DOJ Charges Castro, House Hearing Targets SPLC, Bezos Slams Mamdani & Praises Trump: AM Update 5/21

[0:02] Good morning, everyone. I'm Emily Jashinsky, host of After Party and the Megyn Kelly Wrap-Up Show on Sirius XM Channel 111. [0:10] It's Thursday, May 21st, 2026, and this is your AM Update. [0:15] Today, we are announcing an indictment charging Raul Castro and several others with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals. [0:26] The DOJ indicts former Cuban leader Raul Castro as questions emerge over whether the Trump administration is preparing for a broader confrontation with Cuba. [0:37] Turned out for them, creating hate was more profitable than fighting it. [0:40] A House Judiciary hearing puts the Southern Poverty Law Center under the microscope as Republicans accuse the indicted group of manufacturing hate for profit. [0:51] Billionaire Jeff Bezos weighs in on President Trump and the First Lady, New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani, and more. [0:59] And James Murdoch, the liberal son of the Fox Titan, making a major media play of his own. 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[2:03] Text MK to the number 989898 to see if you qualify for a first-time gold buyer rebate of up to $10,000. [2:13] The DOJ announcing the indictment of 94-year-old former Cuban President Raul Castro nearly 30 years after the Cuban military shot down two civilian planes operated by humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue. [2:28] Five Cuban fighter pilots involved in the shooting also indicted. [2:32] Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche unveiling the charges yesterday in Miami, where Cuban Americans make up about 30% of the population. [2:40] Today, we are announcing an indictment, charging Raul Castro and several others with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals. [2:56] Mr. Castro and the others are charged with additional crimes as well, including destruction of aircraft and four individual counts of murder. [3:05] The indictment was returned by a grand jury sitting in this district in Miami on April 23, 2026 and was unsealed today. [3:17] For nearly 30 years, 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice. [3:26] The DOJ saying the planes were civilian aircraft flying over international waters as part of a humanitarian mission focused on Cuban refugees fleeing the island by sea. [3:36] Well, Cuba claims the planes were violating its airspace. [3:39] The announcement timed with Cuban Independence Day. [3:45] Secretary of State Marco Rubio releasing a Spanish-language video directly targeting Cubans saying, quote, [3:51] The real reason you don't have electricity, fuel or food is because those who control your country have plundered billions of dollars, but nothing has been used to help the people. [4:02] These latest actions coming amid a series of recent moves, raising questions about whether the Trump administration is laying the groundwork for a more aggressive military confrontation with Cuba. [4:14] In March, President Trump openly floating the idea of, quote, taking Cuba in some form, calling the island a failed nation and saying he believed he could, quote, do anything he wanted with it. [4:24] Earlier this year, the U.S. military captured former Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro, a longtime Cuban ally who had already been indicted by the DOJ. [4:34] Venezuela now run by Maduro's former deputy, Delce Rodriguez, who has been allowed to remain in power as long as she cooperates with the administration. [4:44] Maduro's removal has had direct consequences for Havana. [4:47] For years, Venezuela was one of Cuba's most important oil lifelines. [4:53] Since Maduro's ouster, the administration blocking oil shipments to Cuba, worsening an already severe fuel crisis, prolonging blackouts and stirring up the civilian population. [5:05] And earlier this week, Axios reporting, based on alleged classified intelligence, that Cuba, in its weakened state, [5:12] has obtained more than 300 military drones from U.S. adversaries and discussed possible attacks on American targets, including Guantanamo Bay, U.S. military vessels, and possibly Key West, Florida. [5:26] Cuban's foreign minister calling the allegation a fraudulent case designed to justify possible military action. [5:33] We spoke to South Florida-based freelance journalist Juan Rojas, who sees the Trump administration's push against Cuba as part of a broader electoral strategy. [5:42] It looks like they're moving forward with some sort of Maduro-esque playbook. [5:49] Hard to say if they'll actually go through with trying to arrest him or maybe some sort of negotiation with the regime to hand him over. [5:58] Other than that, maybe nothing comes of it at all. [6:01] It's just purely symbolic. [6:03] But that symbolism is clearly just meant for South Florida and Cuban Americans more broadly. [6:09] With recent polling showing President Trump hemorrhaging Hispanic support, Rojas says the push to topple Cuba's communist regime could help the administration shore up a key part of its Latino coalition. [6:21] The administration has really alienated a lot of Latinos, including Cuban Americans, who