Renee Carlson (4:30)

Great to see you, Megan.

Emily Jashinsky (4:32)

I know it's bizarre, but I am gonna start with the Britney news only because it just broke and let's face it, we need a break from Iran. That's just such a downer.

Renee Carlson (4:42)

Are you saying these stories are not related? You're on the record. The Britney arrest.

Emily Jashinsky (4:47)

I mean, time will tell. Maybe she was really upset with what she saw in Iran, so she hit the bottle.

Renee Carlson (4:55)

She was listening to you and Glenn yesterday and she was like, I can't take it anymore.

Emily Jashinsky (4:59)

Yeah, I mean, I got that feedback from a lot of our listeners. They also hit the bottle. After listening to this whole thing, I have to say, like, I think the nation really cares about her. I really do. I think she's more than Just a singer, pop icon. She's got 42 million followers on Instagram. And because we watched her grow up, so we all feel like we know her. I think a lot of us feel invested in like her wellness care because we saw the conservatorship that her dad had control of for so long and she didn't have her freedom and she was micromanaged by, you know, Hollywood management companies and her dad and like doesn't seem to have gotten the benefit of all of her hard work. Her wealth seemed to have evaporated into the hands of other people. And she started when she was 15 or 16. So we watched that girl with Oops, I did it again turn into this and I say this lovingly hot mess who now we see on Instagram with these bizarre dancing videos. We're gonna show you one. I've been noticing it myself lately. It pops up in your feed and you can see kind of the deterioration with her. Like sometimes she just does dancing where you're like, okay, she's dancing and sometimes you're like, oh wow, no, something's going wrong there. Deb, do we have one that we're gonna show? Let's watch it. She's like basically in her underwear or a bikini. She's got the very heavy eyeliner on. She almost looked like she was doing like a, maybe a, a gun motion underneath the chin. I'm not sure. It's like the finger to the bottom of the chin move. And this is what she does all the time, Emily. She just posts inappropriate videos of herself with weird dancing. It's not even like great Britney Spears dancing that she's capable of. It's like weird herky jerky movements from somebody who looks drug addled to me. She definitely looks like she's on drugs and nobody steps in. You know, like we went from the conservatorship which was too much to like apparently no help at all, which is evident. And now that this news breaks that she's been arrested for DUI in California, her manager, I guess it is Kate Hudson, releases the following statement. This was an unfortunate incident that is completely inexcusable. This is a statement obtained by the New York Post's Page Six. Britney is going to take the right steps and comply with the law. And hopefully this can be the first step in long overdue change the needs to occur in Britney's life. Hopefully she can get the help and support she needs during this difficult time. Unusually good statement for a talent manager. So what do you make of her arrest now for DWI or dui, which is slightly less severe than dwi?

Renee Carlson (7:45)

Well, I was going to say exactly the same thing about that statement. It sort of presents this glass half full perspective on what just happened because as you were pointing out, the conservatorship was, you know, to hear Britney Spears put it at this very moving hearing when the conservatorship was on the table, she spoke in court about how because of the conservatorship, she had been drugged against her will for many, many years. And so when I'm reading between the lines of that statement, I'm thinking, did she, you know, with all of the drugs that she had been given, including lithium, while she was under the conservatorship for many, many years, go from having this cocktail that was given to her under that legal control to not getting at all the right off ramp medically, the right off ramp from many years spent on all of those different drugs. Because I agree with you, Megan, she's clearly on something in all of these videos that are posted regularly on her account. They're so uncomfortable. They're so sad. Everybody knows that something's wrong. People genuinely just want this woman to be happy. She is a mother. We all watched her become a mother. We've watched her as a daughter. We've watched her as a sister. Her sister is also. Her little sister is also very famous. So it's just, I mean, to me, I agree there's, there's clearly in the videos a substance abuse problem that is then being confirmed by the fact that she just got dui. So I hope that that's what the problem. I hope that her, her manager here, whoever gave the statement is correct that maybe this is the right step to her getting the medication sorted out.

Emily Jashinsky (9:15)

She. That this via tmz just now, they, they write Britney Spears was crying while being booked in jail for alleged driving under the influence. Sources tell TMZ that Britney was very emotional while being processed at the Ventura County Sheriff's Office Wednesday night. We're told she did not act out of the ordinary, aside from crying a lot. She's 44. She was arrested in Ventura County, California. She was handcuffed by the California highway patrol around 9:30pm last night, and she was booked by the Sheriff's department around 3:00am Released from jail this morning at 6:00am I can't believe she's 44. That's like, that's so shocking, right? Like she. She's kind of almost forever 16 in my mind. And she's been through a lot, a lot I mean, the number one thing she's been through is she became a megastar in her teens, which is the absolute last thing you should want for your child. Absolute last. It never ends well. You know, look at Justin Bieber right now. It's like massive fame. Massive fame at any age is warping, is I think mentally damaging to somebody. It's why so many mega, megastars turn out very weird like Michael Jackson. But massive fame at the tender age of a teenager, like a Bieber or a Spears is almost guaranteed to seriously eff you up. And so like we saw her with the meltdowns with the bald head and the umbrella. Then she married Kevin Federline and that, that was a disaster. The romance with Justin Timberlake. And then it came out that he strong armed her into getting an abortion that she didn't want, which causes lifelong damage for a woman. I mean, that's. You just don't overcome that. You don't want an abortion. You get one anyway. Even if you want an abortion, you get one. It can cause lifelong damage as you get older and you realize what you've done, you've killed your own child. And then just the height of the fame, the control of the managers, the father and so on. Here's Kevin Federline. Just this past October he wrote a tell all book and he went on with Piers Morgan. Listen here.

Megyn Kelly (11:30)

I understand that this hurts and the truth hurts and all of that. And that is not what I want.

Emily Jashinsky (11:35)

I'm not trying to hurt anybody. I'm trying to put a perspective on it and show people that help is

Megyn Kelly (11:43)

needed now because time is running out.

Emily Jashinsky (11:48)

And when you say time is running

Megyn Kelly (11:50)

out, what do you mean? I. It's exactly what it sounds like.

Emily Jashinsky (11:56)

I don't, you know, I don't want

Megyn Kelly (11:58)

my kids waking up, having to deal with the unimaginable. Their mother might die.

Emily Jashinsky (12:08)

Yes. Yeah. He's the father of her two sons. I think we all have that fear, right? I mean, you can't look at her in those videos and not have that fear.

Renee Carlson (12:20)

And you mentioned Michael Jackson. I think that's a fear people had with Michael Jackson and other celebrities too, who unfortunately their lives ended too soon. Where you see this playing out in real time, it's obvious. So no surprise that he said that. Your point about the mega fame is so important. I mean, she's somebody who was in the. Literally in the Mickey Mouse club. And that's my. This is like smack my generation. I remember buying Oops I did it Again when I was pretty young and she was put forward in the press as this all American girl. She ended up really having the worst of both worlds of this like last gasp of celebrity monoculture where there were true mega, mega, mega celebrities. Now there are still very famous people for Gen Z. You know, like Billie Eilish. Just about everybody knows who Billie Eilish is, but there's so much more siloed culture that she was really like one of the last big, big monoculture celebrities who was this multi, multi million dollar business, dare I say like multi billion dollar business that was around her, the tabloid culture. Like you mentioned the age of Perez Hilton blogging where he was, you know, scribbling on the pictures. So she's right at that period. And now she's in this period of she ostensibly has control over her accounts which is not something that ever happened in the 90s or the early aughts. You everything was funneled through a team and it is for many celebrities still, but clearly not on her Instagram. So she's splitting these two eras in a way that I think is heart wrenching because she was sold as this all American girl who was living the dream from Louisiana. So talented gets plucked out of small town Louisiana, just a normal typical American family thrust into mega stardom, very sexualized and now we're seeing it all up close.

Emily Jashinsky (14:12)

That's a very good point. I mean we didn't really even talk about that. That she didn't just rise to fame like a Bieber, where that would have been damaging enough. But young women like Britney, I mean she was a girl, she was 15 or 16, very hypersexualized. I mean, look at the video for that. Oops, I did it again.

Renee Carlson (14:32)

The baby. One more timeline.

Emily Jashinsky (14:33)

All midriff.

Renee Carlson (14:34)

Yeah. Where she's in the, the school. Yeah, yeah.

Emily Jashinsky (14:37)

Yes, yes. Fulfilling like the weird fantasies of God knows how many men staring at this actual like 15 or 16 year old girl. And let's face it, her parents were fine with it. I know, I realize Brittany was probably fine with it too, but she's the minor. That's why you have parents. Kids make dumbass decisions all the time. You know, I was thinking about it this winter as we heard these terrible decisions about kids dying because during the terrible snowstorms they tied their sleds up to like a friend's Jeep or a friend's ATV and died. And teenagers do dumb things all the time. They don't have a good feel for what's existential. That's why they have parents, you know, who are supposed to step in and watch out for them. And I'm sorry, but Britney Spears's parents, the mother seemed to be enjoying the daughter's fame and fortune and the father times a thousand, he was like, he couldn't keep his hands off of her fortune or her life except to actually parent her. Except to actually make sure she didn't have that gaping hole inside of her that made her think wealth and celebrity was going to make her feel whole. Right. That was something he seemed to have missed all the way up to when she had the performance, the residency in Las Vegas. And he seemed to be putting her out there every night, addled and unwell, but like sticking the, you know, adrenaline in the horse at the race track. Like get out there and fucking run while the checks were cashing. And now, now you see her alone. That's one thing you noticed in all these videos, Emily. She's always alone. She looks like no one's tended to her. You know, she kind of looks like a ragamuffin, as my mom would call me on the days I didn't brush my hair. And it's sad, you know, you, you want somebody to step in. I almost feel like the DUI could be good because as the manager put it, like maybe, maybe now with the public humiliation that she's clearly gonna suffer cuz she knows, I mean this was, this is the lead on cnn. It was the lead on our show today. You know, if I got a dui, it would make the news cuz I'm a public figure. But it wouldn't be the lead on a bunch of news channels. I mean that's unique to Brittany. And it might, it's a bad thing for her short term, but it might be a good thing for her long term.

Renee Carlson (16:53)

You know what's interesting, I just thought of this. Justin Timberlake is fighting SAG harbor right now. So to prevent releases from his own DUI from coming couple of years ago. That's almost like a tragic.

Emily Jashinsky (17:06)

And he's another child star.

