Trump gets the legal news he FEARED MOST

I'm joined now by the Attorney General. of California, Rob Bonta. Thanks so much. for joining me. >> My pleasure, Brian. Great to see you. again. >> So, we've had some major news as it. relates to Trump's illegal executive. order blocking mail-in voting. Can you. talk about what you and other attorneys. general around the country are doing to. prevent this from taking from taking. effect? >> Absolutely. In short, when the executive. order came down last week, we immediately started inspecting it for. legal compliance and. quickly concluded that it is not lawful.

and so we brought a lawsuit by the end. of the week, the same week, days later. And so we have a case filed already in. federal district court, specifically the. the District of Massachusetts. We is 23. attorneys general and Governor Shapiro. in Pennsylvania. And we have taken Trump. to court after he took this. very desperate and unlawful and. unconstitutional action to try to. require citizenship lists that are used.

to filter and potentially block. vote-by-mail ballots from being sent to. eligible voters in the United States of. America. >> Are you confident that the courts will. move fast enough to. prevent this from taking place if they. rule in your favor? >> We feel very confident and you know, we. can never speak for the court. The court. is a independent separate branch of. government, coequal branch of government. who needs to act but based on our prior. lawsuit that we had with respect to.

Trump's executive order on elections. where. we in our case, the multi-state as well. as multiple other cases, secured orders. blocking a very unconstitutional action. We feel we can do the same thing here. and the way that the executive order is. is crafted and designed, it can't be in. effect by the June primary elections, the ones coming up. It's June for for. California. So, but it it potentially could be in effect.

by November. So, the. necessity of the court blocking and. stopping this executive order is more. applicable to November than it is to, you know, late spring and summer. elections. So, so there's time for. courts to act and it is very clear in. Article 1 of the US Constitution, the. elections clause, which very clearly. states that the time, place, and manner. of elections will be determined by. states and Congress. There's no mention. of the executive branch, no mention of. the president, because the president, by.

constitutional design, has no role, zero. role in determining the time, place, and. manner of elections. And this is This. executive order that he issued last week. is a a clear affront and trespass on. that prohibition. And he is clearly. violating the Constitution and and the. law more broadly, including the. independence of the US Postal Service, which is designed to be independent of. uh ex- executive influence, presidential. influence. So, there there's multiple. ways in which.

Trump is breaking the law here, violating the Constitution. So, we feel. confident we can secure an order to. block this executive order from ever. being implemented. >> Okay, so it's it's clear that Trump, as. president, has no um ability to have. some influence on elections, as as you. mentioned. But, there is kind of the. roundabout way, which is that these. Republican governors, Republican. attorneys general, Republican. legislatures can can kind of read the. writing on the wall, can can heed.

Trump's clarion call, and say, "Okay, well, even if his executive order um. doesn't stand in the courts, we still we. still got the message from him." And so, is there any concern that that. notwithstanding. uh um however well Trump's executive. order does in court, that these states. are are still going to adopt, you know, the the overall message that's. being put forward by by by Trump and. kind of and kind of, you know, doing his. bidding at the state level.

>> I don't see it here. That. maybe, but but not the design that's in. the executive order. The executive order. requires a national. a federal citizenship list and it. requires the action and implementation. by the US Postal Service. States, state. legislatures, state governors have no. authority over the US Postal Service. Not only is the US Postal Service. independent of the President of the. United States, it's definitely. independent of the states and the state. legislatures and state governors. So,

the way that this executive order is. designed, I don't know see any way that. states can implement it on their own. >> You know, you you had listed a few other. a few other states that were that were. jumping in on this effort with with you. in California. Why are there no Republicans who are. joining in on this effort recognizing. that, you know, the state of Utah, for. example, is an all mail-in voting state? I mean, Trump himself votes by mail. And it's not like the guy doesn't have a.

doesn't have a plane that can get him to. Florida whenever he wants to be able to. cast his ballot in person. And so, a lot. of these states rely on the. infrastructure that they have. Republicans also vote by mail. And in. fact, in large part, it was negligible. the difference before before Trump, of. course, came in and vilified mail-in. voting, but prior to that, the the difference between who cast. ballots, you know, Democratic or. Republican voters was literally. negligible. And so, how come Republican. how come your Republican counterparts in. red states aren't also standing up to.

protect the infrastructure that they've. built and the fact that, you know, they. have Republican constituents who also. want to take advantage of the. convenience, accuracy, and safety of. mail-in voting? >> It's par for the course for Republican. states, for red states, for Republican. AGs to. take the knee and. cave and capitulate and allow. the president to run roughshod over. their constituents' rights, their. freedoms, um to take their funding away, and to do nothing.

