DOJ Weighs Releasing Maxwell Transcript, Trump on Third Term, Titan Disaster Report: AM Update 8/6

0:00Hi, I'm Daniel, founder of Pretty Litter. Cats and cat owners deserve better than any old-fashioned litter. That's why I teamed up with scientists and veterinarians to create Pretty Litter. Its innovative crystal formula has superior odor control and weighs up to 80 % less than clay litter. Just one bag lasts up to a month, meaning fewer refills and less scooping. Pretty Litter even monitors health by changing colors to help detect early signs of potential illness. It's the world's smartest kitty litter. Go to PrettyLitter.com and use code PANDORA for 20 % off your first order. Good morning, everyone.

0:34I'm Megan Kelly. It's Wednesday, August 6th, 2025, and this is your AM Update. The DOJ weighs releasing a transcript of the Ghislaine Maxwell interview with Deputy AG Todd Blanche last month. Are you going to run again? No, probably not. President Trump once again addressing the possibility of running for a third term in office, saying he's probably not going to do it. Stockton Rush came from the wrong industry, and he chose the wrong materials on the wrong approach. The Coast Guard drops its report on the series of colossal failures leading up to the implosion of the Ocean Gate Titan sub, tragically killing five people, including the company's CEO.

1:15All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.

1:21I've been talking a lot about Riverbend Ranch steaks lately, and for good reason. The ranch is just a few miles from West Yellowstone, Montana, where we go in the wintertime, and their steaks are so flavorful and surprisingly tender. Even someone like me, who does not know how to cook, can make it taste delicious. It's thanks to the quality of the beef. A lot of our listeners have been writing in, sharing similar feedback. Abigail Finan will not stop talking about Riverbend Ranch. And I feel the same. So these guys raise Angus cattle, but they've taken it even further. For 35 years now, more than three decades, the owner has selectively bred Angus cattle with superior genetics for marbling and tenderness.

2:03It's all about the marbling and the tenderness, creating a herd that truly stands out. Their beef is born, raised, and processed too entirely inside America without artificial growth hormones or antibiotics. And it is shipped directly from the ranch to your door. Riverbend Ranch is not just another beef company. It's a legacy of quality care and craftsmanship that you can taste in every bite. Order from riverbendranch.com. Use the promo code Megan for$20 off your first order and you'll be eating the same steak that my family and I eat at night. And let me know what you think. Riverbendranch.com, promo code Megan.

2:45The Department of Justice reportedly weighing whether to release a transcript of the Ghislaine Maxwell interview conducted by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in late July. Three senior DOJ officials telling CNN the administration also has an audio recording of the two-day meeting with Jeffrey Epstein's convicted associate. Some officials within the White House reportedly believe releasing the transcript could bring the Epstein story back into the spotlight at a time when many officials believe the public has largely moved on. Some sources saying any release of the audio or transcript would happen sooner rather than later, another saying it could take weeks.

3:24Maxwell currently appealing a 20-year prison sentence for her role in both abusing and sex trafficking victims for Jeffrey Epstein. She was moved last week to a lower security prison camp in Texas, an apparent concession for her cooperation. President Trump weighing in Tuesday from the White House. And did you personally approve the prison transfer for Ghislaine Maxwell that your Justice Department? I didn't know about it at all. No, I read about it just like you did. And do you believe that she is not a very uncommon thing? Do you believe that she's credible to be listening to your deputy attorney general sat down with her recently?

3:59Well, he's let me tell you, He's a very talented man. His name is Todd Blanch. He's a very legitimate person, very high. I just have very highly thought of person, respected by everybody. And I didn't talk to him about it, but I will tell you that whatever he asked would be totally appropriate. And it's not an uncommon thing to do that. And I think he probably wants to make sure that, you know, people that should not be involved or aren't involved are not hurt by something that would be very, very unfortunate, very unfair to a lot of people. Separately, the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday morning officially issuing subpoenas for 10 individuals, including former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former FBI directors James Comey and Robert Mueller, and former attorneys general from both sides of the aisle.

4:50Merrick Garland, Bill Barr, Alberto Gonzalez, Jeff Sessions, Loretta Lynch, and Eric Holder. The subpoena is compelling each individual to appear before the committee for depositions across a range of dates from mid-August to mid-October. It is unclear if these witnesses will appear before the committee or challenge the subpoenas through legal proceedings, or whether they might invoke their Fifth Amendment right not to testify. The Oversight Committee also issuing a subpoena to Trump's DOJ, compelling the release of key Epstein files to Congress as part of the ongoing investigation into Epstein, Maxwell, and the DOJ's handling of their cases.

