Trump Meets Zelensky and Netanyahu, Biden Tapes Surface, Teen Lifeguard Saves Boy: AM Update 7/29

A morning walk, some bird watching. It's another easy Sunday. United Health Group makes these ordinary days possible with partners like the University of Tennessee Health Sciences, helping communities manage their health closer to home. 54% of participants have lowered their blood pressure, meaning fewer heart attacks and more Sundays at the park. This might feel like an ordinary day. To United Health Group, it's the health care system working better for everyone. Learn more at UnitedHealthgroup.com slash commitment. Good morning, everyone. I'm Mark Halperin host of Next Up with Mark Halperin. In today for the great Megyn Kelly, it's Wednesday, July 29th, 2026, and this is your AM update. President Trump hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in separate White House meetings. Some of this may be. Classified to be careful with it. I'm not sure. Newly released audio revealing former President Joe Biden struggling with memory while repeatedly referencing classified material during private conversations with his ghostwriter. I'm certain that if the lifeguards weren't there, he went to gone home that night. A heroic 16-year-old lifeguard battling thunderous ways to save a young boy, now earning an invitation to the White House from President Trump. A woman claiming she had an affair with convicted murderer Chris Watts speaking out revealing a chilling detail about their relationship. All that and more coming up here on your AM update.

what we should be selling and not. Turkey has been a tremendous ally for me. He's up to Turkey. Turkey is not a big fan of Israel. You know that, right? And not a big fan of BB. But he is, they've been great for me. Turkey has been great. Mr. Trump also criticizing Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday on Fox News for publicly announcing that Israel plan to present evidence Iran is rebuilding its military capabilities. Well, I don't need BB to tell me that. BB is telling me that because he wants me to stay involved. I mean, I don't necessarily. We have the finest because of the space force. We have the greatest cameras in the world focused. We know exactly what's going on. But now I heard BB announce that. I said, why did you just tell it to me? Why do you have to announce it to the world? I know exactly what's going on at pickax. It's not a big problem. Benjamin Netanyahu describing the meeting is, quote, a conversation of full partnership of mutual support with an understanding of the shared goal to ensure that Iran will not have nuclear weapons and also other goals. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later describing both meetings as, quote, positive and productive. Volodymyr Zelensky and Benjamin Netanyahu then joining President Trump at memorial services for the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who died shortly after returning from a trip to Kiev, where he met with Volodymyr Zelensky. Former President Joe Biden's tape conversations with his memoir ghostwriter now coming to light after a years-long fight over their disclosure. The tapes capturing Mr. Biden's conversations with author Mark Zwanisar, the ghostwriter behind his 2017 memoir, Promise Me Dad. Special Counsel Robert Her obtaining the recordings during his investigation, enter Mr. Biden's handling of classified documents after leaving office as vice president. Investigators finding classified material from Mr. Biden's years as vice president and senator inside his Wilmington, Delaware home, and at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C. The recordings becoming one of the most damaging pieces of evidence detailed in hers final report. Mr. Biden, reading a lab from personal notebooks, investigators later determined contained classified information while appearing at times to recognize the sensitivity of the material. Mr. Biden denying that he ever shared classified information, telling reporters after its release, quote, guarantee you I did not. The denial coming after Mr. Biden public expressed indignation over President Trump's alleged handling of classified documents. Here he is speaking with 60 minutes in 2022. When you saw the photograph of the top secret documents laid out on the floor at Mar-a-Lago, what did you think to yourself, looking at that image? How that could possibly happen? How anyone could be that irresponsible.

And I thought, what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods? By that, I mean names of people who helped, etc. And it's just totally irresponsible. Her ultimately declining to bring criminal charges against then President Biden, the final report released back in February 2024, concluding prosecutors would struggle to secure a conviction in part because jurors would likely view Mr. Biden as, quote, a sympathetic, well-meeting, elderly man with a poor memory. The Conservative Heritage Foundation requesting the records under the Freedom of Information Act shortly after her's report, with its oversight project later suing to force their release. Mr. Biden's lawyers intervening in the case and successfully blocking the release of the tapes until a federal appeals court ruled against him on July 20th, Mr. Biden dropping his remaining legal challenges days later, clearing the way for the tapes to be made public. The conversations recorded in 2016 and 2017 three years before Mr. Biden launched his successful campaign for the White House. Mr. Biden can be heard repeatedly losing his train of thought. I was I going to ask you something else. Oh, gosh. I can't think what it is. Mr. Biden also making multiple references to classified information, here he is appearing to caution the author before discussing material from his notebooks. Some of this may be classified to be careful with it. I'm not sure. Not more classified, but... I just found all the classified stuff downstairs. I wrote the president a handwritten 40-page memorandum. Another moment here. And then the next thing you have here is this is classified as all of it goes to 17th. Biden spokesperson T.J. Ducklow condemning the release, accusing the Trump administration of weaponizing the DOJ for political retribution. Vice president of litigation at the Oversight Project Jeff Clark posting to X, quote, Joe Biden shared classified information with a ghostwriter lacking a security clearance, and he illegally retained those documents in the first place, period. Coming up, a fearless 16-year-old lifeguard refusing to let go of a young boy as towering waves battered them both. The heroic rescue now drawing an invitation from President Trump to the White House. And a woman claiming she had a secret affair with the convicted family annihilator Chris Watts is speaking out.

