Key Primary Battles in Minnesota, Fauci’s Private Vaccine Texts, Tupac Trial Begins: AM Update 8/11

0:00Hey, Chicagoland, the Wayfair store is in your neighborhood at Edens Plaza and Wilmette. Finally, you can feel the fabric, sit on the sectionals, and even open the refrigerators. Plus, our in-store designers will help you bring it all together with free one-on-one design support for any project on any budget. Yep, we said free. Oh, and did we mention the cafe? So what are you waiting for? Come see all that's in store. Visit the Wayfair store today at Edens Plaza and Wilmette. Wayfair, every style, every home. Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Tuesday, August 11th, 2026. And this is your AM update.

0:39I have an advantage over everyone up here. I can call up and work with the president of the United States. Minnesota voters among those heading to the polls today, choosing nominees in a field of notable names. Thus far, no red flags about that, about pregnant women. Newly released Dr. Fauci text messages revealing private concerns about a possible miscarriage risk from COVID vaccination just days before he publicly said officials had seen no red flags for pregnant women. President Trump reportedly considering an off-ramp from the war with Iran even without securing a new nuclear deal. And nearly 30 years after hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur was killed in a Las Vegas drive-by shooting, the man accused of orchestrating the murder now heads to trial.

1:28All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM update.

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3:03Senate and governor, featuring notable names. The Minnesota Senate contest, deciding who will compete for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Tina Smith, with both parties holding competitive primaries. On the GOP side, former NFL sideline reporter Michelle Tafoya entering election day as the overwhelming polling favorite, facing a nine-candidate field that includes former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarzscher and former NBA player Royce White, who recently declared his eligibility for the 2027 WNBA draft. President Trump has not yet issued an endorsement in this race, Tafoya dominating the race despite Schwerzi winning the Minnesota Republican Party's official endorsement at its state convention in May.

3:48The three most recent polls tracked by RealClearPolling showing Tafoya leading her nearest rival by 29, 31, and 35 points. The Republican winner will advance to face the victor of a much tighter Democrat fight between moderate Congressman Angie Craig and Progressive Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, perhaps best known for her t-shirt showing a sharp knife, a flower, and the words protect trans kids on it. And by protect, she means trans them. Polling in that race all over the map, the latest KSTP Survey USA survey showing Angie Craig ahead by two, while another recent poll showed Flanagan leading by double digits.

4:31Prediction markets more bullish on Flanagan, who's got name recognition there, Polymarket currently putting her chances of winning at 71%. Whichever Republican candidate emerges faces a long-running political reality in November. No GOP candidate has won a statewide election in Minnesota since 2006. Tafoya yesterday on Newsmax making the case that Republicans have a real opening in Minnesota after years of failed Democrat leadership. Well, in those last 20 years, this state has traveled 100 miles per hour in the wrong direction. And Minnesotans are worried about it, very, very worried about it.

5:09And look, it's happened under the leadership of, you know, single party rule under the establishment candidates, the career politicians who have been in office that have brought us to a place that your reporter just described, a place where a lot of people are embarrassed by our state, the fraud, all of the crime, all of the things that are going wrong in education, the taxes. It's an embarrassment right now, particularly the fraud. So we feel very good about bringing those people into our campaign and into our tent, as it were, and running through the tape and winning this thing, certainly tomorrow and all the way into November.

5:44The career politicians haven't done their jobs. We tried it their way. It didn't work. Let's try another way. In the state's gubernatorial race, MyPillow founder and longtime Trump ally Mike Lindell entering primary day with a slight polling advantage over his Republican rivals. Lindell securing President Trump's endorsement last month, the president writing on Truth Social quote, Mike will be spectacular. He truly loves Minnesota, as do I, and wants to bring it back from oblivion and embarrassment. He can do it. The endorsement giving Lindell a boost in a three-way fight with Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Dameth and businessman Kendall Qualls, who won the state Republican Party's endorsement.

