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The Megyn Kelly Show
"Mildly" Positive Hantavirus U.S. Case, Biden Fights Audio Release, Hoosiers at WH: AM Update 5/12
00:19:47
18 passengers from a cruise ship tied to a deadly hantavirus outbreak are now being monitored at U.S. health facilities, with one person testing “mildly” positive. The suspect charged in last month’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting pleads not guilty, as his attorneys move to remove U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and other Trump administration prosecutors from the case. Former President Biden is preparing to attempt to block the release of audio recordings from his 2017 memoir interviews, which became evidence in Special Counsel Robert Hur’s classified documents investigation - president of the Oversight Project Mike Howell weighs in. The undefeated national champion Indiana Hoosiers visited the White House to celebrate the program’s first title, though star quarterback Fernando Mendoza missed the event because of NFL rookie commitments. Birch Gold: Text MK to 989898 for a free info kit and to see if you qualify for up to $10,000 back through May 29. Lean: Discover why L...
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- [00:00]
Megyn Kelly
This episode is brought to you by Nordstrom. Whether you're packing for a vacation or dressing for a wedding, Nordstrom has head to toe looks for wherever summer takes you. From swimwear in bold color to romantic florals and dresses, find the right style for every unforgettable moment. Shop new arrivals from brands you love like Farm, Rio, Free People, Vince Waif and Staud. Plus free shipping and returns and styling help whenever you need it. Make everything so easy. Shop in stores@nordstrom.com or download the Nordstrom app. Good morning everyone. I'm Megyn Kelly. It's Tuesday, May 12, 2026 and this is your AM update.
- [00:39]
Captain Brendan Jackson
They're going to be here for at least a few days while we do assessments.
- [00:42]
Megyn Kelly
18 passengers from a cruise ship tied to a deadly hantavirus outbreak now being monitored in the US with one testing mildly positive for the disease. The suspect in last month's White House Correspondent's Dinner shooting pleading not guilty as his lawyers argue the prosecution is tainted by a conflict of interest. Former President Biden moving to block the release of audio recordings from his memoir interviews that became evidence in the Special Counsel Robert Herr classified documents investigation.
- [01:13]
President Donald Trump
This was a year that will live forever in the hearts of Indiana football
- [01:17]
Megyn Kelly
fans and the undefeated national championship team. Indiana Hoosiers visit the White House. All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM update. When there are supply constraints on commodities prices surge, you see it with fuel prices, with everything happening in the Strait of Hormuz right now. And you know what else is a limited commodity? Gold. They mine it out of the ground and when it's gone, it's gone. Governments cannot just print more of it. And that's why everyone from central banks to savvy savers consider diversifying with gold. If you've been thinking about it for years, like so many, but have still never moved some of your savings into physical gold, consider Birch Gold Group. Now through May 29, Birch Gold is giving first time gold buyers a rebate of up to 10,000 bucks on qualifying purchases. For details and a free information kit on diversifying into Gold. Text MK to the number 989898. Birch Gold can help you convert an existing IRA or 401K into a tax sheltered IRA in physical gold. Text MK to the number 989898 to see if you qualify for a first time gold buyer rebate of up to $10,000. 18 passengers, 17Americans and one US British dual citizen from the MV Hondias cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak now being monitored at two U.S. health facilities. Sixteen brought to the University of Nebraska Medical center, home to both the National Quarantine Unit and Nebraska Biocontainment Unit. One passenger currently in biocontainment with top ranking CDC official Captain Brendan Jackson describing the case as, quote, mildly positive because just one of two samples taken from that person indicated hantavirus. That patient reportedly doing well and not showing any symptoms. The biocontainment unit, a more specialized isolation facility, uses negative air pressure systems, meaning air is pulled into the room but not allowed to flow back out into surrounding areas, helping prevent any possible airborne spread. Two other passengers, a couple, were sent to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. One has mild symptoms and is receiving care in Emory's biocontainment unit. The other is that person's partner in close contact, now being monitored as a precaution. Hantavirus is carried by rodents and usually spreads to humans through contact with infected urine droppings or saliva. This outbreak involving the Andes variant, a rare and deadly strain that can also spread person to person through prolonged close contact. At least three people tied to the ship have died. The passengers now in the U.S. ranging in age from late 20s to early 80s. Health officials say the quarantine units are more like a hotel room with WI fi exercise equipment and comfortable lodging, allowing for easy monitoring including routine temperature checks. All of the passengers now facing a 42 day monitoring window with health officials deciding case by case whether they can safely complete that period at home or need to remain under medical supervision. Captain Jackson at a press conference yesterday describing what the next several days will look like for these passengers.
