta and a free press and he's holding it up. It's, um, it's, oh my God, Ted Knight is on the Mary Tyler Moore show. That's that like more insane than this woman giving him this little placard, whatever, and is him holding onto it. Right. Like, imagine

how many times he's moved offices and told some assistant, like, you gotta get that. Don't leave that behind. I'll fire you. Get my sign. Like, he's gonna take it home and have it framed when he retires. Like, it's demented. I hope the woman who made the sign is on the West Coast and she can enjoy

the newly minted prime time host. I can't say upset your DVR. California only. Oh, my God. I mean, they're rearranging the deck chairs. The ship is still sinking. Good luck with that. Oh, my God.

Speaking of, just can I say, you know, you often say this thing that Roger Ailes told you, which is watch with the sound off and see if you can tell what the story is. The L.A. wildfires breaking out on Wednesday morning. Is it Abby Phillip? Who's the morning person? Because she was doing a remote interview with somebody in the field in California and she had her phone in the shot and she was like this. What? It was like she was online shopping while she was getting this like incoming dispatch, Like we're burning to the ground over here and there's no water and no one's coming. She's like. No, I don't know when she's on.

I just see her clips. I think she's on in the evening, but I was talking to her about her. When is she, Steve? She's at 9 p.m. Oh my God, God help you, CNN. I was just talking about her yesterday because she's got this weird thing with her affect

where she talks like this and she's like, I don't think they were disparaging Pete Hegseth's military service and you shouldn't disparage the general service who came before. It's, I don't know what it is, but I asked the audience, like, that's my imitation of her. Who am I imitating? Like, who is it that I'm, cause she's reminding me of somebody. And I feel like we came up with some of the audience emailed in it's Megan at megankelly.com. Here's what we came up with. Nobody's going to go out with me. Have you asked anybody yet?

No, but who would, I don't even have any good skills. What do you mean? You know, like, nunchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills. Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.

That's Napoleon Dynamite. Here's Abby Phillip. You tell me whether I'm onto something. I have concerns about Elon Musk's business dealings in other countries, including American adversaries, that we are producing more oil now than even when Trump was in office. That's a fact. I'm old enough to remember hydroxychloroquine and the horse tranquilizer and all that stuff. I mean, those things weren't true either okay she's just very very flat while she makes her point with

the occasional intonation upward do you know who that reminds me of too selena gomez who's been on this huge press tour she's in that movie that transgender musical oh right and i refuse to see right i mean who's gonna watch that no i'm watch that. But she has the flattest affect. Like she's been doing this press tour. Like it's her best year ever. And she sounds like she's on like medication for like treatment resistant depression. Oh, another submission. Please go find a clip of that so we can see who Abby Phillip is more like. People are more familiar with her name right now than they ever have been. Thanks to our mentioning on the show. So you're welcome. Okay. there's a couple other things I'm dying to talk to you about two massive lawsuits today. One, we're going to get to what you guys know

about. And that's the, um, the, the Blake Lively, uh, Justin Baldoni thing. Brian Friedman, the lawyer for Justin has just dropped a whopper of a $400 million lawsuit against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and their PR agent, Leslie, I don't remember her last name, Sloan. He said he was going to do it. He said it was going to be a whopper and boy, oh boy, is it. So we'll get to that in one second, but I have to start with one against a guy, a criminal indictment that probably no one listening to me, other than I know we have some federal circuit court judges. We have some court of appeals judges who I know listen to the show. They're going to know this guy, but it's just such an interesting story that I must bring it to you. There's this guy named Tom Goldstein, and he has been behind the website all of us

court watchers use for the past two decades called SCOTUS blog, Supreme Court of the United States, scotusblog.com. It kind of started to wind down a bit last year. We didn't know why, but he's the guy behind it. And I believe that he is, oh God, the second, this is from National Review's Dan McLaughlin, who writes, his bio recites that only three lawyers in the court's modern history have argued more cases in private practice. He has been counsel on more successful petitions for certiorari, meaning please take our case, U.S. Supreme Court, over the past decade than any other lawyer in private practice. Over the past 15 years, the firm's petitions for cert have been granted at a higher rate than any private law firm or legal clinic. He has taught Supreme Court litigation at Harvard Law School since 2004 after teaching the same at Stanford.

