Jason Arday Found Dead, Mangione Pleads Guilty in Federal Case, USS Lincoln Relief: AM Update 8/17

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**Megyn Kelly** (0:30)
Good morning, everyone. I'm Megyn Kelly. It's Monday, August 17th, 2026, and this is your AM Update. Former Cambridge professor Jason Arday found dead days after resigning amid allegations of plagiarism and lying.

**Karen Friedman Agnifilo** (0:45)
New York law does not permit a person to be prosecuted and punished twice for the exact same crime.

**Megyn Kelly** (0:52)
Luigi Mangione pleading guilty in federal court to stalking charges in the killing of United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson, then moving to get his separate state murder case thrown out.

**Donald Trump** (1:04)
That ship is moving right now, well, very shortly, and it's being replaced with another very similar ship.

**Megyn Kelly** (1:10)
The USS George Washington heading to the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln amid growing scrutiny over conditions aboard the carrier. And CBS News correspondent Matt Gutman facing workplace harassment allegations in a new wrongful termination lawsuit. All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.
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Former Cambridge University professor Jason Arday found dead at his London home Friday. Little more than a week after resigning, amid mounting allegations of plagiarism and lying about his biography, central to the extraordinary personal story that helped make him famous. Arday's memoir, Great and Unfortunate Things, hitting bookstores last week. The 41-year-old reportedly found unresponsive at a home in the Battersea neighborhood of South London. Police describing his death as unexpected, but saying it is not suspicious. And with no cause of death publicly announced, it is believed to have been a suicide. Arday becoming an international academic celebrity in 2023 when, at 37, he was named Cambridge University's youngest ever black professor. His rise powered by an extraordinary, unbelievable alleged life story.
The son of Ghanaian immigrants, Arday said he was diagnosed with autism as a child, that he did not speak until he was almost 12, could not read or write until 18 and nevertheless went on to earn a doctorate before becoming a professor at one of the world's most prestigious universities.
Over the years, Arday claiming he survived a remarkable series of medical and personal challenges, including epilepsy, cancer, a brain tumor, a stroke and more, while simultaneously becoming one of the world's most elite endurance athletes and distance runners, not to mention prolific charity fundraiser. Then, the dam broke. Over the past several weeks, substantial parts of his origin story beginning to come undone. The controversy initially centering on plagiarism allegations involving Arday's doctoral dissertation, questions then spreading well beyond his academic record to virtually every part of his bio. The Washington Free Beacon reporting last week that several dramatic episodes presented as true in Arday's newly released memoir bear striking similarities to storylines from movies and television programs he had previously discussed enjoying. Those disputed accounts reportedly including stories surrounding his childhood disabilities and an alleged violent attack Arday said left him with epilepsy, but in which he became the hero, forgiving his attackers and becoming godfather to one of their children.