- [04:39]
Captain Brendan Jackson
Right now, the folks, the passengers that are all in the sort of assessment phase, they're going to be here for at least a few days while we do assessments and then coordination from what happens next. They certainly have the option to stay here for the entire 42 day period if that's just the safest and most effective option for them. There's going to be an individualized decision plan for them to determine if it makes more sense for them to complete their 42 day monitoring period at home. But there's going to be a couple of things that go into that decision. First and foremost, do they remain symptom free, but then also do they have all the structures and support to be able to continue that period at home, making sure that they can be able to isolate in a separate part of structure from anybody else, make sure that they can contact their health department, get tested if necessary, if they develop symptoms or if they need a higher level of medical care that that's available to them.
- [05:31]
Megyn Kelly
Captain Jackson also explaining why the CDC is casting a relatively wide net around possible expos even as officials stress that hantavirus does not spread as easily as a respiratory virus like Covid.
- [05:45]
Captain Brendan Jackson
There's guidance that you can look to specifically on our website about close contact and how that defines exposures. Typically we're talking about exposure specifically to bodily fluids and that could include things like saliva. So if you're sharing, eating utensils, kissing, touching, those type of things, it can also mean just being really, really close to that person for fairly long period of time. So we're calling that six right now, six feet for at least a cumulative number of 15 minutes. I want to be clear, there's nothing magical about six feet. It's not a force field, but it's a rough number that gives us a sense of how close somebody has been. Fifteen minutes, again, it's a bit arbitrary, but it again gives some sense of how close someone has been. I think that's actually a fairly conservative approach given how we know how the evidence we should have so far about how this virus has spread in the past.
- [06:30]
Megyn Kelly
President Trump yesterday from the Oval Office offering measured reassurance.
- [06:35]
President Donald Trump
Now the one thing with this one is that it's much harder to catch and we've had it for a long, it's been around for a long time. People are very familiar with it. So, you know, I hope it's fine. All I can do is everything that a president can do, which is some, which is actually somewhat limited. But it seems like it is not easy to spread. In fact, it's in certain ways very hard to spread. It's been, we've lived with it for years, many years and we think we're in very good shape. We're very careful and Nebraska has done a fantastic job. They have a place there that those doctors are unbelievable the job they've done.
- [07:19]
Megyn Kelly
Cole Thomas Allen, the 31 year old suspect charged in last month's shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner, pleading not guilty yesterday to all four counts against him. Allen appearing in D.C. federal court in an orange jumpsuit, handcuffed to a waist chain and saying nothing during the hearing. His attorney, public defender Tesra Abe, entering the plea on his behalf. The four counts against Allen attempting to assassinate the President of the United States, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, transporting a firearm across state lines and assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon. That last charge, newly added Tuesday by a federal grand jury in connection with the shooting of a Secret Service agent. Investigators say a pellet pulled from the agent's vest matches buckshot allegedly fired from Allen's shotgun. The case now assigned to Trump appointed U.S. district Judge Trevor McFadden. Prosecutors also telling the court they expect to begin turning over the first batch of evidence to the defense by the end of the week. Allen's legal team also seeking to remove U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro, her office and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche from the case, arguing they have a conflict of interest in a court filing. The defense noting Pirro and Blanche were both in the ballroom when the shots were fired and citing Pirro's personal friendship with President Trump. From the motion, quote, how can the American justice system permit a victim to prosecute a criminal defendant in a case involving them? Pirro, in an interview with CNN earlier this month, rejecting the idea that her presence at the dinner should force her off of this case.
- [08:59]
Captain Brendan Jackson
I want to ask you this, with all due respect. You were a guest at the dinner.
- [09:03]
TJ Ducklow
Yes. And potentially, God forbid, a target. Right.
- [09:07]
Captain Brendan Jackson
You're in the administration.
- [09:08]
TJ Ducklow
Right.
- [09:08]
Captain Brendan Jackson
Has it been suggested to you at any point by anyone that maybe you need to recuse yourself because you were both a witness and a potential target?
- [09:16]
TJ Ducklow
Absolutely not. I mean, there is no way, I mean, that that would be like telling witnesses that, you know, you can' testify at the trial because you were there. The truth is that there were 2,500 of us who were there. And my ability to prosecute this case has nothing to do with my being there.
- [09:32]
Megyn Kelly
The court directing the DOJ to respond to the motion by June 22. Legal scholar Jonathan Turley yesterday on Fox News saying Allen's bid to remove Pirro from the case is unlikely to succeed.
