Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Gov. Wes Moore Calls Out Congress, Talks Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Enriching Black Businesses + More
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning.
- 0:02Speaker 2: Breakfast club.
- 0:04Speaker 3: Yes, it's the world's most dangerous wanting to show to
- 0:05Speaker 3: breakfast club. Charlamagne the God just hilarious. Envy is out
- 0:09Speaker 3: but laurn l Ross And we have the twenty twenty
- 0:13Speaker 3: eight presidential candidate and the governor of Maryland.
- 0:16Speaker 2: Wes moorees here. How are you my brother back man?
- 0:19Speaker 2: It's gonna be bad.
- 0:20Speaker 3: Good to have you back, man. How you feeling. First
- 0:21Speaker 3: of all, I'm feeling great. Okay, I'm feeling great, man.
- 0:24Speaker 1: Listen. And you know, contrary to everything else going on
- 0:27Speaker 1: in the country, Maryland's doing great.
- 0:29Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 0:29Speaker 1: We continue pushing, I mean, honestly, like getting really big
- 0:32Speaker 1: wins for our people, and so we're we're excited.
- 0:35Speaker 2: I wanted to.
- 0:36Speaker 3: Talk to you about all of that because you know,
- 0:38Speaker 3: I know that you're implementing a lot of great things
- 0:40Speaker 3: in Maryland, and I wonder what could be replicated on
- 0:43Speaker 3: a national level to protect us from a lot of
- 0:46Speaker 3: things that this administration is doing that hurt working class
- 0:49Speaker 3: people especially.
- 0:50Speaker 1: Well, here's the thing, I mean, I think right now
- 0:52Speaker 1: we're seeing you know, people you keep on talking about
- 0:54Speaker 1: what's the power of the president and how the presidency.
- 0:56Speaker 1: I think people all see right now, what's the power
- 0:58Speaker 1: of governors, what's the power of states? We have a
- 1:01Speaker 1: whole lot more authority than people sometimes give us credit for,
- 1:05Speaker 1: but frankly a whole lot more power and authority than
- 1:07Speaker 1: think a lot of governors understanding can take on. So,
- 1:09Speaker 1: for example, you know, Maryland has more exposure to these
- 1:13Speaker 1: federal cuts, the federal public service cuts that the Trump
- 1:16Speaker 1: administration is just arbitrarily and in many cases by the
- 1:19Speaker 1: way illegally doing. And so what Maryland has done, We've
- 1:22Speaker 1: come up with the most aggressive plan to be able
- 1:25Speaker 1: to say, how are we going to streamline and support
- 1:27Speaker 1: our federal workers, create advanced supports for them, but also
- 1:30Speaker 1: making sure that we can streamline them into available state
- 1:32Speaker 1: jobs that we need. So, for example, there are tens
- 1:34Speaker 1: of thousands of vacancies when it comes to credentialed educators
- 1:38Speaker 1: inside of the state of Maryland. We have thousands of
- 1:41Speaker 1: people in healthcare, nurses, etc. That we have as vacancies
- 1:44Speaker 1: in the state of Maryland. So I'm like, so, if
- 1:46Speaker 1: people who are qualified and who are interested, we're going
- 1:49Speaker 1: to streamline them, get them trained up, credentilled, and get
- 1:52Speaker 1: them inside of the classrooms, get them inside of our
- 1:55Speaker 1: health care facilities, because you're solving two problems, right, You're
- 1:58Speaker 1: solving a fact that we have a shortage of people
- 2:00Speaker 1: in education healthcare and at the same time creating jobs.
- 2:03Speaker 1: You're creating jobs, right. So I look at how Maryland
- 2:05Speaker 1: has moved now in just these first months where Maryland
- 2:09Speaker 1: now is going on really a fourteenth straight month of
- 2:12Speaker 1: amongst the lowest unemployment rates in the entire country. Maryland
- 2:15Speaker 1: has now has an unemployment rate of three percent, which
- 2:18Speaker 1: is below well below the national average, despite the fact
- 2:21Speaker 1: that we've had more federal cuts because the Trump administration
- 2:24Speaker 1: than most other states. And so I'm just like, as
- 2:27Speaker 1: as governors, you can be creative about making sure that
- 2:30Speaker 1: you can get your economy moving. You can be creative
- 2:32Speaker 1: about how you getting new businesses on board, about how
- 2:35Speaker 1: you're supporting your small businesses, how you're supporting your minority
- 2:37Speaker 1: owned businesses, and you don't have, like I don't wait
- 2:40Speaker 1: for permission from the federal government to do anything. And
- 2:43Speaker 1: that's the thing. I think that's the kind of posture
- 2:45Speaker 1: that you're watching governors now able to move in.
- 2:47Speaker 3: Am how do you continue to do that if somebody
- 2:50Speaker 3: like Trump says, you know what, we're not sending no
- 2:52Speaker 3: more federal aid to Maryland.
- 2:53Speaker 1: I mean, here's the money come from.
- 2:55Speaker 2: He's done that, okay, So so where's the money coming from.
- 2:57Speaker 1: Well, the money comes from you're actually having to build
- 2:59Speaker 1: coalitions with the private sector, you're building coalitions with with
- 3:03Speaker 1: your other independent partners. It also comes from making sure
- 3:06Speaker 1: that you're being creative about who your partner is actually
- 3:08Speaker 1: going to be. So for example, you know, I've said
- 3:10Speaker 1: very clearly, we've got to make sure that we're focusing
- 3:13Speaker 1: our economy on growth. You know. You know, we've gone
- 3:16Speaker 1: from this year loan, Maryland has gone from a three
- 3:18Speaker 1: and a half structural debth three and a half billion
- 3:21Speaker 1: dollars structural deficit that I inherited. So now Maryland has
- 3:24Speaker 1: a structural surplus, right. And part of the reason we're
- 3:27Speaker 1: able to do it is two reasons. One, we're able
- 3:29Speaker 1: to be very strategic about our budget and really have
- 3:31Speaker 1: some strategic cuts. There's about two and a half billion
- 3:33Speaker 1: dollars of cuts in Maryland's budget, the largest amount of
- 3:36Speaker 1: cuts that we've seen in sixteen years. But also what
- 3:39Speaker 1: we're doing is investing in new industries. You know, I
- 3:42Speaker 1: just came back from a trade mission in Japan and
- 3:45Speaker 1: Korea where we were talking with companies and life sciences
- 3:48Speaker 1: and IT and aerospace and defense. I'm going anywhere and
- 3:52Speaker 1: everywhere where we think there's unique opportunities and partnerships to
- 3:55Speaker 1: build our economy and then build an economy that diversifies
- 3:59Speaker 1: off of Washington, DC. And so we've just been very
- 4:01Speaker 1: intentional and focused when I've said, listen, I will work
- 4:05Speaker 1: with anyone that includes the federal government, but I will
- 4:08Speaker 1: bow down to no one. And we are going to
- 4:10Speaker 1: make sure we're going to protect our people and make
- 4:12Speaker 1: sure that our economy grows.
- 4:13Speaker 4: And you all be wondering why I act like that,
- 4:15Speaker 4: Me and him act the same way.
- 4:17Speaker 5: Now that was his version of Instagram Live.
- 4:21Speaker 1: You already know, you already know.
- 4:23Speaker 3: Now how would you How would you graide Trump's first
- 4:26Speaker 3: hundred days back in offs?
- 4:29Speaker 1: I mean, listen, I don't even need to because I
- 4:31Speaker 1: talk to the people. You know what I mean.
- 4:34Speaker 2: They told me the grade.
- 4:36Speaker 1: When I'm talking to to the farmers in the Eastern
- 4:39Speaker 1: Shore who watched all their prices get jacked up. Whether
- 4:42Speaker 1: you're the poultry farmer, where you're the barley farmer farms
- 4:46Speaker 1: that have been around, and and agriculture is actually Maryland's
- 4:49Speaker 1: largest industry. Farms that have been around for over one
- 4:51Speaker 1: hundred years, who now say, I don't know if I
- 4:53Speaker 1: can survive the next six months. Right, I go talk
- 4:56Speaker 1: to the poor workers down to the Port of Baltimore,
- 4:59Speaker 1: you know, and that's one of the largest and most
- 5:01Speaker 1: effective ports in the entire country. Two thirds of the
- 5:03Speaker 1: country gets their goods from the Port of Baltimore, either
- 5:06Speaker 1: import or export. Right. And I talk to them who
- 5:09Speaker 1: are now watching a significant pullback in goods, which means
- 5:12Speaker 1: less hours for them, which means less work for them.
- 5:15Speaker 1: I talk to everybody who's going out to grocery stores
- 5:18Speaker 1: and watching rising prices. I talk to people whose job
- 5:21Speaker 1: it is to make sure that our food is protected,
- 5:23Speaker 1: Federal workers making sure that they're doing focusing on cybersecurity,
- 5:26Speaker 1: making sure that veterans are getting a proper burial, who.