5:29Those files are due to the committee by August 19. President Trump on Tuesday morning dialing into CNBC for fun, resulting in a freewheeling interview covering a wide range of subjects. Mr. Trump offering hints on the shortlist to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Powell has indicated he will serve through the remainder of his term, which expires in May of 2026, despite the president's repeated calls to either lower interest rates or step aside. Mr. Trump saying he is considering four possible replacements, former Fed overseer Kevin Warsh, director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett, and two more candidates.

6:08Not on the list, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson. Well, I love Scott, but he wants to stay where he is. I will. I'll take him off the, because I asked him just last night, is this something you want? Nope. I want to stay where I am. He actually said, I want to work with you. It's such an honor. I said, that's very nice. I appreciate that. But no, Scott wants to do what he's doing. He's doing a great job and he wants to do what he's doing. So I just take him off. He does not want it. President Trump also discussing the possibility of meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping as the August 12th deadline to strike a trade deal looms.

6:41We have a very good relationship, but I didn't call for the meeting. He called for the meeting. So the fake news announced Donald Trump wants a meeting with China. No, I didn't want it. No, he asked for a meeting and I'll end up having a meeting before the end of the year, most likely, if we make a deal. If we don't make a deal, I'm not going to have a meeting. I mean, you know, what's the purpose of meeting if we're not going to make a deal? But we're getting very close to a deal. China is very reliant on the United States. My relationship with him is very good. I think we'll make a good deal.

7:13It's not imperative, but I think we're going to make a good deal. But no, they had a thing that Donald Trump really wanted to go there. No, I don't. It's a 19-hour flight. It's a long flight. But at some point in the not-too-distant future, I will. And just to end this conversation in China, I have a very good relationship with president. She always had. In recent years, many conservative activists reporting they've been debanked after speaking out politically. The administration reportedly crafting an executive order aimed at protecting consumers. Mr. Trump saying he was a victim himself of debanking after leaving office in 2021.

7:51I had JPMorgan Chase. I was loaded up with cash and they told me, I'm sorry, sir. We can't have you. You have 20 days to get out. I said, you got to be kidding. I've been with you for 35, 40 years. And it's not like, gee, you defaulted on a loan. You know, geez, if I couldn't understand that, that's different. I ended up going to small banks all over the place. I mean, I was putting 10 million here, 10 million there, did 5 million, 10 million, 12 million. The banks discriminated against me very badly, but they discriminated against many conservatives. And I believe what they did is they went to the regulators.

8:29You know, banks are not afraid of anything but a regulator. They're regulators and their wives, the high IQ people that are radical left. I believe they told the banking commission, do everything you can to destroy Trump. And that's what they did. And guess what? I'm president. How did that happen? No word yet on when that order will be announced. President Trump saying despite his polling, he probably won't run again. I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, a record that they say won't be beaten unless I run again. Are you going to run again? No, probably not. Okay. Probably not. And you're not going to fire Jay Powell.

9:11We'll go all talk about all the stuff that... Hey, Becky, I'd like to run. I have the best poll numbers I've ever had. Later on Tuesday, President Trump predicting to reporters a dream team of Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will carry on the MAGA movement. Coming up, the Coast Guard dropping a damning report on the Ocean Gate Titan sub, outlining several points of failure and negligence leading up to the fatal implosion. you know the feeling someone in your family gets sick and then you're stuck waiting for a doctor's appointment or the pharmacy's out of stock or you're left wondering why something so basic must be so hard too many american families face this reality and that's why many are turning to all family pharmacy they're doing what big pharma won't which is putting families back in control and making it possible to be proactive not reactive with your health this is not just some online pharmacy.

10:08All Family Pharmacy is based in Florida and family owned. You can order ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, antibiotics, daily maintenance meds, emergency kits, everything you'd want to have on hand before you need it. Order online and they will work with licensed doctors to provide the prescription for you. Then your medications get shipped right to your door. Visit allfamilypharmacy.com slash Megan. Okay. Allfamilypharmacy.com slash Megan. Use the code Megan 10 to get 10 % off today. Again, go to allfamilypharmacy.com slash Megan. Remember to use my code Megan 10 to get 10 % off today. Be prepared, be in control.

10:46This is healthcare that works for you. The Coast Guard releasing a blistering 335 page report on the 2023 Ocean Gate Titan submersible disaster that led to the deaths of all five on board. Those who lost their lives were the OceanGate CEO, Stockton Rush, Titanic expert Paul-Henri Narjale, British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his 19-year-old son, Suleiman Dawood. On June 18, 2023, the explorers embarking on a deep-sea mission to explore the wreckage of the Titanic, resting approximately 12 ,500 feet beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. At approximately 10.47 a.m., the Titan communications and tracking team, monitoring from a ship on the surface, heard a bang.

