The Megyn Kelly Show - SCOTUS Hands Trump ICE Victory, Biden Autopen News, Assassination Attempt Trial Start: AM Update 9/9

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

The Supreme Court delivers a victory for Trump’s immigration agenda, reinstating ICE’s authority to conduct roving patrols in Los Angeles. Internal emails reveal DOJ dissent over Biden’s last-mi...nute pardons as the Oversight Committee nears a final report on the autopen. Jury selection begins in the trial of Ryan Routh, accused of attempting to assassinate President Trump at his Florida golf course. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly challenged Housing chief Bill Pulte to a fight at a private DC dinner. Get 20% Off with code MK at TakeLean.comGo to COZYEARTH.com | Use code MEGYN & save up to 40% off on Cozy Earth!

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Tuesday, September 9th, 2025, and this is your AM update. Our agents are enforcing immigration law as it is on the books. You know, these are targeted enforcement actions. Another win for the Trump administration as the Supreme Court allows ICE to restart roving patrols in Los Angeles. These pardons and executive orders, I think they're in legal jeopardy. New reports indicate dissent within the Biden, DOJ on the controversial pardon process as an oversight committee investigation into the autopen nears the final stage. Jury selection begins in the case against the man accused of attempting to assassinate then candidate Donald Trump. And you'll never guess which cabinet secretary reportedly challenged another Trump official to a fist fight. All that and more coming
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Starting point is 00:01:51 So if you want to lose meaningful weight at a healthy pace and keep it off, consider adding lean to your diet and exercise lifestyle. get 20% off when you enter mk at takelein.com. That's code mk at take lean.com. The Supreme Court on Monday delivering a win for the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in LA, clearing the way for ice raids to resume. In an unsigned order, the justice is pausing a ruling that restricted ice stops in much of Southern California as the case works through the courts.
Starting point is 00:02:27 A group of immigrants and advocacy organizations suing the government, arguing the raids violated the Fourth Amendment's ban on unreasonable searches and seizures, raising concerns about racial profiling and discriminatory targeting of the Latino community. In July, Biden appointed federal judge Mame Uwisi Mensa Frimpong, barring agents from making stops based on any combination of the following factors, apparent race or ethnicity, speaking in Spanish, or accented English, being at a location where illegal aliens are known to gather and working specific jobs like construction. In early August, the Trump administration appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declined to pause the order. Justice
Starting point is 00:03:13 Brett Kavanaugh joining the majority and also writing a separate concurring opinion, concluding quote, apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion. Under this court's case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a relevant factor when considered along with other salient factors. The justice continuing, quote, here those circumstances include that there is an extremely high number and percentage of illegal immigrants in the L.A. area, that those individuals tend to gather in certain locations to seek daily work, that those individuals often work in certain kinds of jobs, such as day labor, landscaping, agriculture, and construction, that do not require paperwork, and are therefore especially attractive to
Starting point is 00:03:54 illegal immigrants, and that many of those illegally in the Los Angeles area come from Mexico or Central America and do not speak much English. National Border Patrol Council President Paul Perez explaining Monday on Fox News how officers determine if there is enough reasonable suspicion to constitutionally stop an individual. Our agents are enforcing immigration law as it is on the books. You know, these are targeted enforcement actions. You know, we use a number of factors to determine where we're going to go and who we're going to go after. And many of these people, they run as soon as our agents and officers get there. So that as well is an articulable fact that can be used for reasonable suspicion.
Starting point is 00:04:37 And we can go after them. We can chase them down. And then our investigation begins to determine whether this person's legally or illegally in the country. And then we take them into custody based on, you know, the answers that they give. You know, Karen Bass and those other Democrats that are demonizing our agents, they need to stop because it makes it a lot more dangerous for our agents to do the job that they were trained and swore to do. Justice Kavanaugh also issuing yet another rebuke of judicial overreach, writing, quote,
Starting point is 00:05:04 federal judges may have views on which immigration policy approach is better or fairer. But judges are not appointed to make those policy calls. We merely ensure, in justiciable cases, that the executive branch acts within the confines of the Constitution and federal statutes. Three liberal justices, all dissenting, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor writing, quote, The Fourth Amendment protects every individual's constitutional right to be free from arbitrary interference by law officers. After today, that may no longer be true for those who happen to look a certain way, speak a certain way, and appear to work a certain type of legitimate job that pays very little.