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Scott Vanderdeusen capturing the rescue on camera describing to local outlet NBC Bay Area how the ocean transformed without warning. The waves were really, I wouldn't say they were tranquil, but they were what you would expect and normal cadence and normal intensity. And then that just changed. And it changed in a heartbeat. And... It caught a lot of people off guard. Unfortunately, this young man was overwhelmed and swept out in just a moment's time. Yeah, I'm glad it ended the way that it did. I'm certain that if the lifeguards weren't there, he went to gun home that night. The video quickly going viral with Eric Trump calling the rescue, quote, truly the best of America and urging the government to award writer its highest civilian honor. President Trump posting yesterday to truth social, quote, we're going to bring this heroic young man and his family into the White House with perhaps the boy he saved to give him a high civilian honor, very brave, he deserves it. A woman who says she had a secret relationship with convicted murderer Chris Watts now speaking publicly about the encounter in detail for the first time. Watts serving life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to murdering his pregnant wife, Shanan and their daughters, four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Celeste in Colorado in August 2018. Watts initially appearing before local television cameras to appeal for his family's return before investigators discovering. their bodies at an oil site where he worked. Watts then falsely claiming he killed Shanan after seeing her murder their daughters before ultimately pleading guilty to killing all three. Amanda Linda McMahon telling the Daily Mail in an exclusive interview, she met Watts through Tinder while going through a contentious divorce and custody dispute of her own. Linda McMahon reportedly meeting Watts in a Chick-fil-A parking lot, with Watts claiming he was separated from the mother of his children. and accusing her of using the girls against him during a bitter custody dispute. Linda McMahon telling the outlet Watts never described Shanan as his wife instead, reporting to her as, quote, baby mama and portraying himself as trapped in a deeply unhappy relationship. Linda McMahon saying they eventually decided to watch a movie with Watts reportedly selecting the Leo DiCaprio thriller Shutter Island. The film centering on a man who kills his wife after discovering she murdered their children closely resembling the false account, Watts would later give investigators after Shan, Bella, and Celeste were killed. Daily Mail, senior reporter Steve Helling, discussing that disturbing parallel on the MK True Crime Show this week. So he has a movie date with Amanda Linda McMahon, his mistress. And he chooses the movie Shutter Island, which is basically a man about a man who kills his wife after she kills their kids, which was a defense that he gave first off. He said, oh, yeah, I didn't kill the girls. She killed the girls, so I killed her in a rage, which was, of course, an absolute lie. And, you know, the idea that he watched this movie with his mistress before he killed his family and then tried to use the plot of that movie as...

An alibi as an excuse, it boggles the mind. It's just a totally different level of delusion, of evil, of manipulation, just all of that. Linda McMahon also alleging Watts became frighteningly aggressive during their first sexual encounter, pulling her hair and placing his hands around her neck. She describes what came over him as a, quote, animalistic fury and saying the sudden change left her afraid he might hurt her. Linda McMahon originally telling investigators the encounter was a one-time fling during the spring of 2018. She now claims the relationship actually began around April or May of 2017 and continued intermittently for months explaining she concealed its extent because she feared becoming connected to the murder case would damage her own custody fight. Heling explaining the elaborate story Watts reportedly used to draw Linda McMahon into the relationship and the effect learning the truth later had on her. She met him like he met all of his girls on Tinder. And he said that he was separated, that his wife was a B word who was trying to keep the kids away from him. He had this whole story just to kind of get this woman. And then he, you know, they started a little affair there. So Amanda explained the whole thing and said, you know, Everything was fine and it felt good. But then he started talking about his wife and getting more and more agitated. And then she talked about some of the twisted sexual stuff that they did together. And just how much it just sent her in a tailspin once she found out that she, you know, had been sleeping with a guy who could kill his entire family. Linda McMahon also reportedly alleging Watts periodically contacted her seeking access to her prescription opioids, claiming he told her he wanted to get, quote, messed up. She tells the Daily Mail she eventually grew tired of his complaints late-night messages and alleged requests for medication, ending contact by changing her phone number in March 2018. Linda McMahon reportedly recognizing Watts months later when she saw him on Facebook, appealing for information about his supposedly missing family. police interviewing her after someone forwarded investigators a facebook post in which she described meeting watts on tinder Linda McMahon telling detectives at the time she was, quote, 99.9% certain the man she met was Watts, and now she says she always knew his identity. Watts denying he ever met Linda McMahon when questioned by police, insisting his only extramatal affair was with former co-worker Nicole Kessinger. Linda McMahon initially offering to provide text messages, she claimed had recently been recovered from her eye cloud before declining because of their explicit nature and concerns her children might one day see them. The Daily Mail reviewing several screenshots of the purported messages while acknowledging it could not independently verify their authenticity. That'll do it for your AM update. I'm Mark Halperin, host of NextUp. Find more at NextUp, Halperin.com, and catch the Megyn Kelly show today, live on SiriusXM, the Megyn Kelly channel, 11 at noon east, on YouTube.com slash Megyn Kelly, and on all podcast platforms.

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