He's one of the co-founders of SCOTUSblog, the must-read site covering the high court. He holds a number of positions of distinction in the bar. As a young lawyer, he was at the side of David Boies and Lawrence Tribe for the Democratic team arguing Bush v. Gore. Now he's 54 years old. And I'll tell you what, I've interviewed him too many times to count when I was on Fox News. I was addicted to SCOTUSblog. I covered the high court for three years for Fox. And the day that the Obamacare decision came out, you may not remember this, but almost everybody got it wrong and said, because they found that the Congress didn't have the power under the commerce clause to pass Obamacare, because that was the first part of the decision. They did not have the power.

Everybody was like, it's being struck down. Obamacare is being struck down. And these know-nothing reporters ran to the cameras to say that without reading the whole opinion. But, you know, of course, I did read the whole opinion and I knew that there might be more than part one. And there was a part two, which said, but we uphold it under the tax clause. Thank you, Chief Justice John Roberts. So I got it right. And I saved the ass of Fox News. Oh, we have this. OK, here's a little bit of this. So listen. News here on the Fox News channel, the individual mandate has been ruled unconstitutional. He says the individual mandate cannot be sustained under Congress's power to regulate commerce. That means the mandate is gone.

Megan, you're seeing something now. Wait, we're getting conflicting information. We're getting conflicting information. If you follow scotusblog.com, which covers the high court, they say that despite what Shannon just read, that the individual mandate is surviving as a tax. This is not confirmed by us yet. This is according to SCOTUSblog, which also has the opinion. They're reporting that the individual mandate survives as a tax.

So it may have been struck down under the Commerce Clause power, but spared under the taxing power. Everyone's still trying to figure this out. It's very fluid. Okay. As a result of that, me reading SCOTUS blog and reading the opinion, we were the only one of the only ones to get it right. Tom Goldstein came on my show. Was it later that night? OK, later that night, I was in primetime. Watch. Oh, you my thanks, because I was on your blog this morning as this ruling came down and we were getting conflicting reports. And you, as expected and as always, had it right. The high court upheld the individual mandate, but not on the grounds most of us expected.

The Affordable Care Act was saved by the conservative Chief Justice John Roberts. It is possible to construe the statute as a tax. OK, so why did I take you down that memory lane? That's the guy who just yesterday got indicted in federal court by the Justice Department for allegedly, I want to get the taxes exactly right. I mean, the charge is exactly right for not paying his taxes. Let's see. Hold on. I just want to make sure I have it exactly. Let me just see. The allegations are that he committed tax evasion, 19 counts of unpaid taxes, willful failure to pay taxes, false and fraudulent tax returns. There are also three counts of false statements on mortgage loans applications that he took out to cover his debts. This is, again, sticking with the report on

National Review, which you guys should read by Dan McLaughlin, called The Wild Indictment of Tom Goldstein of SCOTUSblog. And he says, it might seem puzzling that a man in this position would retire from appellate practice in 2023. So last year, he stepped away from SCOTUSblog. He gave up appellate practice. No one quite understood it. It might seem even odder when juxtaposed against Goldstein's reputation. He was profiled in 2006 for the New Republic as the hustler for his aggressive pursuit of clients with cases that were headed for the court or suitable for its docket. And so I'm talking about what a hotshot he was. If even half of today's 22 count federal indictment of Goldstein is to be believed, there was a lot to outrun and it caught up with

Goldstein, his alleged dark side. He was also an ultra high stakes poker player, frequently playing in the United States and abroad, involving stakes totaling millions, even tens of millions of dollars. He financed that by, quote, borrowing millions of dollars, this is quoting from the indictment, or getting people to stake him in exchange for a share of his winnings if he won. At times, he won big. The indictment recites a 13.8 million win in Hong Kong in 2016 and taking a California businessman for 26 million in Beverly Hills that same year, but he also frequently held gambling debts approaching 10 million. We'll get to the women in a minute. But Maureen, and he denies these allegations. Okay. I should say he gave a statement. I believe it was to reason magazine

