"Mildly" Positive Hantavirus U.S. Case, Biden Fights Audio Release, Hoosiers at WH: AM Update 5/12

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0:4218 passengers from a cruise ship tied to a deadly hantavirus outbreak now being monitored in the U.S., with one testing mildly positive for the disease. The suspect in last month's White House Correspondents dinner shooting pleading not guilty as his lawyers argue the prosecution is tainted by a conflict of interest. Former President Biden moving to block the release of audio recordings from his memoir. Interviews that became evidence in the Special Counsel Robert Herr classified documents investigation. This was a year that will live forever in the hearts of Indiana football fans. And the undefeated national championship team, Indiana Hoosiers visit the White House.

1:22All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.

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2:54One passenger currently in biocontainment, with top-ranking CDC official Captain Brendan Jackson describing the case as, quote, mildly positive because just one of two samples taken from that person indicated hantavirus. That patient reportedly doing well and not showing any symptoms. The biocontainment unit, a more specialized isolation facility, uses negative air pressure systems, meaning air is pulled into the room but not allowed to flow back out into surrounding areas, helping prevent any possible airborne spread. Two other passengers, a couple, were sent to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

3:32One has mild symptoms and is receiving care in Emory's biocontainment unit. The other is that person's partner and close contact, now being monitored as a precaution. Hantavirus is carried by rodents and usually spreads to humans through contact with infected urine, droppings, or saliva. This outbreak, involving the Andes variant, a rare and deadly strain that can also spread person to person through prolonged close contact. At least three people tied to the ship have died. The passengers now in the U.S., ranging in age from late 20s to early 80s. Health officials say the quarantine units are more like a hotel room with Wi-Fi, exercise equipment, and comfortable lodging, allowing for easy monitoring, including routine temperature checks.

4:19All of the passengers now facing a 42-day monitoring window, with health officials deciding case by case whether they can safely complete that period at home or need to remain under medical supervision. Captain Jackson at a press conference yesterday describing what the next several days will look like for these passengers. Right now, the folks, the passengers that are all in the sort of assessment phase, they're going to be here for at least a few days while we do assessments and then coordination from what happens next. They certainly have the option to stay here for the entire 42-day period if that's just the safest and most effective option for them.

4:58There's going to be an individualized decision plan for them to determine if it makes more sense for them to complete their 42-day monitoring period at home. There's going to be a couple of things that go into that decision. First and foremost, do they remain symptom-free, but also do they have all the structures and support to be able to continue that period at home, making sure that they can be able to isolate in a separate part of structure from anybody else, make sure that they can contact their health department, get tested if necessary if they develop symptoms, or if they need a higher level of medical care, that that's available to them.

5:31Captain Jackson also explaining why the CDC is casting a relatively wide net around possible exposure, even as officials stress that hantavirus does not spread as easily as a respiratory virus like COVID. There's guidance that you can look to specifically on our website about close contact and how that defines exposures. Typically, we're talking about exposure to specifically to bodily fluids, and that could include things like saliva. So if you're sharing eating utensils, kissing, touching, those type of things. It can also mean just being really, really close to that person for a fairly long period of time.

6:05So we're calling that right now six feet for at least a cumulative number of 15 minutes. I want to be clear, there's nothing magical about six feet. It's not a force field, but it's a rough number that gives us a sense of how close somebody has been. 15 minutes, again, it's a bit arbitrary, but it again gives some sense of how close someone has been. I think that's actually a fairly conservative approach, given how we know the evidence we have so far about how this virus has spread in the past. President Trump yesterday from the Oval Office offering measured reassurance. Now, the one thing with this one is that it's much harder to catch.

6:39And we've had it for a long time. People are very familiar with it. So, you know, I hope it's fine. All I can do is everything that a president can do, which is actually somewhat limited. But it seems like it is not easy to spread. In fact, it's in certain ways very hard to spread. It's been, we've lived with it for years, many years, and we think we're in very good We're very careful. And Nebraska has done a fantastic job. They have a place there that those doctors are unbelievable, the job they've done. Cole Thomas Allen, the 31-year-old suspect charged in last month's shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, pleading not guilty yesterday to all four counts against him.

