Judge Dismisses Comey and James Cases, Pentagon Investigating Sen. Mark Kelly: AM Update 11/25

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Speaker 2 Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly.
It's Tuesday, November 25th, 2025, and this is your AM update.

Speaker 3 I'm grateful that the court ended the case against me, which was a prosecution based on malevolence and incompetence.

Speaker 2 As former FBI Director James Comey celebrates a recent court ruling tossing his indictment, Attorney Will Chamberlain says, not so fast.

Speaker 4 You can't have a functioning military if there is disorder and chaos within the ranks.

Speaker 2 The Pentagon announces an investigation into U.S. Senator from Arizona Mark Kelly, connected to his participation in a video urging military members to disobey hypothetical unlawful orders.

Speaker 2 What's in your soup? A Campbell executive reportedly caught on tape making shocking claims about the company.

Speaker 2 And millions of Americans prepare for holiday travel as the National Weather Service warns of a deep chill from a polar vortex. All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM update.

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Speaker 2 A federal judge dismissing the indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James, ruling in a pair of nearly identical opinions that the prosecutor who brought both cases was never lawfully appointed.

Speaker 2 Both indictments brought by acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan.

Speaker 2 Halligan, put in her position by AG Pam Bondi in September after Halligan's predecessor Eric Sieber resigned.

Speaker 2 Siebert originally nabbed this role thanks to an appointment by the AG's office, but these temporary appointments are only good for 120 days.

Speaker 2 When that period ended, Siebert was reappointed by federal judges, which the controlling statute says is fine. It's fine, but is it required? That's the question in this case.

Speaker 2 Comey argues that when Siebert resigned, his interim successor could be chosen only by federal judges. The DOJ says either judges or the Attorney General's office could do it.

Speaker 2 Last month, both Comey and James separately moving to dismiss the cases, arguing A.G. Bondi did not have the power to appoint Halligan to this post.
Clinton appointed U.S.

Speaker 2 District Judge Cameron McGowan Curry, siding with Comey and with James, finding Halligan's appointment to be, quote, invalid, and therefore, quote, all actions flowing from Ms.

Speaker 2 Halligan's defective appointment constitute unlawful exercises of executive power. and must be set aside.

Speaker 2 James responding to the ruling with a statement, quote, I am heartened by today's victory and grateful for the prayers and support I have received from around the country.

Speaker 2 I remain fearless in the face of these baseless charges. She went on, and I deeply admire myself for my courage.

Speaker 2 She didn't really say that, but she did call herself fearless. Comey taking to social media, naturally, posting this video to Instagram.

Speaker 3 I'm grateful that the court ended the case against me, which was a prosecution based on malevolence and incompetence, and a reflection of what the Department of Justice has become under Donald Trump, which is heartbreaking.

Speaker 3 A message has to be sent that the President of the United States cannot use the Department of Justice to target his political enemies.

Speaker 3 I don't care what your politics are, you have to see that as fundamentally un-American and a threat to the rule of law that keeps all of us free.

Speaker 2 Judge Curry dismissing both cases without prejudice, meaning prosecutors can try again.

Speaker 2 But with Comey's allegedly false statements to Congress now beyond the statute of limitations, the question in his case, unlike the Letitia James's, is whether they still can be refiled.

Speaker 2 We spoke with senior counsel at the Article III project, Will Chamberlain, who outlines a number of issues with this ruling, telling us Comey is far from in the clear.

Speaker 5 It means, first off, obviously the DOJ can simply appeal. And if they win like they will, this won't matter.

Speaker 5 But even if they lose on appeal, there's a statute 18 USC section 3288, which says that whenever an indictment charging a felony is dismissed for any reason after the statute of limitations runs, the DOJ has six calendar butts to refile the indictment.

Speaker 5 And so this is for any reason. There's only a couple of exceptions to it.

Speaker 5 One of them is if the reason that your indictment got dismissed is because the statute of limitations had expired, you can't refile it later on. But that's not the argument here.

Speaker 5 This was dismissed for a different reason, namely the fact that Lindsey Halligan, in Judge Curry's view, was not properly appointed.

Speaker 5 So there's no reason DOJ shouldn't be able to re-indict within the next six months.

Speaker 2 In other words, Comey should not pop the champagne just yet.

Speaker 2 Judge Curry ruling that once the AG uses that 120-day window one time, in this case for Halligan's predecessor, Siebert, the power to appoint an interim U.S.

Speaker 2 attorney shifts exclusively to the federal judges in that district. Chamberlain argues that interpretation of the statute is not only incorrect, it creates larger constitutional issues.