Starting point is 00:05:44 Attorney General Pam Bondi posting on X, quote, another massive victory at the Supreme Court from the DOJ attorneys, this time defending ICE. Now, ICE can continue carrying out roving patrols in California without judicial micromanagement. California Governor Gavin Newsom releasing a statement, quote, Trump's hand-picked Supreme Court majority just became the grand marshal for a parade of racial terror in Los Angeles. Trump's private police force now has a green light to come after your family, and every person is now a target. The case is expected to eventually be back before the U.S. Supreme Court as the appeals process plays out. The House Oversight Committee moving into the final stages of its investigation into the Biden administration's use of the auto pen.
Starting point is 00:06:30 This is a new report reveals concern among Biden White House officials about the pardon process adopted in the final weeks of his presidency. According to internal emails obtained by Axios, quote, high-ranking officials repeatedly questioned and criticized how the president's team decided on controversial pardons and allowed the frequent use of an auto pen to sign measures late in his turn. term. Under President Biden, 4,225 people were granted clemency, Pew Research finding 95% of those actions occurring in the last three and a half months of his term. Among the controversial acts, 37 death row sentences converted to life without parole. A January 17th statement attributed to Mr. Biden, reading, quote, I am commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses who are serving disproportionately long sentences.
Starting point is 00:07:25 These acts of clemency all signed with the auto pen, a mechanical device used to replicate the president's signature. Axios reporting that multiple senior DOJ officials within the Biden administration raised concerns about the process created by the White House counsel's office. A DOJ ethics attorney at the time writing a memo calling the recipients nonviolent was untrue or at best misleading, writing quote, Unfortunately, and despite repeated requests and warnings, we were not afforded a reasonable opportunity to vet and provide input on those you were considering. The lawyer then providing a list of violent offenders who received clemency from Mr. Biden,
Starting point is 00:08:05 including a man who pleaded guilty to killing a woman and her two-year-old daughter. Congressional investigators also reviewing executive orders and other directives signed by good old Autopen, raising questions about the validity of a wide range of those actions. In July, former President Biden admitting to the New York Times that he did not sign off on each pardon, but rather on broad sets of criteria. Last week, investigative journalist John Solomon reporting on a separate Trump White House-led inquiry into the Biden administration's use of the auto pen to Grant Clemency, finding there were four meetings from December 2024 through January 2025 in which President Biden
Starting point is 00:08:45 was said to have given, quote, verbal approval to proceed. However, Solomon reports the National Archives, responsible for maintaining documents from administration's past, possessed no staff notes that could confirm President Biden attended any of those meetings. Congressman James Comer reacting to that reporting late last week on Fox. One thing that is consistent with all the memos and with all the emails that we're receiving from the National Archives, as well as the testimony from the Biden inner circle, is the fact that no one in the White House saw Joe Biden very often, especially during the last six months of his presidency.
Starting point is 00:09:23 One of the things that Andrew Bates said that is consistent with everyone else is even though he was one of Joe Biden's top deputy, he would only see Joe Biden once a month. And that included seeing him in the hall or seeing him from a distance. As far as up close face-to-face interaction, it was very seldom, maybe even, you know, a couple of times a year. That's consistent with what Ian Sams told us in our last transcribed interview. He said that he only saw Joe Biden two times in two years.
Starting point is 00:09:54 These people in the Biden White House covered for Joe Biden's cognitive decline. I think that these pardons in executive orders, especially in the last few months of the Biden presidency, I think they're in legal jeopardy. The Oversight Committee set to interview former White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre and former White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zinze in the coming weeks. Chairman Comer, previously indicating the investigation could result in criminal referrals to the DOJ. Coming up, day one of jury selection in the trial of the man accused of attempting to assassinate President Trump, and it's already a spectacle. And seemingly mild-mannered Treasury Secretary Scott Besson, reportedly challenging another Trump official to a fight. The details next.