and, um, I screen grabbed it. So I would remember to read it, but it was, um, Mr. Goldstein is a prominent attorney with an impeccable reputation. We are deeply disappointed that the government brought these charges in a rush to judgment without understanding all of the important facts. Our client intends to vigorously contest the charges, and we expect he will be exonerated at trial from his lawyer. So how let's, if this is, if this is true in any way, you have one of the most, I mean, top 1% prominent attorneys in America. And at the top, top most respected place, Supreme Court litigation, the Supreme Court bar, who all the justices know and probably have cocktails with on this mad poker spree,

where obviously the guy, I mean, appears to have some sort of a gambling addiction to the tune of $26 million wins and $10 million losses. There's an allegation he was caught crossing the border with a black bag that had- The duffel bag. Yes, yes, a million dollars in cash. And one of the ways it sounds like he got caught was he declared that to the customs official,

but then didn't put it down as earnings on his taxes, committing some massive tax fraud where he wasn't accounting for all these winnings or the losses when he applied for mortgage loans and banks need to see what you're outstanding liabilities for. It blows my mind, Maureen. I don't know why.

I just feel like someone at that level of practice wouldn't behave that way. Okay. I had a different take while reading this indictment, which is a ride, like when I got to the part with the duffel bag and I'm like, and the women, the women, and I'm like, okay, when does the wife come in? There's a wife here somewhere. She comes in later in the narrative. But I was thinking like, I would bet a guy with this level of intellect and a guy who probably likes to take on risky cases, like has a need for some kind of adrenaline like this. And like in his off time, this is relaxing to him to maybe like literally bet the

house, you know, to like literally owe people money who would break your legs or kill a loved one if you don't pay up. Like there was a part in the indictment where he hired, he was going to play like a super high stakes game. Like if you saw the movie Molly's Game, like you know what these rooms are like. And he hired this two professional poker players to watch film or basically game out his opponents in a game, the way the mistakes they made, like sort of break down their psyches, then read the mistakes that he made. It was like game film, like a Tom Brady.

Yes. You know? And then they had some sort of a computer program run like AI workouts of how the poker game against that person might go. So he could anticipate, he would probably respond like this. So then I should respond like that.

Right. A lot of time was put into winning these games. A lot. And the amount of like, and the hubris to like go to a bank and be like, give me a $4 million loan while he's got an outstanding $10 million personal loan from somebody else in Beverly Hills.

Like this case to me is so reminiscent of the ongoing Tom Girardi, Erica Jane scandal. Now explain who that is. So Erica Jane is a cast member of the real housewives of Beverly Hills. One of the best of the franchise. Yeah. She was a much younger trophy wife to a very famous criminal attorney named and civil attorney, I believe, Tom Girardi, who was most known as the lawyer who litigated for Aaron Brockovich. So he had that going for him and he was held in high esteem and he moved with all the movers and shakers. Turns out for decades, he had been fleecing his clients. So he would represent he represented the widows and orphans of like one of the biggest plane crashes in recent memory. Fleeced them.

What? Fleeced them. How do we know? We're saying fleeced based on what? This has been found by a jury or? He was convicted. Oh, and he pled dementia at a very crucial time. Oh, you don't know what you're missing.

I need to get more involved in the real housewives drama. The lawyer in you. I know. Some of the best TV ever. Meanwhile, his wife is saying, well, I didn't know anything and I'm not giving up all the jewelry he gave me with that dirty money.

Widows and orphans, I don't care. Be damned. Widows and orphans, be damned. There's a great Hulu documentary. I think it's called The Housewife and the Hustler. Oh. And they interviewed one of it. It's amazing. They interviewed one of the victims that he fleeced. I'm going to say quote unquote fleeced. This guy was burned nearly beyond recognition that he is still alive is a miracle. He stole the millions and millions this guy was awarded. Oh, wow. It was just, and there were women, and there were, I mean, like, everything.

