Trump Declares Victory Over Houthis, Biden's Media Tour, US Spying on Greenland: AM Update 5/8
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Good morning, everyone. I'm Megyn Kelly. It's Thursday, May 8th, 2025, and this is your AM Update. It was a hard decision, but regrettable. No, I think it was the right decision. Former President Biden hitting the interview circuit this week, reflecting on his term in office and offering thoughts on the current administration. Hint, he's against it. The Russians are asking for a certain set of reforms.

We think they're asking for too much. Vice President J.D. Vance speaking candidly about how Russians are holding up peace negotiations. The Wall Street Journal reports the U.S. is ramping up its spying efforts on Greenland. A surge in general switcheroo. And a new poll shows Californians believe Governor Gavin Newsom is more focused on national ambitions than he is on running their state. All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.

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Later today, President Biden set to appear on ABC's The View along with Dr. Jill Biden. Now a private citizen, Mr. Biden embracing a more open relationship with the press, appearing for two interviews this week alone, including a Wednesday sit-down with the BBC. The former president asked about the timing of his withdrawal from the 2024 race. Should you have withdrawn earlier, given someone else a bigger job? I don't think it would have mattered, really.

We left at a time when we had a good candidate. She was fully funded. And what happened was, I had become, what we had set out to do, no one thought we could do. I had become so successful in our agenda, it was hard to say, no, I'm going to stop now. It was a hard decision. Regrets, though? No, I think it was the right decision. But you shouldn't have taken it early. I don't think so. I mean, I don't know how that would have made much difference.

A November report from the New York Post revealing the Biden team's internal polling at the time he dropped out showed then-candidate Trump on track to win 400 electoral votes in a would-be landslide loss for Mr. Biden. President Biden's decision to exit the race on July 21st, triggering a $200 million fundraising surge for the Harris campaign in just one week, eventually ballooning into a $2 billion war chest. With

With just 106 days to build a full presidential campaign, Ms. Harris drawing support from celebrity heavyweights like Oprah, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and the Obamas, among dozens of others. Despite the star-studded backing and unprecedented fundraising, Ms. Harris became the first Democratic nominee in two decades to lose both the popular and the electoral vote.

President Biden also criticizing the Trump administration's effort to negotiate an end to Russia's war on Ukraine. President Trump is now saying, look, if you want peace, Ukraine is going to have to give up some territory. Some people think that is common sense to say that. Do you think it's not common sense? It's perhaps modern day appeasement? It is modern day appeasement. And anybody thinks he's going to stop is just foolish. I just don't understand how people think that

If we allow a dictator, a thug, to decide he's going to take significant portions of land that aren't his, and that's going to satisfy him. Russian troops began amassing forces along the Ukraine border in spring of 2021. In the months leading up to the full-scale invasion, the Biden administration pursuing a series of diplomatic efforts to avert war, including a December 2021 virtual summit between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Biden White House warning of severe economic consequences should Russia proceed. But in January 2022, President Biden seemed to telegraph a green light to Mr. Putin during a press conference with this infamous remark. Russia will be held accountable.

If it invades, and it depends on what it does. It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, etc. But if they actually do what they're capable of doing with the force amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia. The invasion began about a month later.

Throughout his presidency, Mr. Biden maintained a policy of isolating Russia on the world stage. The Trump administration accusing the Biden team of fueling a prolonged and aimless conflict, funding what they call a perpetual meat grinder with no clear path to victory.

Vice President J.D. Vance on Wednesday at the Munich Security Conference in D.C. providing an update on peace negotiations. Following months of back and forth, the VP revealing the Russians are now asking for too much to end this war. I think that's what President Trump has been very deliberate about, is actually forcing the Russians to say, here is what we would like in order to end the conflict. Right now, the Russians are asking for a certain set of

requirements, a certain set of concessions in order to end the conflict. We think they're asking for too much. And then obviously the Ukrainians matter a lot. They're the other side. They're the other party, at least to the direct conflict. And we have to ask, what is the Ukrainian, what do they need in order to bring this conflict to a successful completion?

And we're going to continue to have that conversation. U.S. officials devoting tremendous amounts of time and resources toward bringing the war to an end. President Trump recently saying both sides are closer than ever to a settlement. Mr. Vance saying the next step is direct engagement between the two. I mentioned the Russians, but also the Ukrainians have also been sort of they've put a piece of paper in our hands that says this is what we would need in order to bring this conflict to a successful resolution from our perspective. And there's a big gulf.

predictably, between where the Russians and the Ukrainians are. And we think the next step in the negotiation is to try to close that gulf. We think it's probably impossible for us to mediate this entirely without at least some direct negotiation between the two. The vice president expressing frustration with both sides for focusing on historical grievances rather than looking forward to how a deal could be reached.

On the economic front this weekend, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson and U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer set to meet with Chinese officials in Switzerland for the first time, kicking off trade negotiations. Vice President Vance setting the tone ahead of the meeting.

We find ourselves in a very precarious place. When I say we, I mean the entire West. I mean the NATO alliance. I mean the United States and Europe. We find ourselves more and more reliant on countries that may not have our best interests at heart.

And even if they're halfway decent trading partners, it's still a little bit risky to put all of your eggs in one proverbial basket economically. And what the president has said is we must rebalance the global economy vis-a-vis China. Mr. Vance going on to say the old ways of doing business with the U.S. are over.

On Tuesday, President Trump announcing the conclusion of his successful military campaign against the Houthi rebel group in Yemen. The campaign waged under Defense Secretary Hegseth in response to months of sustained Houthi attacks on international vessels operating in the Red Sea, an important shipping route connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying the Houthis launched dozens of attacks against U.S. military ships as well as commercial vessels. While the Biden administration had favored limited case-by-case responses, the Trump administration launching a sustained offensive, wave after wave of strikes, killing hundreds and significantly degrading Houthi military capabilities.