- 5:30Speaker 2: Now are out of a job.
- 5:31Speaker 1: Ask them how Trump is going. I'm say, how the
- 5:33Speaker 1: first hundred days is going.
- 5:34Speaker 3: I'm no Joe Biden fan, but when I heard Trump
- 5:37Speaker 3: say yesterday that the GDP, the falling GDP, was Biden's fault,
- 5:42Speaker 3: I'm like.
- 5:42Speaker 2: Well, that's just not true.
- 5:43Speaker 3: What would you say to people, because you know more
- 5:45Speaker 3: about this than any of what would you say to
- 5:46Speaker 3: people when you hear that, when people say, well, that's
- 5:48Speaker 3: Biden's GDP.
- 5:50Speaker 1: Listen, you can't when when the stock market jumps, you
- 5:53Speaker 1: can't take credit, and when the stock market falls, you can't.
- 5:55Speaker 1: You can't deploy, you deploy blame. That's not the way
- 5:59Speaker 1: this game goes. You know, when you're the chief executive,
- 6:02Speaker 1: you take the good and the bad. That's part of
- 6:04Speaker 1: the job. That's what leadership actually means. And you cannot
- 6:07Speaker 1: look at the policies that have come on board those
- 6:10Speaker 1: thus far from this administration, the impact that it's had
- 6:12Speaker 1: on people and pretend like, well, that's someone else's fault.
- 6:16Speaker 1: It's just it's fundamentally not true. And if Donald Trump
- 6:20Speaker 1: wants to try to take credit for things that go well,
- 6:23Speaker 1: he also has to take blame for the fact that
- 6:25Speaker 1: this is the first time that we've seen our economy contract,
- 6:28Speaker 1: our economy gets smaller since two thousand and two. So
- 6:32Speaker 1: you know, if Joe Biden in two thousand and two
- 6:33Speaker 1: could have turned around and said, well, that's actually Trump's economy,
- 6:36Speaker 1: but he didn't because he actually chose to lead. Well,
- 6:41Speaker 1: Donald Trump take on that same responsibility. I understand this
- 6:44Speaker 1: is yours what.
- 6:45Speaker 5: Things because I know you did the service your option. Yeah,
- 6:49Speaker 5: so you know, workforce is really important to you. But
- 6:52Speaker 5: in the firste hundred days, I'm looking at an article
- 6:54Speaker 5: that says one of the big effects to Maryland is
- 6:56Speaker 5: that one in every ten workers in the state is
- 6:57Speaker 5: employed by the federal government, and almost half of Maryland's
- 7:00Speaker 5: federal workers live in Montgomery and Prince Georgia's county. And
- 7:02Speaker 5: a lot of those people are gonna lose jobs. It's
- 7:04Speaker 5: going to heavily affect black people's right. So what initiatives
- 7:08Speaker 5: are you preparing now? Because they want those hits are happening,
- 7:11Speaker 5: they're going to fill it and you know what I mean,
- 7:13Speaker 5: in real time they won't need money and work they.
- 7:15Speaker 1: Are and you know, and we've actually been really aggressive
- 7:17Speaker 1: when it comes to not just protecting federal workers, but
- 7:19Speaker 1: also looking at the you know, when you look at
- 7:22Speaker 1: the racial wealth gap that is in the state of Maryland,
- 7:25Speaker 1: for example, you know, when I was first inaugurated, and
- 7:27Speaker 1: we've actually been able to address it when we come
- 7:30Speaker 1: on board, But it was eight to one when I
- 7:32Speaker 1: first became the governor, and I'm you know, I'm the
- 7:34Speaker 1: only black governor of the country, the first black governor
- 7:36Speaker 1: of the history of the State of Maryland, and only
- 7:38Speaker 1: the third African American ever elected governor in the history
- 7:40Speaker 1: of this country. And so when I came on and
- 7:42Speaker 1: said we have to address the racial wealth gap, the
- 7:44Speaker 1: fact that in our state it's eight to one, I
- 7:46Speaker 1: was like, the reason we have a racial wealth gap
- 7:48Speaker 1: is of a to one is not because one group
- 7:50Speaker 1: is working eight times harder. I mean, like, these are policies,
- 7:54Speaker 1: these are systems that are put in place that have
- 7:56Speaker 1: allowed certain groups to be able to gain wealth and
- 7:59Speaker 1: certain groups not right. And so we came in very
- 8:02Speaker 1: clear that we're coming to the focus of work, wages,
- 8:04Speaker 1: and wealth. When we came on board, and when we
- 8:07Speaker 1: talked about work and meant doing things like investing in
- 8:09Speaker 1: the service year option for every high school graduate now
- 8:12Speaker 1: is a chance to have a paid year service to
- 8:13Speaker 1: the State of Maryland. That we have made a historic
- 8:15Speaker 1: investments and apprenticeship programs. We have quadrupled the amount of
- 8:19Speaker 1: apprentices in the State of Maryland. And basically saying that
- 8:22Speaker 1: while four year college degrees are great, not everyone needs
- 8:25Speaker 1: to have one in order to be economically successful. And
- 8:27Speaker 1: we got a pipeline people into real occupations, trade school
- 8:30Speaker 1: trade schools, you know what I'm saying, and starting early
- 8:33Speaker 1: with that process with young people, because that not every
- 8:35Speaker 1: person Like listen, I joined the army when I was seventeen,
- 8:40Speaker 1: you know what I mean, And you know I went
- 8:41Speaker 1: to a two year college and things worked out pretty well.
- 8:45Speaker 1: So we have to make sure that everybody knows that
- 8:47Speaker 1: their path doesn't have to be the same, but their
- 8:49Speaker 1: path can be uniquely theirs and they can benefit from it.
- 8:52Speaker 1: That we've been able to pass not just the most
- 8:55Speaker 1: comprehensive procurement reform built in the history of the state
- 8:58Speaker 1: of Maryland, making sure that we're actually properly and evenly
- 9:01Speaker 1: allocating capital to small businesses, black businesses. Over three billion
- 9:07Speaker 1: dollars have gone to black businesses and MBE since I've
- 9:10Speaker 1: been the governor. Right, eighty six percent of all Maryland
- 9:13Speaker 1: contracts now require some form of MBE participation in it,
- 9:17Speaker 1: and that number was at thirty five percent Minority Business ENTERPRISEECT. Yeah,
- 9:22Speaker 1: So making sure we're being very clear that if we're
- 9:24Speaker 1: going to use state dollars, which by the way, oftentimes
- 9:26Speaker 1: is capital that's coming from from African American dax bayers
- 9:30Speaker 1: that we need to make sure that we're being even
- 9:32Speaker 1: and we're being fair about the way we're talking about
- 9:33Speaker 1: allocation of that capital that we have done. Not just
- 9:37Speaker 1: signed the largest part in in the history of the
- 9:38Speaker 1: United States, one hundred and seventy five thousand part in,
- 9:41Speaker 1: the largest mass part in the history of this country
- 9:43Speaker 1: for misdemeanor cannabis convictions. I just signed a bill on
- 9:47Speaker 1: expungement on sponge reform, the most comprehensive exponge reform that
- 9:51Speaker 1: our state has ever seen, on a bill that I
- 9:53Speaker 1: introduced and that I proudly signed that focus on making
- 9:56Speaker 1: sure we can give people a second chance and actually
- 9:57Speaker 1: clean their records. And so we've been very clear that
- 10:00Speaker 1: being able to add a culture of repair is something
- 10:04Speaker 1: that is really important to us because when when we
- 10:07Speaker 1: all do better, we all do better, and and and
- 10:11Speaker 1: and racism is really expensive and we're really trying to
- 10:14Speaker 1: address that in the state of Maryland. I'm proud of
- 10:15Speaker 1: the progress for making Jesse.
- 10:17Speaker 2: You're you're from Maryland.
- 10:19Speaker 6: I am, and I want to ask you, how is
- 10:20Speaker 6: it working with Mayor Brandon Scott Baltimore. Yes, my god,
- 10:25Speaker 6: Maryland is leading right now with black excellent. Shout out
- 10:28Speaker 6: to Angela also Brooks the most talked about most and
- 10:33Speaker 6: we got a lot going on in Baltimore.
- 10:35Speaker 4: We got the C I double A. Is that continuing?
- 10:37Speaker 1: Do you know? Yes, we we want C I double
- 10:39Speaker 1: A and we want that to be c I double
- 10:42Speaker 1: A b out of Baltimore at the end of it. Though, no,
- 10:46Speaker 1: it's not.
- 10:47Speaker 5: I'm not going to a lot of people said, I'm sorry,
- 10:51Speaker 5: don't don't talk about Sorry, how about it's never come
- 10:54Speaker 5: to Delaware.
- 10:54Speaker 6: So okay, you got that one.
