National Guard Arrives in DC, Judge Boasberg Loses Again, Kohberger's Prison Life: AM Update 8/14

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Good morning, everyone.

I'm Megan Kelly.

It's Thursday, August 14th, 2025, and this is your AM update.

He's sending troops into the streets to declare war on our own people.

It's just disgraceful.

The National Guard arriving in D.C.

amid President Trump's federal takeover of the district's police force.

cue the leftist freak out in favor of crime.

The majority of the panel agreed that the probable cause order was so unlawful and so egregious.

The Trump administration is scoring another huge win in its legal battle against the chief judge of the federal D.C.

District Court, Judge James Bosberg.

Attorney Will Chamberlain breaks down the case and what it means for the president's power to remove illegal aliens.

And an inside look at convicted killer Brian Kohlberger's life behind bars.

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

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The National Guard officially spotted patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C.

following President Trump's Monday declaration of a public crime emergency in the nation's capital.

Under the D.C.

Home Rule Act, the president has the power to take control of the city's police force.

Given the crime, homelessness, and general squalor of the city, Mr.

Trump exercised those powers, mobilizing 800 National Guardsmen to DC.

Democrats and the media largely condemning the decision, calling it a power grab and pointing to statistics purporting to show that crime is trending downward there.

Here, a sampling from MSNBC, CNN, and NBC.

When I go to D.C., I'm not afraid of losing my wallet so much as I'm afraid of losing my vote.

I'm not afraid of losing my wallet so much as I'm afraid that my children's freedom to breathe will be stolen in a world where climate change policy is non-existent.

He's sending troops into the streets to declare war on our own people.

It's just disgraceful.

Never mind the fact that violent crime in DC has actually been on a steep decline since 2023.

It's a false narrative.

It's a manufactured crisis.

The administration rejecting arguments that crime in D.C.

is not a real problem, pointing to a number of statistics.

In 2024, D.C.'s homicide rate was 27.3 per 100,000 residents, the fourth highest in the nation, according to research by the Rochester Institute of Technology.

In addition, there is reportedly an active investigation of a DC police commander for allegedly falsifying crime data this year to make it appear that violent crime has fallen considerably compared to last year.

U.S.

Attorney for DC Janine Piro on Tuesday highlighting the number of teens shot and killed by gunfire.

I wanted to get a sense of what is actually happening in the District of Columbia.

I asked for the number of teens

who have been shot and killed by gunfire.

Teens, everyone under the age of 20.

As you can see, in 2024, we have 29 individuals who were shot and killed in the district, some as young as three years of age.

There is a whole community that is suffering because of the violent crime in this district.

And anyone who wants to tell me the crime is down and that we don't need an emergency focus on crimes of violence, all they need to do is take a look at this and talk to the loved ones and the family members of these individuals, all shot and killed long before their time.

In just the first night under federal authority before the arrival of the National Guard, D.C.

police had federal agents making 23 arrests for crimes including homicide, driving under the influence, unlawful possession of weapons, lewd acts, and more.

Authorities also seizing six illegal handguns.

Aren't liberals supposed to support that?

President Trump on Wednesday from the Kennedy Center saying the administration is just getting started.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, the job she's doing is incredible.

You're going to see a big change in Washington crime stats very soon.

I'm determined to make Washington, D.C.

safe, clean, and beautiful.

Again, it's going to take place very rapidly.

Be prepared.

We're going to make Washington beautiful.

We're going to redo roads.

We're going to redo the medians, the pavers.

We're going to take all the graffiti off.

We're going to have to remove the tents and the people that are living in our parks.

We're going to be redoing the parks, the grasses, and all.

The Democrats are afraid to do anything because they don't want to be criticized.

But fighting crime is a good thing.

Already they're saying he's a dictator.

The place is going going to hell, and we've got to stop it.

So instead of saying he's a dictator, they should say we're going to join him and make Washington safe.

D.C.

officials offering mixed responses to the takeover.

Mayor Muriel Bowser blasting it as, quote, an authoritarian push and quote, an intrusion on our autonomy.

However, her position on the takeover appears to shift based on her audience.

Earlier that day, the mayor adopting a softer stance following a meeting with A.G.

Bondi, who is overseeing the federalization, saying saying more cops could help the city fight crime, but that she also wants to make sure federal forces are being, quote, well used.

Police Chief Pamela Smith, striking a more cooperative tone on Tuesday, saying President Trump's move would, quote, make our city even better.

The New York Times, describing the Tuesday evening arrival of the National Guard, quote, About a dozen members of the National Guard appeared in five military vehicles near the Washington Monument as the sun set, a stark juxtaposition to a peaceful evening scene of people jogging by with with headphones and walking their dogs.

The Times conceding the presence of troops was far from menacing, quote, the initial deployment near the Washington Monument, at least, often resembled something less fearsome than many might have expected, with troops snapping photos of themselves with visitors.

