
Megyn Kelly is joined by Buck Sexton, co-host of "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show," to talk about the media meltdown over Elon Musk, the need to clean up waste, fraud, and abuse at USAID, the truth about USAID funding terrorists, the shocking NSA chat logs exposed, progressive campus culture somehow invading government intel community, Jeff Bezos' major announcement about changes at the Washington Post, whether he really cares about the principles he says or has other interests at play, the insanity of some on the left in newsrooms, the decision by the White House to decide who gets to be in the pool, the independence of the press, the partisanship and professionalism of our current media, and more. Herald Group: Learn more at https:/GuardYourCard.com Beam: Visit https://ShopBeam.com/MEGYN and use code TCS at checkout for 40% off FYSI: https://FYSI.com/Megyn or call 800-877-4000 More from Buck: https://www.youtube.com/@BuckSexton
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Megyn Kelly
Welcome to the Megyn Kelly show, live on Sirius XM channel 111, every weekday at noon East. Hey, everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to the Megyn Kelly Show. The corporate media is having a bigger meltdown this week than any other of the Trump presidency so far. There's Joy Reid's firing, firing on msnbc. Take care, sweetheart. Miss you. In our own special way, there's the revolt over Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos putting his stamp on the outlet's opinion page. And there is the ongoing Doge saga as Elon Musk starred in President Trump's first Cabinet meeting yesterday. They are horrified that someone who's not in the Cabinet would show up at the Cabinet meeting and actually try to run heard on this thing. Like, like this person thinks that they're in the Cabinet and they're not actually in the Cabinet, and how dare they do that. It's very upsetting and it's totally inappropriate, unless your name is Jill Biden, in which case it's very laudable and good for her, or we didn't even notice it. As President Trump begins his new administration, one of the top Democrats in Congress aiming to undermine the Trump agenda is Senator Dick Durbin. And according to our sponsor, the Electronic Payments Coalition, Senator Durbin has a new scheme, a government takeover of your credit card. Today, Americans have thousands of choices in credit cards, but they say Senator Durbin's plan will result in less competition and less security. And that means more risk to your credit and your identity. Learn more@guardyourcard.org and consider telling your senators to stop Dick Durbin's government takeover of your credit card before it's too late. Joining me now to discuss it all is Buck Sexton. He's co host of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Buck, welcome back.
Buck Sexton
Hey, Megan, thanks for having me.
Megyn Kelly
So it's one thing. It's one thing to have Jill Biden show up, but it's totally different to have Elon Musk show up and try to be accountable to the press and the Cabinet. That, that is a bridge too far. They are out of line and having Elon there and you need look no further than today's headlines to figure that out. CNN Trump's Cabinet meeting serves as a backdrop to Musk's power. It was just a backdrop. Trump was like a supporting cast member. New York Times. Musk's Cabinet cameo. The elephant in the room wore black. The Guardian Trump Cabinet flunkies hail wannabe Caesar and Elon, his oligarch pal and let's just give you a little contrast. When Jill Biden attended cabinet meeting in September, this just past September 2024, it was Biden's first in 11 months. Look at her sitting at the head of the table. The CNN headline was not Cabinet meeting serves as backdrop to Jill Biden's power. It was Joe Biden directs cabinet to run through the tape in legacy burnishing meeting and then 21 paragraphs in, they mention first lady Jill Biden shared an update on a women's health research initiative. New York Times. Did they mention Jill? No, not a word. The Guardian, who's so upset now about how the flunkies hailed the wannabe Caesar and Elon his oligarch, nothing, didn't say one word. But Elon bridge too far.
Buck Sexton
Well, to be fair, I think that the, the president, the former president's wife was about as much the president as he was. I mean Jill Biden was probably making more decisions behind the scenes of any consequence than Joe Biden was, which now even the Democrats and the democr Democrat aligned media more or less admit, at least they do for the last year of his term. But yes, obviously Megan, the criticism is increasingly desperate and pathetic, I think from the media, specifically about Elon. I mean here you have the richest man in the world, self made richest man in the world and every CEO that I've talked to, and I know you talk to the titans of industry, everyone respects this guy and then some. A lot of people will just say he's a genius, specifically at what he's trying to help our government do, which is address inefficiencies, bureaucracy, bloat, waste, break through the really hard problems. Why is Elon the richest man in the world? Why is Tesla, SpaceX now X after Twitter, all these, the boring company, all these different things. Why has he been so incredible at it? It's because when everyone else says this can't be done, this can't be fixed, somehow this guy fixes it. That we have him involved in trying to write our government and figure out where a lot of this money is going and where a lot of the bottlenecks are for transparency and where the bureaucracy has just huddled together and decided they're completely unaccountable should be a dream come true. And here's the big problem, Megan. It should be a bipartisan dream come true. This isn't for in any meaningful way a partisan issue. Meaning if Medicare is paying billions of dollars to straight up fraudsters, not just here but overseas as well, which everyone has known this has been Going on for years. No one's done anything about it. If Elon Musk can stop that, does anyone wanna be in favor of it? Democrats have put themselves in a place where they have to root for the bad thing just because they want to oppose Trump, Elon and everybody involved with them. And I think this Cabinet meeting is a perfect example. He's talking about ending or limiting, bringing down the numbers on government fraud, waste and abuse. And they're attacking this guy as if he isn't incredibly talented, able and capable of doing this. Probably more so than, I don't know, anyone else on the planet. So I think that they just Twitter the whole thing.
Megyn Kelly
Nobody said Twitter was going to close. Now it's efficient. It's got 20% of the staff it used to, and it's a success. I want to continue it down this line. And we'll talk more about what happened at the Cabinet meeting, but just as an offshoot to Doge and what Elon's doing. One of the agencies he's been looking at, obviously is usaid, this agency that we use to funnel all sorts of foreign aid to God knows whom. That's really what we're finding out. These pet causes of the Democrats that have been getting slush funded for years. And there was this. There was a hearing on this yesterday on Capitol Hill. Buck. And listen to this exchange. You've got Representative Tim Burchett, Republican of Tennessee, questioning now former USAID executives on where the money was going. Listen to this.
