Lindsay Clancy Trial Day 13, Leavitt Leaving WH, Deadly Army Helicopter Crash: AM Update 8/14

14 Aug 2026 · 20 min · 9 chapters

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In short

This AM Update covers three main stories. First, the Lindsay Clancy murder trial (Day 13): Massachusetts jurors decide whether she was criminally responsible for killing her three children (Cora, Dawson, Callan) in Duxbury on Jan. 24, 2023. Clancy admits strangling them and attempting suicide, but her defense argues postpartum psychosis; prosecutors argue she understood and intentionally acted, including sending her husband Patrick away. Key evidence includes phone searches (suicide methods; psychosis-related queries), Clancy Notes app entries about postpartum depression/anxiety, and digital activity on the day of the killings.

Notable examples

a computer page reached while searching Tom T. Hall’s suicide; jurors hearing autopsy testimony after a judge paused proceedings.

Second, Caroline Leavitt announces she’ll step down as White House press secretary at month’s end.

Third, new reporting questions the intelligence behind Trump’s Air Force One “fake out” tied to an alleged Iranian threat, and a deadly Army Apache crash in central Texas kills both pilots, sparking evacuations.

Guests

Dave Ehrenberg (MK True Crime co-host) discusses Massachusetts insanity-defense standards and possible lesser verdicts.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

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Lindsay Clancy Trial Update

0:43 to 2:19

An overview of the ongoing murder trial of Lindsay Clancy.

“is jurors weigh whether she was criminally responsible when she killed her three young children.”

Details of the Clancy Case

2:29 to 4:00

In-depth examination of Lindsay Clancy's actions and mental health.

“yesterday, more than three years after the deaths of her three young children.”

Testimonies and Evidence

4:00 to 5:42

Discussion of witness testimonies and digital evidence in the trial.

“and remaining there for several days after struggling with severe insomnia, depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.”

Prosecution and Defense Arguments

5:42 to 7:37

Exploration of the arguments from both the prosecution and defense sides.

“strong and brave and would, quote, overcome postpartum anxiety and depression.”

Clancy's Mental Health Defense

7:37 to 10:13

Understanding the implications of Clancy's mental health on her defense.

“We spoke with MK True Crime show co-host Dave Ehrenberg, who tells us Massachusetts law gives Clancy a more favorable path to a legal insanity defense.”

Caroline Levitt's Departure

10:13 to 13:10

Overview of Caroline Levitt's resignation as White House press secretary.

“establish that Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings.”

Upcoming News and Events

13:10 to 14:08

Preview of upcoming news stories and significant events.

“Caroline has been one of the best White House press secretaries in the history of the office.”

Trump's Plane Switch and Security Threats

15:17 to 18:08

Discussion of the intelligence surrounding President Trump's flight security measures.

“team to pull off an elaborate plane switch in Turkey last month.”

Army Helicopter Crash in Texas

18:08 to 20:01

Reporting on the fatal crash of an Army helicopter during a training flight.

“Iranian threats against President Trump and other senior U.S.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

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0:32Good morning, everyone. I'm Emily Jashinsky, host of After Party and the Megyn Kelly Wrap-Up Show on SiriusXM Channel 111. It's Friday, August 14th, 2026, and this is your AM Update. The murder trial of Massachusetts mother Lindsay Clancy entering its 13th day is jurors weigh whether she was criminally responsible when she killed her three young children. Caroline Levitt announcing she will step down as White House press secretary at the end of the month. It's only up to Secret Service. I just follow what they'd like to do. New questions emerging about the intelligence behind President Trump's elaborate Air Force One fake out.

1:05It crashed into a field. You could tell it was a violent crash. And a deadly army helicopter crash in central Texas, killing both pilots, sparking a fast moving fire that forced nearby evacuations. All that more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.

1:24Everybody's talking about weight loss injections because the results can be so dramatic. They work by lowering blood sugar and reducing appetite. But what if you are looking to lose weight but are not interested in weekly injections and you don't know whether you can commit and it's expensive, all the things, especially when you hear about some of the side effects. That's why doctors created a weight loss supplement called Lean, and the results could be remarkable. Lean says the studied ingredients in their product have been shown to lower your blood sugar, burn fat by converting it into energy, and curb your appetite and cravings so that you are not as hungry.

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2:47Their mother, Lindsay Clancy, does not dispute that she strangled the children before attempting to take her own life, suffering spinal injuries that left her paralyzed from the waist down. Clancy pleading not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, with her lawyers arguing she should not be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. Prosecutors contend Clancy understood what she was doing and acted intentionally, arguing she arranged for her husband Patrick to leave the house before killing the children. Under Massachusetts law, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Clancy was criminally responsible at the time.