So that's this to me. Like, my, okay, first of all, if you marry one of these real housewives, you know what you, like, then I look at you differently. I got to be honest. Like, I see you differently. Of course. But this guy was the picture of respectability. Like, this guy, we'd put him on all the time. Everybody would. It wasn't just Fox, it was CNN, MSNBC, all of them. And like you saw him, like he's a bald, mild

mannered kind of meek little guy. Like he's not, I don't know what I'm picturing as your average criminal. And again, he denies the charges. We'll find out whether he's a criminal. But on top of all this massive gambling and applying, that is hubris. That's ballsy to go to the bank to apply for a mortgage and not reveal your $10 million in gambling debt. On top of that, they're alleging that he was cheating on his wife, who's a partner in his law firm, with a bunch of women, I think at least four women. Again, back to the National Review report, he was involved, according to the indictment, or pursued intimate personal relationships with at least, oh, at least a dozen women, not more, not four, 12 at least, transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars to them,

in addition to other costs of their travel and expenses. He allegedly hired four of them as sham employees of his firm to get them health insurance. He was otherwise allegedly using the firm as a personal piggy bank to cover his lifestyle. That's Alex Murdoch-esque, that last part where you use the law firm money and the Tom Girardi kind of thing. If it's true that he used the law firm's money to pay off gambling debts and screwing all your other partners and potentially clients and putting four of your alleged affair partners on the company ledger so they can have health insurance benefits. I mean, I, in his defense, I'm sure it was tough for Tom Goldstein to get ladies. I was, I'm just going to take a shot in the dark. A hundred percent. But my God, well, you know, the other

thing about that was, Oh, my favorite part of that was, um, so apparently one of the woman had women had her lawyer go to this guy and say, listen, you got to pay us some money for her to keep quiet. And he said, don't bother. I owe so-and-so 10. I have so many debts. You never see the money. Like, do what you want. Like, I can't, I'm not, this is too small time for me. So the, again, Reason.com posted this. It's by, it's under the Volokh conspiracy, but I saw Reason tweeted it out. And they, this guy, Josh Blackman did a very good piece. And he's, he went back and looked at all the arguments Tom Goldstein had before the Supreme Court during the relevant timeframe, which I think was from 2015 or 16 to 22.

And this guy was arguing some of the biggest, most complex, most difficult, challenging cases we've had against some of the most formidable adversaries, including Paul Clement, former Solicitor General under George W. Bush. This guy will shred you with his rhetorical skills. Don't argue against Paul Clement. Neil Katyal, who's a far left guy, but he used to be at Jones Day and he was used to be Solicitor General. I think I am pretty sure he was under Obama. In any event, these are very skilled advocates. And he was going in there and winning against these people while he's racking up these million, tens of millions in debt. And then the next weekend winning. I just, to your point about the adrenaline, that person's, I don't even,

I don't recognize that as human behavior. I would be such a puddle of nerves. I'm too afraid to commit a crime. I'm too. Well, forget even about the crime. Think about like how like when you were starting out in your career or like any of us starting out and like, you know, unpaid bills or outstanding student loan debt can literally keep you up at night. Like decent people are like, oh my God, how am I going to pay this? Yes. And this guy's like, I'm just going to take a duffel bag and I'm going to cross national boundaries and I'm going to have like an offshore account, like in Mauritania. Like just what, like this is like, I want, I want the like scripted and unscripted version. I would give anything to be a fly on the wall of the Supreme Court justices chambers or

their next meeting. I guarantee you in there is holy shit. Have you seen the news about Tom Goldstein? It's just to me is such a juxtaposition position of huge respectability, you know, because like, look, Harvey Weinstein fell for being a predator. Roger Ailes went down for similar reasons. Jeffrey Epstein, I mean, same times a hundred, but like you, you didn't really look at any of them and say never. Right. No. Right. The height of respectability. Bill Cosby, maybe. Maybe Bill Cosby, but like this guy, the nerdy Supreme Court litigator who probably every respectable lawyer and judge in the country knows. It's just such a double life. That's how it feels to me. And do you have to be a sociopath to get away to like, that's what's most intriguing. Like how do you go in there stone-faced and argue the

