The Megyn Kelly Show - RFK Grilled on the Hill, Trump's Newsy Trip to Syria, Diddy Trial Revelations: AM Update 5/15

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

Secretary RFK Jr. delivers a fiery defense of his sweeping HHS reforms and new dietary guidelines during House and Senate budget hearings. President Trump’s Middle East tour focuses on strengthening alliances through economic deals, defense cooperation, and diplomatic outreach. Star witness Cassie Ventura delivers harrowing testimony of abuse and manipulation by Sean “Diddy” Combs in the rapper's criminal trial. The MLB lifts its lifetime ban on Pete Rose after his death, making the legendary player eligible for the Hall of Fame.Tax Network USA: Call 1-800-958-1000 or visit https://TNUSA.com/MEGYNto speak with a strategist for FREE today Herald Group: Learn more at https://GuardYourCard.com

Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Thursday, May 15th, 2025. And this is your AM Update. Let's work together and do something that we all believe in, which is have healthy kids in our country, for God's sake. HHS Secretary RFKJ testifying at House and Senate budget hearings, delivering impassioned pleas for bipartisan cooperation in restoring American health. I just want to thank you for everything and maybe in particular our friendship. It's been a very loyal, great, beautiful friendship. President Trump deepening ties with Middle Eastern leaders in a whirlwind tour. The star witness in the Sean Diddy Combs trial takes the stand for a second day.

And the legendary Pete Rose now posthumously eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame after a little help from President Trump. All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update. Tax day may have passed, but for millions of Americans, the real trouble is just beginning. If you miss the April 15th deadline or still owe back taxes, the IRS is ramping up enforcement and every day you wait might make things worse. With over 5,000 new tax liens filed daily and tools like property seizures, bank levies, and wage garnishments, you don't want to mess around, okay? The good news is there's still time for Tax Network USA to help. Self-employed or a business owner, even if your books are a mess,

they've got it covered. Tax Network USA specializes in cleaning up financial chaos and getting you back on track fast. Even after the deadline, it's not too late to regain control. Your consultation is completely free and acting now could stop penalties, threatening letters, and surprise levies before they escalate. Call 1-800-958-1000 or visit tnusa.com slash Megan. You may have missed April 15th, but you haven't run out of options. Let Tax Network USA help before the IRS makes the next move. HHS Secretary RFKJ sitting for a House Appropriations Subcommittee budget meeting Wednesday morning,

and then in the afternoon, off to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. In the morning session, Mr. Kennedy identifying key HHS goals for fiscal year 2026, focus on ending the chronic disease epidemic, and improve the efficiency of Medicare and Medicaid services. We won't solve this problem by throwing more money at it. We must spend smarter. We will shift funding away from bureaucracy toward direct impact. We will address nutrition, physical activity, and healthy lifestyles. We will emphasize healthy eating and Head Start and ensure the program continues to serve its 750,000 children and parents effectively. We will equip the FDA

to expand its food safety efforts through research, regulations, independence, and education. We will rebuild public trust, trust that eroded through years of industry capture, corruption, waste, and misplaced priorities. Secretary Kennedy is overseeing a massive reorganization of HHS, reducing what the Trump administration says is redundant bureaucracy and consolidating the department from 28 divisions into 15. Ranking member of the committee, Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, launching a blistering attack on Secretary Kennedy. Under your budget proposal, Americans would die of needless and preventable deaths. Yourself and President Trump and Elon Musk are attacking health programs to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. By promoting quackery, we are endangering the health of the American people

with pseudoscience, fear-mongering, and misinformation. Because of these cuts, people will die. And with respect to views on vaccine, quite frankly, I believe you are promoting quackery. Under your watch, our country is now failing to contain vaccine preventable diseases. Measles, a disease eliminated in the United States just decades ago, has now claimed the lives of three Americans, including two children who died needlessly. The secretary later in the hearing going back to address Congresswoman DeLauro's comments on the measles outbreak. I want to correct you. We have about 1,100 measles cases in this country. The growth rate last year was 15 additional, so we have plateaued. Mexico has roughly the same number with a third of our population, and they got 300 extra cases last week.

You are wrong about what you said earlier. Mr. Kennedy asked by a Republican how Congress can help HHS promote healthy diets for young children, responding. We are about to reissue the dietary guidelines, and we're going to do it very quickly. We took the Biden guidelines, which are 453 pages long, and were clearly written by industry that are incomprehensible, driven by the same industry capture and those kind of carnal impulses that put fruit loops at the top of the food pyramid. And we are changing that. So we're going to have four-page dietary guidelines that tell people essentially eat whole food. Secretary Kennedy then pivoting back to address an earlier comment from ranking member DeLauro about food dyes.

