“Completely illegal!” Trump gets BAD NEWS over $1.8 billion slush fund

I'm joined now by candidate for governor. of California, Tom Steyer. Thanks so. much for joining me. Brian, thank you for having me. So, I. want to start off with a little bit of. national news before we get into. California specific news, but we just. found out that Donald Trump has been um. so gracious as to drop his $10 billion. lawsuit against his own federal. government and instead offer up a. compromise, a generous compromise where. he only pillaged US taxpayers uh to the. tune of $1.7 billion so that he could. pay January 6th insurrectionists. So,

before we get into the California stuff, can I have your reaction uh to this. latest move by Trump? I mean, Trump's Trump Trump's a. criminal. You know, I got 8 million. signatures to impeach him in 2017 and. 2018 because. been in enough boardrooms to know a. crook. He's a crook. This is a crooked, completely illegal thing to do and it's. completely consistent with his behavior. throughout his first and second terms, but in the second terms his grifting has. moved to a completely different level,

but it's consistent and it's completely. illegal. And this is the idea of. granting himself $1.7 billion of. taxpayers' money. You know, it's a it's a new level, but. he's only going to get worse, honestly, Brian. And so, you know, yeah, this is completely. wrong. So, a lot of people are going to look at. Trump and look at the fact that the way. that he branded himself was as a wealthy. businessman who would use the tricks. that he learned um to to I think his.

exact words, to be greedy for the nation. instead of being greedy for himself. You. know, a a lot of your success is the. fact that you are a wealthy businessman. And so, for people who see that and say, "Well, that's a cautionary tale then.". What would your reaction to those people. be? Well, look. I started a business from scratch. He. inherited $450 million from his papi. I've said I started a business and. walked away from it and left billions of. dollars on the table. And my wife and I. have said, "We're giving the money away. while we're alive.".

He keeps stealing money. He's not a. business person. He's a thief. That's a. different thing, Brian. If you look at. He's one of the people who went I think. he went bankrupt four times in casinos. How do you do that? You're the house. You know, it's like that's a math. problem. So, to a very large extent, I. Look, he is someone who has consistently. been a crook. He continues to be a crook. I've never. been a crook. I built a business and.

said, "I care about other things much more, and we're going to use the money to push. progressive causes, and protect working. people, and protect the natural world.". You know, that. is You know, he also has two ears and. two eyes, but that doesn't make us the. same person, either. Yeah. Um All right. So, I want to go into a. few of the priorities that I have in. California, but before we do that, um I. want to give you the opportunity to let. me know what your priorities are in. California, um as you as you run this.

campaign. Look, I've been very clear about this. Biggest problem in California is. people can't afford to live in. California anymore. So, it's about, you know, the buzzword. is affordability, but it's really about. costs at the end of the month. And that starts with housing. It goes to healthcare. It goes to. electricity rates. It goes to how much. we're paying at the pump. And it goes to. food. And in every one of those, I have. a specific policy solution. Many of them. involve taking on corporate special.

interests that are driving up the costs, and continue you know, are feasting off. Californians' misery. And I've also said, "I will I'm the person. in this race, and the only person who. will admit. to be wanting to tax billionaires like. me more, tax close corporate tax. loopholes, and get the money to working. people and basically have a system where. you know, we're the richest state in the. richest country in the world and we have.

the highest poverty rate in the United. States of America. That doesn't seem. like success to me. So what does success look like at the. end of your first four-year term? Well, if you if you had some benchmarks. that you could point to and I've asked. this question to to mayoral candidates. for example. as it relates to homelessness and I've. heard Nithya Raman tell me that you. know, she wants to see 50% reduction in. homelessness in LA by the time the. Olympics rolls around, a 100% reduction. in those encampments by the end of her. first term and so she she was able to.

offer up some concrete examples. viability notwithstanding. What would. some what would some metrics be for you. that that that you would point to as. success? Long-term the way we're going. to drive down housing costs both rent. and home ownership is by producing. houses much more inexpensively and that. we we have five points on this. I don't. want to I don't think we have enough. time but but I'll say this. We're going. to build a million houses. We're going. to make it possible for people to buy a. house and to afford rent. I'm I've been saying we're going to. create local competition for the.