still generally support President Trump. [6:29] But a lot of them, and you do feel this a lot in South Florida, have been upset by what they view as excesses with, like, the deportation policy, like, deporting people to third countries that they're not originally from, excessive force used to, like, arrest people. [6:50] But on the other hand, they really love the Cuba policy and the prospect of regime change on the island. [6:58] As a result, I see, I at least see a lot of Cuban Americans, especially, giving the administration a pass and possibly, like, even this could motivate turnout during the midterms, which was really crucial among Latino voters where support has dropped off a lot. [7:16] Rojas says D.C. is making a dangerous bet that making conditions even worse will force Cubans into revolt. [7:24] If they don't get oil, they just can't turn the lights on. [7:27] And so, as a result, that's, yeah, a lot of Cuban Americans here have called on boycotting third countries, yeah, Mexico and Russia from shipping, Venezuela, shipping oil to the island under the, you know, the theory that, you know, if we make conditions so bad on the island, people will rise up and overthrow the regime. [7:48] But there's a lot of, it's kind of a double-sided sword, I mean, besides, like, the humanitarian aspect to it, you usually, like, create a rally around the flag effect, around whatever government is in power. [8:11] And you also give them an excuse to crack down and also just scapegoat, which is what the Cuban regime has done for decades. [8:18] Rojas warns Cuba is not Venezuela, and that any hopes of copying the Maduro playbook may be underestimating the island. [8:26] It's really hard to say because it's such a closed-off system. [8:30] I mean, you know, like, in Venezuela, for instance, there is, like, a formal opposition, there's, like, civil society and, like, whatever. [8:38] Cuba, it's a one-party state, and the Communist Party literally controls everything. [8:46] So what comes after? [8:48] I'm not really sure. [8:49] I mean, you know, some people say that, oh, if we invade, you know, the Cuban people will rise up and defend the revolution. [8:57] I have my doubts. [8:59] But, yeah, sure, I'm sure there's some diehards that would be willing to, you know, fight an invasion to the death. [9:07] But then there are people, there could be people that go into the mountains and mountain insurgency. [9:11] The House Judiciary Committee holding a hearing yesterday on the Southern Poverty Law Center, or SPLC, amid mounting scrutiny of the once-prominent civil rights organization, now under federal indictment. [9:26] The hearing examining what House Republicans describe as the SPLC's role in artificially elevating the threat of domestic extremism. [9:35] Founded in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1971, the SPLC began as a non-profit civil rights law firm known for bringing cases against the KKK and other white supremacist organizations. [9:47] But in more recent years, the group branding conservative and libertarian groups like Moms for Liberty as anti-government and placing Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA on its hate map alongside the KKK and other extremist groups. [10:03] The hearing, coming after a federal grand jury in Alabama, indicted the SPLC last month on 11 criminal counts, including wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. [10:18] According to the DOJ, the SPLC allegedly used more than $3 million in donated funds between 2014 and 2023 to pay individuals associated with violent extremist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, and neo-Nazi organizations, to allegedly act as informants. [10:40] Prosecutors alleging the group concealed those payments through fake entities and misled donors about how their money was being used. [10:48] One of the central examples raised in the hearing was Charlottesville, where prosecutors say an SPLC-paid field source was involved in helping plan and promote the 2017 Unite the Right rally that led to one death and ignited years of national debate over extremism and political violence. [11:07] In yesterday's House Judiciary hearing, Chairman Jim Jordan arguing Charlottesville was not an isolated example, but part of a broader SPLC model, paying sources inside extremist movements, amplifying the threat those movements posed, and then converting the fear into donations. [11:24] Field source 37, again, he was part of the planning group for the Charlottesville rally, he was paid to coordinate transportation, he was paid to attend, after the event, again, after the event where a young lady is killed, the Southern Poverty Law Center almost tripled their income, it all worked. [11:43] They went from 51 million annual income to $133 million. [11:49] Turned out for them, creating hate was more profitable than fighting it. [11:53] That's exactly what they did. [11:55] They ran a scam, they became the standard, they didn't get prosecuted, and they made a ton of money. [12:00] Made a ton of money. [12:01] They're sitting on $800 million in assets, $700 million endowment fund. [12:06] Such a deal. [12:08] Such a deal. [12:09] But here's the good news, because there is some good