cases? You know how it is when something's stressing you out. Think about if you were going to get sued. Getting sued is very stressful and you've got a Supreme court argument you got to prepare for. Oh shit. I couldn't think about anything. I'd be so distracted. And this guy, he's got to know at some point that he's facing possible indictment by the feds. He's hiding, allegedly, a massive shell game of money. And he's in there slicing and dicing Paul Clement. And you're built differently. There's something missing. There's a chip that I have that you don't have. Right. No, but that's why it's such a great story. And it goes to sort of just like the world we live in right now, where it's like everything you see on social media is actually not what's going on in a person's actual life. You know, that story about the, um,

the Hamptons, like mom fluencer whose husband committed suicide. So she was all, she had this like account. She was like an influencer. She was like bragging about her Hamptons lifestyle funded by her husband, who was like a multimillionaire. Turns out this guy was pulling a similar shell game. Like in the weeks before his death was like begging people for money to like plug holes. And they were finally like, we can't, you're untrustworthy. He killed himself in the garage. Turns out he left them penniless. Like she had like $8,000 in the account. Like it's this kind of thing. It's like this, the disconnect between what people present themselves to be and what they actually are. And it's endlessly fascinating, really. One other interesting nugget on Tom Goldstein,

this past November, even though he'd kind of shrunk his public presence, right? Like at the Supreme court bar, he had retired. He shrunk just let's go to his blog, which people had said already had basically died pursuant to their announcement. They were killing it. Um, but in November, okay. November of this year after Trump won, Tom Goldstein comes out with a, an op-ed in the New York Times saying that all remaining lawfare should be dropped against him, which was clearly the preemptive. I'm on your side, Mr. President. And guess who he hired to represent him? Trump's two lawyers. So we're looking for a pardon. Of course. He's definitely trying to line himself up for a pardon, which is just, oh.

If he did it, he shouldn't get one. And if he didn't do it, then let's stay open-minded to that. And we'll come on and we'll give you all the reporting that the case fell apart if and when. Okay. Quick break. Back with more on the Justin Blake drama. And there is drama. Wait until you hear the absurd text this woman, Blake Lively, sent to Justin Baldoni. It's in the lawsuit that

Brian Friedman just filed, comparing herself to Khaleesi of Game of Thrones. Stand by. 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. GCU believes in equal opportunity and that the American dream starts with purpose. By honoring your career calling, you can impact your family, friends, and your community. Change the world for good by putting others before yourself. Whether your pursuit involves a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree, GCU's online, on-campus, and hybrid learning environments are designed to help

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Okay, so as I mentioned, the inauguration of Donald Trump is happening on Monday. One person who will not be there is Michelle Obama. And we're going to get to some of the speculation around why, but first Melania Trump sat down with Ainsley Earhart of Fox and friends on Fox and offered a bit of a jab against how she and Donald were treated by the Obamas when they took over at the White House as the Obamas left first time around. Watch. Behind the scenes, what is it like when you're moving back in the White House? What's different this time? The difference is I know where I will be going. I know the rooms where we will be living. I know the process. The first time was challenging. We didn't have much of the information. The information was

upheld for us from previous administration. But this time I have everything. So it's very different transition this time. Second time around. So the Obamas did not fully share everything that would normally be shared with the Trumps. Now we see, of course, it must be noted, Trump skipped the Biden inauguration because he was doing his January 6th stuff. But now you have Michelle skipping this inauguration and there is speculation in the press that yes, it could be because she hates Donald Trump, but she hated Donald Trump in 16 too. And she went, um, with a puss on her face, right. But, or is it because there's trouble in paradise?

There, um, are a bunch of reports now it's her her birthday today, and she tweeted something out, and Barack tweeted, I love you. Like, on paper, they're being lovey, but this is what's coming up to surface. She gave an interview, for example, on Jennifer Hudson's show within the past year. It was in December, so it was a month ago. And listen to her talk about Barack here.

It's hot 16. How's our former president doing? He's doing OK. Yeah. Yeah. He's still working too hard, you know. But I think that's something he will always do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was our anniversary date. But he's doing well, working hard on the Obama Presidential Center. So we've been able to get some fun dates.

That picture was us at the U.S. Open, and that was the first time he got to go to the U.S. Open in person. But he's working hard on the Obama Presidential Center, which is on the south side

of Chicago. I love that. Yeah. We're going to head to the island for a little sun. But he's working hard on the Obama Presidential Center, which is on the south side of Chicago. I love that. Yeah. We're going to head to the island for a little sun. Nice. Ooh, that's the way to spend the Christmas. I like that. I know.