- [09:44]
TJ Ducklow
I don't think it's going to go anywhere. The most that they can likely hope for here, Jillian, is this. Have the judge issue some type of gag order or some clarification about public statements to be made. I don't think the fact that she's a friend of the president will work. I mean, you had Eric Holder, who called himself the wingman of President Obama, that didn't result in widespread motions to have him removed from cases.
- [10:11]
Megyn Kelly
Allen is scheduled to return to court June 29 for a status conference. Coming up, former President Biden moving to a block. The release of audio recordings from his conversations with the ghostwriter of his memoir. And the national college football champions, the Indiana Hoosiers, visit the White House without their star player. Everybody's talking about weight loss injections because the results can be so dramatic. They work by lowering blood sugar and reducing appetite. But what if you're looking to lose weight but you're not interested in painful weekly injections, especially when you hear about some of those intense side effects? That's why doctors created a weight loss supplement called Lean, and the results could be remarkable. Lean says the studied ingredients in their product have been shown to lower your blood sugar, burn fat by converting it into energy, and curb your appetite and cravings so you are not as hungry. But listen, Lean is not for the casual dieter with only a few pounds to lose. The doctors at Brick House Nutrition created Lean for frustrated dieters with 10 or more pounds to lose. You could get started with 20% off and free rush shipping, adding Lean to your healthy diet and exercise plan. Visit takelean.com and enter MK to get your discount. That's promo code mkakelean.com Former President Joe Biden is preparing to attempt to block the release of audio recordings from his 2017 interviews with the ghostwriter behind his memoir, Promise Me Dad. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, filing suit in March 2024 in federal court in Washington, D.C. under the Freedom of Information act, seeking roughly 70 hours of recordings and transcripts from Mr. Biden's conversations with author Mark Zwanetzer. Separately, the House Judiciary Committee also asking the Justice Department to turn over the same materials. The recordings obtained by Special Counsel Robert Herr during his investigation into Mr. Biden's handling of classified documents after leaving office as vice president. Investigators finding classified materials at Mr. Biden's Wilmington, Delaware, home and at the Penn Biden center in Washington, D.C. from his time as vice president and senator. One of the most damaging findings in hers report centering on President Biden's recorded conversations with Zoenitzer. According to the report, Mr. Biden read aloud from notebooks investigators later determined contained classified information. In one quoted exchange, President Biden telling the ghostwriter, quote, I just found all the classified stuff downstairs. Her ultimately declining to bring criminal charges against then President Joe Biden. The final report released in February 2024 concluding that a jury would likely see Mr. Biden as, quote, a sympathetic, well meaning elderly man with a poor memory. President Biden denying at the time that he shared classified information, telling reporters, quote, guarantee you I did not. In a Friday court filing, the DOJ writing that it intends to release partially redacted versions of the ghostwriter recordings and transcripts to Heritage and to the House Judiciary committee. But the DOJ also indicating Mr. Biden's lawyers have advised the department that he intends to intervene in the case to prevent the disclosure. Today marks the deadline for Team Biden to take that legal step. Biden spokesperson TJ Ducklow telling Politico in a statement, quote, president Biden cooperated fully with special counsel her and agreed to provide audio tapes of conversations with his biographer for a book about his deceased son on the condition that they would not be made public. Ducklow adding, quote, the DOJ themselves have said these tapes serve no public interest. We spoke with Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, a non profit government watchdog group. The Oversight Project beginning this effort while it was still under the Heritage foundation umbrella and now continuing to partner with the think tank in the legal fight. Howell tells us what he expects the tapes to reveal.
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TJ Ducklow
I think it's pretty obvious that Joe Biden was very faulty and not of sound mind. And so I expect this is an embarrassing reporting for him, which is the motivation behind trying to fight for the release. It'll help, you know, paint a fuller picture of, you know, when the decline started and how bad it was. I also think it'll add context to how the, you know, then former vice president was illegally holding and using classified information, perhaps for private financial gain. Because keep in mind, the reason he wrote this book is because, and this is in the record, Joe Biden was embarrassed that they didn't have enough money. You had Hunter running around and making all the money, and so he paid somebody to write a book for him. And I think he was flipping secrets around in order to have a juicier book.
- [15:16]
Megyn Kelly
Howell says after years of litigation, Team Biden is only moving to object now just as the tapes appear close to release.