Buck Sexton
Mr. Roman, are you aware that we are sending $40 million a week to the, to the Taliban? Yes, sir. Can you name other instances of foreign aid going to terrorist organizations? We have assisted Al Shabaab in Somalia. There's been instances of the Hamza network in Sudan, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Kataiba, Hezbollah, Hayatah in Syria. Dozens of terror organizations have received indirect assistance. Let's use Gaza as our case study. $2.1 billion in American taxpayers money to Gaza since October 7, when Hamas invaded southern Israel. Waivers were granted because they said that there was an emergency used to have that money come in to Gaza, thereby jettisoning the usual typical screening procedures. As a result, 90% of aid that was going from the United States by way of its agents in Gaza ended up in Hamas controlled areas. Seems like the emergency might have been armed terrorists to kill civilians. Would that be accurate? That's accurate. And even more than that, Samantha Powers, the administrator for usaid, was intent on having Israel not be able to defend itself. They bring together groups in Washington that overseas work with groups that kill Americans. Yeah, I don't need a flowchart. Show that. I appreciate it.
Megyn Kelly
International NGOs and UN agencies actively lobby here in Washington, DC against vetting.
Buck Sexton
Vetting policies that would prevent it.
Megyn Kelly
I was the senior vetting officer at usaid. We had a regulation before we left in the last administration that anybody who.
Buck Sexton
Touches money in area, in countries where.
Megyn Kelly
There'S terrorists, those names have to go through databases. Terrorist databases. That was overturned by Biden. So that first guy is a think tank guy. That second guy was at usaid. It's unbelievable where this money's been going. We're funding Hamas.
Buck Sexton
Yes. Well, everyone was, I think, rightly outraged. Although sometimes it was almost amusing if the numbers weren't so high in terms of the wasted money for the, you know, transgender puppet shows in Mongolia and, you know, DEI theory in Guatemala and the things that everyone's paying for. That's one thing. It's another thing, and I think even more egregious to look at what was just being discussed there, which is money being funneled to some of the most vicious and vile terrorist groups in the world under the guise of this somehow advancing US Interests. And that's what's key. USAID is not supposed to be a global charity. It is not a soup kitchen for the world. It is supposed to advance US Interests. And a lot of the stuff that Elon has exposed so far, Elon Doge has exposed, is frivolous and absurd. But some of those things, the expenditures, for example, going to Hamas and Al Shabaab in Somalia and some of these terrorist groups that I used to track when I was in the CIA years and years ago. And let me tell you, these are very, very bad individuals. Some of this money is clearly working against US Interests and not being deployed in a way that would make any sense if the American people knew about it. Which is, again, I think, why a lot of the outrage is not just justified, but entirely necessary. We can't have this happen going forward. You can't have.
Megyn Kelly
Why am I funding, through this group, Hamas's murder of Israeli babies? I object. I'm funding the murder of the Bebes boys. F you anybody who supports this organization at this point, this is such an outrage that this was allowed to happen in the first place for anyone to have the gall to object to the questioning of it now, never mind the shutting down by Elon and Trump. They don't have their moral head on straight. This is. This is outrageous. The entire country should be up in arms that we've been doing this. And instead we get ridiculous headlines like, I just read to you about why Elon is at a cabinet meeting. It's infuriating. Buck. I. They don't. You're right. Well, you said is right. They're more obsessed with being anti Trump, anti Elon, than they are in figuring out what the true morality is of what's being exposed.
Buck Sexton
Yes. And they're showing also the American people how obtuse they are in their approach to this at every step of the way. These are not 50, 50 issues. These are not even 60, 40 issues. This is much more like an 80 20, where 20% of the far left of this country or the 20% that comprises it is in favor of, say, Hamas, or they're in favor of trying to buy off terrorist groups with humanitarian aid. And the rest of the American people are saying, what the heck are you doing? This is completely insane. And I would just say you've seen. I'm sure, Megan. I mean, I think everyone's seen now these chat logs from inside of the NSA and the CIA and as you know.
Megyn Kelly
Let me just set that up. Let me just set that up.
Buck Sexton
Oh, sure. Sorry. I just. Go ahead. Yeah, I was.
Megyn Kelly
No, no, it broke the other day. Chris Ruffo, who's an amazing force for good in the country, had a whistleblower come to him out of NSA saying, here are a bunch of texts from internal, like, chat servers showing an obsession within our national security agencies with being trans, with sex, like, gay sex, with calling themselves not just like, by the wrong pronouns, but insisting that these random people who work for us in the highest levels of our intelligence agencies want to be known as it. I'm an it. I'm not even a he or she. It Absolutely raunchy, disgusting talk. And the explanation is that they've gotten so obsessed with, like, Pride month and the so called tolerance of the LGBTQ crowd that this went on without fear on these company, these company internal chat forums until somebody just blew the whistle. And Tulsi Gabbard actually said, everyone's getting fired who participated in that. I'll play that sound bite sout one and then you take it out. Well, Jesse, what we're going to do has already been done. There are over 100 people from across the intelligence community that contributed to and participated in this. What is really just an egregious violation of trust. What to speak of, like, basic rules and standards around professionalism. I put out a directive today that they all will be terminated and their security clearances will be revoked. They were brazen in using an NSA platform intended for professional use to conduct this kind of really, really horrific behavior. And they were brazen in doing this because when was the last time anyone was really held accountable? Today's action in holding these individuals accountable is just the beginning of what we're seeing across the Trump administration, which is carrying out the mandate the American people gave him. Clean house, root out that rot and corruption. Go ahead, Buck.
Buck Sexton
Look, as you know, Megan, I worked in the CIA for a number of years. It's been a while, but I still have a lot of friends on the inside and people throughout the intelligence community. And what you're hearing about in terms of how left wing and insane it is, this is just the tip of the iceberg. This has been going on for years. This is a systemic problem.
Megyn Kelly
In your internal chit chat, when you were there, you were not discussing how great it would be to have a, an intersex baby so that you can raise him trans like they like some of the messages here. An intersex birth would be a great opportunity to raise a kid as a non binary and let them choose later. This is when, after they're discussing trans surgeries and their excitement about, quote, being penetrated. That wasn't, that wasn't the chit chat you saw on the internal servers back then?