electric monopolies that dominate this. state and charge us twice as much as the. rest of the United States and we're. going to drive down the cost by 25%. That's a metric. We are going to close a corporate tax. loophole and use the money part for. health care to fill in the hole from HR1. Mr. Trump's throwing people off Medi-Cal. and partly for education and we're going. to use that education money to. to hire, train, and support fantastic.

teachers so that our kids get better. outcomes and we're going to go back to. being a top 10. education state. You know, those are three things right. off the bat that to me. I could keep going. Honest, I'm for. single-payer health care. You should you. know, I sitting here thinking of all the. things I wrote for single-payer. healthcare. We have by far, Brian, our campaign and our website has by far. the most and the most detailed policy. prescriptions of how to change. California. And we're not shy about it.

And many of them involve structural. change and change to the control that. corporate special interests have. And. that's why corporate special interests. are spending tens of millions of dollars. against me. And that's why billionaires. are supporting everybody in this race. but me because they know that I'm the. only person here who's really for. structural change for working people to. make this state affordable. And you. know, to sort of rebuild, rejuvenate, make real the California dream. Great. public education, house you can afford. to buy.

In terms of building up housing and. especially, you know, this this metric. hitting 1 million houses built, um. to what extent does. as we head toward the 2020 the 2030. census and the prospect of California. losing electoral votes, and not just. losing them, but losing them to a state. like Texas or Idaho, for example, to what extent is that important as well. in all of this to make sure that. California. retains kind of its its stature as um as.

a state that has 54 electoral votes and. and therefore has such an outsized. impact in the presidential election? Well, what I'm really interested in, Brian, is for Californians' lives to be. materially improved by their government. And I believe that if we create. the society I'm describing, which is so. much more positive for people that. reinvigorates the idea of California. and the California dream and that we. have a different vision for the 21st.

century, everybody around the country and. everybody around the world is going to. go, "You know what? I want that.". I want a successful society that has. free healthcare, great schools, you. know, basically an incredibly beautiful. place and as diverse as possibly could. be imagined. I want that because that's. the way you're supposed to be living in. the 21st century and I think that the. job is to make sure that happens and. everything else will follow. So, one of the points of criticism that.

folks have of California is the fact. that it's exceedingly difficult to build. infrastructure here, not just housing, but we obviously have this train that. was supposed to go from Los Angeles to. San Francisco. What we ended up with was. a train that went from. the the bustling metropolises of of. Merced to Bakersfield and and even then. we don't have anything running right. now. And so, can you diagnose the issue.

that prevents us from being able to. build basic infrastructure? I mean, I. don't know the exact statistic, but I. mean, if you look at what China was able. to build in the time and with the amount. of money that we are trying to build a. train from one city to another city, it. would I mean, it just you know, it's just the. problem right. And so, and so, can you. can you diagnose the issue here and then. how would something like that be solved. so that we can actually build again? If. you look at high-speed rail, which is. the example you're using in which. everybody feels so embarrassed and upset.

about and I me too. As you said, we started with the wrong. strategy. A rail system needs to have. uses. You need to have people who want to ride. the rail system that can make it pay for. itself. And so, as you said, we started in a. place because that's where the federal. government was willing to give us money. We knew it was a mistake, but we made. the mistake because we thought first. we'll get this done and then we'll do. the one we wanted to do. Huge mistake. Secondly, the perfect is.

the enemy of the good. You know, we are trying to do everything. so perfectly, you know, that we can't. get anything done. And so there's been. massive overthinking and consultants. and, you know, rethinking and all this. stuff, spending billions of dollars not. on building a railroad, but on thinking. about building a railroad. And so I think we, you know, I've talked. to those guys and I'm a huge believer in. public transportation. It's critical for. California. Yeah. But we have but it's.

like, "No, no, don't come to me with. some plan that doesn't make sense.". That that just is not going to work. You. know, we are going to have to be. results-oriented in this and literally, you know, we're going to have to be. hard-nosed that this is got to be done. on a reasonable basis and we're going to. have to do it fast. And the longer it. takes, the worse it is. And if we're not. going to be efficient about it, it's not. going to happen. But there is clearly a gigantic need for. public transportation in the state of. California. And I'm a gigantic believer in that. And.