Renee Carlson (17:07)

Yes. And again, I think Gen Z doesn't understand exactly how that couple affected popular culture. How like massive, massive. The fact that those two were a couple was for both of their like hashtag brands, which wasn't really a thing at the time, but that was so, so significant. And the sexualization of Britney Spears was happening really in tandem with that. They were both in the Mickey Mouse Club and they as they grew up. It reminds me so much of what you've covered with the information we've learned behind the scenes of Nickelodeon about Amanda bynes and Drake Bell. The things that were happening behind the scenes in the 90s and early aughts was just utterly disgusting. It was abusive. We should say that it's abusive. With Britney Spears, we can see it happening within the last decade. Your point about her dad, who is basically treating her as, this is a strong word, a slave, making her, drugging her, making her go perform and then taking the money for himself. And this is all within like the last decade. So it would be in retrospect crazy for us to expect Britney Spears to get out of that conservatorship and just be fine. I haven't seen this woman Lucid in probably 20 years. Seriously. And when she was lucid, you see how sweet she was. The fact that she was crying at the police station just cut so deep because she. She's always.

Emily Jashinsky (18:22)

I know. It makes me want to swoop in there and help her personally. Like I. I think she should come live with my family and me for like six months. I feel like we could really help her.

Renee Carlson (18:31)

I love that.

Emily Jashinsky (18:31)

I feel like I. She needs like strong positive influences in her life and something other than drugs to fill her up. And stupid provocative Instagram videos and clicks or likes to fill her up. The. You mentioned the Nickelodeon thing. So, yes, that. What, that. What Nickelodeon has done to a generation of child stars is absolutely disgusting and filthy. And we've covered it a lot on the show, as you point out. But her sister Jamie Lynn is one of the stars who went over there only to be mistreated, in my view, by the guy who was running it, who wound up never admitting to any molestation or never being explicitly accused of molestation. But definitely mistreating, you know, cast member after cast member, subjecting them to inappropriate behaviors on the set, including Demi. Not Demi Lovato. Ariana Grande. Yeah, Ariana Grande with the biggest star in the country, really right now, who was on his set and he had her like squeezing, I don't know, some sort of a fruit all over herself while she was upside down, all over, like her, you know, top. I mean, he was absolutely filthy in the choices he made for these kids. These parents kept turning their kids over to him thinking, oh, he's gonna be a star, gonna be star. And one of those parents was Britney Spears mom, who put Jamie Lynn over on the set. And this is from, actually the documentary from which we got a lot of this information called Quiet on the Set, the Dark side of Kids tv. Here, let's watch it. There are these goo pops and my character can't get it open, it's not coming out. And it ends up squirting onto Jamie's face. So the prop, a person comes onto set with a syringe. We all like stood behind the camera

Renee Carlson (20:27)

to watch

Emily Jashinsky (20:30)

it lands on her face. So first it was Dan roaring, laughing, and then everyone kind of giggling. We heard the boys saying, it's a shot. And I had no idea what that meant once I saw it again as an adult was when that memory came back. So I was like, oh, oh, oh, oh. Wasn't funny. It still isn't funny to me, to be honest. It's just like, that's a kid. That was Alexa Nicholas, the star of Zoey 101. She was on our show and there she is from the documentary talking about what was done to Britney's little sister, Jamie Lynn with the so called, you know, you know what shot on her face. The listening audience. When you see Jamie Lynn in this clip, she looks like 13 maybe. I mean, she looks extremely young. And she's describing what this guy Dan Schneider had done to her who ran Nickelodeon. I mean, he was the big show creator for all the big stars, including Jamie Lynn Spears, including Amanda Bynes, including Ariana Grande. And this is what. I'm sorry, like, I'm sorry to be so harsh on this. Peter's parents, but they deserve it. Like, that's. This is what happens when you shove your kids into an overly sexualized environment too soon, too young, with too little supervision and love.

Renee Carlson (22:06)

And it's money all around. I mean, I think what we have seen with them is they were clearly blinded by the wealth and the fame and it's money from Nickelodeon's perspective. And it's so disgusting the fact that you would be getting money from that. But that stuff doesn't go out on air unless the person at the top, like a Dan Schneider thinks it's, it's good. And that's insane. I mean, the fact that that could have ever aired on children's television, you look at it and you just think, even, even back then we weren't that different as Americans back then. Parents must have been watching that and thinking to themselves, what the hell is this? Yes, I watch those shows.

Emily Jashinsky (22:45)

That's.

Renee Carlson (22:45)

This is my demographic. I don't remember this stuff. But for parents, you'd be like, yeah,

Emily Jashinsky (22:49)

who, who would use a tween for this so called, you know what shot? Who would do that? And by the way, my team just sent me a note. Jamie Lynn Spears did indeed start at Nickelodeon when she was 13 years old. So that she may have been 13 in that clip. I wasn't far off.

Renee Carlson (23:06)

Didn't she get pregnant when she was 16 or 17? She was a teen mother.

Emily Jashinsky (23:12)

Yes, there she was 16. And here's this. Look at this. My team pulled this from Brittany's book. Speaking of her parents, she started drinking with her mom. This is Brittany now, not Jamie Lynn. Brittany started drinking with her mom at age 14. Age 14 with her mother. Spears writes that starting in the eighth grade, she would take trips with her mother, Lynn Spears, to Biloxi, Mississippi, to drink daiquiris. Quote, I loved that I was able to drink with my mom every now and then, she writes, who adds that she and her mother were happy drinkers while her father, quote, grew more depressed and shut down when he drank. The two would take Brittany's younger sister, Jamie Lynn, to the beach and drink White Russians, which Brittany writes she thought tasted like ice cream. This is sick. This is abusive behavior by the mother. Quote, no matter how much I dieted and exercised, my father was always telling me I was fat. Punishing gym routines left her feeling out of my mind, she wrote her diet was monitored along with every other detail of her life while she went through the motions of her Las Vegas residency. Now, this is recent history, the Las Vegas residency. Quote, my body was strong enough to carry two children and agile enough to execute every choreographed move perfectly on stage. And now here I was having every calorie recorded so people could continue to get rich off of my body. That's. That's how you wind up like that, Emily. Notwithstanding worldwide fame and adoration and money so voluminous you don't quite know what to do with it.

Renee Carlson (24:46)

Yeah, your own father isn't tracking your calories like that unless he's trying to make money off of you. That's. It's so, so disgusting. It does recall the stories of the Jackson father, Michael Jackson's father. And we see it time and again. I mean, I'm sure there are people who get into show business and they're aw of these stories of, like, what happened with Britney Spears and Michael Jackson before they go down this road. By the way, it goes back to Judy Garland. It's not just purely modern, but people are aware of it and they think they can withstand it. It's not going to happen to them. But the pressures of fame and money are difficult for the strongest people. And so to be able to withstand those pressures is borderline impossible, I would argue, without faith. But Britney Spears, people may remember, was also actively marketed as somebody who was a person of faith. And that was clearly done by her team and her parents. And I don't know that how serious they ever were about that. Clearly, because they got sucked so easily into this world for both of their children. While they were watching it happen with their older daughter. They then put their younger daughter into it, obviously because they were so blinded by money.

Emily Jashinsky (25:55)

Yeah, they wanted the dough and, and not just like, you know, Mickey Mouse Club. Okay, so it started off G rated enough, but it was very soon thereafter R rated. And both parents seem fine. What mother is having White Russians with her 14 year old daughter and the younger sister? She says, I don't know what age they were then. And then comes the abortion incident with Justin Timberlake that she wrote as follows. Abortion was something I never could have imagined choosing for myself, but given the circumstances, that is what we did. The two decided to handle the abortion at home. In the bathroom, Spears took little pills to end the pregnancy. The pain, she writes, was unbelievable, saying it was one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced. Spears recalls that while she was lying on the floor in the bathroom, Timberlake came to join her and thinking music would help, started strumming his guitar while she cried. I mean, this is just. If something massive doesn't happen, she's going to be dead. She's not going to make it to age 50. I think we can all see that. That seems clearly to be what Kevin Federline was trying to say, and he has a stake in it because his kids are her children. That's their mom. She had her kids young, but no kid, a young kid or a kid in their 20s or 30s doesn't want to see their mom die thanks to drug or alcohol use. And everyone can see this is the road she's on.

Renee Carlson (27:24)

And you know, every time we get another one of these particularly wacky videos or more news about Britney's struggles, it's another round of gotchas about the conservatorship, saying, everybody told you the getting rid of this conservatorship was wrong. She was clearly crazy. And it's like the conservatorship was probably the precipitating factor for a lot of this, that she was being drugged against her will, treated like a slave to get money for her dad via Vegas residencies. So I don't really want to hear that this time around either, because that clearly was not a good option for Britney Spears either. Obviously she needs treatment. Obviously she's not getting it, and obviously nobody around her is doing the right thing. I mean, Maybe Kevin Federline is. But obviously she needs some type of jarring moment. Thank God she survived this one, and it might be what helps her get treated.

Emily Jashinsky (28:14)

And thank God she didn't kill anybody else while getting behind the wheel intoxicated. I mean, it's really such a crazy thing to do. Justin Timberlake, too. I mean, that picture of him having been arrested at that in the Hamptons a couple summers ago. They have all the money in the world. I mean, you or I would call an Uber at a minimum, you know, in their position, you call the driver, you know, of a black car that you get, right? Like, that's the next level up from an Uber. They can easily afford that. They can have that person drive them around all night. They can drink to their heart's content. Like, to not do that and then get behind the car. Like, look, it's not the 80s anymore. You know, in the 80s, I haven't grown up then I can say people did drink and drive. It was done far more frequently because there was no Uber. And it was, I mean, sadly more acceptable until MADGE really came out with its organization, really stigmatizing it and getting the word out today that the kids, they don't drink and drive. They all call Ubers. Like, they. They understand the dangers of this. She's from a different era, and so is Justin Timberlake. And just the irresponsibility of putting everybody else's life in danger after you've had drinks and you know you're not capable of driving is shocking. It's shocking, and it's just how grossly irresponsible it is. So, in any event, I pray for her. I don't think this is her fault. Like, I. Obviously getting behind the wheel is her fault, but, like, the net. Net condition of Britney's life was created by people who were supposed to love her. And I really hope someone. Maybe it's Federline, maybe it's her sons who are now 19 and 20. They currently live in Hawaii with their dad. Kevin can step in and help her in any event. I did not expect to spend half an hour on that, but it's like more of a cultural commentary. Emily, you know, it's more than just about Britney. We care about her, but, like, I just don't want her to be another Matthew Perry. I'm so sick of coming on the air and talking about stars we love who are dead thanks to drugs, and you can just clearly see she's on that train.

Renee Carlson (30:09)

And it's always for treating fame. It's Always for treating fame. And they're always taking the drugs to as sedatives, typically downers that just help you get through. And it's the exact paradoxical effect people think fame comes with, which is, you know, you never have any problems again. Well, it ends up creating a huge baggage on people's everyday lives. So it's, it's.

Emily Jashinsky (30:32)

So it just causes more.