Buck Sexton
No, we, we were trying to find Osama bin Laden. I mean, literally trying to find Osama bin Laden. That was my job. I was in CTC, in the, in the CIA's Counterterrorism Center. And there was a sense. Now, remember, I was there in the early, you know, starting around 2005, so there was a very clear mission set. And you had us working very closely with military, including tier one strike units, going after the worst of the worst. But starting around the Obama era, which is when I left, things started to shift and they got very adept. And this is kind of a longer narrative. But these agencies, and this is why I was thinking about it when we were talking about USAID a moment ago, these agencies have really mirrored what you saw happen, Megan, in the university system, where it's almost like an invasive species in nature gets a foothold and then takes over an entire ecosystem and blocks out all the other species. What you have is people inside of the federal bureaucracy who are radical left partisans. And this usually comes through hr, the DEI office, the left wing commissars, if you will. They start to demand certain policies, they start to hire certain kinds of people, they create a pipeline for more of this madness. Just like how we saw the faculty lounges across America, even at the most elite universities, just have gone completely insane over the last 20 years. You could say it's maybe longer than that. This has happened throughout the intelligence community too. And when you don't have people showing up, you had this post 911 generation, which I was a part of, where we're just saying, our country's under attack. Let's fight Al Qaeda, okay? That's why a whole wave joined. If you joined the CIA in the last 10 years, a lot of people are joining, and they had to mouth the preferred slogans of the DEI commissars about things like the trans agenda. I have friends in the CIA who say that it feels like it's trans awareness Week every other week in the Central Intelligence Agency. And when you look at the issue of security clearances, which Tulsi Gabbard there brought up, these are not just people who are doing some. You know, they're not working in the bowels of the Department of Agriculture. They're being entrusted with top secret and compartmented information, and they're clearly nuts. And this needs to be said, these people. When I applied to the CIA, it was, you know, do you have any gambling debts? You know, what kind of credit card debt do you have? You know, what kind of relationships do you have, you know, with women? Anyone overseas, I mean, they ask you all these very invasive questions. But apparently, if you want to have a hermaphrodite baby to run some kind of social experiment where you can raise them as the perfect trans kid and want everybody else to be on board for this, the NSA has a special spot for you. What is being shown here is critical that people figure out what the heck has happened here. The Wesleyan faculty lounge is now running the CIA, the NSA and these places. And it needs to stop. It has gone on far too long.
Megyn Kelly
Just to give a little bit more from the Rufo reporting. Rufo had like an epic post on this which summed it up as follows. There is a battalion of male to female transgender transgenders within the American intel apparatus. They hate Italians and libs of TikTok. They fantasize about pseudo vaginas and butthole lasers. They are in charge of the most sophisticated spying machine in human history. Well said. Here's a couple of examples. One, I mean, honestly, the rest is nice too. Talking about transgender surgeries, wearing panties without worrying about anything showing, seeing my reflection in the mirror wearing leggings, et cetera. But the P thing is something I never thought of, but it's really nice. Then I'm going to be wearing leggings all day Friday and Saturday. I think about that last one probably the most. Blah, blah, blah. Mine is everything. I found that I like being penetrated. Never liked it before grs, but all the rest is just as important as well. And then all I can say is that this was 1 million percent worth it. Despite having to fly to Thailand, pay out of pocket and the recovery. I would not change anything if I had to do it all over again. And then the whistleblower says to Rufo, I know several people at the agency brought up, hey, we're here to fight for the USA and go after adversaries. And they just got hammered. They would start coming out with transphobe and homophobe right away, or calling you a racist. The guy goes on, or gal saying, I don't care if you're politically left or right, you can't have an unbiased mind. If you're writing a report and you're constantly focused on how does this apply to gender ideology? Because when you do that, it's going to get people killed in the field. That's a good point.
Buck Sexton
Yes. Well, this is why it's a very serious business that the intelligence community does and it's sad to see what it has turned into in terms of the reputation. Remember, the FBI is part of the intelligence community. I think there's now 17 agencies that fall under the umbrella. Overall, I can't even name them all off the top of my head and I used to be a part of it, and that's because they've added a few since I was in there. But they do have a very serious mission. It's bloated, it's ineffective, it's become incredibly DEI obsessed. All of that is very true. But you actually do need somebody to keep an eye on what the Russian SVR is doing. You actually do need somebody looking at the transcripts of whatever the latest sat phone call is from Al Shabaab to some terrorist group that is trying to blow to their terrorist cell that's trying to blow up an embassy or something somewhere. So this is a critical mission that they have. And a huge part of this is the sense of esprit de corps that the workforce has, which I will tell you, was there under the Bush years. When I was in the CIA, there was a sense of we know why we're showing up every day. It wasn't perfect. It was sometimes bureaucratic and slow and there were challenges, but people were deploying to war zones. People were doing high level Missions and interesting stuff that has just changed. And it changed, like I said, the same way. So many of these government institutions. The moment that you have changed, the moment that you start to bend the knee to this madness, to the point about who are these people and why are they demanding that you not focus on national security for the country and they're inside the intelligence community, the moment you start to bend the knee, they just demand more. And if you're somebody who says. Who tries to blow the whistle on them. By the way, before Trump came along in this administration, if you try to do that under the Biden years, you were the problem. You know, everyone always says it's impossible to get fired from the federal government if you were on the wrong side of the DEI gods. Oh, man, bad things. And again, I know because I've talked to people who have had this happen to them. If you said something that offended somebody who is trans or whatever in the office, you'll be lucky if they don't send you to the H, you know, the HR Re Education camp right away.
Megyn Kelly
People should not be serving in the intelligence community in this way. I'm sorry, there's too much of a mental question about their abilities. For them to be this close to the nuclear controls and fighting our enemies. This is just. I don't think this is an appropriate place for them.
Buck Sexton
Yes, no, I completely agree with you. And the CIA in these places are notoriously hard, particularly CIA is incredibly hard to get hired by, or at least it used to be. I don't know how it is these days. And there was a really rigorous process and like I said, there was all of this incredibly intrusive and some of it I can't even get into. Cuz technically it's not something that I can speak about publicly. But they're allowed to know basically everything about your life, to look for any weakness in you that could be exploited by a foreign intelligence service. And we've got people like the stuff that you're. I'm not one to blush that easily, Megan. The stuff you're reading about that Chris Ruffo found, I had to look up some of this stuff. I don't even know what some of these words are. I didn't know what a polycule was.
Megyn Kelly
Crossed a Rubicon.
Buck Sexton
And to your point, this is supposed to be the most elite of the entire national security intelligence apparatus. You're talking about CIA and nsa. Those are really the flagship agencies. No offense to anybody from the other ones, but the fact that you have people wasting their time and also Just the brazenness. They're on a company server. I won't even say that Dolores from accounting looks nice in her dress on a company server. Do you know what I'm saying? We've had to live by such different rules. The people who show up and wanna do the real mission are living in constant fear of, oh, did I mansplain or something. And yet on the other side of things, you're allowed to be recruiting for your bizarre trans fantasies. It's crazy stuff. And so I'm glad Rufo found it. But again, this has been far more widespread. This is the thing about Doge, too. It's the thing about the, you know, the Rufo leak of these chats. This is tip of the iceberg. We're just beginning to see this because they have taken over these federal institutions. Once you control HR and the hiring and internal enforcement mechanism. Just look at the colleges. Just look. This has happened in big law firms now. This is why everyone's putting the pronouns until now in their signature. This is why everyone's been hiding from insane people. It's finally stopping. Thank God. But I'm just trying to tell everybody this is opening innings. It's not like, oh, we've just, we've found it and now the problem can be fixed. There's a lot more of this stuff that you're gonna see.