I tell you, that's why you got to pick your husband right. Okay. You know? Okay. It's like he got a lot cuter when I found out he was from Hawaii. I was like, oh, okay. That is funny. Okay, this on the heels of reports denied by Jennifer Aniston

that there may be something going on between Barack and Jennifer Aniston. But Jennifer Aniston came out and said, this is a tabloid report, said, I only met him once. I know Michelle better than I know him. But what's going on here? I find this fascinating. I have been theorizing for months that something is up in this marriage because she was traveling alone over the summer. Not alone. She was traveling with billionaires, which is how they roll now. But he was nowhere to be found, you know, and they're I don't know, they always sort of sold this great love story. And the way she's talking about him on the Jennifer Hudson show, it was kind of like a distant family member. You pretty lackluster. He's working a lot and then he's working a lot. And also he happens to be working a lot. But I'm really happy he has a connection to Hawaii.

Yeah, right. Like I bagged a big one, I guess. I don't know. And she's so, you know, the whole sort of like this self-help empire she's built for herself, you know, with her books and her like journals and everything. It's just it all feels very grubby to me. And for her, you know, this country made her a very wealthy woman. This country made her a very wealthy woman, a very privileged woman. And she can't get out of bed to, I mean, these people fly private. You're not taking more than a day to go to Jimmy Carter's funeral.

She had a scheduling conflict, Maureen. Listen, if that scheduling conflict had any import, that conflict would have been detailed. She had a scheduling conflict helping with whatever, whatever, whatever. She's, you know, whatever. Almost nothing. Nothing. Cannot be postponed. Even a mammogram. If you're Michelle Obama, it could probably happen the next day. They will wheel the machine to you. Yes. Okay. So, and I also think that now that these rumors have been sort of circulating

and there's been speculation in the media about what is going on, there hasn't been a denial. Wouldn't you issue a denial if you're a prominent, mega powerful couple like that? Your brand is so intertwined. But if you do not, or like that there's marital trouble or that he's having an affair with Jennifer Aniston, which is just crazy. That would be amazing. That would be, I mean, like,

who would you pick for Barack? Like for wife number two? I mean, I would pick a man. That's my favorite thing. I remember when there was this like doorstopper biography of Barack Obama that came out several years ago. Right. And the New York times reviewed it and basically said nothing to see here. And then I read somewhere else. The big takeaway was Barack crushing hard on like his male college professor, gay fantasies that he was talking to an ex-girlfriend about. Yeah. And it was like, could I live as a gay man? Because I really dig this guy. Like, there's nothing to see here.

Yeah. I was like, he could be on something. I'm just going to say, like, I'm not sure, but I wouldn't put him down for any second wife. I think if those two split, it's going to be confirmed bachelorhood. Oh, interesting. For the duration.

Interesting. That's what I predict. I don't know whether there's trouble in paradise or she's just being her normal, miserable self. She always has like an unenthusiastic. The only thing she gets enthusiastic about is how much she hates Trump and our country. Those are the things that really seem to animate her. It's so true. Love for Barack doesn't seem to be on the list. It's so true. Okay. So Justin Baldoni, he has fought back yet again. He filed a lawsuit against

the New York Times, which he had Brian Friedman on to discuss, saying it had done a defamatory report on Blake Lively's claims that she was allegedly harassed by this guy when they shot the movie It Ends With Us, a film about domestic violence. In that claim, they said the Times distorted the truth. They did not report text messages, which were full and complete, which showed a very different

meaning than the snippets that Blake Lively put in her complaint. And that what in fact happened was Justin didn't harass Blake. Blake was interested in wresting control of this movie away from Justin, who was the director and the producer. She was just an actress in it and used threats and coercion and bullying to do it. And to the point where this guy was in the basement at his own movie's premiere. Now Brian Friedman has filed on behalf of Justin a lawsuit directly against Blake, Ryan Reynolds, and Leslie Sloan, their PR hack.