I'm also going to be really, you know, it's exactly like building houses. Like, we have a five-point plan on how. to build houses in California much. cheaper. And then it involves finance, how we do construction, how we get along. with cities and counties, as well as. what everybody else talks about, which. is permitting and zoning. Yep. So in terms of. another industry that obviously. I have been following closely along with. and that is the entertainment industry.

Can you talk a little bit about what. your plan would be to bring these jobs. back to California this was, you know, especially where I am in Los Angeles, this was, I mean, what this whole town. was based off of. And in the 15 years. that I've been here, I have watched the. industry kind of crumble to the point. where I have numerous friends who's not. who have not only left. this state, but also this country in. seeking worse work elsewhere. I have. friends who've moved to the UK to follow. the jobs. I have friends that moved to. Canada to follow those jobs. Toronto and.

Vancouver have bustling film industries. And of course everybody knows about the. fact that we have Atlanta, New Jersey, New Orleans, New Mexico, New York. all of whom have have taken New Zealand, Australia, England, Saudi Arabia. So so what would the plan be to bring. those jobs back. back to this state? So first I want to start by echoing what. you said Brian. LA invented the film business and. entertainment business.

The greatest group of people to work on. this industry exists in Los Angeles. It's the best ecosystem by far in the. world. And so. I'm on team California. I'm 100% behind. this industry, the people in this. industry. So let's start. I want to get to that but I want to. start by saying this. I'm completely. opposed to mergers in this industry. From an anti-competitive standpoint, basic anti-trust law, not even close. Not even close. Huge job destroyer.

Obviously done so that Donald Trump. could hand major information businesses. you know CNN to another right-wing crony. so they could control the information in. our industry. You know that the rule for. a dictator is you have to do two things. You have to own the army and you have to. own the TV station. He's in effect trying to own the TV. station in the United States of America. by controlling the information industry.

It's a terrible decision. I think we. should be fighting it every single way. we can. I also believe that we cannot allow. other people to buy our business. That's all they're really doing. They're. giving. tax credits at a much higher level so. that they can buy our business with. money so that we'll go to. Canada. So we'll go to New Zealand or. Australia. So we'll go to Hungary. And. we cannot allow them to do that. So that. means we have to fight fire with fire. And let me say this,

the way that I see that tax those tax. credits is they return a dollar 14 to. California for every dollar that goes. in. So, I don't look at it as a cost. I. look at it as an investment. And I said, "I'm on team California.". And so, I want to make sure that there. are no regulations that stop us from. shooting here, particularly small. productions that are unnecessary and. expensive. That's the other thing I. definitely want to do. I want to make. sure that we invest in apprenticeship. programs so that we we can continue to. build the greatest ecosystem. I'm for.

public art funding. And I want to say. the last thing is this, it's not fair that AI can take the. creativity and the output of people in. this industry, steal it, and not. compensate. That's absolutely wrong. So, let me be clear. I will state again, I'm. competitive. I don't know if you know. that, Brian. I may seem like a low-key. friendly guy. Underneath that genial service, I'm really competitive. And I am on team. California. And I refuse to have the.

greatest industry in the world. be looted by foreign countries with. money, not talent, and take advantage of the people here, the tens of thousands of talented. professionals in in and around Los. Angeles by their paying putting up tax. credits. And the other thing I want to. say is this, I'm talking about dropping the cost of. health care. I'm talking about dropping the cost of. health care. That is another critical. long-term way to make sure that the film.

