WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:22.920 Thanks for having me. 00:22.920 --> 00:27.280 So I think let's start with kind of the precursor to this race, is your decision to 00:27.280 --> 00:28.280 stay in this race. 00:28.280 --> 00:30.980 There was a lot of speculation you might run for governor. 00:30.980 --> 00:34.040 How do you feel about your decision to stay in the race for Attorney General now? 00:34.040 --> 00:35.240 I feel great about my decision. 00:35.240 --> 00:39.600 It's something I thought about seriously, but there are a few factors that wait on my 00:39.600 --> 00:40.600 mind. 00:40.600 --> 00:44.440 One is I'm really committed to having an impact through the work that I do, and of course 00:44.440 --> 00:48.080 a governor can have a ton of impact, but we're also having a huge impact through the 00:48.080 --> 00:52.680 work that we do at Wisconsin DOJ, and I don't think that the work that I've been doing is 00:52.680 --> 00:53.680 done yet. 00:53.680 --> 00:58.240 You know, family considerations played a role as well, but ultimately I'm really excited 00:58.240 --> 01:02.560 about seeking an additional term and about the work we could do in an additional term. 01:02.560 --> 01:05.880 So this is unique in that it is a rematch of the last election. 01:05.880 --> 01:07.600 We don't see that too often. 01:07.600 --> 01:09.520 How do you think that will influence things? 01:09.520 --> 01:12.160 One of the things that's interesting about a rematch is you can look back at what the 01:12.160 --> 01:16.440 candidates said in the prior race and see how those things held up, and I think that that's 01:16.440 --> 01:18.200 really instructive here. 01:18.200 --> 01:22.600 In the last campaign, it was shortly after Roe v. Wade had been overturned. 01:22.600 --> 01:28.160 I had filed a lawsuit seeking to block enforcement of a law that dates back to the mid-1800s. 01:28.160 --> 01:30.560 Eric Tony, my opponent, had attacked me for that case. 01:30.560 --> 01:33.080 He called it a partisan stunt. 01:33.080 --> 01:39.440 He said it should be dismissed, and so we now can look and see how our claims held up, and 01:39.440 --> 01:43.880 what we know now is that the Supreme Court sided with the argument we made in that case, 01:43.880 --> 01:49.080 and ultimately we won that case and access to abortion is safe and legal in Wisconsin. 01:49.080 --> 01:53.000 So will voters separate the Attorney General's race do you think from the rest of the ballot? 01:53.000 --> 01:56.880 As we've seen historically, there's usually a few fewer voters for the AG race than for 01:56.880 --> 01:59.080 governor, and you've trailed right belong. 01:59.080 --> 02:04.360 We get to go back to 2006 the last time they were AG and governor from separate parties. 02:04.360 --> 02:05.840 So how does that all work together? 02:05.840 --> 02:10.080 The results tend to be fairly close, but in Wisconsin we have a lot of close elections, 02:10.080 --> 02:14.480 and so sometimes those small differences can make a big difference in the outcome. 02:14.480 --> 02:19.400 I'm running based on my record and my time as AG, and the focus can be different. 02:19.400 --> 02:23.480 My top priority as Attorney General has been public safety, and we've made significant 02:23.480 --> 02:26.600 progress on really important public safety issues. 02:26.600 --> 02:29.080 One of them is fighting the opioid epidemic. 02:29.080 --> 02:34.080 My administration has helped to secure over 800 million dollars from companies that we've 02:34.080 --> 02:37.680 alleged contributed to the opioid epidemic and from others. 02:37.680 --> 02:42.000 Many of those dollars will be going to communities across the states, some already have, and 02:42.000 --> 02:43.680 we are seeing a real impact. 02:43.680 --> 02:49.800 Opioid overdose deaths in Wisconsin from 23 to 24 dropped by over 40 percent. 02:49.800 --> 02:52.320 That's a more than 600 percent difference. 02:52.320 --> 02:55.600 We need to keep making progress, our work isn't done, but I want to build on the progress 02:55.600 --> 02:56.600 we're making. 02:56.600 --> 03:00.360 One of the other high profile things your office has done is filed lawsuits against the Trump 03:00.360 --> 03:04.560 administration along with other attorneys general from around the country. 