And they're alleging not only did our PR team not hurt Blake or generate a campaign against Blake or do anything to hurt Blake in last August when she came under negative press, that was organic because of her own bad behavior. But you guys were the ones out there generating negative press against Justin. You bullies were the ones who were trying to ruin Justin so you could have your way on all the scenes and all the wardrobe and all the control. And you could have your way on all the scenes and all the wardrobe and all the control. And you can feel like the producer and the director when you weren't. And it's full of text messages and details about meetings like the one they had with Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively,

Justin Baldoni. And apparently, though the name is blacked out, there's an assumption, well-founded that it's Taylor Swift, her BFF, at the Reynolds penthouse in Manhattan, where Ryan Reynolds allegedly bullied Justin so badly that a Sony representative who was there, the production team behind the movie, and her biggest takeaway was, I am very sorry that I let him get away with doing that to Justin. It was so nasty. This guy who's just the damn husband. And now you see text messages in this lawsuit from Blake Lively comparing herself to the heroine of Game of Thrones, the fiercest female character we've seen in years, Khaleesi. That's her riding her dragon. She's the mother of dragons in Game of Thrones. And that's what Blake Lively says in a text message that she too has her dragons, Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Swift. That's again, believed to be the other person

and that they are powerful advocates for her. And while it seems to be said, like, I'm so lucky that I have them as great storytellers to help me rewrite this script. What Brian Friedman alleges is you'll go along or I'll unleash my dragons on you, you loser who no one's ever heard of. This lawsuit is incredible. It has it all. I can't believe neither side is giving in. They're digging in further. It feels like a very twisted rom-com to me. The hatred on both sides is so intense. It makes you wonder if there was like a deep attraction that whether it was consummated or not. This is very interesting.

You can, like if somebody sort of really is doing something that's like aggravating or trying to get in your way professionally, whatever, if you don't really care about them, you just try to get around them. Yes. You don't try to go through them or like work it out with them. You have your assistant or your agent deal with it if you're not. Yeah, you just, whatever.

But like these two are like in it. They are in it. And it's like, I think it's extremely strange. I want to know more about the presence of Taylor Swift, who sort of leads this like mean girl clique. There was a thing happening over the summer that the Daily Mail reported on where there were other female artists such as Billie Eilish who were releasing albums in the sort of tailwinds of her last release. I forget what it was called. I'm just so oversaturated with Taylor Swift.

But anyway, she was manipulating all of her new releases to keep these women from hitting number one. It was just a ploy to keep them from, and Billie Eilish's people were like, that's what's happening. That's what's happening. And it's, it's really shitty for someone who claims to be a champion of fellow women and female artists to be doing like, let someone else have it. Right. Like let someone, you know, no. So this is who she runs with. And that tells me everything. And like, I just to sit there and have your husband bully your director. Yes. You know, like if you don't, if you don't like this, have the balls to do it yourself. Right. Like don't have your husband throw his weight around with your husband. That's so weird. Like your husband, who's Ryan Reynolds. Of course it was a threat. And in your penthouse, like on your home turf,

like using your wealth as leverage, like showing off and your friend Taylor and your friend Taylor, who's like, what is she doing there? Is she just like scrolling Instagram dragons? What is she like? That is just wild. I think, you know, he'll learn a lot from this, you know, and hopefully, you know, and it's wonderful that we're in this era we're in right now where like people don't automatically take the woman's account. They were until Brian filed that lawsuit against the Times. Everybody was like, we got it wrong on Blake Lively last summer. That was not an organic negative press experience like that. And they're wrong.

There was plenty of organic negative press about Blake Lively last summer that there's been absolutely no proof any of it originated with Justin. My favorite part of what I've read of this suit so far is that Blake Lively did not even read the book that the movie was based on. And we're not talking War and Peace. This is a book that's probably written at a second grade reading level. Yeah. And then she, she wanted to, uh, she like, um, it's made all of the wardrobe choices because when you're making a movie about a poor woman who's suffering from domestic violence, you want her to look like she has money. Right. That Blake said, she has, she looks like she has money and she's dressing in florals. And then she's going on this press tour, pushing her liquor lines and her hair care line, because