- 11:01Speaker 1: Baltimore's got a better build up right now. Baltimore is
- 11:03Speaker 1: going to generate more economic activity. Baltimore City, for example,
- 11:07Speaker 1: right now has the seventh fastest growing economy in the
- 11:09Speaker 1: entire country. If you look at what's happening in Baltimore City,
- 11:12Speaker 1: Baltimore City is on a rise. And we were very clear.
- 11:15Speaker 1: You know, it's funny. When I first ran, I was like,
- 11:17Speaker 1: we've got to put a real focus on Baltimore, and
- 11:20Speaker 1: people is like, of course, you say that you're a
- 11:21Speaker 1: Baltimore and you're a Homer. I was like, I'm not
- 11:22Speaker 1: saying it because I'm Baltimore, and I say it because
- 11:24Speaker 1: I'm very good at math. Tell me a single state
- 11:28Speaker 1: that is clicking on all cylinders and the city and
- 11:30Speaker 1: the state's largest city is not. And the answer is
- 11:33Speaker 1: it doesn't exist. That you got to invest in your
- 11:36Speaker 1: largest city. In that case, in the state of Maryland,
- 11:39Speaker 1: it's Baltimore. And so Baltimore if you look at what's
- 11:41Speaker 1: happening again, the seventh fastest growing economy in the entire country,
- 11:45Speaker 1: the Hamas the violent crime rate in Baltimore City in
- 11:48Speaker 1: the state of Maryland. Maryland's having amongst the fastest and
- 11:50Speaker 1: most impressive drops in violent crime anywhere in the entire country.
- 11:54Speaker 1: Baltimore City before I became the governor, when eight straight
- 11:57Speaker 1: years of three hundred plus homicides in Baltimore City. Now,
- 12:01Speaker 1: the homicide rate in Baltimore City, the last time it
- 12:04Speaker 1: was this slow, I wasn't born yet. Wow, it is
- 12:07Speaker 1: literally having amongst the fastest drops in violent crime anywhere
- 12:10Speaker 1: in America. So so shout out to to Mayor Scott,
- 12:13Speaker 1: shout out to the entire team, because you know, this
- 12:15Speaker 1: is this really is this is going to be this
- 12:18Speaker 1: is going to be Maryland's decade. But in order for
- 12:20Speaker 1: it to be Maryland's decade, it's got to be Baltimore's time.
- 12:22Speaker 3: To baltimore'slother Nick's Fish House in Baltimore. They just showed
- 12:24Speaker 3: me some lov and all this. I want to shout
- 12:26Speaker 3: them much.
- 12:26Speaker 1: Yeah, shout out to interview with the governor, just because.
- 12:29Speaker 4: The only thing that can hurt you and Maryland right
- 12:30Speaker 4: now is the Poland? So what'll be doing.
- 12:32Speaker 7: About that Poland?
- 12:33Speaker 1: Is bad? I wish there was an executive board I could.
- 12:35Speaker 7: Sunt on that way.
- 12:39Speaker 2: You know what I love about Maryland.
- 12:40Speaker 3: A couple of months ago, I was in Maryland for
- 12:43Speaker 3: my daughter's cheerleading competition.
- 12:44Speaker 2: I was a what's that place called? Just National Harbor
- 12:46Speaker 2: was it?
- 12:48Speaker 3: And literally that's the first time people were coming up
- 12:53Speaker 3: to me saying, Yo, with everything that Elon Musk and
- 12:57Speaker 3: Doge is doing.
- 12:59Speaker 2: Don't I don't know if I'm gonna have a job.
- 13:00Speaker 2: My wife don't know if she's gonna have a job.
- 13:03Speaker 3: And these were just regular every day working class people
- 13:05Speaker 3: that was so concerned and they probably did ended up
- 13:07Speaker 3: end up losing their jobs because ten thousands of jobs
- 13:09Speaker 3: got lost.
- 13:10Speaker 2: And so I was like damn man.
- 13:12Speaker 3: That's what really made me realize what they were doing
- 13:14Speaker 3: was impacting you know, every day working class people in
- 13:17Speaker 3: that way.
- 13:18Speaker 1: And what they're doing is illegal. Yes, I mean, listen,
- 13:21Speaker 1: if you look at every one of these decisions that
- 13:23Speaker 1: Donald Trump is making, and let's be clear, when people
- 13:27Speaker 1: say he's passing all these bills, no he's not. Actually
- 13:30Speaker 1: there's hardly any bills as this executive orders executive orders
- 13:33Speaker 1: right over one hundred and fifty executive orders, and all
- 13:35Speaker 1: of his executive orders can really fall into three different categories. Right,
- 13:38Speaker 1: it's ineffective, it's performative, or it's illegal. Right, those are
- 13:43Speaker 1: the three buckets that every one of his executive orders
- 13:46Speaker 1: really pretty much fall into. And the problem is is
- 13:49Speaker 1: when you're talking about all these cuts and you're talking
- 13:52Speaker 1: about the elimination of the Department of Education, do you
- 13:54Speaker 1: know what, Donald Trump does not have the authority to
- 13:56Speaker 1: eliminate the Department of Education in latterly, that's Congress, right,
- 14:00Speaker 1: because Congress is the one that that allocates the capital
- 14:02Speaker 1: for it. So this is actually a moment when we
- 14:05Speaker 1: need to see Congress have a spine. We need to
- 14:07Speaker 1: see Congress step up, because right now Congress. Uh, you know,
- 14:11Speaker 1: the president is chumping you. He's pretending like you don't
- 14:14Speaker 1: even exist. So I'm really curious to see is Congress
- 14:18Speaker 1: going to step up and do its job?
- 14:19Speaker 2: Well, no, they already I mean a lot of them
- 14:21Speaker 2: have already had been.
- 14:22Speaker 1: The need completely benefiting completely benthany do you I.
- 14:26Speaker 3: Have conversations like that? Is it worth you calling them
- 14:29Speaker 3: out publicly? Especially you know Democrats in Congress?
- 14:31Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and not not only is it worth that
- 14:33Speaker 1: we do? And and I think and and and actually
- 14:36Speaker 1: in shout out, I mean our congressional delegation, uh, you know, actually,
- 14:39Speaker 1: led by Senator Chris van Holland Angelo also Brooks, is
- 14:43Speaker 1: actually doing a really good job because I think our
- 14:45Speaker 1: Congression delegation is really helping to hold the line on
- 14:48Speaker 1: a lot of these things, on a whole collection of
- 14:51Speaker 1: different issues. But but but Congress is the one that
- 14:54Speaker 1: that fundamentally has to pass a budget. Congress is the
- 14:57Speaker 1: one that fundamentally has to make sure that laws can
- 15:00Speaker 1: get to a president's desk. Congress is the one that
- 15:02Speaker 1: needs to make sure they actually hold on to their authority.
- 15:05Speaker 1: And we need in this moment, we need leaders to lead.
- 15:10Speaker 1: That's what we need. And that's again one of the
- 15:12Speaker 1: really I think unique things that we're saying about governors
- 15:15Speaker 1: right now is that we have a chance to uniquely
- 15:18Speaker 1: show a different way. We have a chance to show,
- 15:21Speaker 1: you know what, even in this time of chaos, we
- 15:23Speaker 1: can still drive the fact that in Maryland we're having
- 15:26Speaker 1: historically low unemployment rates, that even in this time of chaos,
- 15:30Speaker 1: that we are having historic drops in violent crime within
- 15:33Speaker 1: our state, that even in this time, even in this
- 15:35Speaker 1: time of chaos, we're still able to pass legislation that
- 15:38Speaker 1: is not just important, but also is scalable and can
- 15:40Speaker 1: take place around the country. So that's a great thing
- 15:42Speaker 1: about being a chief executive in this moment, But we
- 15:45Speaker 1: still need Congress to do his job.
- 15:46Speaker 4: Well.
- 15:46Speaker 3: When you see the power that Trump wields, right like
- 15:48Speaker 3: we had congressman I agreeing up here, and I was
- 15:50Speaker 3: like I said to him, I said, Man, I didn't
- 15:52Speaker 3: even know presidents had this kind of power, And he was.
- 15:54Speaker 2: Like, neither did I.
- 15:55Speaker 3: So when you see the kind of power that he wills,
- 15:58Speaker 3: is it make you push the levels of your power
- 16:01Speaker 3: as governor? Do you use like, well, damn, let me
- 16:03Speaker 3: see what I can do?
- 16:04Speaker 1: Well, you know, I Actually, I think the things that
- 16:06Speaker 1: we were doing even before Donald Trump came out is
- 16:10Speaker 1: I've always been wanting to say I'm always gonna push
- 16:12Speaker 1: to make sure that we are doing justice to a job.