3:21The trial beginning July 27th, with jurors hearing from dozens of witnesses over the first 12 days. Patrick Clancy, the first to testify, describing his wife's deteriorating mental health in the months before the killings and his return home that tragic night. Patrick telling jurors he found the house unusually quiet before discovering Lindsay injured outside beneath a second-story window and finding the children unresponsive in the basement. First responders describing their efforts to save Cora, Dawson, and Callan, while doctors, psychiatrists, and counselors have walked jurors through Lindsay's mental health treatment in the months leading up to their deaths.

3:57Clancy checking herself into McLean Hospital, a prominent psychiatric facility in Massachusetts, on New Year's Eve 2022, and remaining there for several days after struggling with severe insomnia, depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. Several medical providers testifying they did not observe signs of psychosis while treating her. Clancy's attorneys say that by January 24th, she believed a commanding voice was telling her to kill the children so she could then kill herself. Medical examiners taking the stand Wednesday to testify about the deaths of Cora, Dawson, and Callan, with Judge William Sullivan twice pausing proceedings as Clancy became distraught.

4:34Here, Clancy bursts into tears as one medical examiner describes five-year-old Cora's autopsy. What about, um, injuries? Hi, counsel, could... We're going to take a break this time, all right? All right. All right. Jurors, post your notebook. Place them on the chairs for you. Let's wait for you. Yesterday, prosecutors turning to digital evidence from the months and days leading up to the killings. Massachusetts State Police investigators walking jurors through data recovered from the Clancy family computer and Lindsay's iPhone, including internet searches, personal notes, photographs, calls, and text messages.

5:15One investigator testifying that a computer in the home accessed a webpage about suicide methods in August 2022, though on cross-examination, acknowledging the device belonged to Patrick Clancy. Investigators could not determine who was using it, and the page was reached while looking up country singer Tom T. Hall, who died by suicide. Much of the testimony then focusing on Lindsay Clancy's phone. Former state police detective Timothy Chiapini reading jurors' entries from Clancy's Notes app, including affirmations that she was, quote, strong and brave and would, quote, overcome postpartum anxiety and depression.

5:49Chiapini reading from another lengthy entry. I'm sad and depressed because I am not able to parent my third child like my first. I'm sad that I stopped breastfeeding. I feel not as connected with Cal now. I think I sort of resent my other children because they prevent me from treating Cal like my first baby. And I know that's not fair to them. I know that. I want to feel love and connection with all my kids. I'm also probably having a bit of an internal conflict because my whole life I've wanted to have a lot of kids. I still don't want Cal to be our last, but I have a lot of figuring out to do before I have another.

6:22I'm on the fence about starting a new medication for anxiety slash depression. I just want to feel happy. I want to be able to relax and take care of my kids. Prosecutors also zeroing in on Lindsay Clancy's activity on January 24th, with her phone searching for the 3V restaurant, where Patrick later went to pick up dinner. Along with the children's laxative, he also left the house to buy. Prosecutors have argued Lindsay deliberately sent Patrick far enough from home to give herself time to kill the children. The phone showing the couple exchanging messages about the restaurant and medication shortly before Patrick left, along with several calls between them.

6:58On cross, the defense highlighting another set of searches on Clancy's phone in the weeks and days before the killings, including queries about bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, postpartum depression, insomnia, and multiple psychiatric medications. Five days before the children died, her phone also registering a search for hallucinations, followed the next day by searches for psychosis and intrusive. Hours before the children were killed, Patrick Clancy texting his wife, quote, You're a good mama. If found not criminally responsible, Clancy would be committed to a psychiatric hospital rather than released.

7:32If convicted of first-degree murder, she faces life in prison without parole. We spoke with MK True Crime show co-host Dave Ehrenberg, who tells us Massachusetts law gives Clancy a more favorable path to a legal insanity defense. Fortunately for the defendant, they're in Massachusetts, which makes it much easier to sustain a defense of legal insanity. In other states, it's much harder because in other states, you have to show an established medical condition that prevents you from knowing the difference between right and wrong. And the actions by Lindsay Clancy show that she seemed to know the difference between right and wrong.

