Hegseth vs. Top Generals, Air Traffic Control Nightmare, DOE Cuts Off Harvard Grants: AM Update 5/7
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Good morning, everyone. I'm Megyn Kelly. It's Wednesday, May 7th, 2025, and this is your AM Update. When President Trump asked me to take this job, he told me, they're gonna come after ya. Boy, he was not kidding about that one. As Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sets out to dramatically reform the military, the media hits keep coming.

But in the meantime, a big win for the Pentagon and the president. We are going to radically transform the way air traffic control looks. We're going to build a brand new air traffic control system. A harrowing systems outage leads to more than a week of dramatic delays at one of the nation's busiest airports, underscoring the need for an overhaul of the U.S. air traffic control system. That's why we're here.

The highly secretive deliberations set to begin in the Vatican as senior church officials begin the process of electing a new pope. And Education Secretary Lyndon McMahon tells Harvard, don't bother applying for any more federal grants. All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.

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A big win for the Trump administration on its executive order banning transgender people from serving in the military. Several cases were filed challenging President Trump's executive order. In the most prominent two, a district court judge in D.C. and one in Seattle finding that the ban had no legitimate purpose, lifting the ban, allowing transgender service members to serve as the cases moved through the courts. In the most prominent two, a district court judge in D.C. and one in Seattle finding that the ban had no legitimate purpose,

In one case, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court. In the other, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, which meant the ban was lifted, delivering a setback to Team Trump. The government appealed, and the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, just overturned the Ninth Circuit, allowing the ban on so-called transgender people to go into effect later.

while the case plays out on the merits. Secretary Hegseth reacting to the ruling with a post on X as follows, no more trans at DOD. It is a piece of good news for Secretary Hegseth who continues to take hits from the media. Since Monday, at least two new reports targeting the secretary. Reuters reporting on a January order for military supplies to Ukraine, which Secretary Hegseth reportedly canceled, possibly without the White House's blessing.

The report, based on months-old information, notes that Hegseth's order was allegedly given to stop the supplies right after a meeting between Mr. Hegseth and President Trump. Reuters reports, however, that no instruction was given by Mr. Trump to stop the aid, but also reports that the White House is now saying Hegseth was following an order from Mr. Trump when he paused all aid to Ukraine. Reuters clearly skeptical of that claim. May

Many times since then, President Trump has publicly backed Mr. Hegseth.

The Wall Street Journal, also coming out with an exclusive report, headlined, quote, Hegseth used multiple signal chats for official Pentagon business. According to the report, Secretary Hegseth has at least a dozen separate chats on the encrypted messaging app, quote, among the messages posted in some of the other chats by Hegseth were his thoughts on personnel matters, Pentagon programs facing cuts, and details of administration national security debates.

The report, citing anonymous sources, indicates the secretary was not sharing classified but sensitive information on the app.

The report cites a Biden-era policy restricting the use of apps like Signal for official business, then goes on to note, quote, it couldn't be determined whether Signal has been approved for use by Pentagon officials since the memo was issued. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has said that Signal comes pre-installed on government devices and was being used in the Biden administration. In the past, however, Pentagon officials have been criticized for using the app.

Secretary Hegseth, a frequent target of legacy media and entrenched defense officials, represents a serious challenge to Washington's military status quo and its multibillion-dollar machine. On Monday, the secretary announcing a restructuring of senior military leadership. We're back with more DOD reforms. This one is general and flag officer reductions. That's the official title. My title is less generals, more GIs.

It's a historic one, and it's in keeping with President Trump's commitment to achieving peace through strength. We're going to shift resources from bloated headquarters elements to our warfighters. Let's take a bit of a trip down memory lane. In history, when we were fighting across the globe during World War II, we had a force that was 12 million strong. For that 12 million man element, we had 17 four- and five-star generals. Today, we have 2.1 million service members,

with 44 four-star and flag officers. So it used to be a ratio of one general to 6,000 troops. Today, it's one general to 1,400. More generals and admirals does not equal more success. Now, this is not a slash-and-burn exercise meant to punish high-ranking officers. Nothing could be further from the truth.