Congressman DeLauro, you say that you've worked for 20 years on getting food dye out. Give me credit. I got it out in 100 days. I'll give you that credit. All right, so let's work together and do something that we all believe in, which is have healthy kids in our country, for God's sake. There's no such thing as Republican children or Democratic children. There's just kids, and we should all be concerned with them. In the afternoon Senate session, Secretary Kennedy responding to a question about the dangers of gain-of-function research, the high-risk practice of making viruses more

dangerous in the name of developing future treatments, which Secretary Kennedy believes led to the COVID pandemic. We've also proposed a methodology for regulating and for determining what is dangerous gain of function and what is legitimate scientific investigation and how to bring the public into that debate. We have some of the Democrats here who are, you know, talking about the great science from NIH, but now we have a major agency, intelligence agency, the CIA, the FBI, the DOE, and the State Department have all agreed that NIH research almost certainly led to the pandemic, the COVID pandemic. So that's not the kind of the result that we should be allowing or enabling. And we're going to end that now. Secretary Kennedy also doing battle with Democrat Senator from Connecticut,

Chris Murphy, who was newly bearded. He went on the Dr. Phil show and said that the measles vaccine was never fully tested for safety. You said there's fetal debris in the measles vaccine was never fully tested for safety. You said there's fetal debris in the measles vaccine. And this morning. All true. All true. This morning in front of the public. That's not none of that. Of course it's true. Of course it's true.

Senator, I'm begging your pardon. Do not know what you're talking about. President Trump signed an executive order in early May halting federal funding for gain-of-function research in overseas labs and authorizing U.S. agencies to pause domestic projects they deem dangerous. President Trump meeting with the new president of Syria just one more stop on a breakneck tour through the Middle East. Mr. Trump, the first U.S. president in 25 years to meet a Syrian leader. Ahmad al-Sharah taking office in December after his Islamist coalition ousted longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad from power. The international community expressing caution

at the group's rise, unsure whether Mr. Sharah, once linked to jihadist movements, may prove as authoritarian as Assad or as jihadi as he's been in the past. Though Mr. Shahra has rebranded himself as a nationalist leader, concerns remain about his militant background and the Islamist roots of his coalition. President Trump extending an olive branch to the new leader, lifting longstanding sanctions on Syria, offering the war-torn nation a chance at a

prosperous and modern future. President Trump inviting Syria to join the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations with Israel for the first time since the establishment of the Jewish state. Mr. Trump reflecting on the meeting from Air Force One. I think very good. Young, attractive guy, tough guy. You know, strong pass, very strong pass fighter. But he's got a real shot at pulling it together. I spoke with President Maribor, who I'm very friendly with, and he feels he's got a shot at doing a good job. He's got the potential today. He's a real leader.

And, you know, he led a charge, and he's got the potential today. He's a real leader. And, you know, he led a charge and he's pretty amazing. Did you see him? Did you get to see him? He was there. He was with us at the event. Later in Qatar, President Trump meeting with the emir, remarking on the opulent palace and very warm welcome. I just want to thank you for everything. And maybe in particular, our friendship. It's been a very loyal, great, beautiful friendship. And the job you've done is second to none. You look at this, it's so beautiful.

As a construction person, I'm seeing perfect marble. This is what they call perfecto. And just a great job you've done, and what a beautiful place. And we appreciate those camels. I haven't seen camels like that in a long time. And that was some greeting. We appreciate it very much. The leaders then signing a joint declaration of cooperation between the two nations.

The agreement, though non-binding, signals goodwill and good faith between the U.S. and Qatar. An early result of the cooperation agreement, a $200 billion contract for Boeing. President Trump, despite his recent criticism of Boeing in failing to deliver two new Air Force One jets on time and on budget, facilitating this deal between the U.S. company and the Qatari government for the purchase by Qatar of 160 Boeing planes, marking the largest wide-body aircraft order, that's planes with two passenger aisles, in Boeing's history. Here, a shout out to Boeing's CEO, Kelly Ortberg. Kelly's telling me from Boeing, it's the largest order of jets in the history of Boeing. That's pretty good. 140, was that a 140 or 160? It's actually 200, including the 40. So it's over $200 billion. But 160 in terms of

the jets, that's fantastic. So that's a record, Kelly. And congratulations to Boeing. Get those planes out there. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also signing a defense cooperation agreement with Qatar and an intent agreement for a Qatari purchase of MQ-9 drones. These new deals reflective of President Trump's approach to securing peace in the Middle East through economic investment and military cooperation. The visit aiming to solidify ties with Qatar, a strategically vital but historically tenuous ally that hosts one of the largest U.S. military bases in the region, yet maintains links to Hamas and the Taliban. Later today, the first direct peace talks set to Hamas and the Taliban. Later today,

the first direct peace talks set to take place in Turkey between Ukraine and Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky inviting President Trump to attend in hopes of compelling Russian President Vladimir Putin to personally attend the talks as well. On Air Force One, Mr. Trump telling reporters he may consider rearranging his packed agenda. What happens on Thursday if President Putin doesn't show up in Turkey for the talks with Ukraine? What will you do? Well, I don't know if he's showing up. I know he would like me to be there. And that's a possibility. If we could end the war, I'd be thinking about that. Now, tomorrow, we're all booked out. You understand that? We're all set. But you go. He goes.

You and he tomorrow. And so we have a very full situation now. That doesn't mean I wouldn't do it to save a lot of lives and come back. But, yeah, I think they're thinking about something. I don't know that he would be there if I'm not there. We're going to find out. Marco's going. And Marco's been very effective.