They left roughly two hours after they arrived.

An Army official telling the Times additional troops are continuing to gather in the district and are expected to deploy around national monuments and near a U.S.

Park police facility in southeast Washington.

Under the Home Rule Act, the administration can take control over the local police for up to 30 days.

President Trump telling reporters on Wednesday he will push for a long-term extension, which will require approval from Congress.

Well, if it's a national emergency, we can do it without Congress, but we expect to be to Congress before Congress very quickly.

We're going to be asking for extensions on that, long-term extensions, because you can't have 30 days.

We're going to have this in good shape.

And I don't want to call it a national emergency.

If I I have to, I will.

But I think the Republicans in Congress will approve this pretty much unanimously.

The National Guard is not subject to the same time limitations.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth telling reporters earlier this week, troops may be deployed for weeks or months, depending on the president's discretion.

Coming up, a deep dive into the legal battle waged against the Trump administration by Chief D.C.

Judge James Boseberg and what happens next in the contempt of court proceedings he unleashed on the executive branch.

And just how does Brian Kohlberger sleep at night?

We'll have a full report.

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A federal appeals court panel last Friday delivering a major win for the Trump administration in its contentious legal battle with federal D.C.

District Judge James Bozberg.

The case beginning back in March with Judge Boseberg ordering the Trump administration to pause deportations under the Alien Enemies Act and return any flights underway.

The administration arguing it no longer had jurisdiction over flights already in international airspace and did not compel the two planes already en route to return.

In early April, the Supreme Court siding with the Trump administration, allowing deportations under the Alien Enemies Act to resume so long as detainees receive due process.

The High Court also finding the case was filed in the wrong venue to begin with, meaning Judge Bozberg should not have heard the case in the first place.

Despite the Supreme Court's order, Judge Bozberg forged ahead.

In April, using a probable cause order, the first stage in launching contempt proceedings against the Trump administration, leading many to wonder what Bozberg was doing.

It seemed like an obvious judicial overreach, as we reported right here on AM Update.

Last Friday, a panel of judges from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals vacating Judge Bosberg's order in a split two-to-one decision, with two Trump-appointed judges ruling against Judge Boseberg and one Obama-appointed judge siding with the lower court.

We spoke to senior counsel at the Article III project, Will Chamberlain, who cut through the complicated legal fight and lays out for us what's likely to happen next.

Judge Bozberg, essentially what he has is this zombie case.

The Supreme Court already found that his attempt to force the administration to return a bunch of Venezuelans who had been removed to El Salvador was unlawful because he didn't have jurisdiction.

But what he's making the argument for is that the administration is still obligated to comply with these orders, even if they're unlawful, because the only proper course is to appeal.

And he argued they willfully defied these orders and therefore would be subject to criminal contempt.

Chamberlain calling Judge Boseberg's order a brazen judicial attempt to strong-arm the executive branch, a tactic one of the judges on the panel also criticized.

In a contempt proceeding, it's literally the judge saying, you're defying my orders.

I'm holding you in contempt.

But both in civil and criminal contempt, you can purge the contempt at the judge's discretion by doing what the judge asked.

One of the things he was trying to do, which was a big issue and something that Judge Rao found specifically obnoxious, was

he was essentially trying to coerce the government to comply with his order that the Supreme Court had found he had no jurisdiction to issue.

Basically, what he said in his contempt order was, if you purge the contempt by asserting custody over these individuals, then I won't try you for the criminal contempt.

That's an attempt, a way to use criminal contempt proceedings to circumvent your own lack of jurisdiction.

That's really bad.

And it's especially bad when it comes to an Article III judge essentially trying to use contempt to usurp Article II foreign affairs powers.

Typically, the Trump administration would not be allowed to appeal Judge Boesberg's probable cause finding at this early stage, but the appeals panel used a rare legal tool called a writ of mandamus to rule against Judge Boesberg.

Chamberlain explains what that means and why the judges thought this case was extreme enough to justify it.

A writ of mandamus is, imagine a kind of catch-all writ, catch-all order that appellate courts can use to say, lower court, you need to do something.

A probable cause finding in a contempt proceeding is basically like an indictment in a criminal proceeding.

It's the judge saying, there's probable cause to think that you committed criminal contempt, therefore I am going to initiate a effective prosecution, if you will, for this contempt.

That's not appealable for the same reason that criminal defendants generally can't appeal their indictments, because that would mean that a criminal defendant could avoid a trial.

The administration in this case normally wouldn't have jurisdiction to appeal a probable cause finding for contempt.

However, the majority of the panel agreed that in this instance, a writ of mandanus was appropriate to reverse.

the probable cause order.

The reason they said that was because the probable cause order was so unlawful and so egregious and such a threat to the separation of powers that it was appropriate at this stage to essentially

effectively the equivalent of dismissing the indictment outright.

