RADIOApril 15, 2024

Why Megyn Kelly is “DISGUSTED” by New York’s Criminal Trump Trial

The hush money trial of Donald Trump has begun — the first criminal trial ever against a former president — and Megyn Kelly is “disgusted” by it. “The United States of America DOESN’T do this,” she tells Glenn. But will Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg actually throw Trump in jail? Megyn explains why she doesn’t believe so, but she also debates whether a criminal conviction will help or hurt Trump in the November election.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Megyn Kelly, welcome to the program.

How are you, Megyn?

MEGYN: Hi, Glenn. Good to see you. How are you doing?

GLENN: What's going to happen this time? Are they going to get him this time?

MEGYN: They're going to get him. And I don't know about you. You can kind of laugh at it. And kind of absurd. But now that it's -- I mean, the first criminal trial of Donald Trump has just begun. They're in the courtroom.

The witnesses will be called eventually, after they pick the jury.

And they're going to try to put this guy behind bars, potentially.

They're 100 percent taking their best shot at stopping him from winning this race. And it really, for me as a lawyer, it's been very sobering morning.

I'm just disgusted.

I cannot believe we're doing this.

I -- it's like -- it's like Princess Diana behaving like a straight whore. That's what we're doing. The United States doesn't do this. And because we're in the hands of this scummy prosecutor. Multiple. It's not just Alvin Bragg, but he's the lead on this.

We've gone down this road, pretending a payment to a porn star, who is threatening to expose an affair, is a crime that warrants 34 counts. And they're going to make it as sleazy as humanly possible.

We're going to hear about David Pecker, who ran the national inquirer, owned AMI Media, and to bury negative stories on Trump and to inflate stories on Hillary.

Great. I can't wait to hear about Fusion GPS. Was Trump the only one trying to get dirt printed on his opponent.

That's what this jury will be left with. He worked with dirty magazines to get Hillary painted as fact. And unwell.

And without talking about how his campaign was spied on. She's been trying to get him impeached or thrown in jail, along with President Obama, for years.

Politics is disgusting and dirty and underhanded. And we wish it weren't so.

But guess what, it's so. Welcome to America.

And never before, have we put somebody on trial. Antics around it. Or a man on trial, for not screaming from the rooftops, I paid off a porn star, so she didn't humiliate me with my wife.

We're embarrassing ourselves with this trial. I feel appropriately disgusted.

GLENN: What is the difference between this trial, and the trial that didn't happen, because I only lied about sex? You know, to save my marriage, to make sure I didn't humiliate my wife. That's basically why Donald Trump perjured himself. Or not Donald Trump. Bill Clinton perjured himself, and nothing happened there. Everybody just walked away. What's the difference between these two?

MEGYN: One is a Democrat. One is a Republican.

GLENN: That's what I thought. That's what I thought.

MEGYN: Yeah, if you're a Democrat, you can lie. Ask Fani Wilis, ask Nathan Wade. Fine. You can lie on the stand, under oath. Like Bill Clinton did.

It's okay. It's just -- oh, wait. That's what Trump was doing too, allegedly.

That's -- wait. He was lying to cover up an affair. In only one lane does it become a felony.
And just not to get too deep in the weeds, Glenn, but let's not forget what really is happening here is a misdemeanor bookkeeping snafu or error or just statement, that the statute of limitations has run on. They reinvigorated a dead claim, by saying, well, it was made to cover up an underlying felony, which was a campaign finance violation.

You made $130,000 donation, quote, unquote, to your own campaign by paying off Stormy Daniels to win an election.

Well, guess what, that's not a campaign finance violation. The only way you get the kind of campaign finance violation, is get the payment, who could only have been made for one purpose, and that is to help your campaign.

Well, guess what, again, hush payments have been made by men to shut women up since the dawn of time. It doesn't have to be to save one's campaign. And that is the relative legal test expect Alvin brag should know. It's the reason the feds were not interested in pursuing this claim against Donald Trump.