Coming up, day three of the Diddy trial, star witness Cassie taking the stand for a second day and baseball legend Pete Rose just may get his name in the Hall of Fame after all. As President Trump is settling into his new administration, one of the top Democrats in Congress aiming to undermine the Trump agenda is Democrat Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. And according to our sponsor, the Electronic Payments Coalition, Senator Durbin has a new plan, a government takeover of your credit card. Today, Americans have thousands of choices in credit cards, but they say Senator Durbin's plan will result in less competition and less security, which means more risk for your credit and your identity. You can learn more for yourself at guardyourcard.org. And you could consider telling your senators to stop Dick Durbin's government takeover of your credit card before it's too late. Star witness Cassie Ventura returning to the stand

for a second day of testimony in rapper Sean Diddy Combs' criminal trial. On Tuesday, Ms. Ventura testifying for about four and a half hours about the nature of these so-called freak-offs, graphic, extended sexual encounters she participated in at Mr. Combs' behest. The testimony continuing on Wednesday, Ms. Ventura providing more details on the infamous security camera footage of a 2016 incident at the Intercontinental Hotel, showing Mr. Combs in a towel throwing Ms. Ventura onto a hallway floor, kicking her and dragging her violently. Ms. Ventura telling prosecutors she left the hotel after a security guard responded to the incident, later texting Mr. Combs, quote, I have a black eye and

a fat lip. You are sick for thinking it's okay to do what you've done. Please stay far away from me. Ms. Ventura saying Mr. Combs showed up at her apartment later that day, quote, banging, kicking, yelling outside her door. The witness telling prosecutors that behavior was, quote, banging, kicking, yelling outside her door. The witness telling prosecutors that behavior was, quote, pretty normal for Mr. Combs. Ms. Ventura testifying she was afraid Mr. Combs might release embarrassing video footage of the freak-offs, saying the rapper threatened to release the videos when, quote, he was angry about something or just really wanted me to fear. The witness also describing a 2013 incident where Mr. Combs woke her up, yelling at Ms. Ventura for not packing

for a trip. Ms. Ventura saying two of her friends jumped on Mr. Combs' back because he was trying to attack her, quote, we ended up from the living room into the master bedroom when he threw me down. I hurt my eyebrow on the corner of my bed. The witness gesturing to a scar on her eyebrow. The witness, we should point out, took the stand eight and a half months pregnant. Her walk to the witness box, Mr. Combs tried to prevent, asking if she could be seated before the jury was brought in so as not to elicit any extra sympathy for her, the judge overruling that request. There's been evidence that Ms. Ventura at times told Combs she wanted to join the freak-offs and that she paid the sex workers

who participated in them. The defense clearly crafting a strategy to show that while extreme, Combs' sex life with Cassie was not forced upon her by the equivalent of a mob boss, Combs. As for Combs' alleged physical assaults of Ms. Ventura, they have not been charged as a separate individual crime by any prosecutor. Mr. Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges, including racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Legendary baseball player Pete Rose's lifetime ban from the MLB lifted on Tuesday by league commissioner Rob Manfred. The commissioner changing league rules

to say once a player has died, the lifetime ban ends. The decision means Mr. Rose and 16 other players are now at least eligible for induction into the MLB Hall of Fame. Mr. Rose was a 17-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion and the MLB's all-time leader in hits and in games played. The MLB banning Mr. Rose in 1989 following allegations that he bet on games as a player and manager for the Cincinnati Reds. Mr. Rose admitted to the allegations years later, but saying he only bet on his team to win. President Trump, a fan of Mr. Rose, advocating for his inclusion into the Hall of Fame at least as far back as 2016.

In February of this year, the president posting to Truth Social, quote, "'Major League Baseball didn't have the courage or decency to put the late, great Pete Rose, also known as Charlie Hustle, into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Now he is dead, will never experience the thrill of being selected, and can only be named posthumously. What a shame. Pete Rose only bet on his team winning. Baseball, which is

dying all over the place, should get off its fat, lazy ass and elect Pete Rose, even though it is far too late, into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Commissioner Manfred visiting the White House in April confirming after the meeting that Pete Rose was a subject of conversation. Former sportscaster John Condit interviewing 83-year-old Pete Rose just days before his death in September

about the lifetime ban. I've come to the conclusion, and I hope I'm wrong, that I'll make the Hall of Fame after I die, which I totally disagree with, because the Hall of Fame is for two reasons. Your fans and your family. It's for your family if you're here. It's for your fans if you're here, not if you're 10 feet under. I didn't hurt any of my fans by betting on the game of baseball. And by the way, betting on the game of baseball to win. Every game I played in, I won the win. The next Hall of Fame vote set for December 2027. We'll see if old Charlie Hustle, who earned that nickname because he never phoned in a walk to first base or a slide

into home plate, actually makes it. And that'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megan Kelly. Join me back here for the Megan Kelly show live on Sirius XM Triumph Channel 111 at MUNIST on youtube.com slash Megan Kelly and on all podcast platforms.