6:25The two latest surveys tracked by RealClearPolling showing Lindell ahead of the field by six and nine points, respectively. The Republican winner expected to face Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is not facing any meaningful competition in her own primary. Senator Klobuchar jumping into the race in January after Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, abandoned his bid for a third term amid mounting scrutiny over widespread fraud involving Minnesota government programs. During a candidate forum last Tuesday, Lindell arguing his relationship with the president and experience as a businessman would give him an advantage as governor.

7:03The farmers have a problem right now with the FSA going there and you don't get the communication because a lot of them are gone because of what the federal government's done. You don't have them there right now. Well, I know a guy. I have an advantage over everyone up here. I can call up and work with the president of the United States to get these people back in for all of you. So we have this communication. And also, I'm very good friends with other governors that have set up other programs, so I'll be reaching out to them like a businessman. Lindell facing a substantial deficit if he makes it to November.

7:38The current RealClear polling average of general election surveys showing Senator Klobuchar leading him by nearly 20 points in the race for the governor's house. Polls close tonight at 8 p.m. Central. We will have results from Minnesota and other key races later this week. Newly released text messages from Dr. Anthony Fauci's government-issued cell phone revealing the former NIAID director privately raised a theoretical concern about a possible link between the COVID vaccine and first trimester miscarriage. Just days before publicly saying, federal officials had seen no safety red flags among pregnant women.

8:18Republican Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky releasing the messages yesterday, part of a January 2021 conversation between Fauci, then-CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, and former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who at the time was awaiting Senate confirmation to return to that post. The exchange beginning with a discussion about whether the two-dose vaccine regimen might pose different risks depending on when during pregnancy a woman received the shots. Fauci initially saying there was no data or theoretical reason to favor vaccination earlier or later in pregnancy, while dismissing concerns that mRNA from the vaccine could alter the genes of a woman or of her developing baby.

9:02Fauci then following up, writing, quote, I asked around a bit more, and another issue came up that you need to be aware of. Since many people have significant cytokines, storm, and fever after the second dose, this theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the first trimester. A cytokine storm referring to an unusually intense immune reaction in which the body releases large amounts of inflammatory signaling proteins, potentially causing widespread inflammation and, in severe cases, organ damage. Walensky responding that the first trimester issue Fauci raised was, quote, definitely a good point, especially after dose 2.

9:43About a week after that conversation, Fauci publicly telling the Journal of the American Medical Association this. There have been now over 10 ,000 pregnant women who have said and have been in the trials. Okay. The FDA, as part of the typical follow-up you have following the initial issuing of an EUA, have found thus far, and we've got to be careful, but thus far no red flags about that, about pregnant women. Interestingly, many of the pregnant women were health care providers who were exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and said, I would rather take my chances with a vaccine than getting infected while I'm pregnant because of the adverse effect and adverse outcome on pregnancy.

10:30The CDC later formally recommending vaccination for pregnant women in April 2021, citing additional safety data. The Trump administration has since retracted the recommendation for pregnant women to get vaccinated. The newly released exchange, representing only a fraction of the material now under review, Johnson and Paul saying Fauci's government phone contains more than 34 ,000 text messages and 522 voicemails after the Department of Health and Human Services turned the records over to Johnson's office last week. According to the senators, just three contacts are saved by name on the device, though investigators say it remains too early to determine whether any data was deleted.

11:14The release coming less than a week after, Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress, following his repeated refusal to answer any questions about the government's handling of COVID-19, notwithstanding the fact that Joe Biden issued him a sweeping pardon. Fauci invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 111 times during testimony last month. Coming up, President Trump reportedly lowering the bar for ending the war with Iran as the latest deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz appears to fall apart.

11:53And nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas, the man accused of orchestrating his killing now going on trial.

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13:36launched this war, even without a new agreement over Iran's nuclear program. This, a notable shift after months of President Trump insisting Iran could never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon and saying that was the key reason we attacked them, with the president repeatedly threatening more devastating military action against Iran unless it signed a new nuclear deal, now suddenly deemed unimportant. Just last week, a new agreement to reopen the strait appearing close. Axios reporting the U.S., Iran, and Oman had negotiated an agreement with Qatari and Pakistani mediators expecting an announcement last Wednesday.