GLENN: Correct. So is it just a corrupt judge that is making all the -- because the judge should look at that and said, no. You can't do this?

MEGYN: Yeah. Yes. I mean, it's not just. Because we have Mr. Bragg. But, yeah. The judge say serious problem.

A nonpartisan judge would you have thrown this out in the papers. Pretty easily.

And I do believe there's a very good chance, this will ultimately, no matter what happens with the area. Get thrown out on appeal.

Like most of the prosecutions against Trump. Not the obstruction case. But the J6 case could get thrown out soon, actually. The Supreme Court throws out the obstruction charges. Other cases involve J6 defendants not Trump.

If the Supreme Court does anything on presidential immunity. And then if he loses that J6 case. If there's a trial. I think it can get thrown out on appeal.

But he has to go through the humiliation.

We -- we -- America have to go through the humiliation of this criminal trial first.

We just saw our former president dragged into a criminal courtroom today.

And in typical Trumpian fashion, he said, I'm proud to be here. I'm very proud to be here.

That's smart. Trump is smart. He always does it. Positive spin for anything that happens to him. Let's be honest. This is not a proud moment.

Not for him. Not for us.

GLENN: Not for his family.

MEGYN: I'm ashamed of us for doing this.

GLENN: So what do you say about Donald Trump, this is, you know, something that, you know, we would be disgusted by, if it was something that was happening on the other side? Bill Clinton comes to mind. That we as conservatives, would say, this guy, he shouldn't be doing this as president. But in the Clinton case, it was illegal. He perjured himself. But there -- there really isn't anything illegal here. And if it was, it's past the statute of limitations.

MEGYN: There's a difference between those two cases. Let me tell you, Glenn. No one is allowed to lie under oath. It's a felony. It's a felony. It's perjury.

GLENN: Correct.

MEGYN: And a lawyer really isn't allowed to lie under oath. You have additional duties of candor to a court, before they admit you into the bar. You swear not to do things like that. So there are additional obligations on a lawyer, which Clinton was.

And on top of that, there are additional obligations as president. He violated them all. He committed a felony. Donald Trump made a bookkeeping misstatement. That's what he did. And for that, he's being hauled into court.

There's just no comparison between the legal scent -- and, look, I don't have any doubt, Trump will be convicted.

And to be honest, I don't have any doubt that Trump did this. I'm not -- I don't really doubt, that Trump didn't write down the hush money, to Stormy Daniels. Porn star. Who is threatening to go to my wife and the media about an affair, I may have had. He probably did do that.

GLENN: Right. Well, there was another one he paid off, that it wasn't true.

So I mean we don't know. Right?

MEGYN: The doorman? Yeah. Well, that's another piece of the AMI media piece of this case, which hasn't gotten much attention. But it's going to, when I think you hear, David Pecker will take the stand. The guy who ran, and I owned it. He will take a stand. And say, yeah. We caught and killed stories, including from this Karen McDougal who was the 1998 playmate of the year, who allegedly had an affair with Trump.

And also took a payout from AMI, to write health columns, instead of take the story to a publication that would run with it. This is what the allegation is, that if you're a friend with Pecker, like Trump was, you could get this kind of thing done for you.

And that's what he was doing for Trump. And we will have with this testimony, to that effect. And that's -- okay.

Is anyone shocked, that Trump didn't want all his affairs come out? I don't care. I'm sure he has had affairs. I'm sure, you know what, I'm sure Obama did too. The sainted Obama. And I'm sure Bill Clinton did. And the only reason the Clinton thing became a story is because Linda Tripp cited it -- and go public with the story. Neither pair of the lovers wanted that public.

Linda Tripp brought it public, and then Bill Clinton, rather than being a man and owning up to it, lied under oath. We're back to that problem.