Renee Carlson (30:34)

Yeah.

Emily Jashinsky (30:37)

Okay, let's keep going. Because while we're on the subject of women having a difficult time, I guess we'll do Kristi Noem next. So Kristi Noem goes on perfect before the Senate committee and they're overseeing her role as DHS secretary. And obviously she was gonna have a hard time given everything that happened in Minneapolis. These Democrats are wanting to emerge with her jugular. But what's been surprising is so do a few Republicans. And it shows you that she's not well loved and perhaps not secure in her position right now that you had more than one Republican coming for her. But the clip that made headlines everywhere was not a Republican. It was a Democrat who, I have to say, this was so uncomfortable. Who asked her about the rumors that she's. I mean, listen, it's been printed up in the Daily Mail. We've discussed it on this show. It is an open secret in Washington that she's, despite the fact, married. She denies it for the record, but it is an open secret that she is having a long term affair with Corey Lewandowski.

Renee Carlson (31:43)

Also married. He's also married.

Emily Jashinsky (31:46)

Oh, I didn't know that. Okay, he's also married. But to bring it up at the DHS oversight, and the way the woman did it was to say, you're sleeping with a subordinate and we have a right to ask. Which was almost too clever, but I felt so uncomfortable. I want to get your take on it. Here was the moment. Sat 24. So, Secretary Noem, at any time during

Renee Carlson (32:10)

your tenure as director of Department of Homeland Security, have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski?

Emily Jashinsky (32:19)

Mr. Chairman, I am shocked that we're going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee today. Reclaiming. Ma', am, one thing that I would tell you is that he is a special government employee who works for the White House. There are thousands of them in the federal government.

Renee Carlson (32:34)

So you should be able to answer the question.

Emily Jashinsky (32:35)

What we do at the Department of Homeland Security every single, without any hesitation, every single day, is to protect the school.

Renee Carlson (32:41)

If someone is asking you or any federal official is sleeping with their subordinate,

Emily Jashinsky (32:46)

that should be the easiest.

Renee Carlson (32:47)

You should be wanting to Answer that

Emily Jashinsky (32:49)

question is garbage because it is not about your sexual that you have brought.

Renee Carlson (32:53)

It is about your judgment.

Emily Jashinsky (32:54)

That kind of garbage is about reclaiming my time so that I can hear my sound belongs. I'm sure she would have done this had Kristi Noem been a Democrat too. For sure she would have been super worried about office protocol and not having the female boss sleep with any subordinates. By the way, Corey Lewandowski, I mean, to refer to him as a subordinate is like such a joke. He's probably the reason she got the role right. Like he is an operative. He is a player within the Trump administration. He's extremely well connected. And there is. It's absurd to refer to him as like this powerless, the male equivalent of an ingenue. This doe eyed little deer who's been Monica Lewinsky.

Renee Carlson (33:40)

Yeah, right.

Emily Jashinsky (33:42)

I mean, it's ridiculous. I don't know what's going on in their marriages and I kind of feel like it's none of my business, but. But okay, I guess arguably it is, given that they both work for the government in any event. What did you make of this? The woman's name who did this is Sydney Kamiyager Dove. She's a Democrat from California, where last I checked, they're pretty relaxed about shit like that. Emily. But if you are a Republican, not relax.

Renee Carlson (34:09)

Well, I mean, who was just in the news the last week? The Clintons, when our Democrats are saying none of our business. None of our business. So, no, nobody has the moral high ground here. I will say I think it's a fair question because Lewandowski status as a special government employee means he's getting paid by the government. He's known Trump longer than Noem has. He knows Trump better than Noem does. So it's ridiculous to put him as Corey Lewin Dwinsky in this situation. But it's also just like, I can't believe that I just got it. That's very funny. Her husband's sitting behind her. Her husband was sitting behind her. And the hearing is horrible. Horrible. And they need to have a better answer than just punting on it. Clearly everyone is aware of what's happening. The husband's aware of it. Lewandowski and Gnome are like, he's been seen coming in and out of her residences. So.

Emily Jashinsky (34:58)

Oh, they take business trips together where she sits on his lap. I mean, this like, literally every Republican in Washington will tell you about this. Like, when they talk to me about it, they don't say like, keep it on the down low. They're like, it's amazing how brazen they are.

Renee Carlson (35:10)

Yeah. They do it in front of. They'll be, like, holding hands and stuff. Like, everybody's seen it. So they just need to have an answer. They need to figure it out because he is a special gu Government employee that is working for the administration that. She's a. She's a cabinet official. So I do think it's. It's fair game, even if the Dem in the situation doesn't exactly have the moral high ground.

Emily Jashinsky (35:28)

I know. I like, I look forward to her cross examinations of the. You know, of Gavin Newsom. Let's say he becomes president. I'd love to know what happens in that marriage. Not to mention the previous one, which he's admitted he cheated on Kimberly Guilfoyle.

Renee Carlson (35:42)

Okay.

Emily Jashinsky (35:44)

John Kennedy, who we love. He's hilarious. He's like one of the most entertaining, funny senators we have from Louisiana. He's a Republican. He got up in her grill. We played this the other day, but now something's happened as a result of it involving trump. Let's play sat 25.

Megyn Kelly (35:59)

You have spent $220 million running television advertisements that feature you prominently.

Emily Jashinsky (36:12)

Sir. The president tasked me with getting the message out to the country and to other countries where we were seeing the invasion come from. With. With putting commercials out that told them that if they were in this country illegally, that they needed to leave or we would detain them and remove them and they'd not get the chance to come back to America the right way. That has been extremely effective.

Renee Carlson (36:34)

Ask you to run these advertisements. Is that right?

Emily Jashinsky (36:38)

We had that conversation.

Megyn Kelly (36:39)

The president approved ahead of time. You spending $220 million running TV ads

Renee Carlson (36:47)

across the country in which you are featured prominently.

Emily Jashinsky (36:50)

Sir. We went through the legal processes. Did it? Correct? Yes, he did.

Renee Carlson (36:56)

Yes.

Emily Jashinsky (36:58)

That's the part that's come back to haunt her. I vouched for her the other day on part of this. I was told less than a year ago by someone close to the secretary that one of the reasons she was going out herself to, like, see cot and on some of these ICE raids was because Trump wanted her to. And he did want to do advertisements showing this kind of thing because he thought it would be a deterrent to people who want to come here illegally and that it would also be an incentive to existing illegals in the country to get the hell out before we find you or you could wind up at seacot. Now, that's as much as I could vouch for. And I did say I didn't know whether he knew like about the cost of the advertising or anything like that, and apparently he didn't because the reports are. According to Punchbowl News, Trump has quietly asked Hill Republicans if he should fire Kristi Noem, the latest sign of her tenuous standing rights. Punchbowl inside the West Wing, according to multiple Republicans who have spoken with the president. Republicans told Punchbowl News they are divided on whether removing Noem now would be a good thing considering the ongoing DHS shutdown. There's a shutdown right now because the Democrats aren't funding it. And citing caution over a potentially difficult Senate confirmation fight likely for any successor. Man, that's true. Can you imagine how that would go? We wouldn't have a DHS chief if she got forced out. They would not confirm anybody who didn't sound like an open borders lover. So it's kind of Kristi Nome or bust. And maybe Trump's mad enough that he's going to go with bust, but he is angry because the reports are that he did not approve a $220 million expenditure allegedly that she gave to somebody she's connected to, which she denied. She, she seemed to be suggesting it was bit out. Your thoughts?

Renee Carlson (38:58)

Well, yeah, it's significant that we saw Senate Republicans grilling Kristi Noem on this because it means it telegraphs that exactly what Punchbowl reported. It's been the sort of spidey sense. Everybody's picking up on the White House being unhappy with her. And one of the things that I've heard, interestingly enough, from people in this world is that the Gnome Holman division actually is really very real, that Hallman wanted to focus on worst first. Noem wanted to do worst. Yes. But also people who just don't belong in the country that you're picking up throughout these processes. And that's. That is seen as a significant reason to keep Kristi Noem in the position. But clearly Trump is unhappy with the reason she's in the position, her public relations ability. And that's where the. I'm sorry. National Review just reported today. He's considering Mark Wayne Mullen, reportedly as a potential replacement for Nome, someone who could maybe get Senate confirmed because he's from the Senate. But I agree with you, Megan. I don't think there's a shot in hell. Anyone else gets Senate confirmed for that position, you end up with an interim, which is what Trump had for. I believe he had that for part of his first term. It's not ideal, especially when this is one of your priorities. And it looks like you're taking an L on one of your priorities, too. During a midterm cycle, it looks like you gave Dems a scalp, basically.

Emily Jashinsky (40:15)

That's right. It's too close to the whole Minneapolis problem to get rid of her. I mean, I guess he'd get confirmed because Republicans control the Senate right now, and so you really only need the 51 votes. But the Susan Collins Republicans, I mean,

Renee Carlson (40:29)

that's a tough vote for Susan.

Emily Jashinsky (40:30)

I know. Yeah, it's true, Murkowski. You've got some. Some weaker choices in there. Here's what Kennedy said after all this broke. He said, after the hearing, the President of the United States called me, and I'm not going to speak for him. You folks know him. You can ask him yourselves. But put it this way, his recollection and her recollection are different. Then he goes on to say, I don't have any inside information, gentlemen. Well, actually, I do. But if you're asking me my opinion of Mark Wayne Mullen, he's very able and capable guy. I mean, I'm not going to say anything bad about him. He'll whip my ass. So he's clearly making, you know, making it known that the President disputed what she said and is unhappy. And I can see why. I mean, because if Trump didn't authorize $220 million on the ad campaign, he definitely doesn't want that. That's a political liability she's putting on him. The job of his emissaries is to put the political liabilities on themselves. Even if Trump is guilty, which it sounds like he's not here. Right. It's like you're supposed to take the bullet. You're the lesser known person. You're, you know, like, it's important that they keep Trump clean because he's responsible for endorsing candidates to the midterms. It's like, who cares if Kristi Noem gets dirtied up a little in order to take one for the team? But here it looks like it. Actually, she is the one who deserves to be a little dinged up. Here is an example of what the ads went. Went for. I'm Kristi Noem, the United States Secretary of Homeland Security. Thank you, President Donald J. Trump, for securing our border and putting America first. Let me deliver a message from President Trump to the world. If you are considering entering America illegally, don't even think about it. Let me be clear. If you come to our country and you break our laws, we will hunt you down. Criminals are not welcome in the United States. For too long, weak leadership has left our borders wide open, flooding our communities with. And they're very well done. They're high end, but it could be they potentially cost her the job. Okay, so that's enough about her. Let's keep going. Jasmine Crockett finally admitting that she lost and she didn't concede on election night. She said that people had been disenfranchised. But then she came out after the fact and said, okay, you know, I admit this guy James Talarico won. And this guy seems like a bigger problem for the Dems than Jasmine Crockett. Jasmine Crockett's weird statements are kind of like her fake street accent and her like, this person's a hoe and like calling Governor Abbott Governor Hot Wheels, like stuff like that. That's just kind of like ridiculously obnoxious in your face. But it's not over the top weird. Woke like this guy James Talarico, like here in Sat 13, I want us

Megyn Kelly (43:27)

all to be aware of is that modern science obviously recognizes there are many more than two biological sexes. In fact, there are six. Which honestly, many modern science surprised me too because I am not well versed in this issue area. I'm not a scientist, I'm a politician a lot worse than a scientist.

