Dems Ignore Garcia Reality, Karmelo Anthony Family Speaks Out, Bernie Flies Private: AM Update 4/18

Good morning, everyone.

I'm Megan Kelly.

It's Friday, April 18th, 2025, and this is your AM update.

Nobody has any communication with him since he was illegally abducted from Maryland and sent to Seacott prison in El Salvador.

Democrat Senator Chris Van Holland of Maryland again attempting a wellness check on accused MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego-Garcia and miraculously, late last night, posting a casual photo of the two of them together at last.

President Trump targeting Fed Chair Jerome Powell's decision to leave interest rates where they are.

Black people in America don't have to pull the race car.

It's what we live as a reality every day.

The family of 17-year-old accused killer Carmelo Anthony in Texas speaks out, blaming Trump, oppression, and the media.

And Bernie Sanders and AOC railing against the rich as they travel like the 1%.

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

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Democrat Senator from Maryland Chris Van Holland attempting again to access the El Salvador prison holding Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

The senator persisting in his fight despite newly surfaced evidence linking Mr.

Abrego Garcia to MS-13 and reports of past domestic violence.

The vice president of El Salvador on Wednesday denying Senator Van Hollen access to the terrorism confinement center.

On Thursday, the senator attempting to enter on his own and denied again, this time at a military checkpoint.

We just tried to go visit him in prison.

just to check on his conditions.

Nobody has any communication with him since he was illegally abducted from Maryland and sent to Seacott prison in El Salvador.

Today's purpose was just to see what his health condition is.

And these soldiers were ordered to prevent us from going any farther.

And then late last night, a surprise post from the senator on X, a photo of Senator Van Holland sitting with Garcia himself and writing, quote, I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar.

Tonight, I had that chance.

I've called his wife Jennifer to pass along his message of love.

I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.

El Salvador President Naeb Bukele posting his own message on X, writing, quote, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the death camps and torture, now sipping margaritas with Senator Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador.

Now that he's been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador's custody.

Senator Van Hollen and the media clinging to a repeatedly debunked narrative that Mr.

Obrego Garcia is simply an innocent Maryland dad.

Some press even calling him a quote, U.S.

man.

In reality, Mr.

Obrego Garcia is a Salvadoran national.

The Trump administration is fighting a court battle over his status, maintaining that if returned to the U.S., Mr.

Obrego Garcia will be promptly deported again, consisting with rulings from not one, but two immigration courts finding him removable back in 2019, though not to El Salvador.

For the last several weeks, Mr.

Obrego Garcia's wife making her husband's case to the cameras.

The Trump administration has labeled him a human trafficker, even an MS-13 gang leader.

How do you respond to those claims?

So everything they're saying, it's wrong.

My husband is a loving father.

And what I know is he's an amazing husband, an amazing father.

That's who he truly is.

On Thursday, Ms.

Vasquez, who married Abrego Garcia in an ICE detention center as a bid to prevent his 2019 deportation, confirming the court documents she filed against him in 2020 and 2021 from the documents in Ms.

Vasquez's own handwriting, quote, I was watching on my laptop and he yelled to turn it off.

He got angry, reached over to shut.

and threw my laptop onto the floor and the baby started to cry because he was putting pressure on him.

It goes on, quote, he then punched me, scratched me on my left eye, leaving me bleeding.

Later that day, Ms.

Vasquez writes, quote, he got angry, started yelling again to the point that he ripped my shorts and shirt off, grabbed me by my arm.

I have marks on my left arm as well.

Ms.

Vasquez now saying, quote, things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process.

The judge in Mr.

Abrego Garcia's case against the federal government now, Paula Zinnis, suggesting earlier this week the government could face contempt charges for allegedly failing to comply with her order to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia.

However, the Supreme Court ordered the government only to facilitate his return, not to effectuate it.

A.G.

Pambondi describing it this way.

President Bukele said he was not sending him back.

That's the end of the story.

