Schumer on the Rocks, Trump Admin vs. DC Judge on Deportations, Trump Polling Highs: AM Update 3/17
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Good morning, everyone. I'm Megyn Kelly. It's Monday, March 17th, 2025, and happy St. Patrick's Day. This is your AM Update. So are you the right person to lead the party at this moment? Let me put it this way. First, I don't think there's anybody, well...

I think I know how to win seats back in the Senate. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer resisting calls for his resignation as a deeply divided Democrat party sinks to record low approval. President Trump invokes the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport Trenda Aragua gang members, and a D.C. judge blocks the move. The two sides are today a lot closer.

We had some really positive results. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff says Russia is coming closer to accepting a peace deal as intensity on the battlefield ramps up. And a new NBC poll has good news for President Trump. All that and more coming up in just a moment in a busy AM update.

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's political career on the rocks after handing President Trump a big win by keeping the government open. On Friday, nine Democrats joined with Senator Schumer to advance the Continuing Resolution, or CR, paving the way to keep the government open for another six months.

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, Michigan Senator Gary Peters, Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, New Hampshire's Jean Shaheen, independent senator from Maine, Angus King, all also voting to advance the bill.

House Democrats like New York Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, California Congressman Robert Garcia, and Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley slamming Senator Schumer and the others. It is almost unthinkable why Senate Democrats would vote to hand over

The few pieces of leverage that we have away for free when we've been sent here to protect Social Security, protect Medicaid and protect Medicare. I think Senate Democrats, I think the Senate leader made an enormous miscalculation. This is not a time where we should be bending the knee to Donald Trump. Again, I don't think we should be moving in any way to elicit a praise from Donald Trump, who has no respect for Congress and the power of the purse.

Axios reporting, quote, several members, including moderates, have begun voicing support for a primary challenge to Schumer, floating representatives AOC and Dan Goldman as possible candidates. Soros-backed progressive group Indivisible also calling for Senator Schumer to step down. The group releasing a statement over the weekend saying 82 percent of its leaders in New York and 91 percent nationwide voted in favor of calling for Mr. Schumer to step aside.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and a Friday presser initially refusing to affirm his support for Senator Schumer. Is it time for new leadership in the Senate? Next question. However, by Saturday, Mr. Jeffries was appearing on MSNBC providing some public support for Mr. Schumer, signaling leadership is sticking together, at least for now. Look, Chuck and I disagreed as it relates to the approach and outcome relative to

what we viewed as a reckless Republican spending bill. At the same period of time, Chuck and I agree on the overwhelming majority of issues moving forward. Senator Schumer, who says he worried a shutdown would have given more power to President Trump and Doge, telling the New York Times, the interview podcast, he's still the best man to lead. So are you the right person to lead the party at this moment? Let me put it this way. First, I don't think there's anybody...

Well, I think I know how to win seats back in the Senate, which I've proven. I'm not the only person, nor should I be. I'm sort of like an orchestra leader. And there's a great deal of talent in the orchestra. And my job is to highlight all those talents and emphasize those talents. As Democrats in Congress jockey over the future of their party, Democrat Party approval sinks to a record low in a new CNN poll.

Democrat-aligned adults say 52% to 48% that the leadership is taking the Democrat Party in the wrong direction. 57% to 42% of Dems and Dem-aligned independents think Democrats should mainly work to stop the Republican agenda. The survey taken before Senator Schumer's deeply unpopular decision to support the CR rather than shut down the government.

Among adults overall, the Democrat Party sits at a paltry 29% approval. That's a 20-point drop since January 2021 and a record low dating back to 1992. ♪

The Trump administration deporting hundreds of individuals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in spite of a judge's order trying to block the move. The act allows the government to detain and deport people from enemy nations in wartime or those who have invaded America.

President Trump on Friday invoking the act against Venezuelan gang Trenda Aragua, a recently designated foreign terrorist organization. The proclamation stating members of TDA have, quote, unlawfully infiltrated the U.S. and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.

On Saturday, the ACLU and a group called Democracy Forward filing a lawsuit alleging that the White House was preparing to deport five Venezuelans under this act. Chief Judge of the D.C. District Court James Boasberg initially ordering that those deportations be paused for two weeks.