Emily Jashinsky (43:49)

I mean, let me play one more while I've got your attention here. Here's on the trans athletes in Girls sports issue, Sat 16. This is from October of 21, before

Megyn Kelly (44:01)

my constituents elected me to this body. I taught middle school and my students are the reason I'm here, to make

Emily Jashinsky (44:09)

public policy that improves their lives.

Megyn Kelly (44:12)

But instead we're doing this endangering the

Emily Jashinsky (44:16)

lives of some of our most vulnerable children.

Megyn Kelly (44:19)

Disarm a problem that doesn't exist. When she laid out this bill in front of the Public Education Committee, Representative Swanson summed up the justification for this legislation in one sentence. She said, if one girl loses a

Emily Jashinsky (44:36)

game, this bill is worth it.

Megyn Kelly (44:39)

I guess we just have a different moral yardstick because I say if one trans child dies to protect someone's damn trophy, this bill is grotesque.

Emily Jashinsky (44:52)

How are they going to die because they can't run on the girls track team? Jim. I mean, this guy, he's peak woke. Emily, we're going to be on this subject for a while because we've got about 25 soundbites we found in two minutes of him sounding as woke as they come on every single one of the left's favorite issues.

Renee Carlson (45:13)

Yeah, the woke king of Texas. Apparently his Twitter is a mess. He was posting about how excited he was to get an Anthony Fauci, like, action figure for Christmas one year. Oh, yep, there it is. Incredible work.

Emily Jashinsky (45:24)

Oh, my God. Wait, wait, I'm. I'm disconnecting for a second. I'll be right back. Hold on. Okay. I don't have, I don't have Anthony Fauci, but I do have Kamala Harris. I have one of these.

Renee Carlson (45:41)

Why did you have that so easily in reach? We have.

Emily Jashinsky (45:44)

Because we had her on election night and I threw her off the, off the desk. But she lived, so. So I've kept her now. But he has one of these of Anthony Fauci for real.

Renee Carlson (45:54)

And then he posted about.

Emily Jashinsky (45:55)

Excited about him.

Renee Carlson (45:56)

Yes. It's not, it's not just. It's not just like peak woke behavior. It's like cringe millennial progressivism. And it's, it's going to be a huge problem for him, who, by the way, I think has otherwise tried very hard to run a campaign that is focused on saying the divide isn't left versus right, it's top versus bot. Which is a good line. I don't think that's a bad line. Like, it's, It's a good branding exercise. But now he.

Emily Jashinsky (46:23)

I don't think any gay man should be talking about top versus bottom.

Renee Carlson (46:26)

Is he gay, though? I don't know. I don't know.

Emily Jashinsky (46:28)

I don't know. I don't know if he's gay, but he seems gay.

Renee Carlson (46:32)

He.

Emily Jashinsky (46:32)

He's.

Renee Carlson (46:33)

He's given.

Emily Jashinsky (46:33)

Gay.

Renee Carlson (46:34)

Just gonna say. Yeah, I genuinely don't know. That's. That is interesting. But he is, he's single.

Emily Jashinsky (46:41)

I don't know how old is he, Steve? Do we know how old is he? He's 36 and single. Okay, well, that, that doesn't mean you're gay. But he gives off some gay vibes.

Renee Carlson (46:49)

Didn't Steve. Oh, no. Steve voted Crockett. Okay, yes, he. He did his patriotic duty. Cracker. Yeah, he did. He voted Crockett. He did his patriotic duty.

Emily Jashinsky (46:58)

Oh, he. He said he's trying to help us for the content.

Renee Carlson (47:00)

Hilarious. But actually, like with Talarico, he's. He's running this campaign against elites and it turns out he has every elite position on cultural issues ever. He says that trans women and have abortion rights. He says that God is non binary. He is fully in favor of the. Like you were just playing the clip on boys playing in girls sports. He's just down the line. These are seen by voters as elite culture war issues. They're seen as top versus bottom. They're seen as elites forcing these silly ideas like the word Latinx down your throat. And so now his economic message is going to have to grapple with his insane cultural message. Like that the BoR should be treated as our front porch with a welcome mat on it.

Emily Jashinsky (47:46)

So our front porch, right. Leave. Leave the door open. And then there's this one about Jesus. Sat 12.

Megyn Kelly (47:54)

For me, prophetic voices like Jesus have helped me reckon with my own whiteness, my own masculinity, my own certainty, my own ego. It's a never ending process and it's a painful process.

Emily Jashinsky (48:08)

It's painful to reckon with his whiteness. Emily. Which Jesus helped him, I guess, come to term with terms with Jesus helped him with his masculinity. Like the absence of it. What? How? I want to hear more.

Renee Carlson (48:21)

He's also using the Gospels to justify abortion. If he was referred to in a headline as a theologian recently because he is actually in seminary, obviously very progressive seminary. And to most Christians, this is going to hit them as insane and inauthentic. So if they thought that Talarico being able to. I mean, he went on Joe Rogan, and Rogan said, you should run for President, because he was really taken by the message. And there are some. Joe, there are some normal people who hear Adem speaking in the language of Christianity and they're like, oh, I can see how this makes you different than Abetto, or this makes you different from a totally secular person. But I actually think what's now going to happen is it makes him look inauthentic because it makes him look like he's not actually speaking. For most evangelicals or most Protestants in Texas, it's going to make him look weird. And it is weird. It's weird stuff.

Emily Jashinsky (49:13)

He tweeted out after the Ahmaud Arbery case that he was the latest American killed by the virus of racism. The virus kills our black neighbors if they're jogging, playing music, sitting in a church, selling CDs or carrying a bag of Skittles. White skin gives me and every white American immunity from the virus, but we spread it wherever we go, through our words, our actions and our systems. We don't have to be showing symptoms like a white hood or a Confederate flag to be contagious. Oh, my God. Okay. Then he finishes it up with the only cure is diagnosing the virus within ourselves and taking dramatic action to contain the spread. The first small step is proclaiming loudly and unequivocally that hashtag, black lives Matter. I think that's when Tim Miller tweeted out. Could we please find somebody who wasn't tweeting nonstop during peak woke? I feel your pain, Tim Miller. I understand why you're saying that, and your instincts are spot on. All right, we're going to take a quick break. More with Emily right after this. Don't go away. At a certain point in life, you realize you're responsible for a whole lot of things, but the most important is your health. Because without it, nothing else matters. We may not think about our liver very much, but it's our body's daily filter. Processing everything you consume, it performs 500 plus daily functions. Think energy production, digestion, fat metabolism, vitamin storage, and when your liver is overworked, you will feel it. Dose for your liver is a clinically backed liver health supplement taken in a daily 2 ounce drink. Dose says its highly absorbable liquid formula can cleanse the liver of unwanted stressors that may be slowing it down. Zero sugar, zero junk, zero calories. They say people who take Dose consistently report less Less sluggishness, less midday crashes. That would be better. Better digestion and even less bloating. New customers can save 35% on their first month of subscription by going to dosedaily co mk or just enter mk when you're checking out. That's d o s e daily d a I l y dot co mk for 35% off your first month subscription with VRBoCare. Help is always ready before, during and after your stay. We've planned for the plot twists, so support is always available because a great trip starts with peace of mind. Isn't home where we all want to be? Reba here for realtor.com, the Pro's number one most trusted app, finding a home is like dating. You're searching for the one with over 500,000 new listings every month. You could find the one today. Download the realtor.com app cause you're nearly home. Make it real with realtor.com Pro's number

Megyn Kelly (52:04)

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Emily Jashinsky (52:16)

She's got a ticket to ride she's

Megyn Kelly (52:20)

got a ticket to ride she's got

Emily Jashinsky (52:23)

a ticket to ride but she don't care. Oh my God. He looks. I mean, he looks special. Very special. He happens to be the grandson of jfk. His name is Jack Schlossberg and he is the son of Caroline Kennedy. She of course, is the daughter of John F. Kennedy, our one time president who was assassinated. And boy, oh boy, those genes water down quickly. Quickly. Welcome back to the Megyn Kelly Show. Emily Jashinsky is with me. She's the host of After Party with Emily Jashinsky. Go and subscribe now on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Afterparty emily.com. it always sounds so promising. Yeah, After Party, Emily.

Renee Carlson (53:06)

Promising is one way.

Emily Jashinsky (53:07)

So this guy, well, it is wrong. And you do deliver, just not, not that way.

Renee Carlson (53:13)

Not like Jack Schloss guy.

Emily Jashinsky (53:17)

I wanna laugh, but I'm actually deeply disturbed by him. Speaking of the mentally ill, he's way worse off than Brittany. I mean he's like, I think this guy is actually mentally ill. I mean, this is my strong opinion is that he needs psychiatric intervention asap. And psychiatric problems do run in the Kennedy family. He's very clear from his social media, not well. And his cousin, Kick Kennedy, who is jfk, sorry, RFK Jr's daughter has said, I really hope he gets the help he needs. Like she can see he's sick. His own mother, Caroline Kennedy did not want him running, which is why we're talking about him. He is running for office. We talked about on an AM update the other day. He's running for Jerry Nadler's soon to be vacated seat, who's 78 and giving up the seat. And he actually thinks he deserves it. He's done nothing. He had a one month stint at Vogue. That's it. That will conclude he had one month stint someplace else doing something equally dumb. And that is all of his professional experience, notwithstanding the fact that he went to Harvard and Yale. It's classic Kennedy liberal elite bullshit where their name gets them into all these amazing institutions and then they do nothing with it.

Megyn Kelly (54:37)

It.

Emily Jashinsky (54:38)

So all he's been doing on social media is trolling people, including RFK J, whose voice, which is a disability that RFKJ suffers from with his vocal cords, he's decided it's totally fair game to mock.

Megyn Kelly (54:53)

Listen, hey everybody, I, I'm trying to figure out the right present to get Donald Trump Trump for the inauguration.

Renee Carlson (55:03)

So.

