Trump-Slotkin Feud Escalates, Massive Ohio Chemical Leak, Fake Polling Scandal: AM Update 10/22

Good morning, everyone. I'm Emily Jaschinski, host of After Party and the Megyn Kelly Wrap-Up Show on SiriusXM Channel 111. It's Thursday, October 22nd, 2026, and this is your AM Update. She's a lightweight, by the way, total lightweight. A stupid person. President Trump and Democrat Senator Alyssa Slotkin trading blows after she threatens young Americans not to work for his administration. When my nose started burning, I knew it was definitely something different. The smell was so bad. A massive chemical leak in Ohio forcing thousands to evacuate or shelter in place as officials work to contain the potentially dangerous release. A new report raising pay-for-play questions after former Trump attorney Alina Haba landed a $50 million contract from the family of a billionaire who was seeking a presidential pardon. And a polling company caught fabricating election surveys. Now claiming it was all a social experiment after investigators started asking questions. 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Visit TakeLean.com and enter MK for your discount. That's promo code MK at TakeLean.com. President Trump and Democrat Senator Alyssa Slotkin of Michigan trading barbs in an escalating political feud after Senator Slotkin called for investigations into Trump administration officials and warning young Americans against working for the president. The former CIA analyst and potential 2028 presidential contender, previously joining five other Democrat leaders in the White House, also called for investigations into Trump administration officials and warning young Americans against working for the president. contender previously joining five other Democrat lawmakers in a video last year urging military and intelligence personnel to refuse unlawful orders. The group dubbed by some on the right as the Seditious Six after President Trump accused them of sedition, and now Senator Slotkin once again finding herself at the center of a confrontation with the president. The latest dispute beginning last week at the University of Chicago, where Slotkin outlined her vision for holding Trump administration officials accountable if Democrats regain power. I want young people coming out of school to say, should I go work for the Trump administration? I want them to be like, Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don't want, and so let me avoid participating in that. I want that deterrence message sent. The remarks sparking outrage among Republicans who accused Senator Slotkin of threatening political retaliation against young Americans simply for working. for the president. Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah calling her comments disgraceful. Senator Slotkin defending her remarks Monday on CNN. If you commit a criminal act, if you use taxpayer dollars in a way that violates the law, you should be held accountable no matter who you are. That was the point I was making, and they've sort of manufactured outrage about it because they want to talk about anything but what's going on right now in places like Kansas or Michigan. President Trump's comments on the bill are not the only ones that are being held accountable. They want to frighten people, young people, from ever working in the Trump administration or a Republican administration. I heard it without commentary, and I said, well, that's pretty bad. That's pretty bad. She's a lightweight, by the way, total lightweight, stupid person. She's a person that should be tried for what she did, where she said, no, no, we control government. You don't have to listen to the president. And we'll see what happens. That's still, you know, that's still up in the air. But she made a statement that was very, very dangerous, a very dangerous statement. Senator Slotkin firing back Tuesday night in a video posted to X. President Trump just a few hours ago in the Oval Office saying that I should be tried in court. This time, it's because I dared to talk about the corruption coming out of the White House. A president from the Oval Office is weaponizing our justice system against an American who clearly gets under his skin. He can do it to me. He can do it to anyone. So if the president wants to investigate and arrest me, and even worse, as so many authoritarian leaders do with their political adversaries, then do it. But I'm not going to be intimidated out of standing up for the rule of law and the country that has given me everything. We spoke with attorney and founder of the Article Three Project, Mike Davis, who sharply criticized Slotkin's comments and accused the senator of trying to portray herself as the victim of a controversy she created. He said that she wants the Trump officials prosecuted to scare young conservatives from entering public service. And she said this very clearly. She can't deny it. And instead of walking back her comments and apologizing, she's doubling down. She's pretending like she's the victim of some Trump assault against her when she's the bad guy. She's the bad guy. She's the bad guy. She's the bad guy. It's stunning. It's junior varsity CIA tactics that you would expect from a former desk jockey analyst at the CIA. But it's very clear what she said on that tape. She said that she wants her political opponents prosecuted as a deterrent. And then instead of apologizing, she's doubling down and tripling down. Look, no one doubts that if there is criminal misconduct, people should be held accountable. That's not what