03:04.560 --> 03:08.040 Can you give me maybe a short list of some of the most important cases that maybe the 03:08.040 --> 03:10.560 public isn't aware of the significance of some of those? 03:10.560 --> 03:12.880 Well, I think you can look at them by category. 03:12.880 --> 03:17.280 So a lot of these cases involve the Trump administration either putting illegal conditions 03:17.280 --> 03:22.800 on or cutting or freezing funding that would otherwise be coming to Wisconsin. 03:22.800 --> 03:26.880 There's a huge amount of money that has been impacted by this, and it's vital programs, 03:26.880 --> 03:31.160 things like funding for education and or for mental health programs in our schools, funding 03:31.160 --> 03:35.840 for disaster relief and mitigation, funding for the AmeriCorps program, which the Trump 03:35.840 --> 03:40.000 administration tried to cut, transportation funding and public health funding. 03:40.000 --> 03:44.800 We have consistently fought back and we have one case after case, and what that has meant 03:44.800 --> 03:49.840 is that those funds either are not illegally conditioned or they're not frozen or ultimately 03:49.840 --> 03:54.480 cut, and instead they can come to our communities and support critical programs in Wisconsin. 03:54.480 --> 03:58.520 Now, I know we've spoken there are some of those cases where if only if you're a plaintiff, 03:58.520 --> 04:00.320 do you actually get the benefit? 04:00.320 --> 04:03.560 And in some cases, some of the other states have gotten the benefits just because you've 04:03.560 --> 04:05.120 won overall. 04:05.120 --> 04:09.400 What would have the impact have been if Eric Tony had been the attorney general and had 04:09.400 --> 04:11.120 discretion on whether to file these cases? 04:11.120 --> 04:12.120 Yeah. 04:12.120 --> 04:15.960 Well, of the 60 plus cases that we've been involved in, I don't think any single Republican 04:15.960 --> 04:20.000 AG has joined us in challenging the Trump administration in any of those cases, and 04:20.000 --> 04:23.360 I'm not aware of a single case where Eric Tony has said he would have challenged the 04:23.360 --> 04:24.760 Trump administration. 04:24.760 --> 04:29.840 What that would mean in some cases is Wisconsin wouldn't get the relief that happens in court 04:29.840 --> 04:34.040 because in a number of these cases, it's only the states that have brought the challenge 04:34.040 --> 04:35.040 that get the relief. 04:35.040 --> 04:39.840 And so it could be that we no longer have protection for critical programs if an AG 04:39.840 --> 04:41.400 is not part of one of those challenges. 04:41.400 --> 04:44.320 Do you think the public understands the stakes there? 04:44.320 --> 04:47.720 I think the stakes are huge, and so I think the more we talk about it, the better. 04:47.720 --> 04:51.440 One thing that is unfortunate, I think, in the Trump administration is we often see the 04:51.440 --> 04:54.920 president's actions get lots of coverage that's understandable. 04:54.920 --> 04:59.600 But what I think there's been less coverage of is the fact that in case after case, actions 04:59.600 --> 05:03.560 have been blocked and he's been stopped from moving forward, in part because of these suits 05:03.560 --> 05:04.560 that we're talking about. 05:04.560 --> 05:07.560 But for a lot of people that don't follow your office very closely, one of the ways 05:07.560 --> 05:12.480 that they hear about the Department of Justice in the AG every four years is crime lab statistics. 05:12.480 --> 05:16.360 Obviously, that's one of the major things you campaigned on when you first got elected. 05:16.360 --> 05:18.480 It was one of the issues in the last election. 05:18.480 --> 05:23.040 Your opponent's talking about the crime lab and unfilled positions and slow turned around. 05:23.040 --> 05:25.280 So defend your record and where the crime lab is. 05:25.280 --> 05:28.160 Yeah, well, first thing that's important to separate two things out. 05:28.160 --> 05:33.560 One of the issues I talked about back in 2018 was untested sexual assault kits, and we 05:33.560 --> 05:37.640 worked to get legislation passed, which ultimately passed through the Republican-led 05:37.640 --> 05:42.880 legislature that's going to help ensure that Wisconsin never has another backlog of untested 05:42.880 --> 05:44.200 sexual assault kits. 05:44.200 --> 05:48.520 Now, in terms of the labs themselves on a day-to-day basis, one of the things I've 05:48.520 --> 05:52.200 been clear about is where we need resources from the state legislature. 