Megyn Kelly
Well, here's a very insightful look at why Trump and Elon are actually taking a hard look at all these government agencies, from yes, the NSA and the intel agencies to usaid to try to figure out who, who's not doing what they're supposed to be doing and where can we find efficiencies and in coordination with people like Tulsi, like Pete, like all the agency heads, to figure out what are the problems in personnel. Like, let's just start there by cleaning up the personnel. So here's an insightful take we got last night on CNN with this. Another racist. This guy, he's a race baiter. He lost his show on msnbc. He was too much for them years ago. Named Ture, but been resurrected over on CNN where they're taking their rejects from msnbc. Good luck, Joy. Give it a try. Having an exchange with Scott Jennings as follows.
Buck Sexton
And in that time, how is Trump shredding the Constitution?
Megyn Kelly
My God, he's a. I mean, seriously.
Buck Sexton
We have to give you a civics lesson that we have. I don't know that we have. That we have. We put all power in the executive branch, the legislative branch, the FBI. Now we're in control of the military silencing media. This is what you do in a dictatorship. Are you suggesting that the President is.
Megyn Kelly
Not the commander in chief of the military?
Buck Sexton
I am suggesting that the President is going to put in charge somebody who is going to contravene the Constitution. And at some near point this conversation will look very silly for you because it will be obvious and right now you're gaslighting. He's going to. When we get to the actual rubber of the road of this, it will be clear I'm interested in this conversation. He's going to put someone in charge who will contravene the Constitution. Like who? What do you mean by that? The President is in charge of the military, is he not?
Megyn Kelly
You said he's going to put someone.
Buck Sexton
In charge of the military.
Megyn Kelly
President is in charge of the military.
Buck Sexton
That is how it works.
Megyn Kelly
Meanwhile, this ture looks very confused. What do you mean? Why are you saying he's in charge of the military? I would take my point which is whatever he does with the military is unconstitutional.
Buck Sexton
Well, this, this goes right to why we are in the midst of. And Megan, I'll be honest, I didn't know that we would ever get here because it feels like it's been forever. I think I've been doing media now. Left the CIA, I've been doing media for almost 15 years and there just were these edifices of these institutions, monoliths of so called journalism, whether it's cnn, the New York Times, the Washington Post and it's all in freefall right now. And it should be because they've lied so much, they've been so dishonest, whether it was the covering up of Biden dementia, which we may get to. I know that's another thing that everyone's looking at, right? But they've lied on so many things. But the biggest thing that I think they have to deal with right now is what is their purpose? The purpose of cnn, the purpose of the New York Times, the Washington Post is not to tell people the objective truth. We know that. And anybody who still believes that is truly delusional. And there are very few people who believe it beyond that. They can't even say that their purpose is to serve the interests well of the Democrat party because they humiliated their own audience. And as you know, I mean this is among the cardinal sins of doing any kind of. Whether it's journalism commentary, if your audience turns on you because you've turned on them, it's all over, right? I mean this is like 101 most basic stuff. They've ridiculed their own audience because everything that they told them that would come true did not come true. All of the fear mongering is now clearly just hysteria about Trump and he's going to end the Constitution. It's the end of the country, and all these horrible things will happen and we need to prosecute him. And he's a rapist and he's at this and he's at that. All lies, all lies. And I think that there's a core group of them. You know, I used to watch. This is actually a guilty pleasure of mine, Megan. I watched Morning Joe for about the 90 days leading up to Election Day. Every day same. Because it was.
Megyn Kelly
I would listen to the podcast just to see what the, what insanity was being spewed.
Buck Sexton
They were so crazy. I, it was. I don't know how they even had the energy. Every morning was Mika like, oh, the Nazis and Trump. It just, you know, Joe. Oh, yeah, I know. I just got off. I just got off the grass courts over at the country club and let me tell you, I'm really worried. I mean, the whole thing was just, it was just vomit on toast, man. I mean, it was preposterous.
Megyn Kelly
And they fully played the Hitler card until he bent the knee at Mar a Lago, both of them. And Hitler's ring. I said, oh, what do you mean?
Buck Sexton
But this is totally normal. This is, but this is a perfect example. This is what I mean. Megan, if you're a Morning Joe, not kind of, you know, mock. I was a mockery watcher. But if you were really watching them, what do you have? What do they stand for? What are they doing for you now? If you were their true audience, and I think this is true of the New York Times, the Washington Post and all these places now as well. They created an alternate reality for these people to live in. And that reality has come crashing down, which is why Joy Reid has to get fired. And I think the View is maybe gonna have to make some shakeup soon. And why Jeff Bezos has told the Washington Post to stop being insane. You're not actually allowed to be communist anymore. I may. You know, this is the necessary reckoning that the traditional corporate legacy media is having right now. And you're even seeing parts of it on cnn. That Torre guy, I mean, that's an argument. That was, it was stupid six months ago. It's. And it's been annoying for eight years. But no one believes this now. No one actually thinks. I mean, when I say nobody. The people who believe it will believe absolutely anything.
