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Okay.

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Well, Attorney General Call, thanks for your time today.

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Thanks for having me.

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So, I think let's start with kind of the precursor to this race, is your decision to

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stay in this race.

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There was a lot of speculation you might run for governor.

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How do you feel about your decision to stay in the race for Attorney General now?

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I have to agree about my decision.

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It's something I thought about seriously, but, you know, there are a few factors that

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weighed on my mind.

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One is, I'm really committed to having an impact through the work that I do, and of

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course, a governor can have a ton of impact, but we're also having a huge impact through

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the work that we do at Wisconsin DOJ, and I don't think that the work that I've been

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doing is done yet.

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You know, family considerations played a role as well, but ultimately, I'm really excited

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about seeking an additional term and about the work we could do in an additional term.

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So this is unique in that it is a rematch of the last election.

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We don't see that too often.

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How do you think that will influence things?

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One of the things that's interesting about a rematch is you can look back at what the

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candidates said in the prior race and see how those things held up, and I think that that's

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really instructive here.

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In the last campaign, it was shortly after Roe v. Wade had been overturned.

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I had filed a lawsuit seeking to block enforcement of a law that dates back to the mid-1800s.

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Eric Tony, my opponent, had attacked me for that case.

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He called it a partisan stunt.

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He said it should be dismissed, and so we now can look and see how our claims held up,

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and what we know now is that the Supreme Court sided with the argument we made in that case,

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and ultimately we won that case and access to abortion is safe and legal in Wisconsin.

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So will voters separate the Attorney General's race, do you think, from the rest of the ballot?

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Because we've seen historically, there's usually a few fewer voters for the AG race than for

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governor, and you've trailed right belong.

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We get to go back to 2006 the last time they were AG and governor from separate parties.

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So how does that all work together?

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The results tend to be fairly close, but in Wisconsin we have a lot of close elections,

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and so sometimes those small differences can make a big difference in the outcome.

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But I'm running based on my record and my time as AG, and the focus can be different.

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My top priority as Attorney General has been public safety, and we've made significant

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progress on really important public safety issues.

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One of them is fighting the opioid epidemic.

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My administration has helped to secure over 800 million dollars from companies that we've

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alleged contributed to the opioid epidemic and from others.

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Many of those dollars will be going to communities across the state, some already have, and we

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are seeing a real impact.

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Opioid overdose deaths in Wisconsin from 23 to 24 dropped by over 40%, that's a more

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than 600% difference.

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We need to keep making progress, our work isn't done, but I want to build on the progress

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we're making.

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Kind of along those lines, how do you view the overall election atmosphere, both in Wisconsin

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and obviously the national atmosphere, which plays out in voters' minds?

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Well, certainly in an AG's race, public safety is always important.

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But there are also other issues, I think, that are top of mind for people, like affordability.

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There's a major concern that a lot of folks have about being able to pay the bills.

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And one reason the AG's race is important is we address issues that relate to that.

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So one thing I think is critical is we have an AG who's not afraid to stand up to corporate

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special interests, and when companies break our antitrust laws to seek to hold them accountable.

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And we've done that.

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We stood up to take it master.

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We worked to hold pharmaceutical companies, drug companies accountable for their role

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in allegedly conspiring to inflate prices.

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And we worked to hold John Deere accountable and to help ensure that farmers are able

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to repair their own farm equipment or take that equipment to independent repair shops.

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One of the other high-profile things your office has done is filed lawsuits against

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the Trump administration, along with other attorneys general from around the country.

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Can you give me maybe a short list of some of the most important cases that maybe the

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public isn't aware of the significance of some of those?

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Well, I think you can look at them by category.

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So a lot of these cases involve the Trump administration either putting illegal conditions

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on or cutting or freezing funding that would otherwise be coming to Wisconsin.

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There's a huge amount of money that has been impacted by this.

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And it's vital programs, things like funding for education or for mental health programs

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in our schools, funding for disaster relief and mitigation, funding for the AmeriCorps

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program, which the Trump administration tried to cut, transportation funding and public

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health funding.

