Trump torn to SHREDS over insurrection slush fund

I'm joined now by candidate for governor. of California, Xavier Becerra. Thanks so. much for joining me. >> Brian, good to be with you. >> So, a lot to discuss here as it relates. to California, but just want to cover. some some national news for the moment. Uh there has been a lot of talk about. the fact that Trump has put forward this. $1.776. billion. slush fund to pay insurrectionists. uh who participated in the January 6. riot. Can you give your reaction right. now uh to the idea that even when. Americans don't have enough money to pay.

for health care, food assistance, uh. gas, groceries, you name it, that we. apparently have enough money to turn. each one of the 1,500 pardoned. insurrectionists into millionaires? >> Yeah, money uh taxpayer money for. lawbreakers. Uh make sense of it, Brian. I I I can't. Uh we're paying in. California six, seven bucks a gallon for. gasoline because of Trump's reckless war. with Iran. Uh and now he's talking about. giving more than a billion dollars away.

to his cronies, to his uh those that he. pardoned who were convicted of. committing crimes, in some cases. committing crimes against law. enforcement uh. officers. So, I don't get it, and it's. not so much Donald Trump because no. longer about what Donald Trump says and. does. It's really what Republicans in. Congress say and do. Will they support. this? If so, then they are uh. accomplices to this. uh not only illegality, but the. recklessness in using taxpayer dollars. >> All right. So, want to. look into the California race for for a.

moment now. There are obviously uh a lot. of Democrats who are vying for uh for. this spot in the jungle primary runoff. What differentiates you from the other. candidates? Right now, you know, polling. just beneath you, depending on the poll, is Tom Steyer, and then Katie Porter and. Matt Mahan. >> Uh I'd say that uh. I won't need training wheels when I get. into the governor's office. Uh this is a. time of crisis, whether it's the crisis. of the cost of living for so many.

Californians as it is for the rest of. the country, or whether it's the. man-made crisis coming from Washington. D.C. like this latest one of giving away. over a billion dollars in taxpayer funds. so you can help lawbreakers. feel more gleeful that Donald Trump got. elected. I it it's kind of crazy, but you need. someone who actually knows how to deal. with this and it helps to have someone. who's actually balanced the budget the. size of the state of California. I'm the. only candidate who's actually balanced a. budget larger than the budget of the. state of California. I'm the only.

candidate who knows what it means to. declare a state of of emergency and have. to deploy resources and personnel to. respond as I did when I was secretary of. HHS. And I'm the only one as everyone. talks about being able to take on Donald. Trump. I'm the only one that really did. it. I took him on toe-to-toe when I was. attorney general and not just once, not. just twice, but over 120 times and we. beat him in court all the way to the. Supreme Court. I defended the Affordable. Care Act in the Supreme Court, beat. Donald Trump. I defended the DACA. program for dreamers all the way to.

Supreme Court and beat him. And so I. think people are finally saying that. as they look at the candidates it it. helps to have someone who won't need. training wheels once they enter the the. governor's office. >> All right, so let's talk a little bit. about three issues that I've been. especially focused on are housing, homelessness, and and Hollywood. And. I've been speaking with with both. California gubernatorial candidates, but. also LA mayoral candidates. I live here. in Los Angeles. But as it relates to. some housing reforms that you would like. to see, can you speak about what would change.

under your administration? >> We'd move faster to implement the. reforms that we're finally seeing take. place in the legislature where we're. going to streamline the the process of. permitting, the zoning requirements that local. governments impose, the the the fees, the impact fees, and the costs that are. saddled on a developer in order to get a. project going, we're going to try to. streamline all of that, make it so that. you could actually get your permits and.

your sign-off faster than it actually. takes to build the property because. today it takes longer to get through the. bureaucracy than it does to actually. build the units. And so we have to flip. that around. So it becomes. a prospect where you can actually see. not just the light of day, but you can. see how you'll be green, not not in the. red after you you do the construction. And so that could take any number of. forms. There are some 40,000. affordable housing units that are. actually ready to go, shovel ready. They. just don't have the adequate financing,

so they're on hold. I would do. everything I can in my first 100 days. I. would declare a state of emergency in. our housing crisis. and I will do everything I can to find. the money to unstick those so people can. see that they're that we're actually. building. I think that starts to give. people confidence that we're serious. about what we say. >> And how do you do that? Do you hire more. people for permitting? Do you Do you Do. you have a. a mandatory cap on the number of days. that a permit could be languishing. before it's automatically approved? Like. what does this look like in practice.

because, you know, I know from friends. who are contractors, I know from. listening to God knows how many. interviews from people, often times, and. you alluded to this as well, often times. you spend more time just waiting for. permits and and shouldering um and. shouldering those those costs than you. do actually putting a shovel in the. ground and building. Those carrying. costs. And so what would be your. specific plan to make sure that that the. whole permitting process can move. quickly?