Megyn Kelly
Well, yeah. I mean, at some point even the MSNBC audience has got to get tired about being wrong about everything. It's just embarrassing if you just keep taking Rachel Maddow's information, repeating it in the public, and then have, you know, your pants effectively pulled down on you. You've made a clown out of yourself. Let's spend a minute on the Washington Post. So, Jeff Bezos, I find this interesting. Of course, the Washington Post is hard left now and has been for some time, since the first Trump presidency at least, and he's owned it for almost all of that time. And now he shows up at the inauguration. He, like the other tech titans, made a big donation to the Trump inauguration fund. He's got his half dressed fiance there, two steps from the President as he takes the oath of office, because now he wants to be near power. He wants to curry favor with the sitting president. So he both gave money and paraded a naked woman in front of President Trump. And now the third move is he's changing the editorial policy on the Washington Post opinion page. He writes this long message on X reads, which reads in part as follows. We are going to be writing every day in support of and in defense of two pillars, personal liberties. My interpretation of that is the Bill of Rights and free markets. Free markets meaning capitalism and not government control of everything in our economy. We will cover other topics too, of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others. There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly monopoly, might have seen it as a service to bring to the reader's doorstep every morning a broad based opinion section that sought to cover all views. Today the Internet does that job. I am of America and for America and proud to be so. Wow. Really? Our country did not get here by being typical. And a big part of America's success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical, it minimizes coercion, and practical, it drives creativity, invention and prosperity. I mean, great. There's not a word of that that you or I would disagree with. But where the hell was this Jeff Bezos for the past 10 years his paper has been taken over by a bunch of communists lunatics. And let me just give you one other piece. They still employ Karen Attia, who is a Washington Post columnist who the day after 107 and the attack on Israel, liked a post that said, this is what decolonization looks like. What did y'all think we meant by decolonization? Too bad about the dead babies burned in their cribs. Sorry, that's what we meant. And if you didn't get it, you're too stupid to know that. And Karen Attia for not for nothing, but she showed up at a book event just the other day in I don't know where the town was. I think it was in Washington. Yeah, it was in Washington D.C. and this woman got in her grill about that tweet and the like. And all of Karen ati's posts have been very pro Hamas. And this is how Karen ATI just, this is Jeff Bezos's employee defends herself and what we just witnessed with this woman who got in her grill. Let's play side eight. Make no apologies for standing on the.
Buck Sexton
Side of Palestinian liberation at all.
Megyn Kelly
That's all I think about and I.
Buck Sexton
Believe, I hope this is actually a answer example of the backlash of how.
Megyn Kelly
Violent the social media discourse is, how violent it is. The response is to anyone who speaks about Israel, Palestine and breakouts, they particularly black, especially if you're black. So that's his simple. I, I'm not, I'm failing to sense the true leaf turning buck. I know he wants to fig leaf it. Yay, now I'm pro individual liberties and yay, now I'm pro free markets. How on earth do you have a paper like that that up until about two minutes ago employed Jennifer Rubin? She quit of her own volition, but he's gladly platformed that insane lunatic for years.
Buck Sexton
Well, this is where we have to start to look at who is truly at a moment of recognition that they had been wrong or they had been backing the wrong team and who's been red pilled versus who is going with where the winds are right now. I mean, I don't believe for one second as somebody who was absolutely hounded by the New York Times did a hit piece on me during COVID Everything I said during COVID turned out to be true. By the way, masks are a joke. Lockdowns are idiotic. But it didn't matter, right? Facebook shut me down. I've had multiple YouTube shows banned anyway. You know, poor me. I'm just saying the point is these tech barons, when it mattered, were not just mia, they were worse than that actually. They were leading the charge to shut us down. I think there's no question you look at somebody like Elon, he has been truly red pilled and his story, I mean, I think it's quite clear to everybody I have a tremendous amount of respect for the guy. His story about what happened to his son, where they transed his son and he shared this publicly. I believe Elon is truly and dearly on our team now on Team Sanity, on Team Freedom and Western Civilization, there is a contingent of the Democrat Party and you mentioned this or showed us also this person from the Washington Post. There's a contingent of the Democrat Party that honestly is deeply, ideologically and emotionally tied to barbarousness and evil. And this is something that I saw after 911 when I was in college and there were Democrats. There was a professor, we had a whole school meeting. Megan, I know I'm taking a little bit of a step back here. We had an all school meeting on 9 11. People were finding out that they had relatives who were killed that day in my school. And one of the main professors for our foreign relations political science department said this is what happens when you make people mad at you through your arrogant policy. And that was a really oh my moment. Right? I mean that was a holy. I cannot believe how sort of fetid and decrepit the ideology of the left. This guy was a self described Marxist, by the way. So it wasn't really a surprise. October 7th, and this is where I'm bringing it up was another moment of you're either with the good guys or the bad guys on this. And I know people like to pretend that they care so much about Palestine. The Americans who care so much about Palestine, they know nothing. There is no Palestine. Put that aside. They're ignoramuses on the issue. They view it as a racial conflict because they're so dumb that they don't understand that Israel is actually a multi ethnic society, that 20% of Israel is of Arab and often Muslim background. They don't know anything. All they know is Israel. It must be a bunch of guys who look like Jerry Seinfeld. It's all a bunch of like rich white guys in Israel and they're hurting the brown people who are the Palestinians. And that will get you a column at the Washington Post. This is the point. That kind of mentality until now was absolutely supported and platformed at a lot of these legacy institutions. So the fact that that's turning around now a bit is a good thing. But to your point about Jeff Bezos, I'm not, you know, he's not Elon, you know, I mean he. I'm not.
Megyn Kelly
I don't believe him for one second. I believe his critics who say this is about saving and currying advantage for his other businesses like Amazon, which is potentially facing an Antitrust problem. Can I throw one Origin? This is ridiculous. And by the way, just one other point and I'll give it back to you for sure. Karen Atiya. Then throwing in the race card at the end. Like, they really come down on you if you support Hamas. It's really outrageous. Yes, it is. It's. It's amazing how we don't like people who support terror against innocence, but especially if you're black. Okay, she can't get over it. She's got to play the race card in her little DC book event. Like, I'm really getting it because of my black skin, not because of my support for these baby killers. It's because I'm black. Poor me. Until he roots out people like that, I don't believe him for one second that he's committed to anything different than what he's been doing. I believe the people who say he's worried about his other businesses. Go ahead, Buck.
Buck Sexton
Yeah, no, it's, Well, I mean, just anti white solidarity has been a, A, a weapon used by the left, by the, by the Democrat progressives with, with reckless abandon for years and effectively, unfortunately. I mean, this is just, they always can retreat into this. Oh, you're taking the, you know, you're taking the side again with the Palestinians. You're taking the side of Israel because they're white. It's like that. This is so, this is so ahistorical and absurd, but it doesn't matter because people get scared. It's like calling people a racist in the 90s, right? You call someone a racist in the 90s, oh, I'm so sorry. You know, into the 2000s, and then they elevated it and it became white supremacist. Right. That was the next. I mean, you remember when a white supremacist was like a lunatic with a shaved head and swastikas, like tattooed all over him, whatever. Then all of a sudden the New York Times in the Obama years start saying that white supremacy is not being an active anti racist. You're like, hold on a second. This is a complete transformation. Just one word about Jeff Bezos, Megan. And I'm not, I'm putting this out there. I'm not totally convinced of this. But I will say I think that, and I have observed this as a guy, as an American male, I think that, you know, the guy's obviously gone on a regimen. He's got probably a peptide stack, maybe taking more than just peptides, if you know what I mean.
Megyn Kelly
He looks dramatically different.