The irony here is that it was this judge who openly lamented to Chief Justice Roberts at a judicial conference this past spring that judges in the D.C.

Circuit were concerned the administration would disregard their rulings.

The appeals court here finding it was Judge Boseberg who deviated so flagrantly from the law that a writ of mandamus was justified.

The Court of Appeals finding two major flaws with Judge Boseberg's order.

As previously mentioned, one judge's opinion focusing on Bozberg's attempt to coerce the Trump administration to comply with an order that had already been ruled unlawful.

The other judge's position that any underlying ambiguity in an order must be construed in favor of the party accused of contempt.

Here's Will Chamberlain again.

Judge Boseberg, Boseberg, in this very, very rushed proceeding, made arguments about how he wanted all the planes turned around in mid-air and he wanted custody immediately asserted over all the defendants and have them returned to the country.

But in this hearing, where he was making these demands, he said, don't worry, I'm going to memorialize all this in writing.

Then, after the hearing, when he did memorialize it in writing, all he essentially said was, the government needs to not remove

the individuals individuals in question.

So basically what Judge Katz says is it's not fair to hold them to ambiguous language if they have a reasonable interpretation of what that means and they're complying with it.

Team Trump argued that the term don't remove was ambiguous and seemed to only apply to immigrants still in the United States, not to those already on outbound planes.

As for the Obama-appointed judge's dissent, the dissenting judge argued that the underlying order was clear.

And the defending judge also effectively argued that the standard for a writ of mandamus isn't met here because certainly the conduct of the judge was maybe it was wrong, but it wasn't so egregious as to justify a writ of mandamus.

Moreover, that judge pillard also said that, you know, the judge's instructions were clear.

But, you know, personally, I found Judge Pillard's reasoning very unpersuasive.

Chamberlain describing what any next steps might look like.

There could be an on-bank ruling from the DC Circuit as a whole.

So there are 11 judges on the DC circuit.

Most of them are progressive.

The plaintiffs in this case could seek to bring the case, you know, to appeal to the on-bank court, who could then issue a different opinion entirely and vacate the reversal of the propable cause finding.

And then they could issue their own opinion speaking for the court.

But if they tried to do something that different than what Judge Katz and Judge Rao did, I suspect that the Supreme Court would then step in and agree with Judge Katzus and Judge Rao, because if the Supreme Court remember has already reversed Judge Bozberg once in this very same case, I don't think they're going to look kindly upon Judge Bosberg's attempt to use a criminal contempt proceeding to coerce compliance with an order they already found unlawful.

If Unbank is denied, then these are almost certainly over.

Theoretically, Judge Bozberg could try and push this to the Supreme Court, but it's really hard to foresee why he would.

The ACLU's lead attorney, arguing on behalf of the Venezuelans at the heart of the original case, writing in a statement, quote, We vehemently disagree with the ruling and will consider every option going forward, though it is not yet clear if an appeal will be filed.

The Venezuelan nationals originally deported to El Salvador, where they were held in a maximum security prison, have since been sent home to Venezuela in July as part of a prisoner swap deal brokered by the Trump administration.

This factor may complicate their legal standing in this case.

The bottom line for now is Judge Bozberg's attempt to hold on to this case and try to force President Trump to conduct immigrant removals as this unelected judge sees fit has failed badly, potentially sending a message to other activist judges.

So many people wondering how Brian Kohlberger, convicted last month in the brutal killings of four University of Idaho students, sleeps at night.

We are happy to report the answer is he doesn't.

A law enforcement source telling News Nation Kohlberger, serving four life sentences for the murders of Madison Mogan, Kaylee Gonsalves, Xana Cronodel, and Ethan Chapin, plus 10 years on burglary, is suffering relentless torment from his fellow prison mates.

Retired homicide detective Chris McDonough describing Koberger's experience since being moved into the prison two weeks ago.

The good news is the inmates apparently were waiting for him.

And when he got there, they are now making his life absolutely miserable.

They're utilizing the vent system.

They're kicking the doors.

They're taunting him.

And they're basically, you know, torturing him through, you know, using psychology.

And my goodness, he's complaining.

And the guards at this point, you know, the most they can do is write it down and or, you know, tell him, hey, there's nothing we can do.

You're not in physical harm.

So the prisoners taunt him day and night, and he's whining to the guards that he can't sleep.

And we're expected to feel sorry for him.

This is a man who attacked his defenseless victims with a knife as they lay sleeping.

Where was his mercy for them?

Kohlberger serving his time in solitary confinement at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution.

For 23 hours a day, the dead-eyed murderer sits in a single-person cell in the prison's most restrictive housing unit, allotted 60 minutes of outdoor recreation in what is known as the cage, kept in restraints the entire hour.

Kohlberger accepting the life sentences and foregoing the ability to appeal in a controversial deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty.

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 MeganKelly and on all podcast platforms.

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