The judge later in the day expanding his order to, quote, all non-citizens in U.S. custody subject to the Alien Enemies Act. This, notwithstanding the fact that the Supreme Court has held that the Alien Enemies Act precludes judicial review of any removal orders, holding, quote, such great war powers may be abused, no doubt, but that is a bad reason for having judges supervise their exercise.

In a truly extraordinary order, Judge Boasberg went further, verbally mandating the immediate return of two planes already airborne, carrying deportees to Honduras and El Salvador. The Associated Press reporting the verbal directive to return the planes was not included in the judge's written order.

The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, posting on X early Sunday morning a headline detailing the judge's order and the caption, oopsie, too late, with a laughing emoji. Shortly after that, President Bukele published a video showing dozens of handcuffed men departing a U.S. plane and processing into an El Salvadorian prison complex.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio posting on X, quote, we sent over 250 alien enemy members of Tren de Aragua, which El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price.

Fox News reporting press secretary Caroline Leavitt says the Trump administration did not refuse to comply with a court order. Ms. Leavitt says, quote, the order, which has no lawful basis, was issued after terrorists, TDA aliens, had already been removed from U.S. territory. The next hearing is set for Friday. The Trump administration is appealing the judge's interference.

Coming up, as the Ukrainian battlefield intensifies, U.S. and Russian officials inch closer to a ceasefire. And five years later, The New York Times dares to say Americans were misled on COVID. You think?

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It's time to take charge of your health. Go to getjackedup.com and get started on your fitness journey today. As the war against Ukraine rages on, the U.S. and Russia inch closer to a ceasefire agreement. President Trump likely to speak on the phone later this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the second call since Mr. Trump's second term began.

Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, fresh off a trip to Moscow, involving hours of talks with President Putin, telling CNN the two sides are closer than ever before. Before this visit, there was another visit, and before that visit, the two sides were miles apart in where they were. The two sides are today a lot closer.

We had some really positive results coming out of Saudi Arabia, discussions led by our national security advisor, Mike Walz, and our Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. I described my conversation with President Putin as...

as equally positive. So the two sides have, we've narrowed the differences between them. Mr. Witkoff says President Trump aims to finalize the deal within weeks, describing to CBS the issues both sides are hammering out. There are regions that we all know the Russians are focused on.

There is a nuclear reactor that supplies quite a bit of electricity to the country of Ukraine. That's got to be dealt with. There's access to ports. There's the Black Sea potential agreement. There's just so many elements, Margaret, to the implementation of a ceasefire here. And everybody is committed, all stakeholders, including the Europeans,

to doing everything we need to do to get to a successful resolution here. Russian forces currently control about 20% of Ukraine. Late last week, National Security Advisor Mike Walsh telling Fox News the Ukrainians may have to give up the Donbass region as part of a settlement.

that region compromising about 9% of Ukrainian territory. The majority of its residents are primarily Russian speakers. ABC's Martha Raddatz pushing back on the notion that the Russians should be allowed to retain any captured territory. Russia could be given the Donbass in addition to hanging on to Crimea, even though they invaded Ukraine.

Martha, we have to ask ourselves, is it in our national interest? Is it realistic? Are we going to drive every Russian off of every inch of Ukrainian soil, including Crimea? And what the strategy of the Biden administration was, was as long as it takes, as much as it takes, no matter what the timeline is, which is essentially endless warfare.

Late last week, Reuters reporting a Ukrainian government official acknowledging Kyiv cannot recapture their territory through military force. The unnamed official saying, quote, Ukraine cannot recover all of its territory right now by military force. Yes, we understand this. We understand that some of our land will need to be returned diplomatically, which can, of course, take time.

Ukrainian forces retreating from a small area of captured Russian territory in Kursk. The New York Times reporting the withdrawal comes, quote, amid a swift Russian advance backed by relentless airstrikes and drones. Ukrainian soldiers telling the Times the strategy now is about controlling defensive positions and preventing the Russians from opening a new front in this war. The fighting only intensifying as negotiators work toward peace.

New polling from NBC News showing strong numbers for President Trump among registered voters. 44% saying the country is on the right track versus 54% saying it's on the wrong track. That happens to be the best polling in 20 years.