Buck Sexton
Yes. I think if you start taking roids and working out, you get more right wing as a guy. So maybe there's some chance, because I do think that this, I honestly believe, I think that for men generally this is a very broad statement, but like medically low testosterone levels correlates with far left thinking and Democrat solidarity.
Megyn Kelly
Okay, but he's, he's had the physical transformation now for a number of years. So where, where was the, where did it manifest? I mean, other than oh, he was growing.
Buck Sexton
As he was growing that muscle, I think he's been getting more right wing. Maybe that's the only thing I could say for him.
Megyn Kelly
Look, it would be great to have him on team team Sanity because he is a powerful man, he's a very important American and he does own the Washington Post. I will believe it when I see it. And so far I don't believe it. I just. Whatever.
Buck Sexton
He hasn't proven it yet. I agree with you. It hasn't proven yet.
Megyn Kelly
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Buck Sexton
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Megyn Kelly
The White House announced this week that they are going to decide who's in the White House press pool, not the press. Now, the press pool for those listening at home is a group of representatives from television, radio, yes. Now streaming and print reporters, usually a wire service like AP or Reuters. And it's a small group of representatives from each one of those realms of media that gets to follow the president around at all times in the more not in like the residents of the White House, but like in the more intimate spaces like the Oval or on the trips something. You're not gonna take everybody who's in that press briefing room with you when you're the president, United States. But pool, if you're part of pool, you get to go and it is your responsibility to report everything he does back to all the other media and the public. And the pool reporting job is very important. It's, you know, the pool was, is the reason we saw Ronald Reagan get shot. They were covering Ronald Reagan. I mean he wasn't doing anything extraordinary that day. But Poole was there. Cause they always have eyes on the president. Poole was there covering even, you know, President Trump when he got shot before he actually got reelected in Butler, Pennsylvania. Poole has to be there. And as a former reporter at Fox News and I did White House duty when I was in my very young years there, here and there. Pool is like a serious responsibility. You can't fuck up pool. Like, you really do have to get it right. And typically the, the media will decide who can do pool because it's very expensive and everybody understands it's important that you get somebody in there who's really gonna tell you what happened. So I will say for the record, I don't know how I feel about the White House saying we're not now gonna decide who's in pool. It's not the same as saying we're gonna bring in new voices to the press briefing room. We're gonna, I love all that, but I actually happen to believe the media should decide who's in pool. Like, because it's a matter of resources. It's just the TV lane alone. And they seem to be saying TV will, will not change. TV will decide who's doing tv. But the number of wires, you've gotta get in there to get the cameras ready. Getting an in there to make sure he gets moments like God forbid there's a presidential assassination attempt. Like, you can't fuck around with that. You need true pros who have got a lot of experience, you know, setting up a shot, being ready for breaking news. I speak only from the TV realm because that's the one. I know I got questions about this before I really endorse it or criticize it, but the media is in a full on meltdown over it. And what they're upset about is that they, the vaunted media, are starting to lose more and more control about how Trump gets covered and in what way he gets covered. And the more I've been looking at the people objecting, the more I've been recoiling because the absurdity of some of these people trying to say, like, we, we are the vaunted media who cannot, you know, be told what to do. The head of the White House Correspondents association is a guy named Eugene Daniels. He worked for Politico up until like yesterday. Politico. Now he's leaving to go to msnbc. Okay, this guy, we just pulled his social media, he is all over his social media in dresses trying to look like Beyonce. This is a former college football player. Look at this guy. This is our, this is the one who's now our press representative at the White House. Look, look at this. For the listening audience. He's wearing a Beyonce blonde wig with his very large body, sticking his ass out, trying to look sexy. Half man, half woman. This. Okay? And it's also the same guy who accused Brian Kilmeade of racism when he was talking about Kamala Harris going back to her college sorority. And this guy said, Brian said colored sorority, and ran with that breathlessly to the press trying to embarrass Brian Kilmeade. Meanwhile, whatever absurd thing for Brian Kilmeade to be accused of, he's been on the air for how many years? He doesn't talk like that. We all know that. And even this guy was forced to dial it back. But what do you make of what's happening now as the press and press pool tries to pretend they cannot be messed with? They're above it all. All we need to do is respect and honor them.
Buck Sexton
So I have two main feelings about this. One, and I'll sort of start with your stated concern, which I think you, you preface properly as we don't know yet. But the stated concern is, well, maybe this won't be. It's an important job, and if the media doesn't decide, it won't be handled as well. What I would say to that is, this team that Trump has brought in is the pro team. I know them pretty much all personally, talking with the different cabinet members. Not all of them, but I'd say 75%, 80% of them. I know you do, too. These are very capable, competent people that are making these decisions. Stephen Miller, deputy White House Chief of Staff, is an absolutely brilliant guy. I mean, you look at Caroline Levitt, I know she's young, she is a superstar. And I know that too, because before she was on the Trump campaign, we tried to hire her for something over at iHeart. So, you know, these are very talented people. And I think, Meghan, they should be given the room to cook. You know, they should be given the ability to handle it their way. If there are problems with the pool, you and I know we'll hear about it. So I think they can figure this out is what is kind of what I'm getting to.
Megyn Kelly
The other thing about this that makes me somewhat uncomfortable and I'm. I'm all for pushing back on left wing bias. I don't have to prove that to anybody, but I do think the independence of the press is important. I realize the press has lost its mind, but it's written right into the Bill of Rights that free press is one of our most fundamental values. And I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the White House saying this is who will cover me. This is who I will allow to cover me at all. It's one thing to say to the ap F you, you don't, you've lost your right to be in these intimate spaces. But there is a difference in saying we will decide, not you members of the press who gets to come into every space and ask questions of the president. I mean we could be in a Democrat administration next where they're like nobody other than MSNBC and you know, the, the AP can have access. I think you can ask questions.
Buck Sexton
I think your example there is though what we've, what we've dealt with with all Democrat administrations, which is that you effectively have regime, you have the regime picking regime media to cover the regime.
Megyn Kelly
And it's Fox is always in there. Fox is always looking. And listen, this White House is not, they haven't thrown out all left wing media. It's almost still the pool that they want dominant left wing media. I'm just saying the principle of it, if we're going to discuss the principle of it, we're on dangerous ground here.