- 16:15Speaker 1: You know. I keep a clock that sits on my
- 16:18Speaker 1: desk every single day that tells me how many days
- 16:21Speaker 1: I have left in my first turn and I'm gonna
- 16:23Speaker 1: running back because I'm running for re election in twenty six,
- 16:26Speaker 1: but it tells me, in fact, right now, it's six
- 16:29Speaker 1: hundred and thirty four days left before my reelection. The
- 16:32Speaker 1: reason I keep that clock on my desk is it
- 16:34Speaker 1: reminds me, do not waste a day.
- 16:36Speaker 2: Man.
- 16:37Speaker 1: You got six hundred and thirty four days right now
- 16:40Speaker 1: until this time is up and someone else eventually will
- 16:43Speaker 1: sit in the seat as the governor Maryland. I'm not
- 16:46Speaker 1: going to waste a day. And so I do think
- 16:48Speaker 1: that our ability to be able to be creative about
- 16:51Speaker 1: the levers that we're using to make change, the levers
- 16:54Speaker 1: that we're using to make sure that we were doing
- 16:56Speaker 1: important things like raising a minimum wage in the state
- 16:59Speaker 1: of Maryland, because I want you to be the days
- 17:00Speaker 1: when you have people who are working jobs, and in
- 17:02Speaker 1: some cases multiple jobs, and still living at or below
- 17:05Speaker 1: a poverty line. Right, that we are going to make
- 17:07Speaker 1: sure we're aggressive about doing things like funding having a
- 17:09Speaker 1: storic funding of childcare because parents shouldn't have to decide
- 17:12Speaker 1: between is my kid gonna be okay? Or can I
- 17:15Speaker 1: go back to the workforce?
- 17:17Speaker 2: Right, that's why Jess was off for so long that
- 17:19Speaker 2: none knows.
- 17:19Speaker 1: But but this is real. This is a this is
- 17:21Speaker 1: a real thing. I mean, it's situations like my mom, my, mom, mom.
- 17:25Speaker 1: I I was raised by an immigrant single mother who
- 17:28Speaker 1: worked three different jobs and did not get her first
- 17:32Speaker 1: job that gave her benefits until I was fourteen years old.
- 17:34Speaker 2: She was Jamaican, right, that's right, Yeah, that's common for
- 17:38Speaker 2: Jamaica's one job that you wanted to do that.
- 17:46Speaker 1: Part time. But I mean, like, but but, and here's
- 17:50Speaker 1: the thing about it. This is a woman who went
- 17:53Speaker 1: on to earn a master's degree and didn't get her
- 17:55Speaker 1: first job that gave her benefits until her son was fourteen.
- 17:59Speaker 1: So when people are having conversations about inequitable pay between
- 18:03Speaker 1: men and women or the racial wealth gap, I tell
- 18:05Speaker 1: people like I don't need a white paper to explain it,
- 18:08Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Like I grew up in
- 18:09Speaker 1: this that when we're doing the work that we're doing
- 18:12Speaker 1: right now in the state of Maryland around young men
- 18:13Speaker 1: and boys, about making sure that we are protecting our
- 18:16Speaker 1: young men and boys and making sure we are lifting
- 18:18Speaker 1: them up. Because it's not just because when you look
- 18:20Speaker 1: at the data, how drastic and staggering some of this
- 18:24Speaker 1: data is that we're seeing right now around on young
- 18:25Speaker 1: men and boys. It's because I came up in this.
- 18:29Speaker 1: I was eleven years old when I had handcuffs on
- 18:31Speaker 1: my wrists, So I get this, and so our ability
- 18:34Speaker 1: to now use these seats and use these moments and
- 18:37Speaker 1: not waste a single day is something that I take very,
- 18:40Speaker 1: very seriously. And frankly, I didn't need Donald Trump to
- 18:43Speaker 1: show me the power of the executive because I think
- 18:46Speaker 1: in Maryland we've been showing the power of an executive.
- 18:48Speaker 1: You know for the past two years.
- 18:51Speaker 6: What are your thoughts on Trump not wanting to bring
- 18:54Speaker 6: home kill mar Garcia because he was living in Maryland.
- 18:57Speaker 4: I was the guy that was wrong to report it.
- 18:59Speaker 1: And here's the thing for me, this actually has nothing
- 19:02Speaker 1: to do with immigration, because people will talk about this
- 19:05Speaker 1: is a you know, I love what he's doing right, immigration,
- 19:07Speaker 1: I said, well, first of all, if Donald Trump really
- 19:10Speaker 1: wanted to fix immigration, he could do it simply by
- 19:12Speaker 1: calling up Speaker Johnson and saying, I need a comprehensive
- 19:15Speaker 1: immigration bill on my desk next week. And you know
- 19:17Speaker 1: we'll be on his desk next week, a comprehensive of
- 19:19Speaker 1: immigration built. Because Donald Trump is the votes, he's got
- 19:22Speaker 1: the House, and he's got the Senate. This has nothing
- 19:24Speaker 1: to do with immigration. This just simply has to do
- 19:27Speaker 1: with violating the constitution.
- 19:29Speaker 2: That's what this is.
- 19:30Speaker 1: And so when I think about the case of Abregio Garcia,
- 19:34Speaker 1: my point is this due process matters in this. He
- 19:38Speaker 1: needs to come home, he needs to stand trial and
- 19:41Speaker 1: then let a judge decide what is what the long
- 19:45Speaker 1: term what you know, what is what is what is
- 19:47Speaker 1: long term? You know a situation is going to be
- 19:50Speaker 1: not Donald Trump. You know, if they say, well he
- 19:53Speaker 1: was doing X, Y and Z okay, fine, let him
- 19:56Speaker 1: come home, let him stand trial, and let him do
- 19:59Speaker 1: what basic due process offers to every single person. And
- 20:03Speaker 1: if all of that determined is true, then absolutely he
- 20:07Speaker 1: should then face consequences and face the sentencing. But but
- 20:10Speaker 1: not because Donald Trump looked at a photoshop picture and
- 20:13Speaker 1: said this is going to be his fate because that
- 20:15Speaker 1: is a very very dangerous slippery slope. And so my
- 20:18Speaker 1: whole thing is this, just follow the Constitution, follow due process,
- 20:23Speaker 1: and follow what the Supreme Court in a nine zero
- 20:26Speaker 1: decision said that he needs to come home and stand trial.
- 20:29Speaker 1: I just I stand with the law on thiss and
- 20:31Speaker 1: I stand with the Constitution correct me.
- 20:33Speaker 3: On some things, right because they mister Garcia has acknowledged
- 20:36Speaker 3: that he entered the US illegally in twenty twelve, So
- 20:39Speaker 3: was he he.
- 20:40Speaker 1: Was here illegally, that's he was undocumented, That's right.
- 20:42Speaker 3: So if he's undocumented, does the Constitution still apply to him?
- 20:45Speaker 1: Yes, Okay, there's still constitutional protections, okay, and and and
- 20:49Speaker 1: not only and especially because what he is being held
- 20:52Speaker 1: for or tried for right now are things that he
- 20:55Speaker 1: has not not only not been convicted for, not even
- 20:58Speaker 1: had a formal accusation of. So this is the problem,
- 21:01Speaker 1: is that so Donald Trump right now is trying to
- 21:04Speaker 1: rewrite the Constitution. Donald Trump right now is violating the
- 21:07Speaker 1: Constitution by not allowing him to come home and have
- 21:10Speaker 1: due process. So yes, so the constitution still offers, uh,
- 21:13Speaker 1: you know, still offers what is the guidance around the
- 21:16Speaker 1: federal government's responsibility, around states responsibility, and that still does
- 21:20Speaker 1: fall under the situation of Killbergo Garcia.
- 21:23Speaker 3: I think that's what's missing in this whole conversation, the
- 21:25Speaker 3: fact that, you know, Martin Luther King Jr. Said an
- 21:27Speaker 3: injustice anywhere as a threat to justice everywhere. So if
- 21:30Speaker 3: you see somebody not receiving due process when they're supposed to,
- 21:33Speaker 3: that could impact any of us at any given time.
- 21:35Speaker 3: And none of us want to just be snatched off
- 21:37Speaker 3: the street and the port it to another country just
- 21:38Speaker 3: because and.
- 21:39Speaker 1: And and listen, here's the danger today. It's k Abergio Garcia.
- 21:44Speaker 1: Who is it tomorrow, Laura Larrosa.
- 21:46Speaker 4: Oh my god name.
- 21:49Speaker 2: You know, I'm just saying it couldn't be saying. I'm
- 21:52Speaker 2: using an example and you.
- 21:53Speaker 6: I'm trying to try to get him, and you can't
- 21:55Speaker 6: tell them that you're from Dela because they like, oh please,
- 21:57Speaker 6: nobody's gonna even respect then why would y'all put me
- 22:00Speaker 6: in it?
- 22:01Speaker 2: No, but we're just using it as an example. It
- 22:03Speaker 2: could be anybody.
- 22:03Speaker 7: Charlie Magne the guy, but it could be anything.
- 22:06Speaker 5: He's coming for you, for me, did you watch the
- 22:13Speaker 5: interview that when Trump sat down with Terry Morin.