8:13She had evidence of planning a premeditation and then afterwards by jumping out the window to commit suicide. Why do you do that? Because you knew what you did was wrong. He wanted to escape culpability. And in other states, I don't think she could maintain an insanity defense. Despite that evidence of planning, Ehrenberg says he believes prosecutors may have gone too far by pursuing first-degree murder. I do think prosecutors overcharge here. I don't think she'll be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt on first-degree murder. That is a steep uphill climb for prosecutors. I think it would have been better to charge it as one of the lesser offenses, like involuntary manslaughter, something that recognizes that she was not in her right mind.

8:56I mean, she's sitting in front of the jury as this weeping woman in a wheelchair because she tried to commit suicide. I think that when you see her in court in the wheelchair and her wailing at some parts of the trial, I think that's going to endear her or at least get some of the jurors to sympathize with her. And you don't need the whole jury. You just need one, and it's a hung jury. We asked Ehrenberg what options jurors have if they believe Clancy was mentally ill but still criminally responsible for the deaths. She could be convicted of a lesser crime. I think first-degree murder is, I'd be shocked if that is the result.

9:35Same thing with second-degree murder. I think it's more of an involuntary manslaughter case, which is an unlawful killing without malice. It results from reckless conduct. So if a jury concludes that her mental condition rendered her incapable of forming that specific intent required for murder or the specific level of malice required for murder, but that her actions were still criminally reckless, yeah, they could return her involuntary manslaughter and you can get up to 20 years per count, but I don't think she would. Ehrenberg says the defense still has more work to do to establish that Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings.

10:17There is evidence that she was mentally infirm, that she had some real issues. She was heavily medicated. But I haven't seen an expert yet to conclude that she had postpartum psychosis. And that's where there's still, to me, missing a bit, but we haven't seen the full defense case yet. And so I think that will be coming. But every time they talk about the mistakes made by the medical centers, the doctors, that's a win for the defense, because the more they can shift the blame away from Lindsay Clancy and more towards her doctors, the better it is for her and the more likely she'll be found not guilty.

11:06White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt announcing Wednesday that she will leave her role at the end of August. Stepping away is one of the most visible faces of the Trump administration to spend more time with her young family. The 28-year-old giving birth to her second child, a daughter, in May. Her first son, Nico, born July 10, 2024, just three days before the assassination attempt against President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. Levitt, cutting her maternity leave short at the time and returning to her job as National Press Secretary for the Trump campaign following the shooting. Leavitt describing that decision on The Megyn Kelly Show in February 2025.

11:40The president was shot on the 13th. It was my first day home with him from the hospital. And it kind of threw me right back to work much sooner than I would have probably expected or hoped. Leavitt's White House tenure making history in several ways, Leavitt becoming just the eighth woman to serve as White House press secretary, the youngest person ever to hold the job and the first to give birth while serving in the role. Early in her tenure, Levitt also reshaping who had access to the White House press operation. During her first briefing, Levitt announcing the administration would open access to independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers, and other new media voices, while creating a rotating new media seat in the briefing room.

12:22Levitt saying the changes were aimed at reaching Americans who increasingly get their news outside traditional outlets. And after more than a year spent helping redefine the public face of the White House, Levitt posting to X Wednesday, quote, being a mother and welcoming a new baby while working in one of the most demanding jobs in the world has been the most rewarding yet challenging season of my life, to say the least. Levitt continuing, quote, the truth is, since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House press secretary.

12:56And that is why I have ultimately made the bittersweet decision to depart the White House and embark on a new chapter in my life. Levitt adding she will continue serving as a top outside advisor to President Trump. Her departure met with an unusually warm public sendoff from the President and senior members of his administration. President Trump posting to Truth Social, quote, Caroline has been a real leader in the White House and has done a phenomenal job fighting for justice, liberty, and freedom since 2018, including our historic re-election campaign of 2024. Caroline has been one of the best White House press secretaries in the history of the office.

13:28Thank you, Caroline, for a job well done. Tributes also pouring in from across the administration, many praising Levitt as a fierce advocate for the president and his MAGA movement. It is not yet clear who will replace Levitt at the lectern, with her departure coming less than three months before the midterm elections. Coming up, U.S. intelligence officials reportedly doubting the seriousness of the Iranian threat that prompted President Trump's secret switch off Air Force One last month, and two soldiers killed in an Army Apache helicopter crash in central Texas, with the wreckage igniting a large fire and forcing evacuations nearby.

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15:26officials say American intelligence analysts were reportedly skeptical of the Iranian assassination threat passed along by Israel ahead of the president's July 8th departure from the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. AM Update reporting earlier this week, Mr. Trump publicly boarded the legacy Air Force One in Ankara before reportedly slipping off the plane without the press or public realizing it, being driven across the tarmac inside an airport catering truck, then boarding an Air Force military plane that secretly flew him and a small group of aides to the UK. The president later reportedly sneaking back onto his presidential aircraft before returning to Washington, D.C.