Buck Sexton
Look, it's all there. I absolutely admit there are complexities here and I also do want there to be. Look, I think that there should be. No matter how much somebody loves what this administration is doing and I'm very frank about this. I thought the beginning of the Trump first term and I think Trump admit, I mean Trump is admitted this. I've talked to him about it. It was messy. They were screwing things up. They didn't have the right people in place. And I bring it up, I don't think that's the case this time around and it's even gone beyond my expectations. But put that aside for a second. I think that no matter what, you want there to be a degree of at least objectivity in the facts and in the sense of getting facts about what's going on day to day about an administration because you want them to have, you want people to have some ability to judge what's really going on. Now that all said, I also think, Megan, that this role of the press pool, I mean you said you had done this so just, you know more about this.
Megyn Kelly
But I did White House reporting.
Buck Sexton
Right. So I mean, but you know, you've been covering the White House. I've never, I've never done that role. Right. So I don't want to go beyond what I know. But I do think it's quite clear that President Trump is sharing thoughts directly with the people via Twitter or Truth on a daily basis. I think the access that we all have to information, it's not like if there isn't some courts, I mean, not court some press stenographer who's standing there writing it down. We're not necessarily going to know what's happening.
Megyn Kelly
I agree with that. But that's different. That's different. President Trump is more accessible to the press than any president I've ever seen. I mean, every day he sits down and gives an hour long.
Buck Sexton
So help me understand what's the worry. But what's the worry?
Megyn Kelly
Because let's say, well, let's just say let's. I mean, I'm thinking like pick some random blogger in your head. I don't want to insult anybody by naming a name, but just pick some random successful online substack reporter or podcast host who's pool that day and is supposed to be reporting on the President's agenda or his whereabouts. And let's say some major breaking news happens and that person happens to have a more partisan agenda, which is fine in our daily media, but you know, a somewhat risky for pool. Like, I certainly wouldn't want to receive a report that is openly partisan. It's bad enough when I have to receive one that's subtly partisan from the ap. And so I, as a reporter who wants straight facts would be like, okay, I don't really want a political pundit, somebody who's in the business of spinning in their running pool for me. I really don't. And I realize now we're talking fine lines here because the AP is in the business of spinning.
Buck Sexton
Yeah.
Megyn Kelly
So that's why we need a variety. But I'm saying that there are responsibilities when you're like the sole pool reporter. Like at times there's one pool reporter who we depend on to tell us what happened to the President. Like what happened, who shot him, who did. And I do think there needs to be a basic minimum standard of having had experience covering the president, having covered the White House, coming from an institution that can cover the costs. By the way, you can't be in pool unless you can cover your own costs, which can be over $100,000 a year.
Buck Sexton
Again, I think the problem, Megan, I mean, everything you're saying, I hear you and it makes sense and it's very rational. But it's like we're assessing a problem that hasn't occurred yet, meaning that they may pick people who are highly competent and do an excellent job. And so that's what I meant by they've brought in the A team so far. So I'm getting to choose.
Megyn Kelly
Why should they get to choose as opposed to the press?
Buck Sexton
Because I think the press has shown itself to be. I think the whole notion of an objective journalism or objective media is a farce and has always been.
Megyn Kelly
I agree, I agree. But it's not for the President to decide who gets to cover him. We will cover him because we are the press.
Buck Sexton
But who's we? But who gets to decide? See, this is the problem, Megan. There's a cartel that has existed. The White House Correspondents Association. This I do know a little bit about, having gone to one of their balls, by the way, and thought it was the most boring and self important and annoying thing ever and never went back. But knowing some of the people involved in that, why should they get to choose? And that's been the case for a long time. So I don't understand.
Megyn Kelly
White House Press Associate. It's the Correspondence Association. Why? Like it's one thing, everybody look. And I had no problem with him throwing out the ap, but it's, it's different when the, when the President is saying I get to choose who's going to cover me, I'll choose the whole list. Once you say you can do that, then he can say only Fox and Newsmax. He could, if we're saying that's an okay thing to do, he could say that. And then the next President could say only MSNBC and NBC or ap. I think when it gets to who goes into that pool and who is responsible for the full time coverage of the press or the President, whenever and whenever he's in the public, it's up to the press who's on that duty.
Buck Sexton
But who's the press? Meghan, we keep coming back to this.
Megyn Kelly
Well, in this situation, it's the White House Correspondents Association.
Buck Sexton
Right? I know. And that's who determines who's in that. And why has that been the case?
Megyn Kelly
I mean, are you like Fox News is in it? Jackie Henrick has been out there all week saying this is not a good idea. This is not. You don't understand what goes into pool. I mean, have you ever. I'm not saying there are people have no idea.
Buck Sexton
I'm not saying there aren't good people who are part of it. And by the way, Fox's presence there, which, and a lot of times, as you know, they have been the only voice and they don't get called on that much. And so there's the, the table is not set right or level rather right. Like there's been some skewing that's gone on even. But look, Trump, the notion that Trump is going to shy away from he, he loves. How many times did he sit down with Maggie Haberman of the New York Times?
Megyn Kelly
Why are they controlling pool?
Buck Sexton
Because I think they're gonna have a good mix of different people in there. I think that there's an assumption that's being made that it's only going to be people that the left wing Democrat media is going to freak out about. You know, it's not just, I don't want to like say anybody throw them under the bus, but it's not just going to be like Daley Caller and Breitbart in there. There'll be other people involved in the coverage and I think Trump wants her to be.
Megyn Kelly
Then you add to it, then that's fine. Then you add two more seats and pool. Maybe you have like seven representatives normally now you have nine. But I just think there's a lot that goes into following the President of the United States around all day, every day on foreign trips and so on. And I really think there's something to both a, having people do it from institutions that completely have it done. You don't know how many meetings go down. I've been in them at Fox on the number of things you have to have in line to make sure you miss nothing, the tech support you have to do to make sure that you have the cameras in place and so on. That's one. And I also be honest with you, as much as we like President Trump, there is a line between the press and the President and he does not control the media.
Buck Sexton
I traveled with Pompeo once in his press pool and it was a bunch of left wing cat ladies who hated his gut. So I mean, I just think that this is, you know, that's just the truth. So I, I don't know that this is necessarily the, the vault vaunted institution that we need to keep going. Now that was secretary.
Megyn Kelly
That's why I talk about this guy Eugene Daniels, like this is what we're dealing with. But realistically, if you saw the way they organized this thing, it takes a lot and you cannot take an organization that doesn't have a lot of resources or experience and make them the ones we're dependent on.
Buck Sexton
We got to come back to this thing because I think in time you're going to say that they surprise you with how well they handled this. But if I'm wrong, I will come on here and give you a mea culpa.
