Academia Caving to Trump, Bombshell Group Chat Atlantic Report, Massive ICE Roundup: AM Update 3/25

Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly.
It's Tuesday, March 25th, 2025, and this is your AM Update. It wasn't even like, do all of this and you'll get your money back.
It was do all of this and maybe we'll talk to you about getting your money back. The Trump administration securing a slate of wins against Columbia University, the main university system, and Democrat-linked law firm Paul Weiss.
I don't know anything about it. I'm not a big fan of The Atlantic.
To me, it's a magazine that's going out of business. Editor-in-chief of The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg says he was accidentally added to a group chat discussing high-level war plans among Trump administration top security officials.
Borders are Tom Homan rounds up hundreds of criminal illegal aliens in Boston, and President Trump has a bone to pick with Colorado's governor over something you probably didn't see coming. All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.
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President Trump securing a recent slate of victories against Columbia University, the state of Maine, and the law firm Paul Weiss. Columbia University facing the loss of $400 million in federal funding, giving in to the Trump administration's demands aimed at curbing on-campus anti-Semitism.
The university rocked by violent anti-Israel protests since the start of Israel's war against the Hamas terrorist organization that killed 1,200 Israelis on 10-7-23. The university agreeing to implement a mask ban on campus, protesters had used masks to shield their identities and to require that protesters identify themselves when asked or face disciplinary action.
The New York Post reporting 36 campus cops also now empowered to arrest students or remove them from the campus when necessary. Previously, these actions required direct authorization from the university president.
The school says it will also appoint a senior vice provost to review the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department. The provost will be responsible for reviewing curriculum, ensuring program offerings are comprehensive and balanced.
Columbia officials not fully complying with all Trump administration demands. The university is restructuring the university judicial board rather than fully abolishing it.
Critics of the judicial board accuse it of taking insufficient disciplinary action against students accused of anti-Semitic behavior. The New York Times' The Daily podcast explaining even with the concessions, Columbia University is not totally in the clear.
That $400 million does not just automatically return. These concessions that Columbia made were essentially their effort to get the government to come to the negotiating table.

It wasn't even like, do all of this and you'll get your money back.

It was do all of this and maybe we'll talk to you about getting your money back.

That's exactly right.

The Department of Education reporting Columbia holds roughly $5 billion in federal grant commitments.

The original $400 million cut just an initial warning to the university.

The Trump administration is serious about ending on-campus displays of anti-Semitism as the law requires. The University of Maine system agreeing to comply with President Trump's executive order banning men from women's sports.
Earlier this month, the Department of Agriculture freezing nearly $30 million in research contracts across the system's eight campuses, part of a broader standoff between the Trump administration and tough-talking Governor Janet Mills. On Wednesday, the USDA reinstating the funding, saying the university system is now in full compliance with the executive order.
But the issue is not yet fully resolved statewide. The Maine Principals Association, which oversees public school sports, is under federal investigation for allowing a male athlete to compete in the high school girls' pole vault championship.
The MPA has not yet agreed to federal demands. The HHS Office of Civil Rights setting a Thursday deadline for the MPA, the Maine Department of Education, and Greeley High School to come into compliance with Title IX.
President Trump this weekend, posting to Truth Social, writing, quote, we need a full-throated apology from the governor herself and a statement that she will never make such an unlawful challenge to the federal government again before this case can be settled. I'm sure she will be able to do that quite easily.
Governor Mills previously threatened to take the Trump administration to court in order to protect the rights of boys in her state to compete in girls' leagues. Instead, she already surrendered at the university level, so we'll see.
Paul Weiss, a powerful law firm with deep ties to Democrat politics, caving to the demands of the Trump administration, and then some. On March 14th, President Trump signing an executive order reading in part, global law firms have for years played an outsized role in undermining the judicial process and in the destruction of bedrock American principles.
The president identifying Paul Weiss as one such firm with specific examples. The order suspended security clearances for Paul Weiss employees, restricted their access to federal buildings, and directed federal agencies to cancel contracts with the firm.
On Friday, following a negotiated agreement, President Trump revoking the executive order and laying out a number of concessions. The law firm will dedicate $40 million in pro bono legal services throughout the remainder of President Trump's term to support mutually agreed-upon causes, such as supporting veterans.
Paul Weiss committing to adopting a policy of political neutrality and abandoning any diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. The firm also acknowledging the wrongdoing of former partner Mark Pomerantz.
In 2021, Mr. Pomerantz took a leave of absence from Paul Weiss to join the Manhattan DA's office, where he helped lead the criminal investigation into the Trump organization's alleged inflation of asset values.
Upon taking office in 2022, D.A. Alvin Bragg paused the case, saying he was not prepared to move forward with that one.
Mr. Pomerantz, in turn, very publicly resigning from the DA's office, publishing a scathing resignation letter in March 2022, and a book titled The People vs.
Donald Trump, using his platform to pressure Brag and or others into resurrecting the probe. In April 2022, Mr.
Pomerantz then returning to his position as of counsel at Paul Weiss. It's unclear when Mr.
Pomerantz's association with Paul Weiss officially ended, but it apparently has. Ultimately, New York Attorney General Letitia James, a fellow elected Democrat,