And I've always believed that they were. secretly rooting for a Democratic AGs. who were fighting for all those things, for rights, for freedoms, for funding, and that they would um. be able to to benefit from our from our. work. And they were sort of, you know, like with the the metaphor of cyclists, they were drafting behind us. Yeah. And. uh benefiting from our work. But you you. know, it's it's them just caving to, you. know, the the the mad king and his. conspiracy theories. And let's be be. clear, widespread voter fraud does not.

exist. It's only a figment of the. imagination of Trump, of conspiracy. theorists, and crackpots. And the. Republican AGs are are buying into this. you know, wild and crazy belief of of of. the president, and allowing their voters. to have their right to vote suppressed, and their voters to be disenfranchised. in the process. So, it and and I say. this with with with disappointment and.

with hope for a better future, and. with knowledge that Democratic AGs and. Republican AGs right now. are are working on a number of cases. together, including lawsuits against. Meta and against TikTok, a lawsuit. that's in trial right now, going to. closing argument later this week, uh. against Ticketmaster Live Nation. There. is still some bipartisanship, but not. when it comes to challenging Trump's. attacks on on voting rights, on funding, on rights and freedoms. So, it's very. disappointing that they're not um they.

they can and they should. Um. but uh. again, par for the course, uh shocking. but not surprising. >> Now, you had mentioned that a lot of. these Republican attorney generals are. hoping that that Democrats succeed. Do. you have Have you had any interaction. with your Republican counterparts, you. know, out of the public view where. they've where they've expressed as much? Not just on this mail-in voting. executive order, this illegal executive. order, but maybe on on other issues. I. mean, right? Obviously, right now we're. contending with threats of nuclear war.

with Iran. Uh so, from, you know, anything from that to the illegal and. unconstitutional [clears throat]. executive order regarding mail-in. voting. Have you heard from your. Republican counterparts where they're. kind of just, you know, even if they may. not feel comfortable coming out publicly. uh against Donald Trump that they're. that they're supportive of your efforts. to do so? >> I think they're more likely to share. that information with fellow Republicans. than with. Democrats, you know, across the aisle. But, I have seen.

a number of of signs supporting what I. what I believe when when we interact. with certain Republicans. They have a. different um you know, posture and. demeanor and approach than they do. publicly. Their their sort of private. demeanor is cooperative and. collaborative, at least on the issue. that we're working on and and and the. issues may be limited, but the ones that. come to mind are antitrust work, you. know, holding uh corporations who are. violating antitrust law. and disrupting free markets accountable.

and also child safety work like the the. health the mental health of kids on on. social media platforms like Meta and and. and TikTok. They're They're They're. They're reasonable. They're. collaborative. We've worked towards a. common goal. Um they don't and, you. know, criticize Trump in those settings and. nor, you know, do we. Uh we're we're just working on a common. goal together and realize that, um. you know, common ground may be limited, so let's try to occupy it together. instead of, you know, going quickly to.

the area where we might not agree and. and, you know, that could disrupt the. the relationship, but um I think most. American people. um you know regardless of of party. affiliation. are good and they're decent and they. want good things and they see decency. and goodness in others and. it's. obvious, you know, um painfully obvious that Trump is. neither good nor decent and doesn't have. a lot of redeeming factors and I think,

you know, the supermajority of the. American people see that in in his. personal conduct but also as reflected. in some of his policies. as as well. >> And finally, you know, I I had just. touched upon the the. um. post or truth that Donald Trump had had. done earlier today about, you know, basically promising the annihilation of. the entire civilization of Iran. He. since walked that back and and, you. know, taken taken his two-week uh.

two-week break I think as as many people. expected but can I have your reaction to. the idea that somebody who campaigned. expressly on no new wars in the Middle. East has not only launched a new war in. the Middle East but taken it so far as. to threaten. uh nuclear war uh in that region. >> And this is someone who was complaining. about the the injustice he suffered. He. was so aggrieved by not getting the. Nobel Peace Prize. You know, and that's. the thing. >> Well, I mean, you know, he did get. arguably a better prize and that was the. FIFA Peace Prize so you can't.

>> [laughter]. >> you can't write that off. >> The FIFA Peace Prize. >> They don't they don't just they don't. just give that give that out to anybody. >> [laughter]. >> Yes. Yes, he received that one on demand. There was no process nor any peace. requirements as as part of that peace. prize. But, you know, this is someone who who. who wants the adulation, he wants the. prize, he wants his ego fed. He can't. stand that President Obama got it but he. didn't and he he you know, it's not commensurate with his with his.

conduct and you know, he's showing his. true self. And And look, he promised on. the campaign trail. no endless wars. He promised release the. Epstein files. He promised he's going to. reduce costs on day one. And he's raised. costs. He has not released the Epstein. files. And he has started new wars. And. so, he's completely hypocritical. Sadly, as expected. And it's it's par for the. course for him. And you know, this this. bluster and this bluffing about you. know, total annihilation and and you. know, kind of the the taco Trump talk,

you know, Trump always chickens out and. you know, he he he he goes 100 miles per. hour, then he backs down, then he then. he threatens and dangles the threat. again. That's what he does. But he's he's he's. way over his head here. I think he. thought this was going to be quick, easy. He's learning a tough lesson and why. there are endless wars. And he's you. know, dragged the United States into one. despite his promises, raised gas prices. in the process. And he's suffering. uh you know, the the the consequences.

with respect to his approval ratings. But you know, let's let's be real. Americans are dying. This is not a war we we need to be in. This is not a risk set of risks we need. to be taking. And. I think he's trying to get out of it as. soon as he can, but he's he's finding. how difficult it is. And. you know, his his social media posts. seemingly are at escalating levels of. you know, ridiculousness and. inappropriateness. I wonder what's going to happen. tomorrow. >> Well, [laughter] we will of course keep.

the conversation going as soon as we. have any update on the the results or or. first steps of the lawsuit to rein in. Donald Trump's illegal executive order. regarding mail-in voting. I'll I'll be. happy to have you back. So, thank you. for the work you're doing. Thanks for. taking the time today. >> Of course. Thanks, Brian. Good to see. you. >> [music].