Megyn Kelly
Yeah, well, listen, I think my audience knows I'm not a knee jerk defender of the press and but I am not a knee jerk defender of the president either. And there is an important role for an independent press in this country. That's why it's in the First Amendment. And there are limits to the controls that can be placed on them. And so while I think it's a great idea to expand access and make sure we get new voices in there, I don't think the president is in a position to tell us who gets to cover him the entirety of the list, which is the difference between saying AP you're out and saying we determine all of who is in. To me, there's a difference there. All right. Anyway, we used our time on the media, but it was an interesting discussion. And Buck, it's always interesting talking to you. Thank you.
Buck Sexton
So fun to hang out. Megan, thank you so much.
Megyn Kelly
All right, we'll talk soon. And thanks to all of you. Would love your thoughts on the president's moves at the White House and when it comes to the press, send me an email meganaganekelly.com we are back tomorrow with Emily Jashinsky and the ladies of Red Scare. See you then. Thanks for listening to the Megyn Kelly Show. No bs, no agenda and no fear.
Summary of "Shocking NSA Chat Logs, Bezos Causes New WashPost Staff Revolt, and White House vs. Press, with Buck Sexton" | The Megyn Kelly Show Ep. 1015
Release Date: February 27, 2025
In Episode 1015 of The Megyn Kelly Show, host Megyn Kelly engages in a candid and provocative conversation with Buck Sexton, co-host of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. The episode delves into significant political and media-related controversies, including alarming NSA chat logs, Jeff Bezos' influence on The Washington Post, and the contentious changes to the White House press pool.
Timestamp: 00:00 – 01:50
Megyn Kelly opens the discussion by highlighting the unprecedented meltdown within corporate media during the Trump presidency. She references the firing of Joy Reid from MSNBC and the broader revolt against Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos for his editorial interventions. Additionally, Kelly mentions Elon Musk's controversial appearance at President Trump's cabinet meeting, criticizing the appropriateness of non-Cabinet members attempting to influence governmental proceedings.
Notable Quote:
“It's very upsetting and it's totally inappropriate, unless your name is Jill Biden...” — Megyn Kelly [00:00]
Timestamp: 01:48 – 05:53
Buck Sexton defends Elon Musk’s presence in the Trump administration, lauding his ability to address government inefficiencies and bureaucratic waste. Sexton argues that Musk’s involvement should be seen as a bipartisan asset aimed at combating fraud and enhancing transparency within government agencies. He contrasts Musk’s positive contributions with the negative portrayal by predominantly left-leaning media outlets.
Notable Quote:
“If Elon Musk can stop that, does anyone wanna be in favor of it?...” — Buck Sexton [05:53]
Timestamp: 05:53 – 09:53
The conversation shifts to a critical examination of USAID’s funding practices. Buck Sexton highlights a recent Capitol Hill hearing where Representative Tim Burchett questioned former USAID executives about the agency’s inadvertent funneling of funds to terrorist organizations such as the Taliban, Al Shabaab, and Hamas. Sexton emphasizes the gravity of these misallocations and the detrimental impact on U.S. interests.
Notable Quote:
“Some of this money is clearly working against US Interests and not being deployed in a way that would make any sense if the American people knew about it.” — Buck Sexton [08:27]
Timestamp: 09:53 – 17:31
Megyn Kelly introduces shocking revelations from whistleblower Chris Ruffo about inappropriate and unprofessional behavior within the NSA. Internal chat logs reveal an obsession with transgender topics and unprofessional discourse among top intelligence officials. Kelly and Sexton condemn these behaviors, arguing they undermine national security and the integrity of intelligence agencies.
Notable Quote:
“This was an egregious violation of trust. What to speak of, like, basic rules and standards around professionalism.” — Tulsi Gabbard [played by Megyn Kelly] [08:27]
Notable Quote:
“These are very, very bad individuals. Some of this money is clearly working against US Interests.” — Buck Sexton [08:27]
Timestamp: 21:36 – 39:15
The discussion turns to Jeff Bezos’ recent actions aimed at reshaping The Washington Post’s editorial stance. Bezos announced a shift to support and defend personal liberties and free markets, signaling a departure from the paper’s previously perceived left-leaning bias. Kelly criticizes current Washington Post staff, particularly columnist Karen Attia, for their pro-Hamas sentiments, suggesting Bezos’ intervention is a corrective measure against years of ideological bias.
Notable Quote:
“We are going to be writing every day in support of and in defense of two pillars, personal liberties...” — Jeff Bezos [Played by Megyn Kelly] [24:44]
Notable Quote:
“How the media is starting to lose more and more control about how Trump gets covered...” — Buck Sexton [27:51]
Timestamp: 43:05 – 58:08
Megyn Kelly and Buck Sexton engage in an in-depth analysis of the White House's decision to take control over the press pool selection process. Traditionally managed by media entities, the White House's move to decide its own press pool representatives raises concerns about press independence and transparency. Kelly emphasizes the importance of maintaining an independent press as enshrined in the First Amendment, while Sexton expresses cautious optimism about the Trump administration's competent team handling the transition.
Notable Quote:
“I don't think I'm comfortable with the White House saying this is who will cover me.” — Megyn Kelly [48:38]
Notable Quote:
“There's a cartel that has existed. The White House Correspondents Association.” — Buck Sexton [54:49]
Timestamp: 58:05 – End
As the episode concludes, Megyn Kelly reiterates the significance of an independent press and expresses her concerns over the White House's increasing control over media coverage. Both hosts acknowledge the complexities of the evolving media landscape and the essential role of holding power accountable through unbiased reporting.
Notable Quote:
“There are limits to the controls that can be placed on them. And so while I think it's a great idea to expand access and make sure we get new voices in there, I don't think the president is in a position to tell us who gets to cover him the entirety of the list.” — Megyn Kelly [58:08]
Key Takeaways:
Media Bias and Corporate Influence: The episode underscores the ongoing struggles against perceived left-leaning biases within major media outlets and the impact of corporate ownership on editorial policies.
Government Accountability: Highlighting the misallocation of USAID funds to terrorist organizations, Kelly and Sexton call for increased transparency and accountability within government agencies.
Press Freedom: A significant portion of the discussion centers on the importance of an independent press and the potential threats posed by the White House's attempt to control press pool selections.
Internal Agency Issues: The revelation of inappropriate and unprofessional behavior within the NSA raises alarms about the internal culture and its implications for national security.
Final Note:
For listeners seeking an unfiltered and comprehensive exploration of current political and media issues, Episode 1015 of The Megyn Kelly Show offers a robust discussion with Buck Sexton, delving deep into the challenges facing the integrity of both government agencies and the press.