President Trump telling reporters from the Oval, the Houthis have had enough. The Houthis have announced that they are not, or they've announced to us at least, that they don't want to fight anymore. They just don't want to fight. We will honor that and we will stop the bombings. And they have capitulated. But more importantly, we will take their word. They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore. I think that's very, very positive. They were

They were knocking out a lot of ships going, as you know, sailing beautifully down the various seas. It wasn't just the canal, it was a lot of other places. And I will accept their word and we are going to stop the bombing of the Houthis.

effective immediately. Under the terms of the agreement, both sides agreed to halt attacks against one another. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who's turning out to be the Waldo of this administration, he's everywhere, led negotiations for the U.S. with assistance from the Omani Foreign Ministry.

Coming up, The Wall Street Journal reporting anonymous sources say the U.S. is ramping up its spy efforts against Greenland. And a new poll shows most California voters believe Governor Gavin Newsom is more focused on his national ambitions than the problems at home. Also, big news about Mr. Trump's chosen Surgeon General.

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A big and important switcheroo on the Surgeon General nomination. President Trump announcing on Truth Social that he is replacing his nominee, Jeanette Neshawat, with a star of the Maha movement, Dr. Casey Means.

Neshawat, the sister-in-law of now-ousted National Security Advisor Mike Walz, had an odd background for this position. A graduate of a Caribbean medical school who ran CityMD, Neshawat was a big proponent during the pandemic of masking children and of getting kids under the age of 12 vaxxed, all while she downplayed the risk of myocarditis in kids who get the vaccine.

In October 2021, she said the risks for kids getting the COVID jab are extremely low. Around that same time, she called for more masking, just as Dr. Marty McCary of Johns Hopkins, now Mr. Trump's FDA chair, was writing an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal arguing against masking children. Point being, it took her a very long time to see the truth on some very controversial COVID measures.

Mr. Trump not addressing the switch directly, but celebrating his nomination of Dr. Casey Means to the Surgeon General role, saying she has impeccable MAHA credentials. Dr. Means, whose brother Callie is helping RFKJ revamp HHS, is a graduate of Stanford undergrad and Stanford med school. She went on to become a surgeon who, in her fifth year of residency, left the program after realizing the medical industry was

was not about preventing illness, but instead treats problems caused by chronic diseases that doctors erroneously accept as inevitable. Did five years of head and neck surgery training and...

And at the end of that training, before launching out into being a private practice or academic attending physician, I looked around me at what was happening in American health more broadly and realized that even though I'm working hard in my lane as an ear, nose and throat surgeon,

More broadly, American health is just getting destroyed. It's getting destroyed. Chronic illness is exploding across the lifespan. And that's not something that I really learned about in medical school. At the best institutions in America, the hospitals, the medical schools, we're not talking about why. We're talking about how to medicate these conditions. We're talking about how to operate more on these conditions. Mr. Trump says Dr. Neshawat will work in some other capacity at HHS.

The Wall Street Journal reporting two anonymous sources say the U.S. is ordering intel agencies to step up the spying on Greenland. The Trump administration eyeing the icy Arctic island for its strategic importance. As northern ice melts, key shipping lanes open up, slashing travel time. Military competitors China and Russia ramping up their Arctic influence in recent years. Greenland is also home to vast mineral deposits and oil reserves.

a semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, both local and Danish officials express strong opposition to U.S. acquisition. Despite resistance, on Sunday, President Trump again declining to rule out military force to take the island. I don't rule it out. I don't say I'm going to do it, but I don't rule out anything. No, not there. We need Greenland very badly. Greenland is a very small amount of people which we'll take care of and we'll cherish them and all of that.

But we need that for international security. The Wall Street Journal reporting, based on anonymous sources, quote, several high-ranking officials under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard issued a collection emphasis message to intelligence agency heads last week. They were directed to learn more about Greenland's independence movement and attitudes on American resource extraction on the island.

Agents reportedly instructed to identify people in Greenland and Denmark supporting U.S. objectives for the island. Director Gabbard responding to this report, quote, The Wall Street Journal should be ashamed of aiding deep state actors who seek to undermine the president by politicizing and leaking classified information. They are breaking the law and undermining our nation's security and democracy.

The Trump administration undertaking a broad effort to crack down on leakers across federal agencies. Director Gabbard's office referring at least three alleged leakers in other cases to the DOJ in recent weeks. Ms. Gabbard confirming to The Megyn Kelly Show last week her office is investigating at least 11 more cases, some of which may be referred to the DOJ. We can safely assume that number's now at at least 12.

A new LA Times and UC Berkeley poll finding 54% of registered California voters think Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom is more interested in boosting his presidential prospects than he is in governing his state. Just 26% say the opposite. Poll director Mark DiCamillo saying, quote, people kind of look at him as being very ambitious. Governor Newsom insisting last week to NextUp host Mark Halperin that he's not yet made any decisions on 2028. I might.

I don't know, but I have to have a burning why and I have to have a compelling vision that distinguishes myself from anybody else. Without that, without both, and I don't deserve to even be in the conversation, but I am someone that's trying to pursue the unknown. I'm interested. I'm open to argument.

I want to engage folks and I want to learn. I want to iterate. I have an entrepreneurial mindset. And to the extent that brings me in the political conversation, I'm blessed by that. And the extent it helps me leverage my day job as government, all the better. The polls showing California voters are sharply divided over Mr. Newsom based on their party ID. 70% of Democrats approve of his performance. Just 11% of Republicans say the same.

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 noon east, on youtube.com slash megynkelly, and on all podcast platforms.

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