This has been a deliberative process, working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff with one goal, maximizing strategic readiness and operational effectiveness by making prudent reductions in the general and flag officer ranks. The secretary saying phase one of the plan will cut at least 20% of the military's top ranking generals and admirals in both the active duty forces and the National Guard, with another 10% cut coming across the Pentagon's senior leadership in phase two.

Secretary Hegseth moving swiftly since taking his position in the Pentagon, dismissing several high-ranking Pentagon officials, including those previously aligned with woke ideology and DEI programs. The dismissals often sparking criticism from Democrats and some in the media, pointing to the race and gender of those removed, while supporters, including President Trump, argue the focus should remain on merit and mission readiness.

Secretary Hegseth on Tuesday addressing the attacks against him at a Special Operations Forces conference. When President Trump asked me to take this job, he told me, well, one key thing, but really two. The first was, Pete, you're going to have to be tough as shit. They're going to come after you. Boy, he was not kidding about that one. This job requires a steel spine and that's fine. My job's easy compared to what you do.

We're doing the work on behalf of the American people and the American war fighter. But then the president, after he said that, went on to say, I need you and I want you to restore the warrior ethos in our military full stop. And that's been my first priority since day one. We are leaving wokeness and weakness behind. No more pronouns, no more climate change obsession, no more

Emergency vaccine mandates, no more dudes in dresses. We're done with that shit. We're focused on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards, and readiness. Under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, military recruitment is skyrocketing, reversing a decade-long slump marked by misquotas and declining enlistment.

Newark Liberty International Airport, one of the nation's busiest, grappling with widespread delays and cancellations following a critical systems failure, leaving air traffic controllers unable to see or speak to incoming flights for roughly 60 to 90 seconds. On April 28th, controllers at the Philadelphia-based control center responsible for managing the Newark, New Jersey airspace lost radar and radio contact with the flights under their supervision.

The union representing air traffic controllers saying operators were unable to see, hear or communicate with the planes. CNN reporting at least five controllers working during the outage now taking up to 45 days off under the Federal Employees Compensation Act, a law designed to allow federal employees time off to recover following a traumatic event on the job.

The CEO of United Airlines, Newark's largest carrier, slamming the controllers for, quote, walking off the job, further exacerbating already critical staffing shortages. Since Friday, the airport experiencing more than 400 canceled flights and more than 2,000 delays.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday turning the incident into a political attack against the Trump administration, once again recalling an early round of doge cuts. So today I'm demanding a full inspector general investigation as to what went on. The chaos at Newark could very well be a harbinger if issues like these aren't fixed.

How much has the recent loss of several thousand experienced safety and support personnel due to Doge firings and resignations, forced and voluntary, contribute to the current chaos? Large numbers of people were fired and others quit because they saw what mismanagement was coming from Doge. How has that affected things?

Under President Obama, the FAA replaced its merit-based selection process for air traffic controller applicants in favor of a test designed to advance certain racial groups. It was part of an effort to decrease the number of whites hired, contributing to a shortage of air traffic controllers and resulting in a class action which is ongoing.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said no critical safety positions were affected by any Doge cuts, also highlighting new FAA hiring incentives aimed at boosting recruitment. The FAA reporting it's currently 3,000 controllers short of desired levels. The Newark system failure traced to a burnt copper wire, an outdated component symbolic of the broader need for infrastructure overhaul.

Secretary Duffy, since taking office in January, repeatedly saying the U.S. air traffic control system is in desperate need of modernization, citing decades of mismanagement and neglect. We have really old infrastructure in America. It hasn't been updated in the last 30, 40 years, so

This should have been dealt with in the last administration. They did nothing. We are going to radically transform the way air traffic control looks. We're going to build a brand new air traffic control system from new telecom to new radars to new infrastructure. We're bringing on new air traffic controllers. This has been a problem in the decades coming, and we're going to fix it. Secretary Duffy saying the administration is set to announce the full air traffic control overhaul on Thursday.