filed civil charges in a case accusing Trump of inflating asset values to secure favorable loans. In 2024, she secured a civil judgment imposing over $450 million in penalties against Trump, the Trump Organization, and its top executives.
Trump allies and legal experts blasted that case as politically driven, as a witch hunt, with no clear victim. None of the banks who had allegedly been defrauded complained at all.
Despite Mr. Trump's 2024 election victory, A.G.
James has refused to drop the case, which is now under appeal. Editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine Jeffrey Goldberg shocking Washington Monday with a piece headlined, the Trump administration accidentally texted me its war plans.
Mr. Goldberg claiming he was added by National Security Advisor Mike Walsh to a Signal group chat with what appeared to be senior Trump administration officials.
National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes later confirming to Mr. Goldberg and to ABC News the authenticity of the group message chain.
On March 15th, the Trump administration began bombing the Houthi rebel group in Yemen. Mr.
Goldberg writing, quote, I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, had texted me the war plan at 1144 a.m.
Mr. Goldberg outlining days of communications on the encrypted messaging app MessageChain, which also included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President J.D.
Vance, and other high-ranking officials. The officials engaging in a nuanced policy discussion, weighing the pros and cons of launching the attack on the Houthis.
The user identified as J.D. Vance, pointing out the Europeans had the most to lose with the shipping disruptions being caused by the Houthis, questioning why America should take on this risk, writing, quote, I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now.
There's a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices. Mr.
Goldberg then claiming days later the group chat receiving a follow-up message from Defense Secretary Hegseth. Mr.
Goldberg writing, quote, I will not quote from this update or from certain other subsequent texts. The information contained in them, if they had been read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel.
This report quickly picked up and circulated by the media, including MSNBC and CNN. What we're seeing here is just pure carelessness.
It is recklessness. It is laziness.
It's really a disgraceful situation. If you think Signal is equivalent to U.S.
government secure telecommunications, think again.

Democrats quickly leaping to comment.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer struggling to shore up his own support with progressives,

slamming the administration from the Senate floor. It's bad enough that a private citizen was added to this chain.

But it's far worse that sensitive military information was exchanged on an unauthorized application, especially when that sensitive military information was so, so important. Secretary Hegseth denying Mr.
Goldberg's description of his communications. You're talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again to include the, I don't know, the hoaxes of Russia, Russia, Russia, or the fine people on both sides hoax, or suckers and losers hoax.
So this is the guy that ped in garbage. This is what he does.
I've heard I've heard I was characterized. Nobody was texting war plans.
And that's all I have to say about that. Thank you.
President Trump learning about the story in a press conference with the governor of Louisiana from a reporter who brought it up. I don't know anything about it.
I'm not a big fan of the Atlantic. It's to me, it's a magazine that's going out of business.
I mean, the attack on the hood, yes. Well, it couldn't have been very effective because the attack was very effective.
I can tell you that. I don't know anything about it.
The breach raising questions about the handling of sensitive information. The AP reporting under the Biden administration, some officials were authorized to download Signal on their White House phones, but were directed to use it sparingly.
The National Security Council is investigating how a journalist was added to the group message and no one seemed to notice. Coming up, Porter Czar Tom Homan announcing hundreds of arrests of criminal illegal aliens in Boston as sanctuary cities fight against ICE officials.
And President Trump has a bone to pick with Colorado's governor over something you probably did not see coming. All that and more in just a moment.
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Borders are Tom Homan announcing the arrests of 370 illegal aliens in and around the Boston area. Boston, a sanctuary city, a prime target of Mr.
Homan from the start of the second Trump administration. In February, Mr.
Homan calling