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Starting point is 00:11:47 And if you get a post-purchasease survey, be sure to let them know you heard about cozy earth right here. Elevate your downtime with cozy earth. Jury selection underway in the federal trial of Ryan Ruth, the suspect accused of attempting to assassinate then-candidate Trump last September at Mr. Trump's West Palm Beach golf course. The defendant, though, not a lawyer. to represent himself. He faces five total charges, including the attempted assassination of a
Starting point is 00:12:18 presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammo, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Federal Judge Alien Cannon agreeing to allow Ruth to represent himself, though ruling his public defenders must serve as standby counsel. The trial is taking place in the Southern District of Florida. That's the same court where Judge Cannon oversaw other Trump-related cases. If the pretrial phase is any indication, Judge Cannon may have her work cut out for her in her courtroom. At the final pretrial hearing, Ruth filing a motion laced with inflammatory language, at one point requesting, quote, a round of golf with the racist pig, apparently a reference to President Trump,
Starting point is 00:13:01 he wins, he can execute me. I win, I get his job. Sorry, Hillbilly Vance. Oh boy. If convicted Ruth faces up to life in prison. He has pleaded not guilty. Former assistant U.S. Attorney Andy McCarthy Monday on Fox News, warning Ruth could attempt to turn the trial into a spectacle. It'll be an attempt to sow chaos. I'll have to say attempt because I would assume that if Ralph was not capable of, you know, forming coherent thoughts, he wouldn't be on trial. And you have a constitutional right to represent yourself, but it doesn't change the rules of the trial. So, he will try to make it chaotic, make it incoherent, make it very hard to proceed. The judge will have to try to keep that reined in while allowing him to represent himself,
Starting point is 00:13:51 and the Justice Department prosecutor is going to have to be very professional and just play it by the book. She can sanction him if he operates outside the rules. He's capable of representing himself. The lawyers are there to be consulted with and to do things like if he decides to testify in his own behalf, they can put the questions to him as he directs, but their role in the case is really consultation. It's not to actually defend him as lawyers. Ruth arriving to court yesterday morning wearing a gray suit with a red-striped tie. His ankles coughed, preparing to interview prospective jurors. Can you imagine?
Starting point is 00:14:27 NPR reporting Judge Cannon rejecting some of Ruth's proposed questions, including some about jurors' attitudes toward Palestine, and a proposal that the U.S. purchase green. England, noting the, quote, politically charged nature of those inquiries. Prosecutors say Mr. Ruth set up a sniper hideout near Trump International Golf Club on the morning of September 15th, where then candidate Trump was set to play golf later that day. In the early afternoon, secret service agents spotting the barrel of a rifle poking out of the bushes along the course. Agents opening fire. The suspect escaping, though, through the trees. Approximately 40 minutes later, authorities apprehending Mr. Ruth on the interstate.
Starting point is 00:15:08 Police were covering handwritten notes with dates of venues where Mr. Trump had appeared or was scheduled to. Two cell phones and a handwritten letter titled, Dear World, stating, quote, this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I am so sorry I failed you. Opening statements are scheduled for Thursday. The trial expected to last two weeks. Two top Trump officials reportedly clashing at a private dinner party in Washington last week, a confrontation that, according to, according to Politico, nearly turned physical. About 30 guests gathering in the ultra-exclusive new executive branch members-only club, co-founded by Donald Trump Jr. in Georgetown for its inaugural dinner. The guest list, a who's-who of MAGA world officials and tech insiders, from cabinet secretaries to agency heads. According to one eyewitness and four others familiar
Starting point is 00:16:02 with the events, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent lashing out at the nation's top housing chief, Bill Pulte, accusing him of bad-mouthing Bessent to President Trump. The exact nature of the allegation is unclear. Political reporting, Secretary Besson, confronting Pulte, saying, quote, why the F, are you talking to the president about me? F you! I'm going to punch you in your effing face. There was dramatic, a dramatic reenactment for you there. I don't know the tone. When club co-owner, Omead Malik, stepped in to quiet the outburst, Secretary Besson allegedly saying, quote, it's either me or him. You tell me who's getting the F out of here. Or we could go outside. I really think my acting lessons when I did the blonde origin are coming back to help me. Palti, who the
Starting point is 00:16:49 eyewitness described as looking stunned, replying to Bessent, quote, to do what? To talk? Going outside to chit-chat? No, said Secretary Besson, quote, I'm going to beat your effing ass. This is a colorful character. This might come as a surprise to anyone used to watching the soft-spoken secretary defending President Trump's economic policies on the Sunday shows or watched him skillfully answering questions at his confirmation hearing. But it's not the first time Mr. Bessent made headlines for a heated confrontation with another top Trump official. In April, reports surfacing of a shouting match between the secretary and then special government employee Elon Musk. A witness telling Axios, quote, it was two middle-aged men thinking it was W.W.E in the Hall of the West Wing.
Starting point is 00:17:39 Elon Musk posting the political report about this latest alleged confrontation between Bessent and Pulte to his ex-account with the caption, quote, hmm. Hmm, indeed, Elon. Secretary Bessent, Mr. Pulte, Mr. Malik, and the White House officially declining to comment. And that'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megan Kelly. Join me back here for the Megan. Kelly Show live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at noon east on YouTube.com slash Megan Kelly and on all podcast platforms.

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