11:39For days, the nation watched and prayed as it remained not entirely clear whether the vessel had imploded or simply malfunctioned and lost contact. On June 22, debris found on the ocean floor, confirming the loss of the sub and the lives of all on board. The Coast Guard determining the cause of the incident, quote, was the loss of structural integrity of the Titan's carbon fiber hull. This loss caused the sudden catastrophic implosion of the hull. The word failure appearing 99 times in the report, painting a devastating picture of what led to the tragedy, a, quote, toxic workplace environment, critical engineering failures, and a series of ignored safety warnings.

12:21According to the report, Ocean Gate CEO Stockton Rush was negligent in the events leading up to the disaster, noting that Rush's dual role, CEO of the company and master of the Titan, carried a heightened legal responsibility to ensure the safety and seaworthiness of the vessel and its occupants. Had he survived, criminal charges may have followed. The report also finding that before the fatal trip in 2023, Ocean Gate had continued using the Titan sub even after, quote, a series of incidents that compromised the integrity of the hull. Director of the epic film Titanic and deep sea submersible expert James Cameron last year on 60 Minutes Australia explaining the Titan's construction was a recipe for disaster from the very start.

13:09You have a particular individual, Stockton Rush, he was enamored of the sort of the glamour and the exoticism and he was attracted to it, but he came from the wrong industry. He came from aeronautics. And aeronautical engineering is fundamentally different. And he chose the wrong materials on the wrong approach because of the carbon fiber. And there's another issue, which is mating dissimilar materials together at a high-pressure mating surface. When you put titanium up against carbon fiber, they have a differential bulk modulus. I don't want to get too technical here, but it means they contract and expand at different rates, which causes slippage and stress and strain at that interface.

13:50Which under that pressure? Talking about a lot of pressure. And you're talking about certain rules you can't break. And those rules were broken. Despite longstanding concerns about the safety of carbon fiber under deep-sea pressure, a new Netflix documentary, Titan, the Ocean Gate Submersible Disaster, explores why Rush remained fixated on using it. he believed it could revolutionize the industry by slashing costs and expanding access. When I looked at the cost of operating a sub, it's the ship. The two things that drive the cost of submersible operations. It's not the replenishing the oxygen or the carbon access, but that's nothing.

14:27It's all about the ship. And the next most important thing is mobilization. How do you get the stuff from one location to another? That's 90 % of your cost. If you can realize that dream of a carbon fiber submersible, You can drop the price. You can suddenly have fleets of these submersibles operating around the world. The Coast Guard report also found, quote, Ocean Gate's safety culture and operational practices were critically flawed. And at the core of these failures were glaring disparities between their written safety protocols and their actual practices. One example of that breakdown relayed by former Ocean Gate director of engineering, Tony Nissen, who worked for the company from 2016 until he was fired in 2019.

15:09Nissen testifying in September 2024 to the Coast Guard's Marine Board of Investigation about a 2018 lightning strike to the vessel. I believe it got compromised by that event. That's very difficult to detect. I mean, it took a lightning strike and it went through all the testing. So at that point, did you cancel the 2018 Titanic expedition? It had to, yeah, because we gutted it, changed all the electronics in it. we weren't going to be able to do the um the deep diving that we needed in time there's no path to get there it would have had to leave i think it had to leave the bahamas to go to newfoundland sometime in may i think it was yeah and then we couldn't get there at that time did you believe that the lightning strike affected the actual carbon fiber hull yeah i told stockton and said that there's probably a good chance that that hull's compromised for sure and what did he say It'll be okay.

16:08So nothing was done to the haul itself from that point on. You didn't make a new haul. It wasn't. The new report also finding Rush was able to push the Titan project forward by capitalizing on the company's favorable reputation to evade regulatory scrutiny. By strategically creating and exploiting regulatory confusion and oversight challenges, OceanGate was ultimately able to operate Titan completely outside of the established deep-sea protocols. OceanGate suspended operations in July 2023. And that'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megan Kelly. Join me back here for The Megan Kelly Show live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at noon east, on youtube.com slash megankelly, and on all podcast platforms.

16:59Latte for Kenan? That's me. Hey, you're... Yeah. Buying a car online on Autotrader? Really? But unlike other sites, you can start online, test drive with a local dealer, then finish online or at the dealership. Cool. Enjoy. Buy your car online on Autotrader. Really.