But this is just -- we shouldn't be knowing about any of this. We shouldn't be humiliating ourselves, and getting neck deep into the gory details of it. But the Democrats are going to be awash in -- in seedy Trump affair details, for the next six weeks.

And it's anything, but accidental.

GLENN: How do you think this plays with the American people?

MEGYN: I think they will be disgusted like him.

But unfortunately, I think the very group Trump is struggling with, women, former Republicans, in the suburbs, like where I live. They're not going to like this. You know, because most of our husbands don't cheat on us with porn stars and playmates of the years. And --

GLENN: Well, I would hope -- I would hope that it doesn't just -- we don't. Yeah. We're all cheating. But not necessarily with porn stars. And play boys.

STU: There's also so many playmates of the year. They would be way too busy if everybody were cheating.

GLENN: Yeah. Way too busy. I don't think most husbands cheat on their wives.

MEGYN: I don't think they do. So they're not going to like this. You can't forget MAGA. Those guys who are out in front of the White House now, amazing.

The pro-Trump guys with all their pro-Trump gear. And they're like the anti-Trump guys. Did you see the guy with the flute?

He hates Trump! Like liar. Narcissist. Felon. And then he's playing the lovely flute. Saying God bless America.

Anyway, the hard-core MAGA, they're not going to care. We all know. Nothing is going to change their mind. And most Republicans are on Team Trump, and realize it's a political persecution.

But there is a group of independents now, center right independents. Who used to be Republicans. Who don't like Trump. And it would be helpful to the Republican Party and to Trump. If those people could be more disgusted with Biden than with Trump.

GLENN: Right.

MEGYN: And they might yet be. And I don't mean the conviction. The conviction won't help either.

Six weeks of Trump is a shitty husband. That won't help.

GLENN: Remember.

STU: Broadcast.

GLENN: Broadcast. That's all right. That's all right.

So, Megyn, does he go to jail? You said he will be convicted. Does he go to jail? And what would that mean? How much time would he be facing on this?

MEGYN: He's not going to jail on this case. He's not.

But you have lunatics like Andrew Weissmann, who honestly, he's not a -- like, this guy has done a very legitimate legal resume. I realize he left the FBI and all that.

But he was general council of the FBI, was a US attorney, and he's out there saying nonsense like, well, Trump is a recidivist. A recidivist is someone who continues to commit crime after he's served time or been convicted. You know, like you can't stop yourself from selling the heroin.

That's not Trump! So it is true, that there's some potential for jail time, if this judge somehow turns him into a repeat offender because he is facing three other criminal trials.

That's not happening. So I don't think he will go to jail for this one. I think it will be a matter of fines. But if -- that doesn't change much. I mean, jail time would be far, far worse.

But they still have their conviction.

And the thing is, guys, half of independents and still one-third of the Republicans, are saying they like Trump. But they can't vote for a convicted felon.

And I had this conviction -- I think it was with you guys, Stu. You and Dave Marcus were on my show this week. What if they mean it.

I know we don't think they mean it. What if they do mean it.

I look at this. Huh. What if we're wrong?

What if we're downplaying this, like, everyone knows this is BS, but we're wrong? When we misread the polls. And we do often. Because who the heck knows what to believe on polls anymore.

GLENN: Yep.

MEGYN: We get burned.

And so today really could be day one, in Trump losing this election. It could be.

GLENN: My gosh.

MEGYN: I don't think it will be.

But I recognize the danger of what they're doing here. And, of course, we all know, that's why they're doing it.

GLENN: I was hoping that it would backfire on them. I think it has to some degree.

I don't know when you add the actual felony. You know, to this.

MEGYN: That's the thing. That's the question.

Is the backfire bounce, already baked in.

GLENN: Hmm.

MEGYN: Right?

Have they already gotten all the bounce there is to get, from the outrage, over resetting norms that have been in place for almost 250 years.

And that, of course, would be the Democrat's plan, to boost him in the primaries.