>> Yeah, administrative time limits. The agencies would have a shot clocks. They would have a limited amount of time. to get the work done. They can't come up. with an excuse. Secondly, you make sure that you limit. that the types of activities that a a uh. has to jump through the hoops. So, if. you if you jump through one hoop once, you don't have to jump on a second time, but with a different agency. Once you've. done it once, you're clear. And once. you've gone through all those check. checking all those boxes, then by right, you should be able to build. And so, you.

don't have to go back to square one. And. you can accelerate this By the way, you. don't need more people to do that work. What I will do is I will have within my. office a essentially a SWAT team that. will manage this for the state. government to make sure that our. agencies are not the hurdle, the. obstacle to getting these permits taken. care of and moving forward. So, we'll do. all we can on our end to move the. process. We'll work with local. governments, who also have an interest, of course, in how this is done, to make.

sure that they don't delay. And what. we'll then do is make it clear. You go. through that process, you check your. boxes, you start building. >> Now, another issue is homelessness. I'm. curious what your reaction to to the. most recent interview that Spencer Pratt. did with CNN's Alex Michaelson, where he. basically said, you know, he was talking. about Los Angeles specifically, but this. idea of taking people and putting them. into some. finding some space to like round up. homeless people.

within the city limits and putting them. there and mandating some type of. treatment. I don't know if you've had. the opportunity to see. that interview or what I'm speaking. about, but can I have your general. reaction to that? >> Yeah, and I haven't seen it, but based. on how you described it, I'd say. it's a coarse description of the type of. work that ultimately. we we need to head towards something. that shows progress. That sounds a little rough, probably.

sounds a little illegal, but what I. would say is this, you have to have. outcomes. You can't Accountability is. the operative word when it comes to. homelessness. If we We going to give. billions of dollars, and it's been tens. of billions of dollars over the last 5. to 8 years that we've given to cities. and counties. We We're entitled to see. results. And that means outcomes. And. what I would say is this, if a program. that a city employs is not producing. results, getting people off the streets, then shut it down. If a program is.

producing results, then scale it up. Get. the money from the program that isn't. working and give it to the program that. is. But ultimately, to the degree that. as Spencer's talking about moving people. off the streets, everyone says the same. thing. It's just how you do it so you. don't. confront the law having done it the. wrong way. We all know that the. homelessness crisis is just not a. homelessness crisis, not a shelter. crisis by itself, right? It's a mental. health crisis. And if we don't tackle. that mental health element along with. the drug. addiction crisis, then we're never going.

to resolve it. So, I would make sure. we're doing that. And quite honestly, as. governor, since I don't control the. streets of a county or a city, my. biggest role will be to make sure people. don't become homeless. I will work to. improve the programs that we have to. prevent people from losing their shelter. because it costs so much more to pick. someone off the street, get them stood. up, get them cleaned up, get them ready. for a job than it does to help someone. who's already working but had a medical. emergency that took all their money, or. lost their job and they're right now.

temporarily without work and they're. looking for a job. I'll stand you up to. keep you housed versus wait till you get. become homeless and then try to pick you. up. >> You know, in speaking with Mayor Bass in. Los Angeles, she had mentioned that she that the city. had spent roughly $700 million. and had gotten a few. homeless people off the streets and into. facilities. But like a few thousand. people on $700 million seems. seems kind of egregious. Do you Would.

you say that that that program Would you. consider that program a failure? >> I I certainly don't see it. anything that spends hundreds of. millions to get only a few thousand off. the streets. I don't see that as a. success. I you have to go into the. details obviously to find out what's. going on. Uh but I would want to make sure that. we're getting real results for the. money. Uh if you think about how many. uh units you can actually build for $700. million, uh I I mean I hate to think of it that. way, but if you can't move people off.