7:30Allen appearing in D.C. Federal Court in an orange jumpsuit, handcuffed to a waist chain, and saying nothing during the hearing. His attorney, public defender Tezra Abe entering the plea on his behalf. The four counts against Allen, attempting to assassinate the president of the United States, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, transporting a firearm across state lines, and assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon. That last charge, newly added Tuesday by a federal grand jury in connection with the shooting of a Secret Service agent. Investigators say a pellet pulled from the agent's vest matches buckshot allegedly fired from Allen's shotgun.

8:10The case now assigned to Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden. Prosecutors also telling the court they expect to begin turning over the first batch of evidence to the defense by the end of the week. Allen's legal team also seeking to remove U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, her office, and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche from the case, arguing they have a conflict of interest. In a court filing, the defense noting Pirro and Blanche were both in the ballroom when the shots were fired and citing Pirro's personal friendship with President Trump. From the motion, quote, how can the American justice system permit a victim to prosecute a criminal defendant in a case involving them?

8:50Pirro, in an interview with CNN earlier this month, rejecting the idea that her presence at the dinner should force her off of this case. I want to ask you this with all due respect. You were a guest at the dinner. Yes. And potentially, God forbid, a target, right? You're in the administration. Right. Has it been suggested to you at any point by anyone that maybe you need to recuse yourself because you were both a witness and a potential target? Absolutely not. I mean, there is no way. I mean, that would be like telling witnesses that, you know, you can't testify at the trial because you were there.

9:22The truth is that there were 2 ,500 of us who were there. And my ability to prosecute this case has nothing to do with my being there. The court directing the DOJ to respond to the motion by June 22nd. Legal scholar Jonathan Turley yesterday on Fox News saying Allen's bid to remove Pirro from the case is unlikely to succeed. I don't think it's going to go anywhere. The most that they can likely hope for here, Jillian, is this have the judge issue some type of gag order or some clarification about public statements to be made. I don't think the fact that she's a friend of the president will work.

9:58I mean, you had Eric Holder, who called himself the wingman of President Obama. That didn't result in widespread motions to have him removed from cases. Allen is scheduled to return to court June 29th for a status conference. Coming up, former President Biden moving to block the release of audio recordings from his conversations with the ghostwriter of his memoir. and the National College football champions, the Indiana Hoosiers, visit the White House without their star player.

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11:13But listen, Lean is not for the casual dieter with only a few pounds to lose. The doctors at Brickhouse Nutrition created Lean for frustrated dieters with 10 or more pounds to lose. You could get started with 20 % off and free rush shipping, adding lean to your healthy diet and exercise plan. Visit takelean.com and enter MK to get your discount. That's promo code MK at takelean.com. Former President Joe Biden is preparing to attempt to block the release of audio recordings from his 2017 interviews with the ghostwriter behind his memoir, Promise Me Dad. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, filing suit in March 2024 in federal court in Washington, D.C., under the Freedom of Information Act, seeking roughly 70 hours of recordings and transcripts from Mr.

12:04Biden's conversations with author Mark Zwanitzer. Separately, the House Judiciary Committee also asking the Justice Department to turn over the same materials. The recordings obtained by Special Counsel Robert Herr during his investigation into Mr. Biden's handling of classified documents after leaving office as vice president. Investigators finding classified materials at Mr. Biden's Wilmington, Delaware home and at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C. from his time as vice president and senator. One of the most damaging findings in Herr's report centering on President Biden's recorded conversations with Zwanitzer.

12:43According to the report, Mr. Biden read aloud from notebooks investigators later determined contained classified information. In one quoted exchange, President Biden telling the ghostwriter, quote, I just found all the classified stuff downstairs. Her ultimately declining to bring criminal charges against then President Joe Biden, the final report released in February 2024, concluding that a jury would likely see Mr. Biden as, quote, a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory. President Biden denying at the time that he shared classified information, telling reporters, quote, In a Friday court filing, the DOJ writing that it intends to release partially redacted versions of the ghostwriter recordings and transcripts to Heritage and to the House Judiciary Committee.

13:31But the DOJ also indicating Mr. Biden's lawyers have advised the department that he intends to intervene in the case to prevent the disclosure. Today marks the deadline for Team Biden to take that legal step. Biden spokesperson T.J. Ducklow telling Politico in a statement, President Biden cooperated fully with Special Counsel Herr and agreed to provide audio tapes of conversations with his biographer for a book about his deceased son on the condition that they would not be made public. Ducklow adding, The DOJ themselves have said these tapes serve no public interest. We spoke with Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, a nonprofit government watchdog group.