Coming up, the conclave begins today. Catholic cardinals set to choose the next pope. And Education Secretary Linda McMahon blasts Harvard University in a letter informing the Ivy that it will no longer be receiving any new federal grant money.

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Today marks the start of the conclave at the Vatican, the secretive process in which Catholic cardinals begin selecting a new pope to lead the world's approximately 1.4 billion Catholics. Several names appearing as early favorites, though Vatican watchers caution that the process is notoriously unpredictable. Ahead of the last conclave, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was far from a frontrunner, but ultimately emerged as pope, taking the name Francis.

In the lead up to the start of the conclave, security officials locking down the Sistine Chapel where voting will take place, ensuring absolute secrecy within the proceedings. Let's hope whoever leaked that draft Supreme Court decision on Dobbs is not in this room.

Later today, all mobile phone signals in the Vatican will be deactivated, officials installing phone jammers around the Sistine Chapel and the residences, sweeping the grounds for listening devices. Security in St. Peter's Square also beefed up to include metal detectors and anti-drone systems. The modern anti-surveillance technology paired with an age-old tradition, an oath to secrecy, with the penalty of excommunication if broken.

The oath extending beyond the voting cardinals, all Vatican support staff also taking the vow on Monday. The cardinals will take their vow later today ahead of the first round of ballots. The next pope will be chosen by a two-thirds majority. Secret ballots cast up to four times per day until a new pope is agreed upon, the process typically taking several days.

The secret ballots are burned twice daily, first after the morning session, then again in the afternoon. Black smoke signals no decision has been reached until finally white smoke rises, announcing a new pope has been chosen. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon on Monday writing a blistering letter informing Harvard University officials the institution should no longer seek federal grants since none will be forthcoming.

The letter marks the first official response since Harvard sued the government over a $2.2 billion freeze in grants and contracts. Secretary McMahon on Fox on Monday describing the latest in the legal battle. Oh, he's just made it abundantly clear until they can come on board and fight anti-Semitism, obey the laws that the Supreme Court have put in place about the kind of admissions policies they should have.

Stop driving Jewish students, you know, almost underground with their anti-Semitism and just many more things. And we've written, we've talked to them. Their answer to us was filing a lawsuit on freedom of speech. And I have said that is not the issue. It's a civil rights issue on campus relative to the anti-Semitism issue.

And they've just said that we're trying to dictate to them how they should run their university, which is clearly not the case. But why should taxpayers continue to give money to a university that has an endowment of over $53 billion? It just doesn't make any sense. The secretary going on to say the administration is looking into possibly revoking Harvard's tax-exempt status, which would basically take this to DEFCON 1. More from the letter, quote,

Harvard will cease to be a publicly funded institution and can instead operate as a privately funded institution, drawing on its colossal endowment and raising money from its large base of wealthy alumni. You have an approximately $53 billion head start, much of which was made possible by the fact that you are living within the wall of and benefiting from the prosperity secured by the United States of America and its free market system you teach your students to despise.

Secretary McMahon slamming the university further, quote, Harvard University has made a mockery of this country's higher education system. It has invited foreign students who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the United States of America to its campus. The Department of Homeland Security is conducting a separate probe into the disciplinary records of foreign students.

Following the events of October 7th, 2023, when the Hamas terror organization unleashed its horrific terror attack on men, women, and children in Israel, 34 Harvard student groups co-signed a letter laying the blame for the murder of innocents squarely and entirely on Israel. A recent anti-Semitism report commissioned by Harvard, highlighting numerous incidents of anti-Semitic harassment, reported on campus, causing genuine fear amongst Jewish students.

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

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