14:14That announcement, never coming, as divisions inside the Iranian government widened and Iran ultimately returned with a new list of demands over the weekend. The journal reporting those demands include billions of dollars in compensation, the removal of American troops from the region, and an end to the U.S. naval blockade. Now the president telling Axios, quote, we are low-keying it, saying the U.S. is only, quote, semi-negotiating while Iran's economic problems worsen. The president describing the country as in, quote, very bad shape, with little money and difficulty paying its troops. According to the journal, the president's willingness to walk away without a new nuclear deal rests largely on his belief that the June 2025 strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities already effectively destroyed Iran's nuclear capabilities, a point critics of this war have been making and getting attacked by the president for making from the start.

15:12The pressure to find an exit only growing as the midterm elections rapidly approach, with gas prices still higher than before the war started, as the president looks for a way to declare victory and move on. Nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas, the only man ever charged in connection with his killing, now going on trial. Dwayne Keefe D. Davis, facing one count of murder with a deadly weapon, with prosecutors alleging the former Southside Compton Crips leader, orchestrated the 1996 attack that killed one of the biggest stars in hip-hop. 25-year-old Shakur shot on September 7, 1996, in a drive-by shooting near the Vegas Strip.

15:56The rapper riding in a BMW driven by Death Row Records founder Marianne Shug Knight, while a white Cadillac reportedly pulled alongside them at a red light and someone inside opened fire. Shakur struck multiple times, dying from his injuries six days later. The shooting coming just hours after Shakur and members of his entourage were involved in a fight at the MGM Grand with the defendant Davis' nephew, Orlando Baby Lane Anderson. Anderson later denying any involvement in Shakur's killing before himself being fatally shot in Compton less than two years later, according to CBS News. The killing unfolding amid the bitter East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry of the 1990s, with Shakur feuding at the time with Christopher Wallace, better known as the notorious B.I.G., who would himself be shot and killed in Los Angeles six months later.

16:52Shakur's murder, remaining one of the country's most notorious cold cases for decades, that is, until Davis began talking, the longtime suspect giving investigators his account of the shooting in 2008, before discussing it publicly in interviews and documentaries, and eventually releasing a 2019 memoir called Compton Street Legend. In the book, Davis reportedly describes getting a gun and riding through Las Vegas in a Cadillac with three other men while looking for Shakur and Knight following the casino fight, before eventually finding their BMW and pulling up beside it. According to a copy of the book available on archive.org, he goes on to claim that Tupac made an erratic move and began to reach for something before, quote, pulling out a strap, and that's when the fireworks started.

17:42One of my guys from the backseat grabbed the Glock and started busting back. In 2023, four years after the book was published, a Nevada grand jury indicting Davis for murder. Prosecutors reportedly preparing to rely heavily on Davis's own words from his memoir, media appearances, as well as interviews with law enforcement. Prosecutors not expected to argue that Davis personally pulled the trigger, instead planning to prove he orchestrated the attack and supplied the gun used to kill Shakur, according to the Associated press. Davis pleading not guilty and now disavowing the various previous accounts prosecutors plan to use against him, blaming ghostwriters for the incriminating statements.

18:25If convicted, Davis faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. In an exclusive interview with 8 News Now in Las Vegas late last month, Davis insisting he did not actually write the memoir carrying his name, citing references therein to figures like Winston Churchill and others. Men Davis suggests he knows nothing about. Did you have anything to do with the murder of Tupac Shakur? No, ma 'am. No, ma 'am. I wasn't even in Nevada. I wasn't even in Nevada, period. Do you regret the book and the interview? Yeah, I was just acting the money and they said I was covered. I did it for the money.

19:07You know what I'm saying? I didn't mind saying it. I can't, You know, I don't know nothing about no Winston Churchill, Frank Sinatra. Just read the book. You know I didn't write that book. Davis also telling the outlet he has no intention of accepting a plea deal, citing his innocence, age, and past health problems. The trial expected to last about a month. And that'll do it for your AM Update. I'm Megan Kelly. Join me back here for the MK Show, live on SiriusXM's The Megan Kelly Channel, 111 at noon east on youtube.com slash megan kelly and on all podcast platforms

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