05:52.200 --> 05:57.280 And in the last state budget, my office requested 19 additional positions for the labs. 05:57.280 --> 06:01.360 Eric Tony's allies in the state legislature provided zero positions. 06:01.440 --> 06:02.880 Look, that's not an accident. 06:02.880 --> 06:05.440 This is politics being played here. 06:05.440 --> 06:08.720 But the overall picture, I think, is important not to lose sight of. 06:08.720 --> 06:13.600 Wisconsin last year in 2025 had the lowest number of violent crimes that we have had 06:13.600 --> 06:15.840 any year since 2011. 06:15.840 --> 06:20.480 Fondelac County, where Eric Tony is DA last year, had the second highest number of violent 06:20.480 --> 06:23.000 crimes that the county has had in decades. 06:23.000 --> 06:27.480 And so if you compare our track records overall, there's a clear difference. 06:27.480 --> 06:30.640 We need to keep doing what we're doing to keep our communities safe. 06:30.640 --> 06:36.080 How do you think that the DOJ gets credit for lower crime statistics statewide? 06:36.080 --> 06:40.360 Well, there are lots of folks who play a role in what we do statewide, and the Department 06:40.360 --> 06:44.560 of Justice is involved in investigating crimes of statewide importance. 06:44.560 --> 06:45.800 We oversee the crime labs. 06:45.800 --> 06:49.080 We work on every felony criminal appeal in the state. 06:49.080 --> 06:52.960 We also work in partnerships with lots of other law enforcement agencies. 06:52.960 --> 06:57.960 What I think is important is that we recognize that lots of folks contribute to overall safety 06:57.960 --> 07:02.120 in the state, and that certainly includes local law enforcement and others. 07:02.120 --> 07:05.760 What's notable, I think, though, is Fondelac County has gone the opposite direction from 07:05.760 --> 07:09.160 the rest of the state under the leadership of Eric Tony. 07:09.160 --> 07:12.720 That, I think, is not the kind of failure I want to see taken statewide. 07:12.720 --> 07:16.720 You brought up abortion earlier, but I want to bring that back as a topic. 07:16.720 --> 07:18.400 How relevant is that still to voters? 07:18.400 --> 07:22.800 Because it's not a constitutional right in either the nation or in Wisconsin, despite 07:22.800 --> 07:25.000 lawsuits that have attempted to make it so. 07:25.000 --> 07:27.880 So how important is it who the next attorney general is? 07:27.880 --> 07:28.880 It remains to be seen. 07:28.880 --> 07:32.920 One thing we saw, I think, over the last four years is it certainly can have an impact because 07:32.920 --> 07:37.960 my administration was fighting to protect access to safe and legal abortion, and Eric 07:37.960 --> 07:41.760 Tony called the case that we brought up a farce among other things. 07:41.760 --> 07:46.440 Now, fortunately, we've got a ruling in place that currently protects access to safe and 07:46.440 --> 07:50.800 legal abortion in Wisconsin, but we, as you said, there's no state constitutional protection 07:50.800 --> 07:51.800 in place right now. 07:51.800 --> 07:56.400 There's no federal constitutional protection specifically for abortion access, and what 07:56.400 --> 08:00.920 that means is that if there were a Tom Tiffany and a Republican legislature, you could have 08:00.920 --> 08:04.680 further restrictions put in place, and you could see an attorney general, Eric Tony, if 08:04.680 --> 08:09.760 he were in office, aggressively working with them to restrict access to abortion. 08:09.760 --> 08:13.560 The other thing that's going on right now is the federal government is potentially going 08:13.560 --> 08:14.560 to restrict access. 08:14.560 --> 08:20.360 The new attorney general had a meeting with an anti-abortion group where he signaled that 08:20.360 --> 08:24.180 he wanted to restrict access, and I think making sure that the states are prepared to 08:24.180 --> 08:28.140 fight back where there's a legal basis for doing so is going to be important to protecting 08:28.140 --> 08:29.460 people's rights going forward. 08:29.460 --> 08:30.460 Josh, call. 08:30.460 --> 08:31.460 Thanks for your time. 08:31.460 --> 08:31.480 Thanks for having me.