Emily Jashinsky (55:03)

So I found a really rare animal and killed it and I'm gonna give it to him. So now notwithstanding that, now I'm just gonna show one more repeatedly doing a Nazi salute. This is after the whole Elon alleged Nazi salute nonsense. But he just thought it would be a laugh riot to do them over and over and over again on his social media to film himself doing Nazi salutes. And here's that.

Megyn Kelly (55:27)

Yo, yo, check this out.

Emily Jashinsky (55:31)

Yo, check this out. There's one. Yo, check this out. Another keeps going, Okay. He makes some sort of like. Like a disabled person's, like, throat and facial and mouth gesture, which appears again to be a reference to Elon. And Elon, too, is. He's got Asperger's. He's on the spectrum. And Jack Schlossberg seems to think it's hilarious to make fun of people's disabilities and also to smear them as Nazis when they're not. So now he's running for this seat. And the whitewashing of all of that shit, which he's since deleted, but we still have copies of a lot of it, has begun. Maureen Dowd humiliated herself with a whitewash column in the New York Times. I'm embarrassed for her. She of the poison pen had none to spare when it came to a Kennedy air. And she completely glossed over the social media history like it was a nothing. Like it was like an errant tweet here or there instead of vicious, deranged, repeated posts for years. And then he meanders over to CNN and here's how that went. Sock 30. I heard you say that you're an outsider in this race.

Renee Carlson (56:48)

Yeah.

Emily Jashinsky (56:49)

To people who are on the outside. They hear you say you're an outsider, and they're like, come on. I know, I know.

Renee Carlson (56:55)

It's.

Emily Jashinsky (56:55)

It's ironic coming out of my mouth with Kennedy legacy and what I represent. Represent.

Megyn Kelly (56:59)

Might be hard to believe, but it's

Emily Jashinsky (57:01)

absolutely true, because there's a local insider

Megyn Kelly (57:06)

political machine here that is running the

Emily Jashinsky (57:08)

playbook from the 90s.

Megyn Kelly (57:10)

I'm just watching what the other side's

Emily Jashinsky (57:11)

doing, thinking we need our own version of this. And so it's. It's by design. I'm sorry, Emily, but this is deeply disturbing. This is like media enablers trying to foster this unwell person into a U.S. house seat, ignoring the rantings of a madman. He's been in other interviews now claiming, oh, I was just trying to generate attention to me, you know, because it's hard to get attention. Okay, you were trying to generate attention when you. You tweeted out that you have a Maha energy ball that you'd like to suggest to people. One part fresh coconut meat, 2 ounces of Jew blood, Ashkenazi, not Sephardic, 4 cups, forgive me, of male jizz baked at 300 degrees until totally dry, like your wife. This was addressed again to his cousin, rfkj, allegedly in response to RFKJ suggesting some. Some. Some Jews got spared the COVID virus, depending on whether they were Ashkenazi or whatever. But this is who this guy is, and he's got a shot. He's got a shot because all the others running in this race are a bunch of no names. So your thoughts on how this is gonna go?

Renee Carlson (58:23)

I mean, he definitely has a shot. His financial disclosures just popped. He's got a shot. He's got money. He's got support. Although as a supporter, Meghan, of independent media and political independence, I was glad to see an outsider like him get a shot on cnn. That was pretty remarkable. Very, very kind of Dana Bash to give this upstart nobody a shot at a CNN segment, but it's ridiculous.

Emily Jashinsky (58:45)

She looked like a school.

Renee Carlson (58:46)

It's insane to whitewash his social media history because he was making it central to his. His Persona. So to see him all cleaned up, it clearly tells you that they are not interested in running this guy on the social media that he probably wanted to run on. I don't know if people have seen his van dispatches. They are insane. They're on his YouTube channel. At least they used to be on his YouTube channel. He would just like sit in a van and talk into a webcam. Truly bizarre stuff. He's is. I agree, he's obviously not well, but the media trying to whitewash that I think is fascinating. Fascinating. He's honestly just a shitlib. Like it's. Excuse my language, but that's what he is. He's not. He doesn't have interesting politics. He has the politics of a mentally ill millennial. And listen, that's. That's very common in cities like New York. That's New York, dc. He's. He's a dime a dozen.

Emily Jashinsky (59:37)

Yeah, no kidding. But I mean, like, with absolute, absolutely no work history, like we're gonna. Just because his name is Schlossberg and he's care. I mean, Caroline doesn't seem all that together either, to be perfectly honest. But it's like, like they're trying to make him into JFK junior Which he is. No JFK junior. JFK junior was hot. Sorry, Schlossberg, you're not. Not even close. And no matter how many times you want to take off your shirt and try to parade around like you are your much better looking cousin, you're not. And he can't be reinvented. And JFK Jr. While he struggled to pass the bar, wasn't an abject moron. Like, this guy is. So I just think, like, I realize that Congress is not to be respected. I don't have any respect for virtually any of them. There are a couple who I like, but can't think of anyone off the top of my head. But I know there's Jerry Nadler, of course.

Renee Carlson (60:24)

That is a respected.

Emily Jashinsky (60:26)

Oh, yeah, I liked mtg. I came to like her too late in the process. You know, like, she and I got to know each other just before she pieced out of there. It was probably no accident. Anyway, we still have to have some standards. There has to be, like, we. We have to screen the mentally ill, and this guy clearly is. So in any event, we'll see how that goes. New York, what are you doing? This is my. The home state. I live in Connecticut now, but, like, I grew up in New York, and this is too far for us people. There are plenty of other Democrats and Nadler's got some protege he's recommending whose name I don't even know. That's how, like, everybody's a no name. But you gotta go with that guy over this lunatic. That's my own take on it. I won't be voting in any Democratic primaries. All right, I wanna keep going. Okay, let's talk about Iran, because there's been a lot of news. Disturbingly, there's a report now, it's come out from a couple of different places, Politico is the origin of it, saying that. Oh, wait, now here is. Yeah, Politico, US Central Command, that's the group overseeing our military operation overseeing the Middle east war, is now saying internally that this war through against Iran is likely to last through September. According to info obtained by Politico, it's costing us a billion dollars a day. So this, this would easily be over 100 billion if that's true. I've seen this a couple different places reporting what Politico reported. I haven't actually seen the original political report, but September, like, first the president said, you know, I could do it in four or five days, but I might need four weeks. Then he said, maybe four to five weeks. And then we had, I think it was Pete suggest maybe eight weeks. Definitely. Administration officials said could be looking at eight weeks now. And the president saying, I'm not. I don't have the yips about doing boots on the ground. And now we have leaked, potentially to Politico through September, we're gonna be over there, which is, I mean, by last I checked, two months before November when we have the midterms. And let me just play you something from Harry Enton on the midterms. I mean, I think most people are kind of assuming we're gonna be losing the House over on Team Red. But the Senate was thought to be not really in competition because just the way the map lays out this year. But take a listen to this in Sat 23.

Megyn Kelly (62:45)

Okay, talk to me about that.

Emily Jashinsky (62:46)

If it helps the Democratic chances, what

Megyn Kelly (62:48)

does that do to the overall odds in the U.S. senate? Yeah, overall odds of the U.S. senate. This is just a segment which is just great news for Democrats. And what are we talking about here? I mean, this is, I think, the

Emily Jashinsky (62:59)

biggest change that we have seen in

Megyn Kelly (63:02)

the national picture, which was all along we thought that the Democrats would win back the House of Representatives.

Emily Jashinsky (63:07)

That was the most likely possibility.

Megyn Kelly (63:09)

But at this point, look at this. Look at the change in odds from a year ago. The chance of winning the Senate. Republicans had an 81% chance a year ago. Look at this.

Emily Jashinsky (63:17)

It has fallen through the floor. Fallen through the floor.

Megyn Kelly (63:20)

Now it's just a 56% chance. Democrats chances way up to a 44% chance. There's a real fight on their hands. Republicans have. Not just for the House, which are likely to lose, but for the Senate as well.

Emily Jashinsky (63:31)

Oh, my God. Your thoughts on where we are right now?

Renee Carlson (63:36)

I mean, nothing but respect for Harry Anton's perpetual shamwow energy. It's, it's giving shamwow guy. He always is. Excellent stuff, Harry. But it listen, like, independents are not on board. First of all, before this war started, the economy was a really tough, tough sell for the administration among independents. Now the war has been clearly, when we look at polling, a very tough sell among independents. So now they have double. I mean, that's why Trump was on his affordability tour. We saw that it's still happening. But that's why as the new year came about, it was, we're going to get the president focused like a laser on the economy, on cost of living. And now on top of that, he has to defend this war. There's been, you know, clearly pretty mixed messaging. They've struggled with messaging. This week you have six dead Americans. If you have a war that goes through September, that number inevitably ticks up. It's going to touch communities around the country. It's already touched Iowa. It's already touched Minnesota. It's touched people all over the country who have lost their men, young men and women. And that's in the local news. That's hitting people. Independents are seeing it. So it's going to be. I mean, I don't even want to talk about this in a political sense because it's A moral and substantive policy question. But the politics of it Trump has seen. Harry Anton pointed this out too. His support among Republicans is like record levels. It's very high. It's actually still lower than it was before, which means in a midterm cycle, voter enthusiasm, the thing you need to get people off their couches to vote in the first place, that's a problem for him. So those are two places that you can't afford to be losing anything. Among independents and among, you know, hardcore people who, who need to be convinced to get off their couch and support Republicans and be excited about a Susan Collins. Be excited, you know, Republican in Nebraska. Those are going to be tough. So I think the Senate actually is in play now that we're at war.

Emily Jashinsky (65:34)

I mean, that's a nightmare. That's, that's a true nightmare. If the Democrats control the Senate, I mean, depending on how many seats they, they could potentially get now, you could have impeachments in the House that would lead to actual convictions over there on the Senate side, I like, I doubt it. But if they have control, they can thwart every single piece of the President's agenda. Not to mention then they're better set up for, because they're not supposed to win this time the Senate, that, the map is much better for them in 28. And so they'll be better set up to get way more seats in that election and possibly win the presidency and then we have full Democratic control with potentially a filibuster proof majority. I mean, like that could happen. So, so like that's catastrophic thinking we're not there yet. But like this should not last till September. This can end this week. You know, there's a lot of pressure on President Trump, by the way, that we did confirm that was in Politico. So it's not just random accounts retweeting. Here it is. U.S. central Command, meanwhile, is asking the Pentagon to send more military intelligence officers to its HQ in Tampa, Florida to support operations against Iran for at least 100 days, but likely through September. According to a notification obtained by Political Ago, it's the first known call for additional intelligence personnel for the Iran war by the admin. And a sign the Pentagon is already allocating funding for operations that may stretch long beyond what President Donald Trump initially said would be a four week timeline for the conflict. Okay, so there we go. September. We can't have this thing go on. I don't even think it should last another four weeks, never mind several months until the month before the midterm. And the Problem is, Emily, the longer it goes on, the more sins the Iran, the Iranians have committed against us and our allies that then need to be answered for. The more it spreads. You know, now you already have a bunch of these Arab countries in the Gulf saying, like, we may get involved in this shit because we're taking incoming and, like, this is bullshit. We're not gonna just sit here and be hit by the Iranians. So, like, the war is potentially spreading and by September could spread even more. Like, this thing needs to wrap up. President Trump can declare victory. I got rid of the Ayatollah, a bunch of the bad guys. I damaged their missile facilities. I did more damage to what was left of the nuclear program. I gave you a running shot. I talked to the Kurds in Iraq who have some camaraderie with the Kurds in Iran. They're going to come across what this is like Iraq all over again, by the way. This is exactly the shit we did back then. But, okay, but now I'm out. Now it's like, I gave you a running start, but I don't have to run the race for you. You.

