John Bolton Indicted, Jack Smith Speaks Out, Jay Jones Addresses Violent Texts: AM Update 10/17

0:02Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's a busy Friday, October 17th, 2025. And this is your AM update. I think he's a bad guy. Yeah, he's a bad guy. He's too bad, but it's the way it goes. Former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton indicted on charges relating to improper possession of classified materials. A longtime State Department advisor arrested, accused of hiding federal secrets in his basement and meeting with Chinese officials, a possible real-life spy story playing out in Washington. The idea that politics played a role in who worked on that case or who got chosen is ludicrous.

0:42Former special counsel Jack Smith stepping back into the spotlight saying politics has no place in the DOJ. Uh, OK. And Democrat Jay Jones and Republican Jason Meares face off in a fiery debate for the Virginia attorney general position. Jones is finally made to answer for his string of violent text messages. All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM update.

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1:57Unlock your healthiest glow and feel the difference. Get up to 20 % off for life, as well as a complimentary gift and explore Peek's clean, pure ingredient wellness rituals at peaklife.com slash Megan. That's P-I-Q-U-E life.com slash Megan. Try it and glow from the inside out. Former Trump national security advisor turned top Trump critic John Bolton, indicted on Thursday by a Maryland grand jury on 18 counts, eight counts of transmission of National Defense Information, or NDI, and 10 counts of unlawful retention of NDI, each count carrying up to 10 years in prison. The FBI searching Bolton's Maryland home and D.C.

2:43office in August, reportedly seizing multiple classified documents. Upon leaving the Trump administration in 2019, Bolton writing a highly critical book on his former boss titled The Room Where It Happened. The Trump administration unsuccessfully suing to stop publication of that book, alleging it contained classified information. Bolton maintaining the book went through a pre-publication review and was cleared for publishing. According to the indictment, while serving as national security advisor to President Trump, Bolton allegedly sent classified information to two unidentified family members believed to be his wife and daughter who did not have security clearances via an AOL email account, a Gmail account, and an unspecified messaging app.

3:291 ,000 pages of diary notes about his day-to-day activities with entries the feds say reflect his knowledge that he was disclosing government secrets, such as, quote, the intel briefer said, end quote, end quote, while in the situation room, I learned, end quote, the indictment alleging, quote, on a regular basis, Bolton sent diary-like entries to individuals one and two that contained information classified up to top secret level. One email allegedly teasing, quote, more stuff coming, none of which we talk about, prompting the response, shh, from Individual One. According to the DOJ, one day before Bolton began as national security advisor in 2018, Individual One creating a group chat on a different platform containing Bolton and Individual Two.

4:23Quote, Individual 2 asked the group, why are we using this now, the encryption? To which Individual 1 responded, yup, why not? Bolton then responded, for diary, in the future, three exclamation points. Prosecutors also alleging after Bolton left the government, Bolton believed a suspected Iranian hacker had gained unauthorized access to his email account. A representative for Bolton reporting the hack to the feds in July 2021, long after Bolton's time as National Security Advisor, but not informing them of the classified information stored in the account. That representative later reporting to the FBI a bizarre update that Mr.

5:05Bolton was taunted by his hacker, who wrote to Bolton on July 25th, 2021, quote, I do not think you would be interested in the FBI being aware of the leaked content of John's email, some of which have been attached. This could be the biggest scandal since Hillary's emails were leaked, but this time on the GOP side. Contact me before it's too late. Even after the threatening email, the indictment alleging, quote, at no point did Bolton tell the FBI that while he was the national security advisor, he had used the hacked email account to send individuals one and two documents relating to the national defense, including classified information.

5:45Nor did he tell the FBI that the hackers now had this information. Trump critics quick to point out that this is the third recent indictment of one of the president's perceived political enemies, including James Comey and Letitia James. However, in August, The New York Times reporting that the probe into Mr. Bolton, quote, began to pick up momentum during the Biden administration. President Trump yesterday was asked about his reaction to the indictment. I didn't know that you tell me for the first time, but I think he's, you know, a bad person. I think he's a bad guy. Yeah, he's a bad guy. It's too bad, but it's the way it goes.

6:22Late yesterday, Bolton issuing a statement that begins not with a denial, but with a general statement about his character. Quote, for four decades, I have devoted my life to America's foreign policy and national security. I would never compromise those goals. He goes on, quote, now I have become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department to charge those Trump deems to be his enemies with charges that were declined before or distort the facts. Fact check. These charges were not declined before. The controversy in 2020 was about his book, not his emails, about which the Trump administration was apparently in the dark.