He'll get whatever bounce he gets in the backlash.

And then it waned over the course of what they hoped would be four criminal trials. Now it looks like just this one.

But this is their best shot. Six weeks. Disgusting man. Horrid husband. And now convicted felony.

They don't need to hurt him much. You know, Joe Biden only one by 45,000 votes. They don't need to hurt him much.

GLENN: I know.

Megyn Kelly, host of the Megyn Kelly Show. Follows this program on SiriusXM. As always, Megyn, good to talk to you. Thank you.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Are Epstein's "Blackmail Videos" Being Used for Leverage RIGHT NOW?

What was Jeffrey Epstein's operation all about. If he was at the center of a massive blackmail operation to compromise those in positions of power, who is in possession of that information now? Glenn Beck and ATF Whistleblower John Dodson analyze the details of this situation and give their thoughts on what is the most likely reality surrounding Epstein.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with ATF Whistleblower John Dodson HERE

WARNING: How America Elects a Socialist President in 2028 | Glenn TV | Ep 444

The rise of Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old socialist who just won the Democratic primary for mayor, is not just a political earthquake shaking New York City — it’s a warning for the rest of America. Backed by Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani promises free everything, to tax the rich, and to dismantle capitalism. There’s nothing new about this tired strategy, but the media is propping him up as a new political genius. And with Democrat leaders lining up behind him, it’s clear: This radicalism isn’t fringe anymore. It’s the Democratic Party’s future. Mamdani’s rise is part of a larger movement that’s rewriting America’s values. Glenn Beck explains how New York is the prototype for the Left’s socialist makeover of America. Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Standford, gives a terrifying prediction on Mamdani’s mayoral race chances and warns the revolution is coming for mainstream Democrats. He also dives into MAGA’s frustration with the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files.

Salena Zito reveals WHY Trump said “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

“I have a new purpose,” then-candidate Donald Trump told reporter Salena Zito after surviving the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Salena joins Glenn Beck to reveal what Trump told her about God, his purpose in life, and why he really said, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”, as she details in her new book, “Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland”.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Salena, congratulations on your book. It is so good.

Just started reading it. Or listening to it, last night.

And I wish you would have -- I wish you would have read it. But, you know, the lady you have reading it is really good.

I just enjoy the way you tell stories.

The writing of this is the best explanation on who Trump supporters are. That I think I've ever read, from anybody.

It's really good.

And the description of your experience there at the edge of the stage with Donald Trump is pretty remarkable as well. Welcome to the program.

SALENA: Thank you, Glenn. Thank you so much for having me.

You know, I was thinking about this, as I was ready to come on. You and I have been along for this ride forever. For what?

Since 2006? 2005?

Like 20 years, right?

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

SALENA: And I've been chronicling the American people for probably ten more years, before that. And it's really remarkable to me, as watching how this coalition has grown. Right?

And watching how people have the -- have become more aspirational.

And that's -- and that is what the conservative populist coalition is, right?

It is the aspirations of many, but the celebration of the individual.

And chronicling them, yeah. Has been -- has been, a great honor.

GLENN: You know, I was thinking about this yesterday, when -- when Elon Musk said he was starting another party.

And somebody asked me, well, isn't he doing what the Tea Party tried to do?

No. The Tea Party was not going to start a new party.

It was to -- you know, it was to coerce and convince the Republican Party to do the right thing. And it worked in many ways. It didn't accomplish what we hoped.

But it did accomplish a lot of things.

Donald Trump is a result of the Tea Party.

I truly believe that. And a lot of the people that were -- right?

Were with Donald Trump, are the people that were with the Tea Party.

SALENA: That's absolutely right.

So that was the inception.

So American politics has always had movements, that have been just outside of a party. Or within a party.

That galvanize and broaden the coalition. Right? They don't take away. Or walk away, and become another party.

If anything, if there is a third party out there, it's almost a Republican Party.