If he wanted to send him back, we would give him a plane ride back.

Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller saying there is no future in which Abrego Garcia is allowed to stay in the United States.

President Trump potentially setting the stage for an unprecedented move, firing the chair of the Federal Reserve.

The Fed, an independent agency, sets interest rates in support of a dual mission, keeping inflation under control and supporting a strong job market.

On Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed is holding off on rate cuts while President Trump's trade deals deals play out.

For the time being, we are well positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance.

We continue to analyze the incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks.

On Thursday, President Trump responding to those comments on Truth Social, quote, the European Central Bank, or ECB, is expected to cut interest rates for the seventh time, and yet, too late, Jerome Powell of the Fed, who was always too late and wrong, yesterday issued a report which was another and typical complete mess.

Oil prices are down, groceries, even eggs, are down, and the USA is getting rich on tariffs.

Too late should have lowered interest rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now.

Powell's termination cannot come fast enough.

This latest round of tension between President Trump and Jerome Powell, yet another chapter in a long-running and often public friction between them.

Mr.

Powell, first appointed to the position by President Trump in 2018, then reappointed by President Biden in 2022.

The Fed chair serving four-year terms, part of an effort to safeguard the central bank's independence from political influence.

President Trump's view of Mr.

Powell often hinging on interest rate policy, praising the Fed chair when rates are cut, slamming him when they're not.

Mr.

Powell making a point of defending the Fed's independence from the executive branch at a press conference in November.

Some of the President's elect's advisors have suggested that you should resign.

If he asked you to leave, would you go?

No.

Do you believe the president has the power to fire or demote you and has the Fed determined the legality of a president demoting at will any of the other governors with leadership positions?

Not permitted under the law.

Not what?

Not permitted under the law.

The president is constrained by a long-standing precedent barring the removal of heads of independent agencies without cause.

A legal challenge now moving through the courts could change that and is widely expected to land before the U.S.

Supreme Court.

But for now, President Trump's authority remains limited.

We spoke with Steve Eisman, the investor who famously predicted the 08 financial crash.

He says now is not the time to cut rates, warning that if Trump's trade deals deliver a surge in growth, early rate cuts could backfire.

If I was in charge of the Fed, I wouldn't be doing anything right now because if If President Trump strikes a deal with every single country,

the economy will take off and then you would not have wanted to have cut rates.

On the other hand, if we go into a trade war, there'll be a recession, you'll cut rates.

The impact of the Fed right now, either way, is marginal.

The entire stock market and global economy has been narrowed down right now to literally one variable, President Trump.

and what happens in the negotiations that he has with all these countries.

Period.

Nothing else matters.

Mr.

Powell's term expires in May 2026.

Coming up, the family of accused teenage killer Carmelo Anthony speaks out, blaming everyone but Carmelo.

And Bernie Sanders and AOC railing against the rich as they travel like the 1%.

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The family of Carmelo Anthony, the 17-year-old Texas student accused of killing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf in a dispute over a seat at a track meet in early April, is speaking out.

Dallas activist Dominique Alexander took to the mics first, and he noted that Jeff Metcalfe, father of the dead teenager, was present.

What we've seen at the beginning of this press conference, of the father being at this press conference, these are my words.

Don't quote anybody.

is a disrespect to the dignity of his son.

Next Generation Action Network from the beginning has respected

the loss of life.

No matter our opinion of it, we have kept our opinion close

and just shows you all

the character who is not invited,

he knows that it's inappropriate to be near this family.

But he did it.

And so I say to people, actions speak louder than words.

Mr.

Alexander, whose own rap sheet includes a felony conviction for injury to a child, a two-year-old he was babysitting, wound up in the ICU with severe brain injuries and what the doctor said was clearly child abuse.

Now, he's a representative of the Anthony family.

after Carmelo Anthony allegedly refused to move from a spot at a Texas track meet after Austin Metcalf told him he was in the wrong team's tent.