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We have consistently fought back and we have one case after case.

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And what that has meant is that those funds either are not illegally conditioned or they're

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not frozen or ultimately cut and instead they can come to our communities and support critical

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programs in Wisconsin.

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Now, I know we've spoken.

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There are some of those cases where if only if you're a plaintiff, do you actually get

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the benefit?

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And in some cases, some of the other states have gotten the benefits just because you've

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won overall, what would the impact have been if Eric Tony had been the Attorney General

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and had discretion on whether to file these cases?

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Yeah.

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Well, of the 60 plus cases that we've been involved in, I don't think any single Republican

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AG has joined us in challenging the Trump administration in any of those cases.

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And I'm not aware of a single case where Eric Tony has said he would have challenged the

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Trump administration.

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What that would mean in some cases is Wisconsin wouldn't get the relief that happens in court

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because in a number of these cases, it's only the states that have brought the challenge

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that get the relief.

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And so it could be that we no longer have protection for critical programs if an AG is

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not part of one of those challenges.

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Do you think the public understands the stakes there?

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I think the stakes are huge.

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And so I think the more we talk about it, the better.

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One thing that is unfortunate, I think, in the Trump administration is we often see the

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president's actions get lots of coverage that's understandable.

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But what I think there's been less coverage of is the fact that in case after case, actions

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have been blocked and he's been stopped for moving forward, in part because of these

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suits that we're talking about.

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So I want to talk a little bit about election integrity and the role of the Department of

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Justice in Wisconsin, not only at the statewide level, but in dealing with attempts from the

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federal government to try and claim voter data.

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So what is the role of your office in making sure elections are secure here?

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Our role is simple.

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It's to protect the will of the voters and uphold the Constitution and the law.

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And we have done that in a variety of ways during my time in office.

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In 2020, Donald Trump and his allies tried to overturn the results of our election.

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We defended the results and we won in every single one of those cases.

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Right now, the president, through an executive order, is attempting to change the way that

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mail-in voting works.

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He's trying to assert federal control over voting.

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We are part of the challenge against that.

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And that case is still making its way through the court system.

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The federal government is trying to get private, confidential information about voters

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in Wisconsin.

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It's just one of the many ways they're trying to get confidential data.

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And we have fought back against them.

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We have won as has every other state that has challenged what they're doing because they

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are violating the law.

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We are right in the law.

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And so we're going to stand up for the rule of law.

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In some of those circumstances, there could have been outside plaintiffs to take the place

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if there had been a Republican AG who declined to join the case.

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But what's the different student having the Wisconsin Department of Justice part of this

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case or filing the challenge versus an outside group?

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Well, in some states, the states have actually, I believe, provided their voter data to the

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Trump administration.

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What that means is that people's private information is being turned over to the federal government.

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That puts it more at risk of disclosure.

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It also opens up the possibility that some third party that the federal government allows

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to access that data potentially could.

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We all remember Doge was at the federal government and going through lots of records last year.

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So this is about protecting the best interests of the people of our state.

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What I think is fundamental and a big difference between a Democratic AG in this office and

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a Republican AG is are we going to stand up for the rights of the people of our state?

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Are we standing up for the interests of the people of the state?

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Or are we just going to cave to the Trump administration on issue after issue?

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The fact of the matter is, Eric Tony would not stand up to the Trump administration the

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way I have.

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It wouldn't even be close.

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And it's critical to protect our state's interests, the interests of our communities.

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And ultimately the interests of Wisconsinites that we have somebody there who's going to

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stand up for the Constitution and the law and not roll over for Donald Trump.

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Flash forward to 2028, another close presidential election in theory in Wisconsin.

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If those results are challenged either due to election conspiracies or legitimate questions,

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what's the difference between you in office versus your opponent in office at that time?

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It certainly depends on the circumstances, but we're going to uphold the law.

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What a big difference I think you can see between what Eric Tony has done over the years

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and what I've done is I have consistently stood up for the law and the Constitution

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and defended the results.