she's saying. Senator Slotkin viewed as a possible contender for the 2028 Democrat presidential nomination. Davis questions whether the controversy is helping her political ambitions. I think Alyssa Slotkin is a loony tune. She's a narcissist. And she thinks that this is good for her, for her public profile. It's terrible for her and her public profile. Every time she makes any posts on Twitter, on X, she's getting ratioed. I have not seen so many serial ratios as I have over the last several days that I have on Alyssa Slotkin's Twitter profile. The confrontation unfolding less than two weeks before the midterm elections. Davis arguing the controversy offers voters a glimpse of what could happen if Democrats regain control of Congress. What's amazing to me is Alyssa Slotkin is making this election about. I think it's a very good thing for Trump supporters to look at. If we have Democrats running the House and the Senate, they are going to persecute conservatives. They're going to have lawfare on steroids. They're going to have a lot of money on drugs. was so bad, I literally had to cover my mouth and my nose. That's how bad it was. Emergency crews initially attempting to stop the leak before determining that approaching the damaged tank could trigger an explosion. During a Wednesday afternoon briefing, Mayor Kapsikavich reporting signs of improvement. About every half hour, they send the drone up. I don't know if you've noticed that. We're doing that about every half hour. And each time the drone comes back, it's clear looking at the tank in question that the situation is getting better and better. And by better, I mean the temperature has gone down significantly. Every time the drone comes back, the temperature seems to be down a little bit. And the amount of gas that's being vented is significantly lower than it was. According to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the leak resulting from an error during the transfer of chemicals, although officials have not disclosed precisely what went wrong. Coming up, a New York Times investigation raising questions about former Trump attorney Alina Haba's lucrative contract with the family of a billionaire who received a presidential pardon. And a polling company admitting its election surveys were completely made up after its fake numbers made their way into major news outlets and political forecasts. Our sponsor, the Electronic Payments Coalition, says Washington politicians are all over the place. And they're all over the place. And they're always getting in your wallet. And that now they're messing with your credit card. They say your credit card and the security it offers are under attack. And that Senators Dick Durbin and Roger Marshall want to change the nation's payment system to benefit corporate megastores like Walmart and Target at the expense of everyday Americans. Credit cards can keep your payments secure and provide rewards that families use to help make everyday purchases more affordable. The Electronic Payments Coalition says the Durbin-Marshall mandates would let corporate megastores cut corners on credit cards. Credit card processing, routing transactions over cheaper, untested networks with weaker security and fewer protections. Find out more for yourself at GuardYourCard.com and consider telling Congress to guard your card. A new investigation by the New York Times revealing former Trump attorney Alina Haba-Mildon signed a contract worth more than $50 million with the family of a billionaire seeking a presidential pardon just months before President Trump granted his request. Venezuelan banker Julio Herrera-Velutini facing federal corruption charges stemming from an alleged bribery scheme involving former Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vazquez. Herrera reaching a plea agreement with federal prosecutors last year, allowing him to plead guilty to a misdemeanor campaign finance violation rather than face trial on more serious charges. The billionaire then seeking a full presidential pardon, reportedly turning to attorney Christopher Kaiz, who previously represented President Trump, to help secure clemency. In October of last year, the family hiring another attorney with close ties to the president, and the family hiring another attorney with close ties to the president, Alina Haba. According to the Times, the Herreras offering Haba $10 million a year, over four years, plus additional bonuses, guaranteeing her more than $50 million under the agreement. In exchange, Haba becoming general counsel of Concord Partners, a Florida company established by Herrera's daughter just days before the contract was signed. The Times reporting the company has virtually no public presence, and its business operations remain unclear even to some people familiar with the family's financial empire. Haba finalizing the agreement while still serving as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, before leaving that position in December after federal judges ruled her appointment was unlawful. Haba beginning her work for Concord Partners on January 1st while continuing to serve as a senior advisor to Attorney General Pam Bondi at the Justice Department. Weeks later, President Trump granting Herrera a full and unconditional pardon. People familiar with Haba's contract telling the Haba questions about the unusually large compensation and her continued role inside the Justice Department. Haba categorically denying any involvement, saying her private employment was properly disclosed and vetted by the DOJ. In a series