7:02Bolton goes on to note that his book was ultimately approved, adding, quote, when my email was hacked in 2021, the FBI was made fully aware, end quote. Actually, while the FBI was told that Bolton had been hacked, the DOJ claims Bolton failed to tell the feds that he had been using that hacked email to send classified information. Bolton ends his statement by describing his conduct as lawful while attacking President Trump, who he says, quote, embodies what Joseph Stalin's head of secret police once said, you show me the man and I'll show you the crime. Adding, quote, these charges are not just about his focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents.

7:46Notably missing from the Bolton statement, a denial that he kept or forwarded classified material while he was national security advisor. CNN reporting Bolton is expected to surrender to authorities later today. A longtime State Department advisor arrested over the weekend, accused of illegally stashing classified documents and meeting with Chinese officials. Ashley Tellis, an unpaid senior advisor to the State Department and contractor with the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment, reportedly holding a top-secret clearance, allegedly kept more than 1 ,000 documents with top-secret and secret markings stashed across two cabinets, a desk, and three trash bags in the basement of his Virginia home, according to an FBI affidavit.

8:37The DOJ referring to TELUS as a subject matter expert on Indian and South Asian affairs, per Fox News. TELUS is also a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, that organization announcing he has since been placed on administrative leave. Prosecutors stopping short of alleging he passed classified intel to Beijing, but the affidavit describing plenty of spy movie material. Investigators say they've been monitoring Telus for years, observing him dining with Chinese officials at least four times, dating back to 2022. At one dinner, Telus carrying a manila envelope, the affidavit noting he did not appear to have it with him when he left.

9:18At another dinner just last month, Chinese officials allegedly presenting Telus with a red gift bag. In one 2023 dinner, authorities saying TELUS was overheard discussing Iran-Chinese relations and emerging technologies. TELUS also accused of printing Air Force documents containing information about aircraft capabilities. On Tuesday, TELUS appearing in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia, charged with unlawful retention of national defense information, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to$250 ,000. dollars. The judge ordering Tellus' detention until his next hearing, set for October 21st.

9:59U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan releasing a statement, quote, We are fully focused on protecting the American people from all threats, foreign and domestic. The charges, as alleged in this case, represent a grave risk to the safety and security of our citizens. The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served. The legal team representing Tellus also releasing a statement that reads they will, quote, be vigorously contesting the allegations brought against him, specifically any insinuation of his operating on behalf of a foreign adversary.

10:33Coming up, former special counsel Jack Smith stepping into the spotlight to say politics has no place in the DOJ as Republicans in Congress look into his handling of the Trump prosecutions. and the father of missing baby, Emmanuel Harrow, enters a plea. We'll have a full report.

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11:58Former special counsel Jack Smith, the notoriously tight-lipped former prosecutor who led the federal criminal cases against then-candidate Donald Trump, injecting himself into the spotlight. Smith sitting down earlier this week in London with Andrew Weissman, who was the lead prosecutor under special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe that dominated news coverage during Trump's first term. During the interview, Smith assuring Weissman his team was entirely apolitical and the DOJ never operates with a political motive. These are people who are not self-promoters. They do not like to tell their own story.

12:36They cannot start a sentence with I. They start that with we. These are team players who don't want anything but to do good in the world. They're not interested in politics. And I get very concerned when I see how easy it is to demonize these people for political ends, when these are the very sort of people I think we should be celebrating. The people on my special counsel team were like that. The idea that politics played a role in who worked on that case or who got chosen is ludicrous. And, Andrew, you know, and this is another thing that I think if you're not inside the U.S. Department of Justice, the idea that politics would play a role in big cases like this, it's absolutely ludicrous, and it's totally contrary to my experience as a prosecutor.

13:24That comment appearing to contradict much of the public reporting about the investigations into Donald Trump, with President Biden making it perfectly clear to top advisors he wanted Trump prosecuted over January 6th. According to the New York Times in April of 2022, quote, as recently as late last year, Mr. Biden confided to his inner circle that he believed former President Donald J. Trump was a threat to democracy and should be prosecuted. Later that year, after that very public report, Garland appointing Jack Smith to oversee two criminal investigations into Mr. Trump. Additionally, the New York Post reporting in August 2023, quote, Biden staffers met with special counsel Jack Smith's aide before Trump indictment, referencing the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago case.

14:14Weissman offering Smith an opportunity to explain why Trump was indicted for mishandling classified documents when President Biden, gee, was not, despite similar fact patterns. One of the major differences between the two cases is the obstructive conduct in the case that I investigated. You need to show that you possess the documents or the defendant possessed the documents willfully. And that means he knew what he was doing was wrong and he knew he was possessing the documents. In my particular case, we had tons of evidence of willfulness. and the obstructive evidence publicly saying these are my documents or things like that and I can keep them.