Because it has changed in so many viable and meaningful ways. And the Tea Party didn't go away. It strengthened and broadened the Republican Party. Because these weren't just Republicans that became part of this party.

It was independents. It was Democrats.

And just unhappy with the establishment Republicans. And unhappy with Democrats.

And that -- that movement is what we -- what I see today.

What I see every day. What I saw that day, in butler, when I showed I happen at that rally.

As I do, so many rallies, you know, throughout my career. And that one was riveting and changed everything.

GLENN: You made a great case in the opening chapter. You talk about how things were going for Donald Trump.

And how this moment really did change everything for Donald Trump.

Changed the trajectory, changed the mood.

I mean, Elon Musk was not on the Trump train, until this.

SALENA: Yeah.

GLENN: Moment. What do I -- what changed? How -- how did that work?

And -- and I contend, that we would have much more profound change, had the media actually done their job and reported this the way it really was. Pragmatism

SALENA: You know, and people will find this in the book. I'm laying on the ground with an agent on top of me.

I'm 4 feet away from the president.

And there's -- there's notices coming up on my phone. Saying, he was hit by broken glass.

And to this take, that remains part of this sibling culture, in American politics.

Because reporters were -- were so anxious to -- to right what they believed happened.

As opposed to what happened.

And it's been a continual frustration of mine, as a reporter, who is on the ground, all the time.

And I'll tell you, what changed in that moment.

And I say a nuance, and I believe nuance is dead in American journalism.

But it was a nuance and it was a powerful conversation, that I had with President Trump, the next day. He called me the next morning.

But it's a powerful conversation I had with him, just two weeks ago.

When he made this decision to say, fight, fight, fight.

People have put in their heads, why they think he said it. But he told me why he said that. And he said, Salena, in that moment, I was not Donald Trump the man. I was a former president. I was quite possibly going to be president again.

And I had an obligation to the country, and to the office that I have served in, to project strength. To project resolve.

To project that we will not be defeated.

And it's sort of like a symbolic eagle, that is always -- you know, that symbol that we look at, when we think about our country.

He said, that's why I said that. I didn't want the people behind me panicking. I didn't want the people watching, panicking.

I had to show strength. And it's that nuance -- that I think people really picked up on.

And galvanized people.

GLENN: So he told me, when he was laying down on the stage.

And you can hear him. Let me get up. Let me get up.

I've got to get up.

He told me, as I was laying on the stage. I asked him, what were you thinking? What was going through your head? Now, Salena, I don't know about you.

But with me. It would be like, how do I get off the stage? My first was survival.

He said, what was going on through his mind was, you're not pathetic. This is pathetic.

You're not afraid. Get up.

Get up.

And so is that what informed his fight, fight, fight, of that by the time that he's standing up, he's thinking, I'm a symbol? Or do you think he was thinking, I'm a symbol, this looks pathetic. It makes you look weak.

Stand up. How do you think that actually happened?

SALENA: He thinks, and we just talked about this weeks ago. He -- you know, and this is something that he's really thought about.

Right? You know, he's gone over and over and over. And also, purpose and God. Right? These are things that have lingered with him.

You know, he -- he thought, yes.

He did think, it was pathetic that he was on the ground. But he wasn't thinking about, I'm Donald Trump. It's pathetic.

He's thinking, my country is symbolically on the ground. I need to get up, and I need to show that my country is strong.

That our country is resolute.

And I need people to see that.

We can't go on looking like pathetic.

Right?

And I think that then goes to that image of Biden.

GLENN: You have been with so many presidents.

How many presidents do you think that you've personally been with, would have thought that and reacted that way?

SALENA: Probably only Reagan. Reagan would have. Reagan probably would have thought that.

And if you remember how he was out like standing outside.

You know, waving out the window. Right?

After he was shot.

GLENN: At the hospital, right.

SALENA: Had he not been knocked out, unconscious, you know, he probably would have done the same thing.

