Buried Intel Bombshell Released, Athletes Sue over Trans Dispute, Harris’s 2028 Hints: AM Update 8/1

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Good morning, everyone.

I'm Megan Kelly.

It's Friday, August 1st, 2025, and this is your AM update.

It was an attempt to stop Trump and also proves that the FBI had a hand in it.

A newly declassified annex revealing how the FBI helped bury intelligence about the Hillary Clinton campaign's plan to falsely tie then-candidate Donald Trump to Russia.

Two female female athletes suing the Oregon School Activities Association, alleging their First Amendment rights were violated when they were punished for refusing to share a podium with a male athlete.

Since leaving office, I've spent a lot of time reflecting on those days, talking with my team, my family, my friends, and pulling my thoughts together.

And former VP Kamala Harris drops a pair of announcements shining light on her potential plans for 2028.

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

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Republican Senator from Iowa Chuck Grassley on Thursday releasing the now declassified annex from the 2023 Durham Report, a special counsel investigation into the Russiagate hoax against Donald Trump.

Durham's 2023 report sharply critical of the FBI's decision to open a full investigation into alleged collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia due to a lack of sufficient evidence and heavy reliance on bogus intel, including the discredited steel dossier, which the FBI knew at the time was not reliable.

The annex containing raw intelligence reports and allegedly hacked emails reveals evidence that top FBI officials had received intelligence showing that the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign was working to deflect from her own private email server scandal by crafting a narrative that Russian President Vladimir Putin was helping Donald Trump win the election.

Despite knowing about this Clinton-conceived plot, the FBI played right into the Clinton campaign's strategy, opening its investigation into the Trump campaign instead of saying, wait, this is a Clinton campaign operation.

Senator Grassley on Fox News saying this annex is a bombshell.

It actually brings attention to the fact that there was either a Clinton conspiracy to make this happen or a Russian disinformation, but either way, it was an attempt to stop Trump and also proves that the FBI had a hand in it.

And now after these eight years, three years of my trying to get the document, we know that there was

the steel dossier paid for by the Democrats in the Clinton campaign, that it was all effort of total distraction and to make make it look like Russia was playing a very major role in helping Trump be elected.

And now we know none of that was true.

And now with this Durham Report annex out,

it finally proves that the FBI was covering up.

The annex containing multiple troubling pieces of information, including the allegation that the Clinton campaign brazenly expected the FBI to help boost their manufactured story.

In July 2016, one Clinton foreign policy advisor emailing a member of the Intel community, quote, We're looking for ways to build on Franklin Forer's great and scary piece on Trump and Russia.

This appears to be a reference to a piece in The Atlantic by Franklin Fore about Trump in July 2016 entitled Putin's Puppet.

Returning here to the email.

One thing I've heard from a few folks is that the Russia desk at state has been tracking parallels between rhetoric, words, methods that Trump uses and Putin-supported European right-wing candidates.

I'd love to get my hands on details of what they are seeing.

Can one of you help run this down?

It is illegal for a political campaign to coordinate with a U.S.

intelligence agency, something this advisor seems to realize, adding, quote, obviously need to be a bit careful here.

The annex also implies that while Hillary Clinton was determined to distract attention from her email scandal, she was also receiving secret assurances from President Obama's Attorney General Loretta Lynch that she did not need to worry too much about possible criminal charges.

A Russian memo appears in the annex summarizing a meeting between then chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and two Soros Foundation executives, claiming that Attorney General Loretta Lynch privately told a Clinton campaign official that she would make sure the investigation did not, quote, go too far.

The newly released Annex reportedly discovered inside burn bags stashed in a secret room at FBI headquarters.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard Wednesday on the Glenn Beck program, saying the discovery has all the hallmarks of a cover-up.

A burn bag is something that you'll find in many offices throughout the intelligence community,

throughout these different workspaces in national security.

Basically, if I have a document that's highly classified, I read it, I review it, I'm done with it.

My copy can then go in the burn bag to make sure that it's not, it doesn't end up in the wrong hands, that there's not an unauthorized disclosure of classified information.

It's a very different story, however, if you use a burn bag to try to get rid of evidence of which maybe there is only one copy of, and then hide it in a secret room in the FBI.

That is a tactic, obviously, that has been used by those deep staters, these bad actors within the intelligence community to try to get rid of evidence.