the street when you're spending more. money than it takes to build the unit, something's wrong. Something's wrong. And as I said, I would I would scrap. those programs that aren't really. succeeding and then scale up those that. are. And there are some that are. successful. >> So, I want to move over to the issue of. Hollywood. I moved to Los Angeles 15. years ago to be a part of the. entertainment industry. I remember what. it was like to be in this city when it. was bustling and working, and I see what. it's like now where, you know, we have. we have lost people um out of this. industry for years and years and years,

not only to other states but other. countries who recognize um what a. lucrative and and successful business it. is. And so, I'm curious what your plan. to revitalize the entertainment industry. in Southern California would be. >> Yeah, and Brian, here I have to start. off by reminding folks that I was the. congressman who initiated the production. tax credit for the entertainment. industry back in the early 2000s. uh because ha- have been the congressman.

for. uh Los Angeles and being the only. LA-based member of Congress who sat on. the Ways and Means Committee, which is. the tax-writing committee where you do. credit tax credit work, uh I was. approached by the industry early on and. they said, "We're we're getting ravaged. Uh we can't compete with the types of uh. incentives that are being provided. throughout the world and throughout the. country." And so, they were saying, "We. need help." And so, the first couple. years was tough because everyone. thought, "Well, why do you need to give. Tom Cruise or George Clooney a tax. credit to produce?" And "It's not them.

It's the grips. It's the construction. workers who who build the sets. It's the. caterers who feed everyone. The ripple. is so vast.". >> Yeah. >> Finally, we were able to get it through. and we were able to. >> it'd be beyond that. I mean, it's it's. transportation. It's local hotels. It's. local restaurants. It's it's the entire. industry is downstream of these. productions going. And so, yeah, you're. you're you're right to say that it's not. just Tom Cruise and George Clooney. There are there are hundreds of. thousands of people who rely on this. industry thriving to survive. >> Well, we got it through. And since then,

we've now seen the state jump in and do. something. And last year, they improved. it. Uh you're even seeing the localities. now. Los Angeles trying to do more. And. so, here's what I would say. Hollywood. is iconic. It's not just an industry. It's it's an icon. People come visit. Southern California just so they could. take a photograph in front of the. Hollywood sign. We will lose so much if. we lose the industry. It won't just be. the production. It'll be everything that. comes with it. The tourism, the things. that make Southern California a. destination point. So, we got to fight.

You Somebody pulls out a knife and says, "We're going to give you a tax credit if. you come do your production in Sydney.". Then we pull out a knife, too. If. somebody in Toronto says, "We got to. pull out a gun to make it attractive for. you to come." We pull out the gun. Fight. fire with fire. We do everything we can. because so long as this industry creates. more wealth and revenue for the state of. California than it costs to do with tax. credit, then that's where we're going. >> Would you be in favor of uncapping the. tax credit recognizing that based on the. studies they've done for previous tax.

credits, there is a net positive result. I think you you spend a dollar, you get. a dollar 14 back. So, for every dollar. that you invest, we make more money. Not. to mention all of the intangibles that. we just discussed. And so, to that end, recognizing that this is a profitable. venture, would you would you be in favor. of uncapping the tax credit? >> Yeah, that's uh let me put it this way. That's my default where I would want to. go, Brian. But here's where I tell you. the 20 years of doing tax policy comes. into play. You get a lot of promises, a.

lot of promises for what you what you do. on policy, and sometimes those who make. the promises don't deliver. So, here's. what I say. I'm willing to go wherever. we need to, whether it's uncapping, whether it's decreasing the the. percentage of the credit that can go for. particular types of production. And what. I want to know is I want to see results. I want to see that that caterer is still. in business. I want to find that that. construction worker is still building. the sets. I don't want the money just to. go to the George Clooneys and the. Tom Cruises and the the profitable.

directors and all the folks in the. studio. I want to see it going I want to. see it rippling out to the entire. economy. And so, show me. And that's. where where I say I want to get data. The one thing I will really push is to. get the data that shows us what's going. on. So, we can then say with evidence to. the legislators and to our people who. are going to say, "What gives? You're. giving tax credits to the movie. industry?" And say, "This is why." And. cuz these jobs depend on it. Your your. your economy your local economy depends.

on it. But I want the data. And so, I. want to see where the real numbers are. so we can make sure that it's reaching. everybody who's supposed to be in the. industry benefiting from these tax. credits. >> For those who are looking to help your. campaign, where can they go? >> Uh. Xavier Becerra 2026.com. or just watch the news. You'll see some. commercials. You'll know how to get. ahold of us. >> I'm going to put that link right here on. the screen and also in the post. description. Secretary Becerra, thank you so much for. taking the time. I appreciate it.

>> Ryan, good to be with you.