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TJ Ducklow
This case has been going on for years and now that it's on the eve of being released, they're just seeking to extend that. Jeff Clark, our VP for litigation here, said he's never seen in his 30 years of practicing a more obvious delay tactic than this. It reeks of politics. I mean, right now, going into midterms, there's been some articles written about how Biden intends to assert himself more in the political process. And I think they just finally figured out, like, hey, if, you know, they're going to be trotting out Joe Biden again and they're going to have a probably pretty embarrassing story coming out. They don't want those two things to happen at the same time. And so their lawyers put two and two together and then decided, oh, holy smokes, we should try to delay the release of this tape even longer.
- [16:08]
Megyn Kelly
For Howell, the fight over these tapes now becoming part of A larger question about transparency, accountability and, and how the Biden White House operated.
- [16:17]
TJ Ducklow
I'll say that the matter of how this country was run by an auto pen for four years still remains one of the greatest constitutional scandals in American history. I know that it's kind of lost the spotlight a little bit in recent years with how quickly news moves, but we need to return as a country focused to this issue because, you know, for all the talks going on right now about attacks on democracy, this attacks on democracy, that there's been nothing more undemocratic than a president, you know, an entire branch of government, rather, being outsourced to staff using an auto pen. And so when we have potential pieces of evidence, like a, you know, long recording of Joe Biden with his ghostwriter, there's no reason that should not be in the public record and should not be used to inform solutions to ensure something like this never happens again.
- [17:07]
Megyn Kelly
The 2025 College Football Playoff champions, the Indiana Hoosiers visiting the White House yesterday, celebrating the program's first national title and a perfect 160 season after defeating Miami 2721 in the championship game back in January. President Trump, who was at the championship game, welcoming the team and head coach Kurt Signetti to the White House.
- [17:33]
President Donald Trump
This is an honor. I watch that game. I watch these guys. They can play. They can play. And they were a little underestimated, but I just said, but not anymore. They're not underestimated anymore. They were incredible talents. So today it's my great honor to welcome the 2025 College Football national champions, the Indiana University Hoosiers. This was a year that will live forever in the hearts of Indiana football fans. It was an exciting year for football, but maybe you're the biggest story. I think, coach, you're the biggest story. There's no story like this. Kurt Signetti has turned out to be, I believe, I think he's the coach of the last decade because he took a team. Nobody knew him, nobody knew the team, and he ended up taking this team all the way.
- [18:23]
Megyn Kelly
Notably absent from the celebration, Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the relentlessly positive star who helped turn Indiana's title run into into a national story with his inspirational post game interviews, Mendoza going on to become the number one overall NFL draft pick for the Las Vegas Raiders. Mendoza previously confirming to reporters that commitments to his new team meant he would miss out on the celebration.
- [18:50]
Captain Brendan Jackson
I'm on the bottom of the totem pole here. I got to prove myself. I can't miss practice as a rookie.
- [18:56]
TJ Ducklow
I don't think that's a good look.
- [18:58]
Captain Brendan Jackson
And I want to, you know, try to best serve my teammates.
- [19:01]
TJ Ducklow
And I don't know if that'd be accomplishing that goal.
- [19:03]
Megyn Kelly
President Trump at the White House still taking a moment to recognize the Hoosiers absent star quarterback.
- [19:08]
President Donald Trump
Now, the reason he's not here, he was so nice. He called because he actually, JD Is a big fan of ours. You wouldn't believe it because he didn't show up. I'm not happy, but that's okay. The reason he didn't. Because he's at spring training, right?
- [19:23]
TJ Ducklow
Correct.
- [19:24]
President Donald Trump
No, he's been great. And he's at spring training, like his first day or so. My second. You better go there. If he was not here for other reasons, like he didn't like Trump or he didn't want to come, I wouldn't even mention him. I'd go through the whole. I'd talk about how great. I wouldn't even mention the quarterback's name. But he's a great guy, actually, and he is actually a big fan of what we're doing for our country. But he became Indiana's first ever Heisman Trophy winner. Right. Coach
- [19:53]
Megyn Kelly
the team gifting President Trump a custom jersey, helmet and football before getting a tour of the Oval Office. And that'll do it for your AM Update. I'm Megyn Kelly. Join me back here for the MK show live on SiriusXM's the Megyn Kelly Channel 111 at noon east on YouTube.com megankelly and on all podcast platforms. Traditional home security only alerts you after a break in, and that's too late. Simplisafe is changing that.
- [20:25]
TJ Ducklow
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- [20:25]
Captain Brendan Jackson
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- [20:27]
TJ Ducklow
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Megyn Kelly
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Captain Brendan Jackson
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