Renee Carlson (68:05)

Well, this is what's frightening me right now, is that they're learning the Colin Powell. You break it, you buy it. Maxim in real time. Because people forget in the lead up to the Iraq war, George W. Bush was campaigning, literally, he was campaigning against nation building before 911 happened. You've played clips on the show in the last few days. It's been so helpful. But just hearing the debate has been so helpful. But having Dick Cheney talk about the timetable for Iraq before the. It's insane. And you always, I mean, you can, you can say, as Pete Hegseth has said to his credit, that he's reformed neocon. Trump has campaigned against nation building and forever wars and dumb wars. And then when you're in the situation, you end up realizing you break it, you buy it. If you leave, you then become responsible for what steps into the power vacuum. If it's an ISIS like thing or whatever. I mean, you're constantly hearing, this is not Iraq, this is not Afghanistan, from defenders of the war, from people in the administration. But the fear is that it's going to turn into it. Because inevitably, when you topple the head of a regime that still has some support in the country, certainly not 100 of the Iranian people, many of the Iranian people are so glad the Ayatollah is gone, but there's still some support. The IRGC still exists. There's still plenty of weapons in the country. That means that you have a huge problem on your hands that you now own because you're the one who took him out. And that's what I think is right now raising red flags for a lot of people when they say, when they're hearing timetables shifting already.

Emily Jashinsky (69:32)

No, no, we sunk the Navy. We control the airspace. That's great. We did a lot. Of course, our boys and gals in uniform got in there and did a stellar job. And that's great. Let's declare the W and get out and let President Trump spend the next eight months, or however many it is till November, focused like a laser, as they promised, on the economy, just, you know, town to town. Because gas prices, oil prices are going up, gas prices are going up. Like, all of that is going to cost Republicans and at the polls, like people, the one thing they wanted was the economy to ease up, for their, you know, their pocketbook to be a little bit easier. This is not gonna help that. And while Republicans support the war, like you point out, not all of them, the independents are over. I haven't seen one poll that has anything better than independents. 72% against this. All of the Democrat Party Party is against it. And over 70% of independents in every poll I've seen oppose the war. Like, you can't win elections with those numbers. Whether you think it's righteous or not, you cannot win elections with those numbers. You do need independence. Unless you have a Republican Party that is incredibly enthusiastic and every last man is going to run from his couch to go make sure they pull a lever. And as you point out, that's not how the GOP is feeling right now. So. So this has gotta wrap up. And by the way, for Israel supporters, it's got to wrap up for Israel, too. All the negative behavior and attitudes towards Israel grew throughout the whole Gaza conflict. Then Trump settled that, and things were kind of settling down. Israel was off the front pages. That was very good. That was. That's better for Israel. And now they're right back in the center of it, you know, again, which only leads to more negative feelings because the administration has been telling us they're the reason we got into this. You know, it's like they. They have to understand, at least from a PR perspective, how bad this is. Emily.

Renee Carlson (71:24)

Yeah, I mean, and the problem is blaming voters for their cooling sentiments towards Israel and blaming TikTok and blaming everyone without grappling and saying, okay, well, maybe voters. Maybe we should trust that they're not all bigoted and they're not all anti Semitic and they're not all dumb and, and make better arguments. And that's really been, I think, a huge part of the problem here. It's a problem with the administration, this war. You've seen them freak out about inconsistent messaging. I think their inconsistent messaging speaks to a muddled strategy to begin with. But the problem selling this from now until November is Democrats now have clip shows they can play constantly of different things being said while we are at war. Losing Americans in the Middle east again, because the messaging was a disaster. And that's, I mean, I don't see actually any sign of them having better messaging about this going forward. They're still not telling us clearly whether not or, or not it's a war. Mark Wayne Mullen just yesterday referred to it as a war. Reporter said you referred it to as a war. And he said, oh, that's a misspoke. It's such a mess right now.

Emily Jashinsky (72:30)

He's going to be running DHS soon, so we don't have to worry about him speak misspeaking as a senator. All right, let's keep going because just I want to get through what happened on the Minnesota fraud hearing with you before you have to go. Is the pastor from the Don Lemon Church is coming on. I hate to refer to it that way from city's church in many, in many St. Paul. You know what I'm saying? Okay. There was a fraud hearing about what's happening with yes, the Somalis in Minnesota yesterday. And Tim Walsh showed up, as he should because this is his state. He's done virtually nothing to stop this nonsense. And my favorite Brandon Gill pressed him because they were, they were upset about they feel that the administration in Minneapolis has, Minnesota has cracked down on whistleblowers who tried to come forward over and over about what they saw. They saw the fraud coming and they tried to jump up and down and say, yo, yo, Democrats and Republicans, these Somalis are committing a bunch of fraud on us. We should stop giving them the money for their fake autism and childcare centers. And it's all over the news at the time with the people saying that's racist. You can't apparently you're not allowed to say that anybody from Somalia has committed a crime or you're racist. But what if they have? But you can't because it's racist. But what if they did? So here's Brandon Gill cross examining him on that SOT27. Do you think whistleblowers should be retaliated against?

Megyn Kelly (73:51)

Absolutely not.

Emily Jashinsky (73:52)

They have strong protections in Minnesota that's

Megyn Kelly (73:54)

not what we're hearing from whistleblowers.

Emily Jashinsky (73:55)

Fay Bernstein, who again has stated that she is a Democrat, she's only ever voted Democrat, says it doesn't matter whether she's Democrat or Republican. Campaign for trying to make leadership aware

Renee Carlson (74:05)

of illegal contracting practices.

Emily Jashinsky (74:07)

Practices.

Megyn Kelly (74:08)

Why do you think that happened?

Emily Jashinsky (74:10)

I can't speak to that, Congressman, because we don't do it. According to another report, quote, there's just a continuous effort to stifle you, to shut you up, and it's impossible to overcome.

Megyn Kelly (74:20)

Your administration's response to whistleblowers has also

Emily Jashinsky (74:23)

been described as, quote, nearly unbearable retaliation.

Megyn Kelly (74:27)

We've heard claims that, quote, they've been

Renee Carlson (74:29)

denied vacations, promotions and that it's hurt

Megyn Kelly (74:32)

people's careers to speak out against fraud. Do you think that that had something

Emily Jashinsky (74:35)

to do with the prevalence of fraud in your administration?

Megyn Kelly (74:39)

I can't speak to it. But are you going to take responsibility for this?

Emily Jashinsky (74:42)

I certainly. I supervise 40,000 employees. State agencies have their own.

Megyn Kelly (74:45)

Yes, you supervise a lot of employees. And as you have said, the buck stops with you. And your administration has treated whistleblowers like absolute dirt. And that's a big reason why we've

Emily Jashinsky (74:56)

seen so much of our hard earned tax dollars. Deal defrauded Brandon Gill for the win. He's my fave. And he's leaning into the Clark Kent. I was just thinking the one curl, right. I, I approve. I'm into it.

Renee Carlson (75:08)

His questioning of Tim Walls is also just like, this is logic. This was happening out in the open for how many years to the tune of like so many millions of dollars. And there's, you know, the Minnesota Reformer, which is one of these like lefty websites that purports to cover local news. There's a guy named Casey Magen who's been writing about the C. So Kelly, his job was like looking into fraud formally in the Minnesota government. And he's been writing about this for a while, saying that it was specifically in some part due to racism being weaponized to prevent people from looking into this on the record, going back multiple years from people on the left. So for Tim Walsh to sit there and say, I can't speak to that because we don't do that is. It's a good line politically. It's in like putting up his shield with that line, just not refusing to engage, basically just saying, I don't know, we don't.

Emily Jashinsky (75:57)

From Clark Kent.

Renee Carlson (76:00)

He's intimidated. He's like this guy, actually. Yeah, yeah. It's a disaster for Tim Walls and it should be a lesson for Democrats to not let these weaponized charges of racism block them from good governance. But I don't think anyone believes that it actually is.

Emily Jashinsky (76:16)

And it's so ridiculous. 84 of the 94 who have been indicted so far are Somali. I mean, give me a break. Like, that's who's committing the crimes. Sorry that the community has decided to take our. Our benevolence and our generosity here in America and completely exploit it to the tune of criminal fraud. But they should be made to pay, the ones who have done that. And if it's 90% Somali, so be it. Doesn't make us racists for. For charging them for crimes that they've allegedly committed. Here was an awkward moment when Representative Pat Fallon, Republican from Texas, decided to talk about how he got chosen as Kamala's VP running mate. Watch this.

Megyn Kelly (76:54)

It's been widely reported that in 2008,

Emily Jashinsky (76:57)

when Barack Obama was choosing his vice presidential candidate, he had three criteria.

Megyn Kelly (77:03)

He wanted to make sure he picked

Emily Jashinsky (77:05)

somebody that wasn't as smart as him and had less talent and charisma and couldn't possibly outshine him. So he picked Joe Biden. And then Joe Biden in 2020 used the exact same criteria. He wanted to make sure he picked somebody wasn't as smart as him, had less talent, charisma, and wouldn't outshine him.

Megyn Kelly (77:21)

And he picked Kamala.

Emily Jashinsky (77:22)

Her. And then in 2024, Governor, I think it's very evident why Kamala Harris picked you.

Megyn Kelly (77:29)

The Tal pool, Mr. Chairman, the talent

Emily Jashinsky (77:33)

pool in just shallow, brother.

Megyn Kelly (77:35)

We have hit the shore.

Emily Jashinsky (77:36)

And I yield back. Oh, I got to give it to Tim Walls for laughing at that. That that was well done. That's what he should do.

Renee Carlson (77:46)

Like, it's the only thing you can do.

Emily Jashinsky (77:47)

This is so cringy, right? It's so cringy.