16:02The Post now reporting the threat warning originated with the Israeli government and was passed to the CIA, where analysts reportedly did not find the intelligence especially compelling and conveyed those doubts to Trump administration officials. One U.S. official describing the threat as, quote, Israeli-derived, not U.S.-generated, and viewed as low confidence. Even so, one U.S. official telling the Post, quote, the Secret Service has had three near misses with this president, so they're not taking any chances. They did what they had to do. Another U.S. official, familiar with the security discussions, reportedly questioning how serious the threat actually was, pointing to the tens of thousands of Turkish security personnel involved in securing the NATO summit.

16:41The Wall Street Journal first reporting last month that Israel had provided the U.S. with intelligence about a possible Iranian plot to kill the president. The Journal reporting Wednesday that the warning involved the possibility of Iranian proxies using a shoulder fired missile to target Mr. Trump's plane as it departed Ankara, though some U.S. officials reportedly considered that scenario implausible. The Post now reporting some current and former U.S. intelligence officials believed Israel may have been sharing the warning not simply to inform the administration, but also potentially to influence the president's decision-making and broader U.S.

17:15policy toward Iran. One former official saying it, quote, fit a broader pattern of Israeli intelligence reporting that some officials see as designed as much to shape presidential decision-making as to inform it. That former official also reportedly understood Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been briefed on both the Israeli intelligence and the Secret Service's planned deception, yet still chose to board the legacy Air Force One. The White House declining to directly address the Post's questions about the intelligence itself or how U.S. officials assessed it. President Trump asked earlier this week about the switcheroo.

17:47Well, it's only up to Secret Service. I just follow what they'd like to do. So I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety, but they wanted me to do it. So I do it. I do what they say. I guess there was a threat out there. I didn't really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats. Iranian threats against President Trump and other senior U.S. officials dating back years following the 2020 American strike that killed Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani, those concerns reportedly escalating after Iran's supreme leader and other top officials were killed at the start of the Iran war in February.

18:28A U.S. Army attack helicopter crashing into a field in central Texas Wednesday afternoon, killing both soldiers on board and sparking a large grass fire that forced nearby residents to evacuate. The AH-64 Apache based at Fort Hood going down near Salado shortly after 1.30 p.m., about 50 miles north of Austin. The Associated Press reporting the helicopter was conducting a routine training flight when it crashed. Bell County Sheriff's Office spokesman Cliff Coleman saying the aircraft came down in an open field without striking any homes or other structures. Coleman describing the scene to reporters.

19:03It crashed into a field. You could tell it was a violent crash. Both soldiers on board pronounced dead, the Army withholding their names until at least 24 hours after their families are notified. Brigadier General Ethan Diven, acting commanding general of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, offering his condolences in a statement, Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the families, friends, and fellow troopers of those involved during this incredibly difficult time. Texas Governor Greg Abbott also asking Texans to pray for the soldiers' families and the Fort Hood community, writing on XQuote, Texas is forever indebted to those who serve our state and nation.

19:38The crash igniting a major grass fire around the wreckage, sending thick smoke into the air and forcing the evacuation of several nearby homes. Local firefighters joining military personnel and law enforcement at the scene as the flames reportedly spread across roughly 155 acres Wednesday evening. Officials initially struggling to bring the fire under control, with containment steadily increasing throughout the evening. The Salado Fire Department later reporting the grass fire was 100 % contained. That'll do it for your AM update. I'm Emily Jashinsky, host of After Party. Go and check out more at afterpartyemily.com.

20:14Catch The Megyn Kelly Show later today, live on SiriusXM's The Megyn Kelly Channel 111 at noon east, on youtube.com slash megynkelly, and all podcast platforms.

20:53We'll see you next time. milk today. Available in stores nationwide. Muscle Milk. Protein for all.

From the publisher

Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial enters its 13th day as jurors hear digital evidence from the weeks and hours before she killed her three young children and weigh her insanity defense - MK True Crime Show co-host Dave Aronberg weighs in. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announces she will leave the administration at the end of August to spend more time with her young family. New reporting raises questions about the Israeli intelligence behind the Iranian threat that led President Trump’s security team to secretly switch him off Air Force One. Two soldiers are killed when an Army Apache helicopter crashes in Central Texas, sparking a 155-acre grass fire and forcing nearby evacuations.

 

 

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