of posts on X, she accuses the Times of publishing a politically motivated attack just weeks before the midterm elections and pointing to Herrera's original attorney, Christopher Kyes, as the person responsible for securing the pardon. Haba writing, quote, I never met with anyone at the White House or DOJ about a pardon. I've never done any work in any capacity whatsoever for a pardon for anyone, period. The Justice Department and the White House backing up Haba's account to the Times, both saying she had no involvement in Herrera's clemency request. The White House maintaining that presidential pardons undergo a review process involving the White House Counsel's Office and the DOJ. Vice President J.D. Vance addressing broader allegations of political insiders profiting from their government connections during remarks yesterday. We're not going to try people in the court of public opinion. We're going to let real facts develop. And that's one thing I'd say to the American people. I see a lot of stories about our administration, and sometimes my initial reaction to them is, I really don't like that. And then when you read the details, you realize that a lot of what's being accused is, one, anonymously sourced, or two, it's just completely fraudulent. But I can tell you, this attorney general and the entire administration, we reject pay for play. We reject anybody getting rich off of their connections to the government. And if we see it happening, whether it's our partisan friends or our partisan enemies, we are going to do something about it. A political polling company whose surveys appeared in major news outlets and election forecasts, admitting it fabricated its data, claiming the entire operation was actually a social experiment designed to expose weaknesses in the polling industry. The stunning, quote, admission coming Tuesday night from, Wedgwood Polls. After election analysis website 50 Plus One confronted the company with evidence suggesting its surveys were fake. According to 50 Plus One's investigation, researchers discovering suspicious patterns in the raw polling data provided by Wedgwood, including information that did not match records typically generated by the survey platform the company claimed to use. Rather than answer the investigator's questions, Wedgwood releasing a lengthy statement on social media, acknowledging it had invented the numbers behind nearly all of its polls, the company claiming its goal was to demonstrate how easily a fake polling operation could gain credibility, concluding that the process was, quote, far too easy. However, investigators revealing Wedgwood had presented itself as a legitimate polling company for months, even collecting money from donors to fund surveys that were never actually conducted. The fabricated results appearing in coverage from outlets including the New York Times, MS Now, and Newsweek, and making their way into election forecasting models, used to track races across the country. The New York Times removing 15 Wedgwood surveys from its polling database, while Decision Desk HQ scrapping 17, although the company says the removal does not change its projections for control of Congress. The revelations sparking outrage from political candidates whose campaigns were affected by the false numbers. In Michigan, Democrat State Senator Mallory McMorrow accusing Wedgwood of inflicting serious damage on her unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate. After publishing a poll showing her support collapsing into single digits, the survey helping fuel a narrative that McMorrow was falling far behind her Democratic primary opponents, including eventual nominee Abdul El-Sayed, whose campaign also cited Wedgwood's polling. In a next post, McMorrow describing the devastating impact on her campaign's morale, saying the false numbers undermined her team's efforts and reinforced the perception that her candidacy was collapsing. The controversy prompting criticism from political operatives across the spectrum. Who argued that fabricated polls can damage fundraising, discourage volunteers and distort voters' perceptions of a race. Josh Holmes of the Ruthless podcast yesterday on Fox News. They got their hand caught in the cookie jar by 50 plus one when they started asking questions about their methodology. And instead of just copying to a fake poll, what they did is try to create this illusion that all of this was a social experiment. And there was nobody should have taken it seriously. But of course, they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they included it in polling averages. This is not a victimless crime. I can tell you the problem is when you get these fake polls out in the public, what happens is fundraising starts to dry up. Volunteers become dispirited. They create and sort of blunt any momentum a campaign would have with artificial data. In August, an outfit calling itself Median Strategies, acknowledging it fabricated polls in several states, including one showing Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass holding a $1 million grant to fund the campaign. The company making that admission only after facing questions from the Los Angeles Times, offering essentially the same explanation that Wedgwood is now using. That'll do it for your AM update. I'm Emily Drushinsky, host of After Party. Go and check out more at AfterPartyEmily.com. Catch the Megyn Kelly show later today, live on Sirius XM's The Megyn Kelly Channel 111 at Noon East on YouTube.com slash Megyn Kelly and all podcast platforms. you