out Boston officials for their refusal to cooperate with federal officials tasked with rounding up the worst of the worst illegal alien offenders. I read a story last night, the police commissioner of Boston, you said you doubled down on not helping the law enforcement Office of ICE.
I looked at the numbers this morning,

nine child rapists that were in jail in Massachusetts, but rather than honoring an ICE detainer, released them back into the street. The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress battling sanctuary cities they say violate the law by not coordinating with ICE officials to remove illegal aliens.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, along with several other sanctuary city mayors, called in March to testify in front of the Oversight Committee. Last year in a Boston suburb, an illegal alien raped and impregnated his 14-year-old daughter while living in a shelter for illegal aliens.
Mayor Wu, under Boston law, would you turn this criminal over to ICE on a detainer? Whenever there's a criminal warrant, Boston police enforce that and hold people accountable. If ICE deems that they are dangerous enough to hold, obtain a criminal warrant, and the Boston police will enforce it.
Mayor Wu, clearly intentionally using very precise language there to describe her city's legal process for releasing illegal immigrants from city custody back onto the streets. In Boston, when local police arrest someone they know is a criminal illegal alien, that person is typically processed and released from custody without notifying ICE.
In non-sanctuary jurisdictions, local law enforcement works with ICE by notifying them of the arrest and handing over the individual from within the jail, a process ICE says is safer for both officers and the detainee. In Boston, ICE is often notified only at the last minute, if at all, of the release, forcing federal agents to locate and arrest individuals in public places like parking lots where safety risks are higher.
ICE officials argue this approach makes communities less safe and undermines immigration enforcement efforts. Mr.
Homan describing the recent effort in Boston on X as a multi-agency five-day operation resulting in arrests of six foreign fugitives, including four who were wanted for murder or to serve a criminal sentence for murder, along with drug traffickers, child sexual predators, and numerous other violent public safety threats. The immigration situation not much better in neighboring New York.
Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul telling The David Pakman Show New York State Police will not cooperate with mass deportations. We're not going to allow this mass deportation.
If you have a warrant or you know someone's on a terrorism watch list or committing crimes in their home country or committing crimes here, that's a different category. What I control is the state police and they will not cooperate in that.
Tom Homan warning the governor in recent weeks, if state officials do not cooperate with federal officials, he will take aggressive action. We'll double the man force here if we have to.
Because rather than one officer arresting a bad guy in the jail, one officer arresting one bad guy. Now I got to send the whole team, New York State, you got to the sanctuary status.
If you don't, get out of the way because we're going to do our job. Since the spring of 2022, more than 200,000 illegal aliens shipped to New York from the Texas border.
Many of the new arrivals making headlines for crimes like vandalism and public drunkenness to far more horrific acts. Jose Ibera was arrested and released in New York just months before he was put on a taxpayer-funded flight to Georgia, where he savagely killed 22-year-old Lakin Riley.
President Trump calling on Democrat Governor from Colorado Jared Polis to remove his presidential portrait hanging in the state capitol building. In a Sunday night Truth Social post, President Trump writing, quote, nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado in the state capitol put up by the governor, along with all other presidents, was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before.
A spokesperson for Governor Polis saying the governor was, quote, surprised to learn the president of the United States is an aficionado of our Colorado state capital and its artwork. President Trump also calling out the governor as, quote, extremely weak on crime, in particular with respect to Tren de Aragua, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization.
President Trump saying the artist, Sarah Boardman, painted a much more flattering portrait of President Obama.

It's almost an exact likeness, truth be told. President Trump writing that the White House

received many calls and complaints from the people of Colorado regarding the portrait of Mr. Trump,

which was unveiled in 2019. Ms.
Boardman telling the Denver Post at the time of the unveiling,

her a*****g of Colorado regarding the portrait of Mr. Trump, which was unveiled in 2019.
Ms. Boardman telling the Denver Post at the time of the unveiling, her aim was to craft a neutral portrait.
Quote, in today's environment, it's all very upfront, but in another 5, 10, 15 years, he will be another president on the wall. The portrait commissioned for $11,000, donations raised by a state Republican lawmaker in 2018.
New York Magazine describes the work as jowly. That's putting it nicely.
He looks 50 pounds heavier than he actually is. A picture of the portrait is posted on megankelly.com, where you can judge for yourself.
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 new east on youtube.com slash megan kelly and on all podcast platforms girls jr's new snack stash was made for munchie madness mix Mix and match any three sides.
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