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He has supported efforts to fan the flames of these attacks on our elections.

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So he supported Michael Gableman's investigation into the 2020 election, which went so poorly

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that Robin Voss who launched it ultimately called Michael Gableman an embarrassment to

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the state of Wisconsin.

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I'm not aware of Eric Tony to this day having disavowed that investigation.

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He called for members of our election commission to be removed from office, which also I think

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is another effort to sort of pander to the extremists on this issue.

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I have been clear that our elections are safe and secure.

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As I said, we defended the results in 2020 and I was clear in 2024 that we would defend

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the results no matter who won.

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Now it turned out Donald Trump won that election and there was no challenge in Wisconsin to

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the results because the fact of the matter is people know that our elections are free

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and fair and that the results reflect the will of the voters.

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What do you make of the fact that Republicans are out there including Eric Tony telling

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people to vote by absentee at the same time supporting federal measures that would drastically

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restrict or calling absentee voters potentially fraudulent?

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Yeah, well the reality is that the systems of voting that we have in place work really

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well, our system is safe and secure.

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It is important for people to know that one of the unfortunate effects of the Trump administration

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has just been an undermining of how the US Postal Service has been working, how effectively

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it's been working.

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And so mail does seem to be slower now than it used to be.

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So it's important if people do vote by mail that they get those ballots in early.

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But it's fundamentally important for people to know that our system is safe, secure, free

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and fair.

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For a lot of people that don't follow your office very closely, one of the ways that

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they hear about the Department of Justice in the A.G. every four years is crime lab statistics.

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Obviously that's one of the major things you campaigned on when you first got elected.

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It was one of the issues in the last election.

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Your opponent's talking about the crime lab and unfilled positions and slow turned around.

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So defend your record and where the crime lab is.

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Yeah, well first I think it's important to separate two things out.

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One is, one of the issues I talked about back in 2018 was untested sexual assault kits.

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And we worked to get legislation passed, which ultimately passed through the Republican led

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legislature that's going to help ensure that Wisconsin never has another backlog of untested

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sexual assault kits.

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Now in terms of the labs themselves on a day to day basis, one of the things I've been

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clear about is where we need resources from the state legislature.

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And in the last state budget, my office requested 19 additional positions for the

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labs.

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Eric Tony's allies in the state legislature provided zero positions.

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And look, that's not an accident.

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This is politics being played here.

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But the overall picture I think is important not to lose sight of.

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Wisconsin last year in 2025 had the lowest number of violent crimes that we have had

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any year since 2011.

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Fondelac County, where Eric Tony is DA last year, had the second highest number of violent

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crimes that the county has had in decades.

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And so if you compare our track records overall, there's a clear difference.

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We need to keep doing what we're doing to keep our communities safe.

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How do you think the DOJ gets credit for lower crime statistics statewide?

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Well, there are lots of folks who play a role in what we do statewide.

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And the Department of Justice is involved in investigating crimes of statewide importance.

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We oversee the crime labs.

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We work on every felony criminal appeal in the state.

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We also work in partnerships with lots of other law enforcement agencies.

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What I think is important is that we recognize that lots of folks contribute to overall safety

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in the state.

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And that certainly includes local law enforcement and others.

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What's notable, I think, though, is Fondelac County has gone the opposite direction from

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the rest of the state under the leadership of Eric Tony.

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That I think is not the kind of failure I want to see taken statewide.

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The DOJ oversees issues related to officer-involved shootings.

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There was one in Madison that gained a pretty high profile recently.

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And your opponent was taking selfies, walking down through the protest zone, claiming that

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it was your job to come in and bust up the protest zone.

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How do you react to him trying to bring you into the middle of that?

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Investigating officer-involved shootings is one of the solemn responsibilities that often

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falls on our Division of Criminal Investigation at the Department of Investigation.

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Under state law, when there's an officer-involved death, there needs to be an outside agency

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that leads that investigation and that's often DCI.