It is unclear why the stashed documents had not yet been destroyed.

In an apparent attempt to get ahead of the release of the annex, former CIA director John Brennan and former director of national intelligence James Clapper writing an op-ed in the New York Times, accusing current DNI director Tulsi Gabbard and current CIA director Ratcliffe of rewriting history, insisting all their work was above board.

Brennan and Clapper writing to, quote, set the record straight on a number of issues, including quote, the so-called steel dossier.

Ms.

Gabbard and Mr.

Ratcliffe have claimed it played an integral role in formulating the assessment.

We have testified under oath, and the reviews of the assessment have confirmed that the dossier was not used as a source or taken into account for any of its analysis or conclusions.

Co-founder of the Federalist Sean Davis, who has been covering this story extensively now for years, says, don't buy it.

I found two major things in their op-ed, which I found fascinating.

The first was them referring to the steel dossier as largely discredited.

That is a remarkable admission.

It was Comey and Clapper and Brennan who forced that thing into the ICA, something they continue to lie about, because according to Brennan at the time, it rang true.

So to see them now try to retcon and pretend that there were always problems with it, I just find amazing.

amazing.

The second major thing that I found fascinating in their op-ed was their claim against all evidence that the steel dossier was never used in that 2016-2017 intelligence community assessment.

They used the steel dossier to buttress their claim that Russia wanted Trump to win and Hillary to lose.

And we know this because the documents that Gabbard released about that ICA showed us the exact line and text and quotes of them citing the steel dossier.

And yet we have them going into the New York Times and claiming that never happened.

And the brazenness of that dishonesty, I find honestly shocking, even after having watched everything they've done for the last 10 years.

Davis says this op-ed is telling.

That op-ed was fascinating to me because I think it showed, number one, how much trouble they know they're in.

We've now had Comey and Susan Rice and Barack Obama and James Clapper and John Brennan come out and make statements.

And these are normally people who are content to do all their little maneuvering behind the scenes.

So the fact that they're coming out and addressing this, I think, is big.

DNI Gabbard, also on Glenn Beck's program, slamming legacy media for failing, in her view, to cover this story accurately or in some cases at all.

And if they do mention it,

their approach is to try to diminish the effect and the impact of the revelations, the historic revelations that were found in the documents that we declassified and released, or to try to bring voice to detractors and critics who also just say, oh, well, this is bizarre or this is crazy because they recognize that it would push forward a very inconvenient truth for the mainstream media because it exposes their complicity in pushing this lie and this hoax from not only day one, but throughout President Trump's entire first administration.

Coming up, two female athletes fighting back after being punished for peacefully protesting the inclusion of a male competitor in their girls track and field state championship.

And former Vice President Kamala Harris drops two big hints about her political future.

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Earlier this week, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights launching an investigation into whether the Oregon Department of Education is in violation of Title IX for allowing male athletes to compete in girls' sports.

There's certainly reason to believe so.

In late July, the America First Policy Institute filing a lawsuit against the Oregon School Activities Association on behalf of high school track athletes Alexa Anderson and Rhys Eckard, who argue their First Amendment rights were violated when officials punished them for a silent protest at the track and field state championship, where they were forced to compete against a male athlete posing as a female.

Both girls were high school seniors placing third and fourth respectively in the high jump in May at the state track and field championships.

In fifth place, a male athlete who previously had competed in the male division.

Anderson and Eckard had planned to wear save women's sports t-shirts on the podium, but were told by an official to change, citing a rule that athletes could only wear school apparel.

We spoke to Alexa Anderson about what happened next.

When we heard the announcer start announcing names starting in eighth place, me and Rhys Eckard from Sherwood stepped off the podium.

So when they read our names and presented us our medals, we would not be joining that ceremony.

Immediately after we stepped off the podium, we faced our backs to the podium facing the audience and we were ushered out of the way by OSAA officials telling us to get out of the pictures if we weren't going to participate.

We would have been in the pictures on the ground, but we were ushered out of the way, out of the podium, and we never received our medals.

I just wanted to create a tension's attention to this issue because I don't feel that it is fair and the people who are in charge needed to be notified that us girls were not okay with the situations they're imposing upon us.

Anderson says two months later, she has yet to receive her medal.

Eckard only receiving her medal because another athlete picked it up from the empty podium and delivered it to her coach.