Police Police say Anthony threatened Metcalf: touch me and see what happens.

That Metcalf then grabbed Anthony to move him, and Anthony stabbed Metcalfe in the heart.

Anthony, who was granted bail and is on house arrest, is claiming self-defense.

A tough argument given that in Texas, self-defense is not available to one who provokes the attack or who uses lethal force against a non-lethal threat.

At the presser, Mr.

Alexander blamed many things, but not his client.

While the current occupant sits at 1600 Pennsylvania, Black people in America don't have to pull the race card.

It's what we live as a reality every day.

How many of y'all have asked the superintendent or one single board of trustee,

why didn't you cancel or postpone

with weather in that magnitude?

Anthony's mother also speaking out, lamenting the online vitriol she says her family has faced.

In wake of this tragic incident, our family has been under attack.

Whatever you think what happened between Carmelo and the Netcast boys, my three younger children, my husband, and I didn't do anything to deserve to be threatened, harassed, and lied about.

While Mrs.

Anthony and her representative complained about how they've been treated since her son's arrest, citing, quote, the black struggle, More than half a million dollars has been raised to support Anthony with his defense so far, and he's reportedly been staying in a supporter's $900,000 gated community home.

Campaign finance records showing Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders shelling out big dough on private air travel, crisscrossing the country on his fighting oligarchy tour, where he blasts billionaires like Elon Musk and President Trump because he doesn't like rich people.

The self-described Democratic socialist, often flanked by New York Congresswoman and protégé Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, spending $221,000 on private jet charters in just the first quarter of 2025.

Fox News Digital reporting the pair spotted on Tuesday afternoon in Bakersfield, California, boarding a luxury Bombardier Challenger jet, an aircraft reportedly running as much as $15,000 per hour.

Wonder what that does to the environment, too.

The company operating the jet, touting, quote, one of the widest cabins of any business jet available today, offering, quote, superior cabin comfort for its passengers.

The Washington Free Beacon, reporting payments to three private jet companies, account for 75% of the campaign's total transportation costs.

The central theme of the fighting oligarchy rallies: the economy only works for the rich, rich, not for working Americans.

We can either have extreme wealth inequality with the toxic division and corruption that it requires to survive, or we can have a fair economy for working people.

Trump has a government of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires.

They have one central economic mission, to make billionaires richer at the expense of all of us.

When I could elect the billionaire class

have all of the power.

Senator Sanders' fiery rants about wealth inequality propelling him from socialist outlier to a national figurehead during the 2016 election.

In the years since his personal fortune soaring, officially reaching millionaire status, he has three homes, thanks in large part to what he says were his best-selling book deals about the very income inequality he decries.

As the the senator's campaign coffers swelled, so did his appetite for private travel, spending nearly $2 million on private jet travel in the 2020 election cycle.

AOC previously slamming private jets as symbols of corporate greed.

She also doesn't want you to drive an SUV.

Save the environment.

This from a July 2023 rally supporting the writer's strike.

How many private jets does David Vaslak need?

How many private jets jets do these CEOs need?

It is insatiable.

It is unacceptable.

I do not know how any person

can say, I need another $100 million before another person can have health care.

The fighting oligarchy rallies, drawing tens of thousands at stops across the country, garnering glowing media coverage, though not all Democrats are impressed.

Strategist James Carville telling News Nation, the rallies are not helpful to the Democrat Party.

Let me make a point about Bernie and ALC.

Bernie's run for president twice.

He's lost twice.

AOC in her kind and this guy, David Hall, they want to run against other Democrats.

When Bernie ran twice as a Democrat, he lost and he lost by a lot.

So maybe the Democratic Party is trying to tell you something.

You lose twice.

There's probably a message in there.

And that'll do it for your AM update.

I'm Megan Kelly.

Join me back here for the Megan Kelly Show live on Sirius XM Triumph Channel 111 at Noon East, on youtube.com/slash Megan Kelly, and on all podcast platforms.

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