- 22:15Speaker 1: I didn't watch the whole thing, okay.
- 22:17Speaker 5: But did you see the part I said, the tattoo thing,
- 22:19Speaker 5: because they were going back and forth about the tattoos
- 22:20Speaker 5: or whatever. When you see stuff like that, because then
- 22:23Speaker 5: media picks it up the other way and uses these
- 22:26Speaker 5: tattoos that Trump that there's evidence that doesn't support what
- 22:30Speaker 5: Trump is saying, but they use it as a well,
- 22:33Speaker 5: he deserved what he got and how do how do
- 22:35Speaker 5: you guys in the government didn't fight that because the
- 22:37Speaker 5: public opinion sways so much.
- 22:38Speaker 1: It's I didn't see the whole interview. I saw I
- 22:43Speaker 1: did see clips of it, and I saw that part.
- 22:45Speaker 1: And what's really sad to me is it isn't just
- 22:47Speaker 1: the fact that we have a president of the United
- 22:50Speaker 1: States who is literally buying into conspiracy theories, uh and
- 22:54Speaker 1: and photoshop pictures in front of our eyes. What really
- 22:57Speaker 1: also bothers me about it is it's the people around
- 23:00Speaker 1: him who enable this. Is the people around him who
- 23:03Speaker 1: tell them this is true. The people around him will
- 23:06Speaker 1: feed him these pictures and say, yes, mister president, you
- 23:08Speaker 1: know he had MS thirteen on his knuckles when he didn't.
- 23:11Speaker 1: And so it's and this goes back to and this
- 23:15Speaker 1: goes back to the idea that in many ways, this
- 23:18Speaker 1: has nothing actually to do with kill Marlburgo Garcia. This
- 23:23Speaker 1: has nothing even to do with his situation. This just
- 23:25Speaker 1: simply has to do with are we willing to follow
- 23:28Speaker 1: the law? We Are we a country of laws? Or
- 23:32Speaker 1: are we now a country where president of the United
- 23:34Speaker 1: States gets to pick and choose which laws we follow,
- 23:36Speaker 1: which laws we don't. Are we a country that actually
- 23:38Speaker 1: follows the constitution? Are a country that listens when the
- 23:40Speaker 1: Supreme Court and a unanimous decision. And let me be clear,
- 23:44Speaker 1: this Supreme Court hardly ever decides anything.
- 23:46Speaker 2: Is Trump's card exactly, this is Trump's card. He put
- 23:49Speaker 2: three people on nine zero.
- 23:52Speaker 1: The man needs to come home and stand trial. And
- 23:56Speaker 1: we have a we have an administration right now that's
- 23:59Speaker 1: literally using the Constitution as a suggestion box, you know
- 24:05Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So that's fundamentally the problem and what
- 24:11Speaker 1: we continue to, you know, deal with, and the fact
- 24:13Speaker 1: that the relationship between the federal government and our states
- 24:17Speaker 1: really has been ruptured.
- 24:18Speaker 3: So when you run for president in twenty twenty eight,
- 24:20Speaker 3: I am not run when you run for president in
- 24:22Speaker 3: twenty twenty eight, and and Trump runs again for his
- 24:25Speaker 3: third term, what if the point of even running.
- 24:27Speaker 2: Because you know it's just gonna be all for.
- 24:29Speaker 3: Show wes like you know it, because because literally the
- 24:33Speaker 3: thing that bothers me the most is people are normalizing
- 24:36Speaker 3: that conversation like Trump running for a third ten.
- 24:38Speaker 2: Well, then Obama can run it. If Trump runs for
- 24:41Speaker 2: a third term, it's over. The fight is fixed.
- 24:43Speaker 1: We notice I am so one, I'm not running, okay,
- 24:48Speaker 1: But also I also believe that anyone who's talking about
- 24:53Speaker 1: twenty twenty eight is really delusional because they don't understand
- 24:56Speaker 1: what's going on in twenty twenty. I agree. I think
- 24:59Speaker 1: anybody is talking about twenty twenty eight right now doesn't
- 25:02Speaker 1: understand the situation we are in right now, where we
- 25:05Speaker 1: have people who are getting laid off, who have devoted
- 25:08Speaker 1: their life to public service, who are getting laid off
- 25:10Speaker 1: because someone who wasn't willing to take the same oath
- 25:12Speaker 1: that they took now tells them their job is useless.
- 25:15Speaker 1: Right that, we have situations where we have small businesses,
- 25:19Speaker 1: some cases generational small businesses that are going to go
- 25:23Speaker 1: out of business simply because we have these arbitrary tariff
- 25:27Speaker 1: policies that have nothing to do with economics but have
- 25:30Speaker 1: everything to do with ideology. Right that we have that
- 25:33Speaker 1: we have children who rely on the Department of Education,
- 25:37Speaker 1: kids who are you know, children who are receiving special
- 25:39Speaker 1: needs right, kids who are in rural areas and parts
- 25:42Speaker 1: of my state, who now are going to watch their
- 25:45Speaker 1: funding not just cut, but in many ways evaporated, because
- 25:48Speaker 1: we have a president of the United States who somehow
- 25:50Speaker 1: believes the Department of Education is not important anymore. Right. So,
- 25:55Speaker 1: I think for anyone who's talking about twenty twenty eight
- 25:58Speaker 1: or trying to make moves for twenty twenty eight, my
- 26:00Speaker 1: answer is this, I really hope you wake up and
- 26:03Speaker 1: realize the world we're living in right now and understanding
- 26:05Speaker 1: what's at stake.
- 26:06Speaker 3: I think that they're talking about twenty twenty eight because
- 26:08Speaker 3: they really don't have any plans for now, Like they
- 26:10Speaker 3: don't even they've never seen this before, right, and they
- 26:13Speaker 3: don't know how to fight it.
- 26:14Speaker 2: So they're just resorting back.
- 26:16Speaker 3: To what they know, which is the next election midterms
- 26:19Speaker 3: in twenty twenty six, you know, presidential election in twenty
- 26:21Speaker 3: twenty eight.
- 26:22Speaker 1: But that's why I think leadership matters, right, And that's
- 26:24Speaker 1: why I think that's why I'm really proud of the
- 26:26Speaker 1: work that we're doing inside of the State of Maryland,
- 26:28Speaker 1: Because in the State of Maryland, we basically just said,
- 26:30Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna lead regardless, and our state's gonna
- 26:33Speaker 1: lead regardless. And so when you're looking at the momentum
- 26:36Speaker 1: that we now have within the State of Maryland, the
- 26:38Speaker 1: fact that we have gone from a structural deficit to
- 26:40Speaker 1: a structural surplus, that for the first time in ten years,
- 26:43Speaker 1: we're watching labor force participation actually increase, and new jobs,
- 26:47Speaker 1: new business starts actually increasing in the State of Maryland
- 26:49Speaker 1: for the first time in ten years. The fact that
- 26:52Speaker 1: we are watching new partnerships and new builds, things like
- 26:55Speaker 1: the service Yeer option, you know, things like making sure
- 26:57Speaker 1: that we're giving people second chances when they're coming back home,
- 27:00Speaker 1: like that kind of stuff matters because I think people.
- 27:04Speaker 1: One thing I always learned in the military was this,
- 27:07Speaker 1: no one pays attention to how you perform when times
- 27:11Speaker 1: are easy, because when you're easy, you can show me anything.
- 27:15Speaker 1: I mean, if you ever want to learn anything about anybody,
- 27:18Speaker 1: watch them when it was hard, right, Watch them when
- 27:21Speaker 1: it was tough. Watch them when the heat got turned up.
- 27:23Speaker 1: Watch them. Did they curl up in the fetal position
- 27:26Speaker 1: and just sit there and take it, or did they
- 27:28Speaker 1: actually mobilize? And I think what you're seeing in the
- 27:31Speaker 1: state of Maryland. When we knew we had this crisis,
- 27:35Speaker 1: for example, of violence, that I walked into and saying,
- 27:39Speaker 1: I refuse to be a governor that will just sit
- 27:41Speaker 1: there and attend funerals and offer thoughts and prayers while
- 27:44Speaker 1: my people are dying on the streets, right And so
- 27:47Speaker 1: we came in and we said we were going to
- 27:48Speaker 1: have the most aggressive push to be able to curtail
- 27:51Speaker 1: violence in our state. And now Maryland has amongst the
- 27:54Speaker 1: fastest drops and violence anywhere in the country. When we
- 27:57Speaker 1: saw what happened in the Key Bridge, when we saw
- 28:00Speaker 1: a ship the size of three football field slam into
- 28:02Speaker 1: the Key Bridge, knocking out the port of Baltimore, and
- 28:06Speaker 1: when people said it's going to take eleven months to
- 28:08Speaker 1: be able to clear the channel, when we got together,
- 28:11Speaker 1: we supported those families of the six people who we
- 28:13Speaker 1: lost that day, and we got that channel cleared in
- 28:15Speaker 1: eleven weeks. And when we watch this onsot, we're now
- 28:18Speaker 1: standing from the Trump administration where it is very clear
- 28:21Speaker 1: my state has become public imming number one for these folks.