NBC's national political correspondent Steve Kornacki putting those numbers into perspective. The mood of the country, this really jumped out. We asked folks, is it on the right direction or the wrong direction? That 44% who say right direction, that's up since November. And if that doesn't seem like a lot, the last time it cracked 40%, you gotta go back to 2012. The last time it actually hit 44 or higher, January of 2004.

President Trump's approval rating also hitting his best ever mark as president, 47% approving to 51% disapproving. Among independents, the split is 30% who approve, 67% who don't. On immigration, the president scoring his highest marks, 55% of voters approve of Mr. Trump's handling of border security and immigration compared to 43% who disapprove.

56% say the president brings the right kind of change, compared to just 18% who say he brings the wrong kind of change on immigration. For all of the media attacks against it, Doge faring all right. 46% say it's a good idea, compared to 40% who say it isn't.

On the economy, the president not faring quite as well. Just 18% of voters rating the economy as excellent or good. 54% disapprove of Mr. Trump's handling of the economy. 44% approve.

In recent weeks, the media focusing very heavily on concerns of recession. Your attitudes about the economy showed another decline on Friday. How concerned are you because of that about a recession? Do you think we're headed for a recession? Will these policies be worth it if they lead to a recession, even a short-term recession? Treasury Secretary Scott Besson on Sunday's Meet the Press criticizing the media's coverage of the administration.

Look, what I am not going to say that went on for a long time under the Biden administration and for a lot of the media, and I'm not going to point fingers, but they used to say it was a vibe session and the American people don't know what they talk about. Clearly, they are traumatized from what's happened with this affordability crisis that was brought on by the previous administration. They want relief.

We've been in for eight weeks. We are putting the policies in place that will make the affordability crisis go down, inflation moderate. I am confident that the American people will come our way, even if some of the media narrative doesn't. Five years after the debut of Two Weeks to Slow the Spread, New York Times columnist Zeynek Tufekci dares to write, we were badly misled about the event that changed our lives.

Really? Tufekci, whose own Times colleague, Apoorva Mandevilli, once suggested it was racist to suggest the virus came from a lab leak, now writes, quote, In 2020, when people started speculating that a laboratory accident might have been the spark that started the COVID-19 pandemic, they were treated like kooks and cranks. Ms. Mandevilli's tweet not specifically acknowledged anywhere in her piece.

Ms. Tufekci admits in her column that some officials hid crucial facts and misled the public in order to promote the appearance of consensus. In 2023, independent journalist Matt Taibbi revealed the Biden administration was working in conjunction with social media companies to censor information relating to COVID. Dr.

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford professor and leading advocate against lockdowns, was censored and ostracized and smeared by then-NIH head Francis Collins, who called him a fringe epidemiologist.

Joe Rogan, too, along with anyone who dared question the Biden administration's COVID dogma, was mocked by the media, including The Times, as anti-science. Ms. Tufekci's latest column comes after years of her promoting masks, despite the evidence showing they did not work, and attacking contrarian voices. For example, a November 2020 Times column is headlined, On Masks and Clinical Trials, Rand Paul's Tweeting is Just Plain Wrong.

The column reading, quote, mask wearing is courteous, a sound method to reduce the suffering from this terrible pathogen and help us get our lives back as much as possible. In May of 2021, Ms. Tufekci dared to question the CDC, asking if updated guidance stating vaccinated individuals need not wear masks was politically motivated enough.

Can you believe this woman is now writing this for the New York Times? In September 2022, Ms. Tufekci authoritatively wrote, "...not only will a booster with the new vaccines decrease the likelihood of infection and severe illness and help reduce transmission of the virus,"

it could also decrease the likelihood of developing long COVID. That came a full year after the science showed the vaccine did not stop the spread of the virus. The New York Times finally playing some COVID catch-up with zero admissions about its own failures in presenting facts. We don't forgive you.

And that'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megyn Kelly. Join me back here for The Megyn Kelly Show. We are live and back from vacay on SiriusXM Triumph Channel, 111 at Noon East, on YouTube.com slash Megyn Kelly, and on all podcast platforms.

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