Speaker 5 It's wrong on two levels. First off, it's wrong as a matter of just plain language of the statute, which says very clearly that the Attorney General may appoint a U.S.
Attorney

Speaker 5 if the relevant office is vacant. And the only exception to that is that the Attorney General may not appoint someone who has been affirmatively outright rejected by the Senate.

Speaker 5 Second, even if the statute were ambiguous, she should err on the side of not ruling in a way that creates constitutional questions.

Speaker 5 And the problem with Judge Curry's opinion, and specifically on this point, is that if you grant the authority to appoint executive branch officials to the judiciary exclusively, then that's a separation of powers violation because the prosecutorial authority is the most quintessentially executive function there is.

Speaker 5 And so that can't belong to the judiciary.

Speaker 2 A.G. Bondi telling reporters yesterday the DOJ is immediately appealing this ruling.
We asked Chamberlain what he predicts will happen next.

Speaker 5 That's just not going to pass constitutional muster, especially after this last year of Supreme Court jurisprudence, where the Supreme Court has basically dismissed all these attempts to uphold these independent agencies and prevent President Trump from firing members of, for example, the FCC.

Speaker 5 The Supreme Court has rejected all of those as unconstitutional. This clearly also would be unconstitutional under the same logic.

Speaker 2 With the administration vowing to appeal and similar disputes popping up in other districts, the question may ultimately require a definitive answer from the Supreme Court.

Speaker 2 The Pentagon yesterday announcing an investigation into U.S. Senator from Arizona, Mark Kelly, a Democrat.

Speaker 2 Quote, the Department of War has received serious allegations of misconduct against retired Captain Mark Kelly. A thorough review of these allegations has been initiated.

Speaker 2 to determine further actions, which may include recall to active duty for court-martial proceedings or administrative administrative measures.

Speaker 2 Last week, Senator Kelly participating in a video posted on X with five other Democrat lawmakers urging military service members to ignore hypothetical unlawful orders.

Speaker 6 We want to speak directly to members of the military.

Speaker 2 This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens.

Speaker 6 Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders.

Speaker 2 The Pentagon now investigating whether Kelly's participation in the video amounts to undermining good order and discipline in violation of a federal law that carries up to 10 years in prison.

Speaker 2 President Trump accusing the Democrat lawmakers of sedition, calling for their imprisonment.

Speaker 2 Secretary of War Pete Hegseth weighing in yesterday on X, quote, the video made by the seditious six was despicable, reckless, and false.

Speaker 2 Their foolish screed sows doubt and confusion, which only puts our warriors in danger. Mark Kelly is still subject to the uniform code of Military Justice, and he knows that.

Speaker 2 Secretary Hegseth saying the other members do not fall under this military's purview and therefore are not being investigated.

Speaker 2 Senator Kelly firing back on social media, quote, I swore an oath to the Constitution in 1986. I've upheld it through 25 years of service and every day since I retired.

Speaker 2 If Trump's trying to intimidate me, it won't work. I've given too much to our country to be silenced by bullies who care more about power than the Constitution.

Speaker 2 White House Press Press Secretary Caroline Levitt pointing to the lawmakers' inability to name an actual illegal order from President Trump as evidence of their bad faith.

Speaker 4 Senator Mark Kelly well knows the rules of the military and the respect that one must have for the chain of command and that all lawful, all orders, lawful orders, are presumed to be legal by our service members.

Speaker 4 You can't have a functioning military if there is disorder and chaos within the ranks. And that's what these Democrat members were encouraging.
It's very clear.

Speaker 4 And not a single one of them, since they've been pressed by the media, and I'll give you guys credit for that, can point to a single illegal order that this administration has given down because it does not exist.

Speaker 4 They knew what they were doing in this video, and Senator Mark Kelly and all of them should be held accountable for that.

Speaker 2 Political commentator John Podoritz, who is a former presidential speechwriter, but not an attorney, suggesting Senator Kelly's comments are protected under the speech and debate clause of the Constitution, protecting members of Congress from legal action for things they say as part of their legislative acts.

Speaker 2 This protection does not typically apply to social media posts, which are generally considered political in nature, not part of the legislative process. Attorney Will Chamberlain weighs in here.

Speaker 5 It's immunity for activities that fall within the sphere of legitimate legislative activity. So that can include more than just what you say on the floor.

Speaker 5 You know, it can include committee investigations.

Speaker 5 But not only here is this just a public statement that he's making with political ramifications, but he's admitted that he doesn't know of any unlawful orders that have been issued that would then be the subject of an investigation of some sort.

Speaker 5 So I don't think he has any reasonable grounds to claim that this would fall under the protection of the speech and debate clause.