- 28:24Speaker 2: I get it.
- 28:25Speaker 1: Why is it because of you? Well, I think boss
- 28:27Speaker 1: is a lot of proximity. And just look at the
- 28:29Speaker 1: decisions that they're making when you're going out, when you're
- 28:31Speaker 1: going after the NIH the National Suit of Health, when
- 28:34Speaker 1: you're going after Social Security, right, you know what those
- 28:37Speaker 1: also are. In addition to things that are that are
- 28:40Speaker 1: some of America's crown jewels, they are also Maryland assets.
- 28:43Speaker 1: When you stand up there to press conference and say, yeah,
- 28:46Speaker 1: the FBI building, which by the way, was going to
- 28:48Speaker 1: be responsible for about four billion dollars of economic activities,
- 28:51Speaker 1: seven thousand jobs, something that we worked on for a
- 28:53Speaker 1: decade independent of politics, and Maryland won that bid fair
- 28:57Speaker 1: and square. And to watch a present in the United
- 28:59Speaker 1: States in a press conference stand up there and say, yeah,
- 29:01Speaker 1: that's not going to the state of Maryland because they
- 29:03Speaker 1: are a liberal state. At least he showed it. At
- 29:07Speaker 1: least he showed himself.
- 29:08Speaker 2: Have you have you met him yet? Have you all spoken?
- 29:09Speaker 2: We have, okay, and we have all those conversations like, uh.
- 29:13Speaker 1: You know, they're interesting.
- 29:16Speaker 2: You never see the photo. Ops, you stay away from
- 29:18Speaker 2: the cameras when you were around him.
- 29:19Speaker 1: Huh, well, no, you know, it's funny. I actually I
- 29:21Speaker 1: actually met with him during the Army Navy game, because
- 29:26Speaker 1: you know, because I go to the Army Navy game
- 29:28Speaker 1: every almost every year, and when he came to the
- 29:32Speaker 1: Army Navy game last year, we had a chance to
- 29:34Speaker 1: meet and we talked about the bridge, and I explained
- 29:36Speaker 1: to him why the one hundred percent financing, why the
- 29:40Speaker 1: cost share for the bridge was so important, because this
- 29:42Speaker 1: was a port that really serves the entire country, that
- 29:45Speaker 1: this was a unique situation because we are currently in
- 29:47Speaker 1: litigation the reason that the porter, the reason that the
- 29:50Speaker 1: the Key Bridge collapsed was not because of an act
- 29:53Speaker 1: of God or because of a storm. It was because
- 29:55Speaker 1: of negligence, because the ship the size of three football
- 29:58Speaker 1: field slammed into it. Right, and we're currently litigation, and
- 30:02Speaker 1: so the American people are going to be made whole
- 30:04Speaker 1: on that. So I walked them through it. I talked
- 30:05Speaker 1: about the economics. I was thankful that Congress actually passed
- 30:09Speaker 1: one hundred percent cost share, and so we're in the
- 30:11Speaker 1: process right now making sure we're going to fulfill the
- 30:12Speaker 1: commitment to the American people. But I've met with him
- 30:15Speaker 1: before and again, I will work with anybody. But partnership
- 30:19Speaker 1: only works when it's both ways. Partnership doesn't work when
- 30:22Speaker 1: you're given and you're getting nothing back in return.
- 30:24Speaker 3: Yeah, I've heard you talk about the importance of finding
- 30:26Speaker 3: common ground with the Trump administration, But when you think
- 30:29Speaker 3: about all the moves that they've currently made, what opportunities
- 30:34Speaker 3: do you see for y'all to collab?
- 30:35Speaker 2: I don't, I can't see it.
- 30:37Speaker 1: Partnership only works when it's both ways. And if you're
- 30:41Speaker 1: coming after my people, you're if you're literally trying to
- 30:46Speaker 1: creator our economy, that's not partnership. And so it's just very,
- 30:51Speaker 1: very difficult to be able to say that this administration
- 30:55Speaker 1: has been a good part and forget about to me,
- 30:58Speaker 1: to my people, to the people of Maryland. And I
- 31:02Speaker 1: think when you go around the state of Maryland, you
- 31:05Speaker 1: you will hear exactly what I am saying. There is
- 31:08Speaker 1: a level of frustration that people have right now about
- 31:12Speaker 1: the situation where where we as a state are actually moving,
- 31:17Speaker 1: not because of our relationship with the federal government, but
- 31:20Speaker 1: in many ways, in spite.
- 31:21Speaker 6: Of you signed into the second look in the expungement
- 31:26Speaker 6: reform right, and some people feel that expungeon records may
- 31:31Speaker 6: heighten the sense like heighten the public safety, you know,
- 31:35Speaker 6: giving people giving some people a second chance, and you
- 31:38Speaker 6: give some criminals a second chance, they feel like, you know,
- 31:40Speaker 6: they're gonna make it.
- 31:41Speaker 4: It's gonna make it hard for certain people who are
- 31:43Speaker 4: hard for.
- 31:46Speaker 2: Those you know what I mean, Like.
- 31:49Speaker 6: You know what I'm saying, a lot of times that's
- 31:51Speaker 6: the case. A lot of times it's not What would
- 31:52Speaker 6: you say to the people that feel that way?
- 31:54Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, first, I would say, I understand the
- 31:58Speaker 1: concern of something. I also know this, like I'm a
- 32:02Speaker 1: I'm a child of God, and my faith teaches me
- 32:05Speaker 1: that that we we believe in second chances and we
- 32:08Speaker 1: should offer second chances. I also know that when you
- 32:12Speaker 1: look at things like the Second Chance Act, Uh, not
- 32:15Speaker 1: only are there there's certain crimes that are not eligible
- 32:18Speaker 1: for for the second for the for the Second Chance Act.
- 32:21Speaker 1: So so there are some specific carbouts about you know,
- 32:24Speaker 1: people who it's you know, when it's had something dealing
- 32:26Speaker 1: with you know, sexual assault, dealing with children or you know,
- 32:29Speaker 1: you you know, something to deal with law enforcement. So
- 32:31Speaker 1: there's certain things that do not fall into the category.
- 32:34Speaker 1: But also with the Second Chance Act does do it
- 32:36Speaker 1: says it's not saying it's automatic that you happen. It's
- 32:39Speaker 1: just simply saying you have a chance to petition, to
- 32:43Speaker 1: have a second chance and have a second look. And
- 32:46Speaker 1: so it's just simply giving an opportunity for people who
- 32:50Speaker 1: in many ways, uh you know, have have now been
- 32:53Speaker 1: caught up in this system for a long period of time.
- 32:56Speaker 1: And for us to say that that you know that
- 32:59Speaker 1: that we don't believe that every sentence should be a
- 33:01Speaker 1: life sentence, and that again, my faith does teach me
- 33:05Speaker 1: that second chances should actually mean something and there should
- 33:07Speaker 1: be pathways for it in in in certain cases, and
- 33:11Speaker 1: people should have again just the opportunity to petition. This
- 33:15Speaker 1: is not automatic, but it is the opportunity to petition.
- 33:18Speaker 1: And I do think for the people who then will
- 33:20Speaker 1: then qualify these are people who are ready to enter
- 33:23Speaker 1: back into society and be contributing members to society.
- 33:25Speaker 3: You know, if people forget about the the second chance,
- 33:29Speaker 3: if you get the number after that three the three
- 33:31Speaker 3: strake law two.
- 33:37Speaker 2: Kamerlynd doesn't have a three strake law right.
- 33:38Speaker 1: Well, and here's the thing, it's like we have to
- 33:42Speaker 1: who of us haven't needed second chances?
- 33:45Speaker 2: And if you mess that up, that's on you.
- 33:46Speaker 1: I mean, I'm like again, I'm a person who is
- 33:50Speaker 1: needed second and third and eighth chances, and it's because
- 33:54Speaker 1: people gave me a second chance. It's because people help
- 33:57Speaker 1: me to understand that the world was bigger than what
- 33:59Speaker 1: was just directly in front of me, and that not
- 34:01Speaker 1: all of my prior decisions helped to determine my future.
- 34:04Speaker 1: That I'm now standing here as a sixty third governor
- 34:07Speaker 1: of my state. Right, I believe in second chances, and
- 34:10Speaker 1: I believe that people should earn the right to be
- 34:13Speaker 1: able to have a second chance as long as you
- 34:16Speaker 1: have those certain things that are in place, and people
- 34:18Speaker 1: should have the right to petition for it. And so
- 34:20Speaker 1: I just find it really you know, at times when
- 34:23Speaker 1: i'm people when people like no, no, no, no no,
- 34:25Speaker 1: I just find it really rich because for a lot
- 34:28Speaker 1: of times the people who are like no, no, no, no, no,
- 34:30Speaker 1: who are people who are standing there because someone in
- 34:32Speaker 1: their life said.