news. [12:12] Here's the good news. [12:12] President Trump got elected, Todd Blanche is attorney general, Cash Martell is the FBI director, and guess what? [12:18] They're prosecuting these guys. [12:19] Ranking member Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, accusing the Trump DOJ of criminalizing what he says was a lawful informant program. [12:29] The DOJ says that the SPLC defrauded its donors by paying undercover informants to infiltrate and collect intelligence on these racist groups. [12:39] But where are all the donors complaining about having been defrauded? [12:44] Where is the evidence of the fraud? [12:47] Where are the civil lawsuits that always follow in the wake of a fraud, a scam, or a ripoff? [12:54] DOJ has offered no evidence that anyone was actually deceived or defrauded by this perfectly lawful, well-known, and accepted practice that the FBI itself approved for many years. [13:03] Using informants and undercover agents was indeed the basis for the FBI's own efforts to investigate racist extremist groups when that was a priority, before the targets of the FBI became instead the perceived political foes of Donald Trump. [13:20] Witness and senior editor at The Daily Signal, Tyler O'Neill, testifying the SPLC was built on a fundraising model that once targeted the KKK, but later required the group to keep expanding its definition of hate to keep donor money flowing. [13:36] How did the SPLC become so wealthy? [13:40] Co-founder Morris Dees set up a lucrative fundraising engine by suing the Ku Klux Klan into bankruptcy. [13:47] When the SPLC ran out of Grand Dragons to slay, the center needed to find more hate to justify the fundraising. [13:58] It has a financial incentive to juice the numbers. [14:01] The SPLC began to publish a hate map that plots mainstream conservative and Christian groups alongside Klan chapters. [14:11] The map includes Moms for Liberty, Prager U, Turning Point USA, and even Focus on the Family. [14:20] The SPLC says the map reveals the infrastructure upholding white supremacy. [14:26] This hate map kills two birds with one stone. [14:30] It silences conservative dissent from the left's and the SPLC's agenda, and it exaggerates hate to keep the money flowing. [14:41] The SPLC denies any wrongdoing, pleading not guilty earlier this month to the DOJ charges, with a case now set to go to trial in October. [14:51] Coming up, billionaire Jeff Bezos taking on the Tax the Rich movement. [14:55] AI fears President Trump and New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani in a wide-ranging CNBC interview. [15:02] And James Murdoch, once heir to the Fox News empire, now buying up major liberal media brands. 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[16:03] Save more than 50% on term life insurance at SelectQuote.com slash Megan today to get started. [16:11] Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, sitting for a wide-ranging CNBC interview, weighing in on everything from President Trump, Zoran Mamdani, and AI. [16:22] One of the most striking moments coming when Bezos, one of the richest men in the world, argued the bottom half of American earners should stop paying federal taxes altogether. [16:32] Bezos rejecting the idea that simply taxing billionaires more will solve the economic woes working Americans face, [16:39] arguing the country is not struggling with a revenue problem, but a spending problem. [16:44] So there's this tale of two economies, and they're using this age-old technique of, you know, picking a villain and pointing fingers. [16:53] But the problem is, that doesn't solve anything. [16:56] Why is a nurse in Queens who makes $75,000 a year paying more than $1,000 a month in taxes? [17:03] The bottom half of income earners in this country pay only 3% of the taxes. [17:08] It's only 3%. [17:10] We can find 3%. [17:12] You know, we shouldn't be asking this nurse in Queens to send money to Washington. [17:18] They should be sending her an apology. [17:20] To illustrate the point, Bezos pointed to New York City schools, arguing the government is already spending massive amounts of money, but not managing it well. [17:28] The New York City school system, they spend $44,000 per student, $44,000. [17:37] That's 30% more per student than other big cities like Chicago, L.A. and Boston. [17:44] New York City doesn't get better outcomes. [17:46] If we ran Amazon the way New York City runs their school system, your packages would take six weeks to arrive. [17:54] We'd have to charge you a $100 delivery fee. [17:56] Bezos also applying the same argument to Amazon workers, pushing back on the idea that the problem is simply low corporate pay. [18:05] Amazon, we have our entry level wage for in Queens is $23 an hour. [18:13] And that's that works up to be like $52,000 a year. [18:17] And guess what? [18:18] They're still charging that person more than $10,000 in taxes. [18:22] And you know, that's absurd. [18:23] Right. [18:24] Why would you charge somebody making $52,000 a year, $10,000 a year in taxes? [18:29] Bezos also asked about a video posted last month by New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani, the far-left progressive who has made taxing the wealthy central to his