Renee Carlson (77:51)

I can't imagine. I mean, obviously, yes, it is. It is. And that's why he had to step out of his campaign. I mean, when it all came to light. This all could have come to light while he was running for vice president, but it's a. It's actually a disadvantage sometimes to Democrats that the media is so sympathetic to them because it didn't come out then. And sometimes that ends up coming back to bite you in the butt because people aren't given due scrutiny until it's too late. And that's what happened. Tim Walls.

Emily Jashinsky (78:17)

It's so true. That's. The Republicans are in a great position because J.D. vance, like everybody, would be outshined by Trump There isn't a soul on earth that wouldn't be outshined by Trump. Just he's as such a big fun personality. But JD Vance is so solid in his own right that they're not suffering from that same dynamic like when he steps out on his own. Or it could be Rubio. Either one, when they step out on their own out of the shadow of dad, they're gonna thrive because they actually are incredibly charismatic, funny, warm, charming, smart, competent. All the things. It's not exactly how it went on Team Blue. Okay, ej we will see you in half an hour on the MK after show and then at after party with Emily on YouTube and podcast. See you. All right. We are back with the pastor who Don Lemon badgered recently in Minnesota leading to criminal charges against Don Lamond. This will be my first chance speaking to the pastor. I can't wait to hear what he has to say. Home security can feel overwhelming, but Simplisafe makes it simple. Many people are choosing it for the peace of mind it provides. With over 4 million homes already protected with no long term contracts and an anti theft guarantee, it's easy to see why so many feel safer having SimpliSafe in their lives. With 20 years of experience in home security, SimpliSafe has consistently been recognized for executing. They were named the best home security system of 2026 by U.S. news World Report and their customer service has been ranked the best in the industry. That's why so many homeowners feel safer and more secure with SimpliSafe in their lives. Right now, you can get 50% off their new SimpliSafe system at SimpliSafe.com Megan that's SimpliSafe.com Megan there's no safe like SimpliSafe. The new year hits and suddenly you might want new everything, including a new wardrobe. Wardrobe? Does that resonate, ladies? Well, our sponsor, Daily look makes that wardrobe upgrade way too easy. Daily look is the number one rated premium personal styling service for women. With Daily look, you get your own dedicated personal stylist to curate a box of clothes based on your body shape preferences and lifestyle. This is not an algorithm. This is a real personal stylist. And you get the same stylist every time. And when you head over to dailylook.com you can use code Megan for 50 off your first order. That's 50 off with my code. M, E, G Y N. Just fill out their style quiz and receive up to 12 hand selected items delivered right to your home. Buy what you love, Send back. The rest you will get free shipping both ways. Head to DailyLook.com to take your style quiz and use the code Megan for 50 off your first order. That's DailyLook.com for 50 off and make sure you use my promo code Megan so they know we sent you. Isn't home where we all want to be? Reba here for realtor.com, the Pro's number one most trusted app. Finding a home is like dating. You're searching for the one with over 500,000 new listings every month. You can find the one today, download the realtor.com app cause you're nearly home. Make it real real with realtor.com Pro's

Megyn Kelly (81:29)

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Emily Jashinsky (81:37)

If you're a parent and want to help set up your child for success, then IXL is right for your family as an effective and affordable online learning program. IXL covers math, language arts, science and social studies using interactive practice problems for kids from Pre K to 12th grade. Listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership up today at I.com 20 Visit ixl.com 20 to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. Hey everyone, it's me, Megan Kelly. I've got some exciting news. I now have my very own channel on Sirius xm. It's called the Megan Kelly Channel and it is where you will hear the truth unfiltered with no agenda and no apologies. Along with the Megyn Kelly show, you're gonna to hear from people like Mark Halperin, link Lauren Maureen Callahan, Emily Jasinsky, Jesse Kelly, Real Clear Politics and many more. It's bold no BS news only on the Megyn Kelly channel, SiriusXM111 and on the Sirius XM app. I want to let you know this just broke from the Wall Street Journal. President Trump is preparing to fire Homeland Security Secretary Kristi no Home. The article also suggests he could still change his mind. But following up on our last segment, just bringing you that news per the Wall Street Journal, he is preparing to fire her. We'll see whether or not it actually happens and we will bring you the latest right here. In the meantime, big news out of Minnesota last week. Remember that big anti ice protest at city's church in St. Paul or using that term protest very generously, the one Don Lemon thought it was a good idea to livestream for the world to see. Well, President Trump's DOJ last week announcing 30 more individuals have been charged with violating the FACE act and the Klan Act. That means a total of 39 people have now been charged over that January 18th protest, riot, harassment event. A list that includes Don Lamon himself. Here's a reminder of just how aggressive the agitators were that day and how terrifying it must have been to the 300 or so parishioners, including young children, who were there just to worship that day. Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?

Renee Carlson (84:13)

Where are your people?

Megyn Kelly (84:15)

Why are you not at Whipple every day fighting for the humanity, standing for our people?

Emily Jashinsky (84:21)

Where are you? You drink your coffee, you got your jewelry, you have your nice clothes, but what do you do?

Megyn Kelly (84:27)

What?

Emily Jashinsky (84:27)

What do you do to stand for your Somali and Latino communities? I'm not gonna comment.

Renee Carlson (84:34)

We have a duty to win. We have a duty to win.

Emily Jashinsky (84:40)

We must love and support one another. That's just so shameful. As you can see in this video, city's church's lead pastor, Jonathan Parnell, made it clear to Lemon and his fellow protesters that they needed to get out unless they wanted to worship with him here.

Megyn Kelly (85:05)

Our church had gathered for worship, which we do every Sunday, and we were interrupted by this group of protesters. We asked them to leave, and they obviously have not left. What do you think of this? I mean, this is unacceptable. It's shameful. It's shameful to interrupt a public gathering, Gathering of Christians in worship. But there were folks who will say I have to take care of my flock. Listen, we live in a. There's a constitution in the First Amendment to freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest. We're here to worship. We're here to worship Jesus because that's the hope of these cities, that's the hope of the world, is Jesus Christ. I'm gonna be very respectful. Please don't push me, though.

Emily Jashinsky (85:48)

We're here.

Megyn Kelly (85:48)

We're here to worship Jesus. That's why we're here.

Renee Carlson (85:51)

Okay?

Megyn Kelly (85:52)

That's why we're here. That's what we're about. Don't you think Jesus would be understanding? And we're about love these folks. We're about spreading the love of Jesus. But did you try to talk to them as a. As no one is willing to talk, okay? I have to take care of my church and my family. So I asked that you actually would also leave this building. You don't want us to worship? You're here to worship. I'm always worship. I'm a Christian.

Emily Jashinsky (86:13)

Oh, my gosh. It's so infuriating. Don wouldn't leave the church for another seven minutes, including taking the time to tell viewers of the live stream to quote, like, and subscribe to his YouTube channel. Unbelievable. Joining me now with more about what happened is Pastor Jonathan Parnell himself. This is his first interview since Don Lemon was charged in the case in January. Pastor Parnell is joined by Renee Carlson, an attorney and general counsel at True North Legal, the nonprofit law firm representing city's church. Welcome so much to you both to the show. It's a pleasure to have you. You, Pastor, I so admire you and the way you handled yourself in that awful, unprecedented moment. You had grace. You had the smarts not to overly engage, even legally. You knew what to say. Leave. Please leave. And really set him up in a way. I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but for these criminal charges, because there it is on camera, you telling him to get out. And he refused. But you, I'm sure, had a very different experience of the moment than thinking through all those things. Can you walk us through how it was for you? You're up there, you're preaching, and the next thing, you know what?

Megyn Kelly (87:25)

Yeah. Thank you, Megan. You know, I want to. The first thing I want to say before I get into that is I just want to state a fact. And this fact is the most important factor in the universe. It's the thing that I always most. Most need to remember all the time, is the simple fact that Jesus Christ is a real person. He is as real in this moment as we are here having this conversation. He's been raised from the dead. He is seated on his heavenly throne, and one day he's coming back. That's my worldview. I'd say my worldview is simply that Jesus is real. And that changes everything. It's true, whether we believe it or not. But I believe. Believe it. Our church believes it. And so on Sunday, January 18, when we were gathering for worship, we were gathering to worship the real person, Jesus Christ. This is not. We're not playing games. We're not walking through a dry liturgical order, but we were gathering to have a dialogue with Jesus where we hear him speak and then we respond to him in praise and adoration and thanksgiving and worship. Worship. And so on that Sunday, at the highest point of our liturgy, just as I was about to read from the Gospel of John, chapter 13, we've been preaching through the Gospel of John, and we're in the section that's called the Farewell Discourse, which is the longest Thursday night in the history of the world when Jesus is teaching his disciples in his final moments with them. And in chapter 13, Jesus teaches us to love one another as he has loved us.

Renee Carlson (88:56)

Us.

Megyn Kelly (88:56)

And so, just as I was about to read these verses, a woman begins approaching me on the far right side of our church building. She's followed by a few other folks. And then she calls out, interrupts me, and says something to the effect of bringing judgment. And then as soon as she says something, almost like a flash mob, people got up in our sanctuary, converged in the center of our sanctuary, and were chanting, were shouting, had their fists raised. And immediately people in the back of our building began to flee. Folks were leaving rapidly. And then right away, they began to chant, hands up, don't shoot. And then other folks had taken cover. Some other folks were trying to leave. Some were blocked from leaving because they were clogging up that main pathway. But in that moment, as they're chanting, hands up, don't shoot, I was. I was looking across our sanctuary, kind of remaining in my post, as it were, behind the pulpit. And that's where there were children in our church who were putting their hands up in fear. And that's the moment when I turned to the woman who had initiated the protest or the chanting, and I told her what I would say now. It was shameful. Shame on her. It was a rebuke. We were there to worship Jesus. It is the house of God. It's a sanctuary. And she invaded that space. And this mob invaded that space with anger and rage. And then from there, it began to just get louder. More chanting. People were blowing whistles. It was an absolutely disorienting moment. Folks were still trying to leave as best as they could. Some remained. Others, again, had taken cover. We had to lock down our childcare. It was a extremely chaotic moment. And then in the midst of all

Emily Jashinsky (90:40)

that, I did not realize that the children put their hands up. They were scared, and they thought they were being ordered to do that. And I said this on the show that the children, having no idea about Ferguson, Missouri or Michael Brown, would not understand the hands up, don't shoot thing. They would be hearing hands up, and they would be hearing the word shoot. And that, indeed you're testifying here, was part of the trauma that they went through.