- 34:32Speaker 5: Yes, sure, talking of second chances.
- 34:36Speaker 4: Right.
- 34:37Speaker 5: Going back to Kim Mark Garcia, so I know that
- 34:40Speaker 5: Senator Holland is like he went and visited Salvador, and
- 34:44Speaker 5: people were upset that you quickly said that you weren't
- 34:47Speaker 5: planning to go there. Why were people upset about you
- 34:49Speaker 5: not going there when you already have boots on the ground.
- 34:52Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, and that's thing I was. I've been
- 34:54Speaker 1: in very close touch with Senator van Holland. I applauded
- 34:57Speaker 1: him when he went. We spoke before before or before
- 35:00Speaker 1: he went, and so you know, I know that as
- 35:03Speaker 1: a member of the Senate, there are certain responsibilities and
- 35:07Speaker 1: there's certain uh, there's certain uh uh pathways that they
- 35:11Speaker 1: have that I, as a governor, do not. That they
- 35:14Speaker 1: have certain jobs that they can do. As a governor,
- 35:16Speaker 1: there's certain I know my job is different. Uh. We
- 35:20Speaker 1: have always been completely aligned on making sure that due
- 35:25Speaker 1: process is followed, making sure that we can bring kill
- 35:28Speaker 1: Maarr back home so he can then stand trial. And
- 35:31Speaker 1: so I've been saying in lockstep with Center van Holland
- 35:34Speaker 1: the whole time. I applauded him going down and making
- 35:36Speaker 1: sure that he could come back and report back to
- 35:38Speaker 1: the family that he had that he put eyes on him,
- 35:42Speaker 1: uh and said that he's that he's that he's physically okay.
- 35:44Speaker 1: Because remember when Chris went down there. Nobody was sure
- 35:49Speaker 1: because no one had heard from him. And so Chris
- 35:51Speaker 1: going down there to say I now have seen him,
- 35:54Speaker 1: I know he's okay. Was a really important thing, not
- 35:57Speaker 1: just for the large society, but it was really important
- 36:00Speaker 1: for the family. But I also know as a governor,
- 36:02Speaker 1: I have certain responsibilities and restrictions on things that I
- 36:05Speaker 1: can do, and I'm going to make sure that we're
- 36:06Speaker 1: leading from from the perks that I said.
- 36:08Speaker 3: I think I think you'll have to stop making it
- 36:10Speaker 3: about Garcia and just start making it about making it
- 36:12Speaker 3: about the issue of due process.
- 36:14Speaker 1: That's all it is.
- 36:14Speaker 3: Yeah, because people because it's too you know, they love
- 36:17Speaker 3: to do that at to folks. The point the things
- 36:18Speaker 3: in his character and we I really don't know, but
- 36:20Speaker 3: let's talk about the constitutional violation that's happened.
- 36:24Speaker 1: And Chelman, you're absolu right, because I'm not. I am
- 36:27Speaker 1: not and I won't defend him.
- 36:29Speaker 2: I don't know.
- 36:30Speaker 1: His situation, I don't know his background, I don't know
- 36:34Speaker 1: I have never met with him. So I'm not defending
- 36:38Speaker 1: the person. I'm defending the constitution, right, I'm defending the
- 36:43Speaker 1: fact that there is due process and we've got to
- 36:46Speaker 1: be able to follow that. And frankly, once due process
- 36:49Speaker 1: happens again, if a judge rules that no, you know,
- 36:53Speaker 1: he is a threat to side, he is this, he
- 36:55Speaker 1: is that he needs to be set back, then you
- 36:57Speaker 1: know what, go ahead. Because there is nothing that I
- 37:01Speaker 1: care about more and I think people are saying that
- 37:02Speaker 1: with our track record in Maryland, there's nothing I care
- 37:05Speaker 1: more about than public safety. Like I make sure that
- 37:08Speaker 1: our people are safe. I will make sure we have
- 37:11Speaker 1: made historic investments in local law enforcement. We have made
- 37:14Speaker 1: historic investments, and not just our state's attorneys, but also
- 37:19Speaker 1: Maryland's one of the only states that actually puts balance
- 37:21Speaker 1: sheet into the US Attorney to make sure we're getting
- 37:23Speaker 1: trigger pollers off the street, to make sure we're getting
- 37:26Speaker 1: violent offenders off the street. That we've made historic investments
- 37:28Speaker 1: in violence prevention programs and violence interrupts, you know, people
- 37:32Speaker 1: like we are us and safe streets that are down
- 37:34Speaker 1: in Baltimore. So no one can ever question my commitment
- 37:38Speaker 1: to public safety. But also I think you can be
- 37:42Speaker 1: committed to public safety and committed to the Constitution, and
- 37:45Speaker 1: I don't think that those two things are at odds
- 37:48Speaker 1: with one another.
- 37:48Speaker 3: I got two more questions because I know you gotta go.
- 37:51Speaker 3: I love the fact that governors have their boots on
- 37:54Speaker 3: the ground. And I saw Governor Jos Shapiro on Bill
- 37:56Speaker 3: Maher and I forgot what Bill asked him, but he
- 37:59Speaker 3: was just like, look, I'm not focused on what they
- 38:00Speaker 3: got going on in DC. I'm focused on what I
- 38:02Speaker 3: got going on in Pennsylvania. So I like that, how
- 38:06Speaker 3: do we keep you from being a corny DC type
- 38:12Speaker 3: in DC?
- 38:13Speaker 1: So corny man, listen, you know the You know how
- 38:17Speaker 1: I guess is I didn't come from that. You know
- 38:21Speaker 1: what I mean? Like, like, listen, when when I first
- 38:24Speaker 1: ran for governor, I ran against statewide elected officials. I
- 38:28Speaker 1: ran against cabinet secretaries, the former head of the DNC,
- 38:31Speaker 1: the former head of the Democratic Party ran for governor,
- 38:33Speaker 1: and then me, guy who'd never run for office for
- 38:36Speaker 1: my life. But I was connected to the people, right.
- 38:41Speaker 1: It was the people that made me the governor. It
- 38:43Speaker 1: wasn't a party, it wasn't a political establishment. In fact,
- 38:45Speaker 1: the political stablishing wanted somebody else. So when I got
- 38:49Speaker 1: into that seat, I decided, I'm not going to turn
- 38:53Speaker 1: into something that I never was in the first place.
- 38:56Speaker 1: You know what I mean, so the way I have
- 38:57Speaker 1: continued to lead is I'm about the people. I will
- 39:00Speaker 1: always stand with the people. A political party does not
- 39:03Speaker 1: give me my talking points.
- 39:04Speaker 3: Good, don't let them change you, because you know they're
- 39:06Speaker 3: already talking about you in twenty twenty eight and they'll
- 39:08Speaker 3: be like, well's come over and start saying this, and
- 39:10Speaker 3: start doing that, and meet this person and take money
- 39:12Speaker 3: from this person.
- 39:13Speaker 2: And then you know what I mean, Like, I don't.
- 39:14Speaker 1: I don't. I don't play that game because I didn't
- 39:15Speaker 1: get here. That's not how I got here in the
- 39:17Speaker 1: first place. Man, Or like I mean, like I'm I am,
- 39:20Speaker 1: I am. I am the most improbable governor in this
- 39:23Speaker 1: country when you think about my journey, right, when you
- 39:26Speaker 1: think about my life path, and you know, and and
- 39:28Speaker 1: and again, I'm a person of faith. And Hezekiah Walker, No,
- 39:32Speaker 1: he's got a line he says, when I think about
- 39:34Speaker 1: my story, I can't help but give God glory. There
- 39:36Speaker 1: you go. I know where my strength comes from. My
- 39:38Speaker 1: strength doesn't come from a political party. My strength don't
- 39:40Speaker 1: come from political bosses. I don't. I don't.
- 39:42Speaker 2: I don't.
- 39:43Speaker 1: I don't follow that. I follow the people that got
- 39:46Speaker 1: me here in the first place the people who bucked
- 39:48Speaker 1: the political system, which was the people. And so I'm
- 39:52Speaker 1: not at all concerned about becoming a creature of something
- 39:57Speaker 1: that didn't create me in the first place. And actually,
- 40:00Speaker 1: I think that the main thing that people can do
- 40:02Speaker 1: right now is stay true and stay committed and stay authentic.
- 40:06Speaker 1: You know, when people say, well, what direction should people
- 40:08Speaker 1: go in or how should people talk or whatever like that,
- 40:10Speaker 1: I always find that question so confusing. I'm like, be authentic,
- 40:14Speaker 1: because if you're not authentic, the people will suss it out,
- 40:17Speaker 1: and the people will snuff it out, and they'll take
- 40:19Speaker 1: care of you the way they take care of you.