that's what women who are trying to escape with their lives are worried about. That's what generated her negative press and led to a series of clips of her being insensitive in one way, shape or form with other interviewers in the past. She has no one to blame but herself for that. It's like if he even if he did orchestrate for that. It's like, if he, even if he did orchestrate this campaign and there's been zero proof he did, in fact, there's proof to the contrary. Um, so what you provided the clips, you did it, right? You know, like, is it like, nobody made you berate that young woman who said, oh, you're, you're, you're a little bump is cute

when she was eight months pregnant. And then she takes a shot at her like, oh, so is your baby bump to a non-pregnant interviewer who was basically just trying to acknowledge the obvious in the interview. And just establish a little rapport, just a little friendly report. Like, is that too much to do? Like, this is part of why you're getting paid millions and millions of dollars. The press tour is part of that pay package. Right. You have to show up with a smile on your face and be polite to people who are not lobbying, you know, difficult questions at you. They're softballs. I have to say my favorite actress,

the person who I think handles almost all of these things perfectly, is Kate Winslet. I just think she does very well in these interviews. Like she seems real to me. She seems honest. She's self-deprecating. I just, like, she's not perfect either,

but I just feel like more times than not, she gets it right, as opposed to, like, trying to puff herself up. Right. You know, it's kind of being self-deprecating, usually. The Brits are great at that. Yeah, anyway, she could take a lesson here. This was just posted to your publication,

The Daily Mail, a few minutes ago. Taylor is proud of the film because her music was featured in it, which gave her a sense of involvement, though she wasn't fully aware of the extent of the project's developments. Her, I guess it's her rep said, quote, she is confused by the claims in the suit as her connection to Blake is purely a friendship with no interest in influencing or controlling Blake's projects, end quote. The source insisted, okay, so it's not a named, but the source insisted that Taylor did not purposefully plan to be there during the meeting,

but it sounds like an admission she was there. Instead, they said she was simply coming over to hang out with her pal, but arrived while the meeting, which was supposed to have been wrapped up, was still going. Okay, so she was at the meeting, and they're saying that she was being presented implicitly by Blake as her other dragon, right? But to your point about the alleged like sexual tension between these two, if you look at the full complaint, there are texts between them like that go on and on about their connection and how he really likes her. He loves his version of her, but he loves the other version of her too at 11 o'clock at night. And I'm telling you,

it's felt flirty to me. I'm like, I don't generally text with other men, even men I work with at 11 o'clock at night, unless there's breaking news. It's my executive producer. And I'm like, I need to get on a plane. Right. And it's not like how I love this version of you. You're really speaking to me today. Like that is weird. He's laughing in my ear right now. So, you know, I, there could be a situation where that's what upset Ryan Reynolds so much. Oh, that's, that's a great. Yep. Yep. Because what they, what they're saying is you fat shamed my wife. And that's another thing they allege in the Brian Friedman lawsuit that that's what they put out that he fat shamed her because he allegedly went to her trainer

to ask how much she weighed. Because he had to lift her in a scene. Yes, and they write about how he's got this debilitating disc condition for which he was hospitalized when the movie wrapped. It's not made up, it's real. And he did need to know

how much he was going to have to weigh. She lied and said that there was no scene like that. And then they allege here it's because she had it cut. Amazing. There's just so much more to this story. And the media is already like self-flagellating. Oh, we were too mean to Blake. She didn't deserve the few negative things that were said about her. She's been bullied and harassed. This is also because like they have all the power of this guy. It was his first movie. He was on like one show before this.

He bought the rights to this mega selling book and has, I believe the rights to the power. This guy, it was his first movie. He was on like one show before this. He bought the rights to this mega selling book and has, I believe, the rights to the sequel. And I think that's something else they're fighting over. Yes. Because the studio definitely wants a sequel because this movie did really well. So, I mean, first we're going to get the reality version of this playing out.

And I can't wait. I can't wait for the suit into oblivion. You're definitely not going to see the two of them starring in a sequel. Maureen, you're the best. You're the best. Such a pleasure. Isn't she great, you guys? All right. We're back on Monday from a very cold, but indoor President Trump inauguration. What a day for America. We'll have it covered for you. Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.