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I think it is of fundamental importance that the public knows that DCI is taking that responsibility

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seriously isn't playing politics with that responsibility and is conducting the investigation

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in a manner that is objective and fair.

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That's how you ensure that there is public confidence in the outcome of the investigation

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and ultimately the prosecution decision.

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So I think having an AG who is weighing in on lots of political issues that stem from

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that kind of incident is reckless because it would potentially undermine public confidence

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in the objectivity of what's being done.

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So I think it's critical that our AG stays focused on the solemn responsibility at hand

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and doesn't try to play politics with side issues that arise from that.

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Did you have any conversations?

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You or your staff with local officials about when or how to clear out the protesters?

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I can't speak to what staff conversations had.

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Our focus is on conducting the officer-involved investigation.

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We are always available to local law enforcement and agencies around the state know that if

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there is a role for DOJ or a Division of Criminal Investigation to play, agencies throughout

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Wisconsin know that they can reach out and if there is a citizen that can be provided

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that we're there to help.

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What are the topics that start to dominate the gubernatorial election over data centers?

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Is that slipping into your race at all?

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Does the Department of Justice have any impact over the data center debate?

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It's possible that we could if there were to be an environmental violation, for example,

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but where I really think DOJ is going to be important is if there's legislation that's

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passed.

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I know that in the last legislative session, Senator Jody Hatterson had proposed some

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legislation regarding data centers.

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The Republican majority ultimately didn't pass that legislation.

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But I think there's a real possibility in a new legislative session you could see guardrails

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put in place.

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I would like to see further protections for the environment, protections for rate payers.

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And I guarantee that there is going to be public information provided as well as making sure

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that we've got strong labor conditions in place.

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Then you could potentially have DOJ involved in a more direct enforcement role.

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I think it's critical that we've got somebody like me with a track record of standing up

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to special interests and not somebody who we can't count on to stand up to special interests.

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Secretary Toni took $10,000 this year in campaign contributions from the Koch PAC.

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We need somebody who we can rely on to stand up for us.

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You brought up abortion earlier, but I want to bring that back as a topic.

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How relevant is that still to voters?

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Because it's not a constitutional right in either the nation or in Wisconsin, despite

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lawsuits that have attempted to make it so.

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So how important is it who the next attorney general is?

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It remains to be seen.

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One thing we saw, I think over the last four years, is it certainly can have an impact

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because my administration was fighting to protect access to safe and legal abortion,

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and Eric Toni called the case that we brought up a farce among other things.

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Now, fortunately, we've got a ruling in place that currently protects access to safe and

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legal abortion in Wisconsin, but as you said, there's no state constitutional protection

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in place right now.

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There's no federal constitutional protection specifically for abortion access, and what

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that means is that if there were a Tom Tiffany in a Republican legislature, you could have

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further restrictions put in place, and you could see an attorney general, Eric Toni,

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if he were in office, aggressively working with them to restrict access to abortion.

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The other thing that's going on right now is the federal government is potentially going

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to restrict access.

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The new attorney general had a meeting with an anti-abortion group where he signaled that

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he wanted to restrict access, and I think making sure that the states are prepared to

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fight back where there's a legal basis for doing so is going to be important to protecting

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people's rights going forward.

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And finally, I want to talk about the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

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There's now a five to liberal majority, quite a shift from when you first came into office.

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Does that change how you bring a case?

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I mean, are you thinking of individual justices or do you persuade them as you prepare for

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oral arguments?

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It can, and the reason I say that is part of what you factor into the decision about how

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to use your resources is what the likely outcome is going to be, and as the philosophy of the

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justices changes, that might impact what a likely outcome may be in a case.

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That being said, the vast majority of what we're doing at DOJ is defending actions taken

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by state actors or defending state law.

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So in most cases, it doesn't have much of an impact, but it could on cases where it might

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be that conservative justices are likely to rule differently from how more progressive

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justices might rule.

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All right.

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Josh, call.

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Thanks for your time.

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Thanks for having me.

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All right.

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That was great.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.