- 40:21Speaker 3: My final question, this is something that I love about you.
- 40:24Speaker 3: Is something that doctor Lumar Johnson loves about you, the
- 40:27Speaker 3: fact that.
- 40:28Speaker 2: You have a black woman.
- 40:30Speaker 3: Because so many people in positions of power like you
- 40:33Speaker 3: and government, especially black people, they don't.
- 40:35Speaker 2: Now, love is love, love who you want to love.
- 40:36Speaker 3: But as a man who loves to see black men
- 40:38Speaker 3: with black women, and I have a beautiful black families.
- 40:41Speaker 2: I love it. What is the importance to that.
- 40:45Speaker 1: You know, It's funny when when I got married we're
- 40:48Speaker 1: married now, but eighteen years my wife, she's beautiful, man,
- 40:52Speaker 1: and she's just an amazing human being. And I remember
- 40:56Speaker 1: when we said our vows. This shows you how corny
- 40:59Speaker 1: I was when we first got we give our vows,
- 41:01Speaker 1: and I'm like, you know my vows. I'm gonna keep
- 41:02Speaker 1: it fresh and sexy.
- 41:04Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, I'm gonna keep that sound like someone fly
- 41:20Speaker 2: a party Baltimore.
- 41:24Speaker 1: But you know what he was to me. She said,
- 41:26Speaker 1: I will be your greatest defender. I will be your
- 41:30Speaker 1: greatest defender. That's what Black women are and that's what
- 41:33Speaker 1: they've always been. Like I'm telling you, man, when you
- 41:36Speaker 1: think about what black women have meant to us, you know,
- 41:40Speaker 1: the whole you know, we was you know, raised by women.
- 41:44Speaker 1: A game came from women, you know what I'm saying. Like,
- 41:46Speaker 1: Black women have always been our anchor. Black women have
- 41:51Speaker 1: always been our guide. Black women have always been the
- 41:53Speaker 1: ones to when the whole world denied us, they defended
- 41:57Speaker 1: us and they lifted us up. And you know, and
- 42:01Speaker 1: I think about this where even the work that we're
- 42:04Speaker 1: doing right now in Maryland around our young men and boys,
- 42:08Speaker 1: do you know who beautifully have been some of the
- 42:11Speaker 1: greatest champions of the work that Maryland is doing that
- 42:14Speaker 1: really the nation leading work on supporting our young men
- 42:16Speaker 1: and boys women because they know that's talking about their
- 42:21Speaker 1: sons and their husbands and their fathers and their uncles
- 42:28Speaker 1: and their friends. And it's so beautiful to watch because
- 42:32Speaker 1: it is very indicative of how Black women and women
- 42:39Speaker 1: as a whole have always been our greatest defenders. That
- 42:44Speaker 1: when the whole world came at us, oftentimes it was
- 42:47Speaker 1: women who stood in front of us with shields and
- 42:50Speaker 1: say not today. And I'm so i cannot be more
- 42:57Speaker 1: lucky about the fact that I've married my best friend.
- 43:01Speaker 1: I married someone who I love and who I respect
- 43:04Speaker 1: and who I adore, and someone who you know, I'm
- 43:08Speaker 1: so thankful is on my side because I never want
- 43:10Speaker 1: to be on the other side of her spirit ever,
- 43:14Speaker 1: but someone who I am who.
- 43:17Speaker 3: I would ride for because she's always wroth.
- 43:21Speaker 2: Oh my god, beautiful.
- 43:33Speaker 5: She's the first African American first lady to say she is.
- 43:36Speaker 1: She sure is, she sure is. She's a beast too,
- 43:39Speaker 1: She's a beast. Y'all gotta come down, y'all gonna come.
- 43:41Speaker 4: In fact, you're gonna have crabs if we come.
- 43:43Speaker 1: Oh absolutely absolutely. And in fact, she is the co
- 43:46Speaker 1: chair of the Prignance festival, so for y'all, so you know,
- 43:50Speaker 1: you know, pregnant, so pregnant, pret pregnant. The second Yes,
- 44:00Speaker 1: it's a second leg of the Triple Crown, one of
- 44:02Speaker 1: the biggest horse races inside of the entire country. But
- 44:05Speaker 1: it's but it's also it's a big deal because it's
- 44:07Speaker 1: a whole festival around it and it's in beautiful Park Heights, Baltimore,
- 44:12Speaker 1: the home of Brandon Scott. But my, but my amazing wife,
- 44:16Speaker 1: our States First Lady is the coach chair. You got
- 44:19Speaker 1: to see what she is doing the build out. She's
- 44:21Speaker 1: having club quarantine. Uh d Nice is coming down there,
- 44:25Speaker 1: bringing a bringing, Jada kids, bringing too short, I mean,
- 44:27Speaker 1: bring everybody from seventeenth.
- 44:31Speaker 4: Yes, I'll be there at me fourteenth, full week of stuff.
- 44:36Speaker 3: Well, right, Governor Westmore, thank you brother. We appreciate you man.
- 44:40Speaker 3: We love the work you're doing in Maryland, and I mean,
- 44:43Speaker 3: you know, somebody need to replicate it on the national stage.
- 44:46Speaker 3: And I hope that you know, somebody gets the opportunity
- 44:48Speaker 3: to so, because I don't know if we will have
- 44:51Speaker 3: a democracy in twenty twenty eight or night, but we'll see,
- 44:53Speaker 3: oh we.
- 44:54Speaker 1: Will, as long as we don't as all, we're gonna
- 44:55Speaker 1: forfeit it. Yeah, now that's what I'm saying, like like,
- 44:58Speaker 1: I mean, like we have to understan and it's like
- 45:00Speaker 1: the power does belong to the people. That's the beauty
- 45:04Speaker 1: of where we're at right now. And I'll say this
- 45:08Speaker 1: one thing for our close too, And this is why Maryland,
- 45:11Speaker 1: I think actually is really important in this situation. I'm
- 45:13Speaker 1: a big I'm a big history buff, so like, especially
- 45:16Speaker 1: in really difficult times, I generally tend to lean on history,
- 45:18Speaker 1: and I like a lot of Maryland history, and you know,
- 45:22Speaker 1: in really difficult times like now, I'll read about famous
- 45:24Speaker 1: Marylanders like Harriet Tubman or Frederick Douglass or Third Good Marshall,
- 45:30Speaker 1: And I think to myself, imagine having a conversation with
- 45:35Speaker 1: Harriet Tubman, who, by the way, one of the great
- 45:37Speaker 1: things about being governor is I have the power to commission.
- 45:39Speaker 1: And I made Harriet Tubman a general last year, so
- 45:42Speaker 1: she's now General Harriet Tubman. And I think about what
- 45:45Speaker 1: would a conversation be like with General Tubman telling her
- 45:50Speaker 1: about the dangers of this moment. And I think about
- 45:54Speaker 1: the way she would look at me and say, do
- 45:56Speaker 1: you know what I've been through. M hmm. Do you
- 45:59Speaker 1: know what it was like when I had to run
- 46:02Speaker 1: from my life for my freedom in the middle of
- 46:05Speaker 1: the night, running from dogs and people were guns. And
- 46:09Speaker 1: then when I finally made it to Pennsylvania and I
- 46:11Speaker 1: got my freedom, I then decided to go back to
- 46:16Speaker 1: bring more people and where she became one of the
- 46:19Speaker 1: greatest conductors in the underground railroad.
- 46:21Speaker 2: Right.
- 46:22Speaker 1: And I think to myself, what a conversation where Harriet
- 46:25Speaker 1: Tubtan will be like telling her how tough my job is,
- 46:29Speaker 1: how difficult we've got it, and watch her look at
- 46:32Speaker 1: me and say I would have shot him.
- 46:35Speaker 2: Yeah, why are you arguing with people in Congress.
- 46:47Speaker 1: In the middle of the night. Not get what you
- 46:53Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, but like, let's let's not
- 46:54Speaker 1: forget where we come from, Like for all these people like,
- 46:57Speaker 1: oh this is tough, and oh this please don't forget
- 47:00Speaker 1: our history. Please don't forget our ancestors. Please don't forget
- 47:04Speaker 1: what they had to go through. And listen, you know,
- 47:08Speaker 1: as Kate I says, we're gonna be.
- 47:12Speaker 2: Don't take the Harriet tell meing thing out of context.
- 47:14Speaker 2: That was a nice black joke.
- 47:17Speaker 7: We're not trying to shoot anybody, Okay, think about exactly.
- 47:28Speaker 4: But you know, tell okay, I know you gotta go.
- 47:33Speaker 4: Do you listen to Votto?
- 47:35Speaker 2: Shut up jes. Thank you, appreciate you, We thank you
- 47:39Speaker 2: for coming. Governor west Moll Wake up in the morning
- 47:45Speaker 2: Breakfast Club