and entertainment business can compete. around the world based on talent. And so, to a very large extent, everything I'm talking about, I want to. make sure in the short run we keep this. business, that we keep this ecosystem, that we keep the your friends, incredibly talented friends, from going. to England or British Columbia. And I. want to make sure in the long run we. drive down costs so that in fact we're. on even footing with those people and if. it's if it's about the talent, we win. And we have to make sure it's about the. talent. Recognizing that for every dollar spent.

we get a dollar 14 back and that. the more money we put into this, the. more money we get out and it's not just. money, it's making sure that people's. livelihoods are protected, making sure. that our tourism industry is thriving. It's helping all of those people from. transportation to craft services to. producers, editors, PAs, you name it. I. mean the the whole industry isn't just. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and George. Clooney. It is the millions of people. who are who are doing work behind the. camera, doing work in the offices,

making sure that this whole industry can. sustain itself. Recognizing that all of. those things exist and that we actually. garner. more money from investing more through. these tax credits, would you be in favor. of an uncapped tax credit? So I don't. have a limit on it, Brian, but I want to. make sure that we have are doing this in. a careful way that we're. controlling. and and not just going hog wild on. So I. don't have a limit on it, but I do have. a desire. >> to me how like how does that work in.

practice? I think what it means is that people. apply for tax credits and you know, it's. not just you know, you say I'm a film. producer, I need money. And so it's got to be a credible. production. And so but I think I I don't think. that's. unre- I think that's completely the way. it works now. You know, you've got to be. a credible production to get. tax credits and that should continue to. be true and we should have people from. the industry, you know, who know what. they're talking about opining on that to.

make sure that in fact we're pushing. stuff that really. can succeed. I I know this is a hits. business and I know if you can believe. it, when I was at Fairlawn, we were the. biggest financiers of independent films. in the world Yeah. >> for years. So I'm I know sometimes these things. happen and sometimes they don't happen. But, I also know that there is something. about understanding this business. It's. not just the rapture, it's a lot more. than that. Last question here. As folks are trying to figure out who to. vote for, I'm sure there's a lot of.

people who are undecided between you and. Xavier Becerra. And so, for folks who. are Democrats, who are looking to vote. for one of the Democratic candidates, why should they vote for you over your. opponent? Well, let me put it to you this way. The oil companies are spending millions. of dollars against me. They have maxed out to Xavier Becerra. He has said we need more oil drilling in. the state. He has said they're not bad. guys and that we need Chevron. He has no environmental policy to speak.

of. In terms of single payer, I've said we. are going to push as hard as possible. for single payer on day one, starting. day one. No questions. And as a result, the nurses support me. He has said behind closed doors we're. not going to go for single payer, and. the biggest lobby against single payer. maxed out to him and endorsed him the. next day. And he got $120,000. yesterday. from the health insurers, which is the.

opposite of single payer. Yesterday, at. the same time he's saying, "Oh, I'm for. single payer." So, the truth is. it's not just what I say I'm going to. do. Follow the money and the endorsements. I. say I'm going to make the schools. better, and the teachers and the school. employees and the educators are all. endorsing me. I don't know what he's saying, but the. big oil companies are supporting him. The health insurers are supporting him. The um. electric monopolies. Look, this is a. question of.

I'm trying to change things and I'm. willing to take on the corporate special. interests. He's paid for by the corporate special. interests. So, to me, if you think everything's. fine and you want more of the same, that's what he's offering. I'm offering. a change. I'm the only person offering a real. change. I'm the only person willing to. take on the big money interests in the. state of California to say working. people, this game is rigged against you. We need to un-rig. For folks who are looking to help your. campaign, where can they go?

tomsteyer.com. Look, the biggest thing people can do at. this point, if you support me, is to tell your friends, is to support. me online, is to go out and spread the. word. Because really this is about. people under Look, I by now I say to. people, this is a simple campaign. Do you want the billionaire. who's going to work and fight tirelessly. for working people, or do you want a. career politician who's going to work. and fight tirelessly for billionaires. and big corporations?

That is a strange choice. We'll leave it there. Tom Steyer, thank. you so much for taking the time. Best. luck in the campaign trail. Thanks, Brian. Thanks for having me. >> [music].