Because he was someone who deeply believed in American exceptionalism.

And American exceptionalism does not go lay on the ground.

GLENN: And the symbol.

Right. The symbol of the presidency.

SALENA: Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that affects him today.

GLENN: So let me go back to God.

Because you talked to him the next day. And your book Butler.

He calls you up.

I love the fact that your parents would be ashamed of you. On what you said to him.

The language you used. That you just have to read the book.

It's just a great part.

But he calls you the next morning. And wants to know if you're okay.

And you -- you then start talking to him, about God.

And I was -- I was thinking about this, as I was listening to it. You know, Lincoln said, I wasn't -- I wasn't a Christian.

Even though, he was.

I wasn't a Christian, when I was elected. I wasn't a Christian when my son died.

I became a Christian at Gettysburg.

Is -- is -- I mean, I believe Donald Trump always believes in God, et cetera, et cetera.

Do you think there was a real profound change at Butler with him?

SALENA: Absolutely. You know, he called me seven times that day. Seven times, the take after seven.

GLENN: Crazy.

SALENA: Talked about. And I think he was looking for someone that he knew, that was there. And to try to sort it out.

Right? And I let him do most of the talking. I didn't pressure him.

At all. I believed that he was having -- you know, he was struggling. And he needed to just talk. And I believed my purpose was to listen.

Right? I know other reporters would have handled it differently. And that's okay. That's not the kind of reporter that I am.

And I myself was having my own like, why didn't I die?

Right?

Because it went right over my head.

And -- and so I -- he had the conversation about God.

He's funny. I thought it was the biggest mosquito in the world that hit me.

But he had talked profoundly about purpose. You know, and God.

And how God was in that moment.

It --

GLENN: I love the way you -- in the book, I love the way you said that as he's kind of working it out in his own he head.

He was like, you know, I -- I -- I always knew that there was some sort of, you know -- that God was present.

He said, but now that this has happened.

I look back at all of the trials.

All of the tribulations. Literally, the trials.

All of the things that have happened. And he's like, I realized God was there the whole time.

SALENA: Yes. He does. And it's fascinating to have been that witness to history, to have those conversations with him. Because I'm telling you. And y'all know, I can talk. I didn't say much of anything.

I just -- I just listened. I felt that was my purpose, in that moment.

To give him that space, to work it out.

I'm someone that is, you know, believes in God.

I'm Catholic. I followed my faith.

And -- and so, I thought, well, this is why God put me here. Right?

And to -- to have that -- to hear him talk about purpose, to hear him say, Salena. Why did I put a chart down?

I'm like, sir. I don't know. I thought you were Ross Perot for a second.

He never has a chart. And he laughed. And then he said, why did I put that chart down?

By that term, I never turned my head away from people at the rally. That's true.

That relationship is very transactional. It's very -- they feed off of each other.

It's a very emotive moment when you attend a rally. Because he has a way of talking at a rally. That you believe that you are seeing.

And he said, and I never turn my head away.

I never turn my head away.

Why did I turn my head away?

I don't remember consciously thinking about turning my head away. And then he says to me, that was God, wasn't it?

Yes, sir. It was. It was God.

And he said, that's -- that's why I have a new purpose.

And so, Glenn. I think it's important, when you look at the breadth of what has happened, since he was sworn in.

You see that purpose, every day.

He doesn't let up.

He continues going.

And it brings back to the beginning of the book.

Where you find out, that there was another president that was shot at in Butler.

And that was George Washington. And how different the country would have been, had he died in that moment.

And now think about how different the country would be, had President Trump died in that moment. There would be --

GLENN: We're talking to -- we're talking to Salena Zito. About her new book called Butler. The assassination attempt on President Trump. And it is riveting.

And, you know, it is so good. I wish the press would read it. Because it really explains who we are, who Trump supporters are. Who are, you know, red staters. It is so good at that. She's the best at that.