14:56And then after the investigation started, still refusing to give them back and then trying to obstruct the investigation. That helps prove willfulness. That sort of evidence didn't exist in the other case. I think special counsel Herr said that the documents that he most likely could bring a prosecution on were over 15 years old and dealt exclusively with the conflict that had ended in Afghanistan. So there were a number of differences between the case. And that is what the rule of law wants, is to have situations where different factual outcomes, different levels of proof can result in different outcomes.

15:28And that's what I think happened here. Smith ultimately resigning just weeks before Mr. Trump's return to the White House. Smith's dismantled cases are now under scrutiny for potential prosecutorial misconduct by both the Senate and House Judiciary Committees. Weissman on MSNBC encouraging viewers to listen to his entire conversation with Jack Smith and show him some sympathy. For people watching this, I would encourage them to sort of sit down and listen to the whole thing. Because in many ways, what's more important than the substance is I think you get a sense of the man and the person. He came across to me as extremely heartfelt and sincere.

16:13I think he's clearly been through a lot. One might argue President Trump also went through a lot, facing down multiple indictments and the threat of hundreds of years in prison. Do we have sympathy for him, Andrew? Democrat candidate for Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones squaring off against Republican incumbent Jason Meares in the only debate of the election cycle. Jones defending himself in the wake of a texting scandal first reported by National Review two weeks ago. In 2022, Jones sending messages to Virginia GOP House Delegate Kerry Coiner, in which he openly wishes former Republican Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert would, quote, get two bullets to the head.

16:58Jones later suggesting on a phone call to Coiner that he wished Gilbert's wife could watch her own children die in her arms so that Gilbert might reconsider his political views. Democrat candidate for governor, Abigail Spanberger, condemning the texts but stopping short of calling for Jones to withdraw or from withdrawing her own endorsement of him. In fact, not a single prominent Democrat calling for Jones to drop out since those text messages were reported. Jones last night saying he's sorry for the texts. And then came the following exchange. Why should voters trust your judgment moving forward?

17:33Well, look, Brett, I want to say one thing. And Jason Meares can't prosecute a case against Donald Trump, that's for sure. And I will also say this. I was held accountable by my party, and I deeply, deeply respect that. But what about when Donald Trump used incendiary language to incite a riot to try to overturn an election here in this country? What about when Winsome Sears used violent language about people who disagree with you and her and your extreme position on abortion? What about when John Reed shared Nazi porn? You haven't said a word. I've taken accountability for my mistakes. It's time you take accountability, too.

18:01And let me ask this one more time, Delegate Jones, just so we're clear and the voters understand, why do you think they should trust your judgment based upon these two events that we've discussed? I've taken accountability for my mistakes, and I know that people in Virginia right now demand and deserve leaders who accept when they make mistakes and can acknowledge that and have been held accountable. This job right now demands someone who will hold Donald Trump accountable. For the last nine months, Jason's had 50 chances to sue the administration to protect us, to protect our workers, to protect our health care, to protect our K-12 funding, funding for law enforcement.

18:35And his office hasn't done a thing because he's too weak and too scared to stand up to the president. So voters should trust him because he'll sue Donald Trump? Miera is making the text messages his central focus, challenging Jones directly on what accountability means. And I find it a little bit stunning that today you say one of the pillars of your public safety platform is protecting children. Were you protecting Jennifer's children when you said you wanted to see them die in their mother's arms? How can anybody who's ever worked in any of the crimes against children, all of the areas of federal and state local law department, how can they ever take you seriously, be the top prosecutor, knowing that you view that children should die to advance a political agenda?

19:17It's unconscionable, and if you were truly sorry, you would not be running for this office because you disqualified yourself. Election Day is November 4th. Jake Harrow, the 32-year-old father of missing baby Emanuel Harrow, pleading guilty yesterday to second-degree murder, assault causing bodily harm to a child, and filing a false report. Mother Rebecca Harrow, 41 years old, pleading not guilty to an updated criminal complaint, the details of which have not been released. Seven-month-old Emanuel originally reported missing on August 14th by his mother, who said he was kidnapped from a store parking lot by an unknown person who allegedly knocked her out.

20:01Investigators quickly honing in on the parents following inconsistencies in their stories, seizing their vehicle and electronic devices. Police arresting Jake and Rebecca just over one week after their son was first reported missing. Baby Emanuel's body has not yet been recovered. Jake's sentencing is set for November 3rd. Rebecca is scheduled for a preliminary hearing the same day. And that'll do it for your AM update. On a busy news day, we did not even get to the New York City mayoral debate, which we will have full coverage of on The Megyn Kelly Show later. Join me for that. I am Megyn Kelly, and we will be with you live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at noon east, on youtube.com slash Megan Kelly and on all podcast platforms.

20:46Happy Friday.