Megyn Kelly (91:04)

It was horrifying also in our context, just a year ago, the tragic, horrible shooting at a school in the Twin Cities. And so that's fresh on the minds of many people. And there were definitely folks who believed it was an active shooter situation fleeing, they thought, for their lives. And that was the moment when, in the midst of all that chaos, absolute mayhem, that an individual kind of spawned in and stuck a microphone in my face and asked me what I thought about what was going on. And then instantly, as he began to talk to me, others came forward with microphones and cameras, and it kind of surrounded me. And he was asking me again what was going on, what did I think about it? And I told him it was shameful. It's unacceptable. This should not happen ever. And then in the midst of that conversation, you've seen the video, he makes a comment about me pushing him. And that was the turning point for me. That's when I realized, this guy is here with them. He's trying to incite me. And I was trying to, as best as I can, disengage from that encounter as quickly as I could, trying to be a gentleman as well, trying to be kind. But it was a very disorienting moment. And one of those things that I've thought about so many times afterwards, and it just. It should never happen again.

Emily Jashinsky (92:23)

What. What was it? You know, now he says he was just a journalist doing his job, covering this as a journalist, you and others inside the church perceived him as a member of the protesters, as in tandem with them, in. In concert with them. Why?

Megyn Kelly (92:38)

The turning point for me was when he made the comment to me about pushing him, and the fact that when he came close to me and was in my space, crowding me, others who were there protesting, the agitators, they joined him and also encircled me. And so in my. In my mind, in that moment, I. I definitely understood him to be part of what they were doing.

Emily Jashinsky (93:01)

Mm. He went a different way with it. Um, here he is. This is recently sat down with Jim Acosta and said the following. On February 18th, sat 62.

Megyn Kelly (93:12)

I don't know. It's weird because they kept saying it even when I told them that I'm not. And I think they were looking at me. And because the bulk of the protesters were black, maybe they thought because I'm black then. And I kept saying, I'm not a protester. I'm here covering the protest.

Emily Jashinsky (93:25)

I'm not with them. And they were, you know, they just,

Megyn Kelly (93:30)

for some reason, could not understand. And I had to keep telling them that I'm not part of the group. I'm just here photographing, and I would say chronicling or whatever it is.

Emily Jashinsky (93:40)

And that's.

Megyn Kelly (93:41)

That's it, Jim. So why they couldn't Figure that out.

Emily Jashinsky (93:44)

I don't know. What's your reaction to that, Pastor?

Megyn Kelly (93:47)

That's the first time I've actually heard that. Yeah, the truth will come out. That's what we want. We want the truth. And so my counselor, Renee Carlson, is here. She can comment on details when it comes to the First Amendment, but. Yeah, that's. Yeah, that's hard to watch.

Renee Carlson (94:02)

Well, Megan, I mean, if I was

Emily Jashinsky (94:03)

not his skin color.

Renee Carlson (94:04)

Oh, go ahead.

Emily Jashinsky (94:06)

No, I mean, it was not his skin color that led you to believe he was a member of the protesters.

Megyn Kelly (94:12)

That's ridiculous.

Emily Jashinsky (94:13)

As you know, Megan, I mean, there is never an excuse to invade a church. And this whole hiding under journalism when they've really violated the law. There is no First Amendment right to invade a church. There's no constitutional right for that. There is a right to worship freely, and that's exactly what was happening at city church. There is no press pass to invade a church. And the Constitution is really clear. And you know this, Megan, about the limitations on the First Amendment and freedom. Freedom of speech. That's the time, place, and manner in which this speech takes place. Here, that line was crossed. I mean, you've talked about this, and we've appreciated your coverage. You've said things like, look, you can't just go into the courthouse, bust in, stage a protest, and say, I'm covered by the First Amendment. Nobody could walk into your house, bust in, stage a protest, and say, I'm covered by the First Amendment. Likewise here, you cannot invade a church and. And stage a. Like you said, it's protest in air quotes here. This was an ambush on the church. There was obstruction. There was threats. This behavior is absolutely unlawful. It's completely a violation of the Face act, which protects the right to worship in a space of worship. And I just do want to highlight what Pastor Parnell said. He said there was that moment when they ambushed him. They gathered around him. He did not feel a freedom to. To move. He was obstructed. And even, probably even worse, these parents couldn't get to their children. They blocked exits, and that is terrifying. What a horrific moment for this church. It's absolutely not protected by the First Amendment. This is activism. This is not journalism. We saw children crying. We saw children fleeing, trying to flee in that van where they tried. They quickly tried to slam the door to get away, as the protesters are still harassing them even outside the. The church. We saw Don Lemon finally outside the church, many minutes after he'd been told to leave, saying the trauma is all part of It. That's part of it. That's the glory of protest, is the trauma you cause others. You tell me, Renee, when this goes to trial, do you think that there will be adequate testimony to convince a jury that there was obstruction and that there actually was trauma, as Don Lemon observed?

Renee Carlson (96:29)

I think there will.

Emily Jashinsky (96:29)

And here's something else to think about, Megan, is that these charges were brought after an indictment that requires a number of jurors, at least 12 jurors, to say that there is probable cause to bring these charges forward. And that's what happened here. We have a cross section of people in Minnesota who saw the evidence, who saw all of these things that you're talking about, and they put forward these charges. They said there is a probable cause to believe that Don Lemon committed these crimes. You know what's also shameful, though, Megan, is I'll say that in the state of Minnesota, there is this sense of anti religious bigotry that has to stop. We are very thankful that the Department of Justice has come in, has been aggressive about bringing these wrongdoers to justice, but we have not heard anything from the state's attorney general as far as enforcing the law. The state attorney general? Yeah. Could be a claim. He went on Don Lemon's podcast the Monday after he did it. Exactly. The Attorney general, like yet another person seeming to have no problem with his violation of the citizens of Minnesota's rights. Pastor, you. Yeah, I like, I can't imagine what you've been through in trying to comfort your constituents and trying to make sure people feel safe, that this isn't going to be an every week kind of thing. Meanwhile, you have Don Lemon out there cloaking himself in, like this, you know, the protection of journalism. Like, he's Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post. When you saw that the DOJ actually did charge him and said, we are not gonna treat you any differently just because you had a mic in your hand. How did you feel?

Megyn Kelly (98:06)

Yeah, you know, that is the job of the Department of Justice. You know, as Christians, we preach the gospel, we gather to work, worship Jesus. You know, Jesus is real, is our worldview. It's also the treasure of our hearts. And because of that, we're going to be okay ultimately, no matter what. But we're thankful that According to Romans 13, rulers are put in place by God to punish wrongdoing. And so we're grateful that right now the Department of Justice is doing that now.

Emily Jashinsky (98:37)

He, of course, went on this podcast after it happened just days after and said, the churchgoers are white, supremacists having zero basis to make that accusation, then said churchgoers were doing the exact opposite of what Christianity is supposed to be all about. How did you feel when you heard him insulting the congregants in that way?

Megyn Kelly (98:59)

Yeah, you know, there's been a lot of insults like that. And the Bible tells us first Peter 4, that when we're insulted, we should receive it as a blessing that the spirit of glory, the spirit of God, rest upon us. We know who we are. We know the work of God's grace in our lives. Our church is made up of people from all kinds of different walks of life. It's been our mission to gather, to worship Jesus weekly, to love and serve one another, to seek the good of these Twin Cities. We know who we are, and we're sticking to that. We're continuing to fulfill our mission, to be who God's called us to be. And we get insults like that, we're blessed. That's what Jesus says.

Emily Jashinsky (99:40)

I wish I could go to your church. I would love to come and be a member of your congregation and listen to you preach. I think I would have appreciated the sermon on John as well. Are things getting back to normal now? Are people starting to feel, you know, just a sense of serenity again?

Megyn Kelly (99:56)

Yeah, you know, that's a good question. And I was. I've been thinking about that just because I get the question question a lot. How. How is your church doing? How are things going? And again, ultimately, I want to say, because Jesus is real, we're going to be okay. We have a hope. We have a future. And at the same time, although that's true, we don't want to ignore reality. And the truth is that things are still, you know, they're tough. We have seriously increased our security measures. We have children who are still afraid to come. Come back to church. We're still working through lots of things as a congregation, but. But ultimately we. We know God has been so kind to us, and so we're very thankful for that. I was. Just a couple nights ago, my wife and I were having dinner with some of the members of our church. And I always like to hear how other people would answer that question. So I asked them, I said, hey, how do you think we're doing? And my friend said right away three things. She said, we are more. She said, we're more bold.

Emily Jashinsky (100:53)

Bold.

Megyn Kelly (100:53)

We're more careful, and we're more thankful. And I just thought that was a great. A great answer. And that's something to aspire toward. Like, we want to Be more bold, more grateful and more grateful.

Emily Jashinsky (101:04)

And you are one yourself. Renee, before we let you go quickly, is there going to be a civil lawsuit, any civil lawsuit against Don or the people who did this to you guys? Well, Megan, the freedom to worship is certainly important. That's something that the church is taking very seriously. You can appreciate as an attorney, I can't get into the legal strategy here today, but happy to update you as those details emerge. So we're not saying no. The church is exploring all options to make sure that cities is protected and that this never happens again. Good, good, good luck to you both and we will definitely keep covering it. Thank you. Thanks for having us and your flock as well.

Megyn Kelly (101:42)

Thank you.

Emily Jashinsky (101:44)

Wow. Before we go. So it's official. Punchbowl News now reporting Trump says he will nominate Mark Wayne Mullen to be DHS secretary, pointing out this comes after we reported this morning that he had been calling the Hill asking about firing Noem. Punchbowl News reporting Trump is firing Kristi Noem and that he will nominate Mark Wayne Mullen. So far just seeing this from Punchbowl News, haven't seen it confirmed independently. Oh, wait, no. This is just coming in. Trump posted on Truth Social what that says, per the Daily Mail, he has fired her. Later on Thursday, he announced that it will be Mark Wayne Mullen of Oklahoma who will be nominated and says, quote, I'm pleased to announce that the highly respected US Senator from the great state of Oklahoma, Mark Wayne Mullen, will become the United States Security of Homeland Secretary. Homeland Security, effective March 31. Trump posted on Truth Social the current secretary, Kristi Noem, who has served us well and has had numerous and spectacular results, especially on the border, will be moving to be special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, our new security initiative in the Western hemisphere. I thank her for her service at home. I mean, that's nice of Trump. He gave her a soft landing and the chance to save face, that this is just a lateral move. It's not a lateral move. This is definitely a firing and it's and a demotion. But the president has to do what he has to do. He has to have confidence in those around him. And I'm sure after all the bad press around, the messaging around Minnesota and then this, it was probably just too much. Thank you guys for tuning in. We'll do it all over again tomorrow. See you then. Thanks for listening to the Megyn Kelly show. No bs, no agenda and no fear. So good, so good, so good. New markdowns up to 70% off. Are at Nordstrom Rack stores now. And that means so many new reasons

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