14:11The Oversight Project beginning this effort while it was still under the Heritage Foundation umbrella and now continuing to partner with the think tank in the legal fight. Howell tells us what he expects the tapes to reveal. I think it's pretty obvious that Joe Biden was very faulty and not of sound mind. And so I expect this is an embarrassing recording for him, which is the motivation behind trying to fight for the release. It'll help, you know, paint a fuller picture of, you know, when the decline started and how bad it was. I also think it'll add context to how the, you know, then former vice president was illegally holding and using classified information, perhaps for private financial gain.

14:56because keep in mind the reason he wrote this book is because, and this is in the record, Joe Biden was embarrassed that they didn't have enough money. You had Hunter running around and making all the money. And so he paid somebody to write a book for him. And I think he was flipping secrets around in order to have a juicier book. Howell says after years of litigation, Team Biden is only moving to object now, just as the tapes appear close to release. This case has been going on for years. And now that it's on the eve of being released, they're just seeking to extend that. Jeff Clark, our VP for litigation here, said he's never seen in his 30 years of practicing a more obvious delay tactic than this.

15:38It reeks of politics. I mean, right now, going into midterms, there's been some articles written about how Biden intends to assert himself more in the political process. And I think they just finally figured out, like, hey, if, you know, they're going to be trotting out Joe Biden again. and they're going to have a probably pretty embarrassing story coming out. They don't want those two things to happen at the same time. And so their lawyers put two and two together and then decided, oh, holy smokes, we should try to delay the release of this tape even longer. For Howell, the fight over these tapes now becoming part of a larger question about transparency, accountability and how the Biden White House operated.

16:17I'll say that the matter of how this country was run by an autopend for four years still remains one of the greatest constitutional scandals in American history. I know that it's kind of lost the spotlight a little bit in recent years with how quickly news moves. But we need to return as a country focused to this issue because, you know, for all of the talks going on right now about attacks on democracy, this attacks on democracy, that, there's been nothing more undemocratic than a president, you know, an entire branch of government, rather, being outsourced to staff using an auto pen. And so when we have potential pieces of evidence like a long recording of Joe Biden with his ghostwriter, there's no reason that should not be in the public record and should not be used to inform solutions to ensure something like this never happens again.

17:06The 2025 college football playoff champions, the Indiana Hoosiers, visiting the White House yesterday, celebrating the program's first national title and a perfect 16-0 season after defeating Miami 27-21 in the championship game back in January. President Trump, who was at the championship game, welcoming the team and head coach Kurt Signetti to the White House. This is an honor. I watch that game. I watch these guys. They can play. They can play. And they were a little underestimated. But I just said, but not anymore. They're not underestimated anymore. They were incredible talents. So today is my great honor to welcome the 2025 college football national champions, the Indiana University Hoosiers.

17:57This was a year that will live forever in the hearts of Indiana football fans. It was an exciting year for football, but maybe you're the biggest story. I think, Coach, you're the biggest story. There's no story like this. Kurt Signet has turned out to be, I believe, I think he's the coach of the last decade because he took a team. Nobody knew him. Nobody knew the team. And he ended up taking this team all the way. Notably absent from the celebration, Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the relentlessly positive star who helped turn Indiana's title run into a national story with his inspirational post-game interviews.

18:36Mendoza going on to become the number one overall NFL draft pick for the Las Vegas Raiders. Mendoza previously confirming to reporters that commitments to his new team meant he would miss out on the celebration. I'm on the bottom of the totem pole here. I got to prove myself I can't I can't mispractice as a rookie. I don't think that's a good look. And I want to, you know, try to best serve my teammates. And I don't know if I'd be accomplishing that goal. President Trump at the White House still taking a moment to recognize the Hoosiers absent star quarterback. Now, the reason he's not here, he was so nice, he called because he has actually J.D.'s a big fan of ours.

19:14You wouldn't believe it because he didn't show up. I'm not happy but that's okay the reason he didn't because he's at spring training right correct no he's been great and he's at spring training like his first day or something i said you better go there if he was not here for other reasons like he didn't like trump or he didn't want to come i wouldn't even mention him i'd go through the hole i'd talk about how great i wouldn't even mention the quarterback's name but he's a great guy actually and he is actually a big fan of what we're doing for our country. But he became Indiana's first ever Heisman Trophy winner.

19:50Right, Coach? The team gifting President Trump a custom jersey, helmet, and football before getting a tour of the Oval Office. 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 megankelly, and on all podcast platforms.

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