Speaker 2 Coming up, a Campbell's soup executive apparently caught trashing the food, the employees, and the customers.

Speaker 2 And chilly weather is on the way as Americans gear up for the busiest travel time of the year.

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Speaker 2 A Campbell soup company vice president allegedly secretly recorded making shocking claims about his employer's food quality, in addition to a series of offensive comments about his colleagues and mocking Campbell's customers, too.

Speaker 2 Former cybersecurity analyst Robert Garza says he captured the hour-plus-long tirade coming from Campbell's VP and Chief Information Security Officer Martin Bally in a salary meeting the two had last year.

Speaker 2 Garza says he was fired just weeks after informing his manager about the comments made by Bally, despite no prior disciplinary record, and he is now suing the company seeking compensation for alleged emotional, reputational, and economic harm in addition to attorney's fees.

Speaker 2 After filing the lawsuit last week in Michigan, Garza and his attorney releasing the audio to Detroit's local 4 News.

Speaker 7 We have shit from fing poor people who buys our shit. I don't buy

Speaker 7 products barely anymore. So healthy.
Now that I know what the f is in it, even the can of soup, I look at it and look at me.

Speaker 7 Bioengineered meat.

Speaker 7 I don't want to eat a

Speaker 7 piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer, you know?

Speaker 2 The Daily Mail reporting, quote, bioengineered meat, also called cultured, cell-based or lab-grown meat, is real animal meat produced by taking a sample of animal cells, cultivating them in a nutrient-rich solution within bioreactors, and then structuring the resulting muscle and fat tissues into a food product.

Speaker 2 Gross.

Speaker 2 Campbell's responding to the claim, quote, the chicken meat used in our soups comes from long-trusted, USDA-approved U.S. suppliers and meets our high-quality standards.
Is that a denial?

Speaker 2 In other parts of the recording, Bally allegedly heard referring to Indian colleagues saying, quote, effing Indians don't know an effing thing. They couldn't think for their effing selves.

Speaker 2 According to Campbells, the company was not aware of the recording prior to when it aired on the news, and Bally is now temporarily on leave due to an investigation.

Speaker 2 Campbell's adding, quote, if the comments were in fact made, they are unacceptable. They do not reflect our values and the culture of our company.

Speaker 2 We are proud of the food we make, the people who make it, and the high-quality ingredients we use. The comments heard on the recording about our food are not only inaccurate, they are patently absurd.

Speaker 2 Campbell's also saying Bally, as an IT employee, had nothing to do with making the food.

Speaker 2 Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, weighing in on the lawsuit, posting to X, quote, Florida law bans lab-grown meat.

Speaker 2 Our Consumer Protection Division is launching an investigation and will demand answers from Campbell's.

Speaker 2 As a record number of Americans prepare to travel for Thanksgiving, the National Weather Service, or NWS, warning an early season blast of Arctic air is set to stretch across much of the country.

Speaker 2 Below-normal temperatures expected to begin settling in today, stretching through the end of the month, linked to a disruption in the polar vortex swirling high above the Arctic.

Speaker 2 The chill expected to impact the Pacific Northwest, northern Rockies, Great Plains, parts of Texas, and the interior mid-Atlantic.

Speaker 2 The NWS predicting a snow system will enter into the northern plains this morning, spreading across the upper Midwest through Wednesday, with a potential for heavy snowfall in parts of North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and parts of Michigan.

Speaker 2 The agency warning the heavy snow and gusty winds could bring icy roads and dangerous travel conditions. CNN breaking down the counterintuitive science driving this polar vortex.

Speaker 8 The polar vortex is about to upend weather patterns across the northern hemisphere, setting the stage for what could be a cold and snowy December.

Speaker 8 The polar vortex usually acts like a shield that keeps ultra-cold air trapped above the North Pole, but temperatures high in the atmosphere are forecast to dramatically spike, disrupting the polar vortex and reshaping the jet stream that steers high-impact weather events around the globe.

Speaker 8 It's counterintuitive to think that warming temperatures high above the Arctic could mean wintry weather where we live.

Speaker 8 But think of it like opening a freezer door, allowing all that frigid air to spill south into areas where people live.

Speaker 2 The Chili Thames arriving as AAA reports a record 82 million Americans expected to hit the road for Thanksgiving.

Speaker 2 And TSA anticipating more than 17.8 million people set to fly over the holiday, marking the busiest travel period in 15 years. Good luck out there and bundle up.

Speaker 2 That'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megan Kelly.

Speaker 2 Join me back here for the Megan Kelly Show, live on SiriusXM's Megan Kelly channel 111 at Noon East, on youtube.com/slash Megan Kelly and on all podcast platforms.

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