Executive general counsel at the America First Policy Institute, Jessica Hart Steinman, says what happened was not just unfair, it was a violation of the girls' First Amendment rights.

The official that day would not allow them on the podium with those shirts.

So they had to remove their t-shirts.

Secondly, they tried to, once on the podium, silently protest by stepping off and turning their back on the podium.

And again, this was silent.

It was not disruptive.

They were sidelined again by that official.

And the official, instead of respecting her rights, that official overseeing the ceremony ordered them to move aside.

And that's when it became suppression of their viewpoint.

And that's when it became a First Amendment violation.

Steinman says officials crossed the line by selectively enforcing the rules, allowing some students to wear expressive shirts, but punishing Alexa and Reese for theirs.

It would be completely different if they had a policy and they stuck to it and you could only wear, you know, school sanctions shirts.

But in this situation, they have let other students wear other shirts.

And here they did not let Alexa and Reese wear the shirt they desired to wear.

So again, that is them suppressing that exact viewpoint.

And they did it specifically for what was said on the shirt.

We've seen the Oregon School Activities Association celebrate and be involved in other forms of protests throughout the year.

year.

We've seen them be involved in Black Lives Matter and Pride protests.

But again, when it came to these girls talking about boys and girls sports, they did not allow that viewpoint.

And so they are picking viewpoints to back.

With the lawsuit now underway, Steinman spells out what they hope to achieve.

The overall result that we would like from this lawsuit is to have a declaration from the state of Oregon and their athletics association saying Reese and Alexa's rights, First Amendment rights, were violated when they were not allowed to wear their shirts that said Save Girls Sports and when they were asked to leave the podium and leave the ceremonies that day when they peacefully protested and stepped off.

And additionally, specifically for Alexa, she has never been given her medal from that day.

Still to this day, the state has not given her medal for coming in in the state championship, coming in third.

She would like that medal.

Anderson says she has received a lot of blowback in the wake of her silent protest, but she has no regrets.

A lot of people have definitely been very hateful, accusing me of hate and transphobia when there is no motive like that at all in this issue.

My motive is purely to let the people in charge who are making these rules know that us girls are not okay with it and we want our own protected and safe division to compete in.

It's not just about me or where I placed, it's about the girl in ninth who should have had a place on that podium and scored for her team, or the girl who didn't even qualify for state because they were beat by a biological male in districts.

It's not just about me, it's about all of these other girls.

And if we keep allowing biological men to take up space in women's sports, we're going to see national titles, national records, everything like that being set by biological men in the women's division.

At this point, the case is still in its early stages.

The defendants have not yet filed a response and the court has not yet set any deadlines.

The Oregon School Activities Association did not respond to our request for comment.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris with two big announcements, both signaling Ms.

Harris is gearing up, possibly, for another shot at the White House in 2028.

On Wednesday afternoon, Ms.

Harris releasing a statement declaring she will not run for California governor, quote, for now, my leadership and public service will not be in elected office.

I look forward to getting back out and listening to the American people, helping elect Democrats across the nation who will fight fearlessly and sharing more details in the months ahead about my own plans.

Then on Thursday, the former VEEP announcing a new book, reflecting on her failed presidential campaign in 2024, launched after President Biden withdrew from the race.

Just over a year ago, I launched my campaign for President of the United States.

107 Days, traveling the country, fighting for our future.

Since leaving office, I've spent a lot of time reflecting on those days, talking with my team, my family, my friends, and pulling my thoughts together.

In essence, writing a journal that is this book, 107 Days.

With candor and reflection, I've written a behind-the-scenes account of that journey.

I believe there's value in sharing what I saw, what I learned, and what I know it will take to move forward.

In writing this book, one truth kept coming back to me.

Sometimes, the fight takes a while, but I remain full of hope, and I remain clear-eyed.

I will never stop fighting to make our country reflect the very best of its ideals.

Set to be released by Simon Schuster in September, a preview of the riveting content readers can expect: quote, your Secret Service code name is Pioneer.

You are the first woman in history to be elected Vice President of the United States.

The presidential election will occur on November 5th, 2024.

You have 107 days.

Specifics on the financial terms of the deal, not yet clear.

Former President Joe Biden reportedly selling his memoir to an imprint of Hachette for about 10 million bucks.

That's less than former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

But what will the Autopen get?

That'll do it for your AM update.

I'm Megan Kelly.

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

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