agenda. [18:39] In the video, Mamdani stands outside billionaire Ken Griffin's home, announcing a proposed new tax on second homes in the city worth more than $5 million. [18:47] I think there are two different things about that video. [18:51] On the one hand, it's perfectly fine to have a policy debate about whether you want to have a peer-to-tear tax. [18:58] The second piece, which is not so good, is to go stand in front of Ken Griffin's house and act like he's some kind of villain. [19:06] Ken Griffin isn't a villain. [19:08] He hasn't hurt anybody. [19:09] He's not hurting New York. [19:10] In fact, quite the opposite. [19:12] A peer-to-tear tax is a, you know, taxes on out-of-towners are very popular taxes. [19:18] That's why there are hotel taxes. [19:19] But I think that the peer-to-tear tax is a fine thing for New York to do. [19:25] Unfortunately, it's a, it is an effective political technique. [19:30] It's as old as the hills. [19:31] Right. [19:31] So when you don't know how to solve a problem, create a villain, blame them. [19:36] But it won't solve the problem. [19:38] The only thing that will solve the problem is skill. [19:40] Bezos also pushing back on the suggestion that Amazon Studios' Melania Trump documentary was part of a broader effort to curry favor with the Trump administration. [19:49] Adding, he has worked with presidents of both parties. [19:53] We need our business leaders to provide input into the administration, regardless of who the president is. [20:01] I'm not on the side. [20:03] You know what? [20:04] This is, I'm on the side of America. [20:07] And I, and that is so important. [20:09] Like, and that's where business leaders should be. [20:12] It's just, I think, no, I think we are, but we get perceived as being like, you know, partisan or whatever. [20:20] Like, I was helping Obama every chance I could. [20:23] I was helping Biden every chance I could. [20:25] I still call Obama for advice. [20:28] He's a very smart guy. [20:30] And, you know, and by the way, people that are, Trump has lots of good ideas and he has done a lot of, he's been right about a lot of things. [20:38] You have to give him credit where credit is due. [20:40] And as AI becomes an increasingly divisive topic, with some college graduation crowds booing speakers who praise the technology, Bezos making the case for optimism. [20:51] And they are saying, oh my God, you know, there's going to be no more radiologists because, you know, AI can read x-rays better than a radiologist can. [21:00] And there are going to be no more software engineers because AI can program better than a software engineer can. [21:06] These people are wrong. [21:07] Let's say you're a software engineer. [21:09] Right. [21:10] What the analogy I can give you is you've been digging out a basement for your house with a shovel and somebody is about to hand you a bulldozer. [21:20] What's really going to happen is we're going to have so much productivity in our economy that, for example, the food will get cheaper and housing construction will get cheaper and so on and so on. [21:31] It's a real world succession as James Murdoch, the liberal son of Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch, now building out a media empire of his own. [21:42] Lupa Systems, Murdoch's media and tech holding company, announced a major deal to acquire New York magazine Vox.com and the Vox Media Podcast Network. [21:52] The acquisition includes podcasts such as Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway. [21:57] The deal does not include all Vox Media brands like Eater, PopSugar, SB Nation, The Dodo and The Verge. [22:05] The press release not indicating the sale price, though CNN reporting an estimated value of $300 million or more. [22:12] Murdoch describing the deal as focused on ideas and in-depth journalism, telling the New York Times he was not looking to acquire a, quote, daily news business, but instead wanted longer form, thoughtful journalism that can really speak to the culture. [22:25] The deal also carrying a bit of family history. [22:29] Rupert Murdoch, the conservative media mogul who built the Fox News empire, once owned New York magazine, buying its parent company in 1977 before selling it in 1991 for $650 million, according to Forbes. [22:43] James, splitting from the family in 2020, reportedly over ideological differences. [22:48] He and two other siblings last year reaching an evenly divided $3.3 billion settlement after a bitter legal fight. [22:57] His brother, Lachlan Murdoch, now serving as executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corporation, effectively running the day-to-day business of the Fox empire. [23:05] James telling the New York Times his father's past ownership does not hold special meaning for him. [23:11] Asked whether he is trying to do something deliberately different from his father, Murdoch replying, quote, no, I'm just trying to build a great business. [23:22] That'll do it for your AM update. [23:24] I'm Emily Droszynski, host of After Party. [23:26] Catch the Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM's The Megyn Kelly Channel 111 at noon east on youtube.com slash megynkelly and all podcast platforms. [23:34] platforms.