Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / James Uthmeier, Florida's Attorney General Joins Preston

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James Uthmeier, Florida's Attorney General Joins Preston · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: All right, five past the hour. It's the Morning Show
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: with Preston Scott. Good morning, friends. Great to be with
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: you this morning. Grant Allen, we got the band back
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: together again. Grant is here with us, and he's over
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: there in Studio 1A. I am here in Studio 1B,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: and I am joined again in studio by Florida's Attorney General,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: James There we go. I have gotten it right ever since.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I went back and listened to that segment. I said, so,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Attorney General James Uthmeyer, how many people get your name wrong?
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: And you're like, well, you just did. Pretty much everybody,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: but we're working on it. We're educating the state one
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: voter at a time. Well, you are, and that leads
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: to my first question. What's it like running to now
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: get a full term as an elected Attorney General for
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the state of Florida?
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: It's certainly very different, very humbling, overwhelming. I mean, you're,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: we got a big state here with a lot of people,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: very diverse communities. Miami is different than Tampa is different
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: than Jacksonville. It's very different than the panhandle where I
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: grew up. So I'm out there, I'm listening to voters,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: trying to understand, you know, what's keeping them up at night,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: what's hurting their wallet. But for me, I'm a little
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: different than, than all the other, you know, political candidates
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: running for office, and that my job is really not partisan.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: It's law and order. It's public safety, keeping families in
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Florida safe. And we've run on a record in the
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: last year and a half. We've broken every record under
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: the books, most prosecutions in state history, most convictions, four
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: times the sentences, the punishments for child predators, an all-time record,
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: over 2,000 child predators arrested. And Florida's never been safer.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: We're at all-time crime lows. So I'm out there trying
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: to remind voters, Public safety is always going to be
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: number one. And if you want to keep our streets safe,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: you know, please send me back to keep working.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: I don't mean to make to make this sound dismissive
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: of what you just listed. But the fact of the
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: matter is that's the low hanging fruit, really the stuff
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: that what why haven't we been dealing with this a
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: little bit more? And while you come on the heels
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: of Republican attorney generals, the reality is you have been
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: a little more laser focused on crimes against the citizens
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: of this state.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Well, our Office of Statewide Prosecution has jurisdiction of crimes
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: that cross over circuit lines. So historically, it's been large-scale
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: financial crimes, public assistance crimes, maybe an odd-end drug case
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: that goes from one county into the next. But today,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: so many crimes originate on the Internet. scams, the texts
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: everybody's getting that go after seniors, child predators. We've found
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: about 60% of our cases, they originate online, where they're
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: using social media and websites to try to solicit and
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: prey upon kids. The minute it goes online, it's multi-jurisdictional,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: and I can take over the case if I want.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: So we've really built out an entirely new unit on
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: child crimes, and that's where we've taken down thousands of
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: these very demented individuals.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: You mentioned the texting and the stuff that deals with
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: phones and laptops and tablets and the online stuff. How
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: does somebody, I mean, you put your number on the
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: do not call list. It's irrelevant. It doesn't matter. They're
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: using these devices that are basically, they're probably using VPNs.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: They're pirating numbers and calling. And then it's all a scam.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: A lot of it, most all of it. How do
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: you track those people down? It's very difficult.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: A lot of them are overseas. They're using VPNs. They're
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: bouncing around. It takes, honestly, coordination with the federal government,
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: which we're working on. We've got a great relationship with
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: the FBI, and we've been working on a two-year... undercover
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: operation to identify some of these cells overseas and take
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: them down. And we need the foreign countries to work
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: with us. But we also need to get the carriers
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: to help out. They can get to you now without
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: even having your cell number. They've got the technology to
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: just ping a tower and and hit everybody in a radius,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: and that's not right. So we need to get the
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: AT & Ts and others of the world to step
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: in here and use the tools they have to block
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: some of these questionable calls and texts from coming in.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: And some of these scams, they're very, very convincing. There's
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: one right now I've been educating the state on where
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: you get a call that you missed jury duty and
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: there's a warrant out for your arrest, and it's a
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: deputy sheriff on the phone with a badge number.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: You Google it.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: The name is real. And then they tell you you
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: can delay your appearance if you pay $ 5, 000. And people
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: are falling for it. Even somebody on my own staff
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: was falling for it. I tell people, if there's a
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: warrant out for your arrest, they don't call you. They
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: don't schedule it. They just come get you. So do
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: not fall for these scams.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: He's Florida's Attorney General James Uthmeyer with us this morning
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: here on The Morning Show. And you mentioned rolling around
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: the state, hearing from voters. But you also mentioned You're
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: in a very different role than, say, a member of
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: the state legislature or Congress in that your job has
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: nothing to do with left and right. It has nothing
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: to do with anything but the law. So what could
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: a citizen say to you that causes you to go, huh,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: and get your attention because people are so wired to
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: talk about things through the lens of political? Mm-hmm. Have
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: you had someone say something to you that you've said, oh,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: I got to make a note about this?
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Every day.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Really? Every day.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Somebody told me they were booking a flight and
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: their family member was sitting next to them and they
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: were looking at the app for the airline and then
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: they logged out and they logged back in and all
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: of a sudden the price has gone up for them,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: but not the person sitting next to them. And so
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: as we've been investigating, we now see, all right, there's
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: some of this targeted pricing based on consumer behavior, where
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: if you've been looking at it, they go and gouge
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: you a little bit. And look, I'm a pro-business guy.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: I don't believe in going after business just for the
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: sake of going after it. But when they hurt our
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: consumers and punish people and deceive in how they advertise
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: and promote it's the office of attorney general that has
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: to hold them accountable. So we've gone after big pharma,
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: you know, where there's just a few manufacturers of a
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: drug like insulin. And then we find out they're all
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: coordinating on price. And so prices keep going up and
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: obviously the consumer suffers ideas like that, you know, where
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: people are suffering. I love to hear about it because
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: I'm an ideas guy. I'm action oriented. I want to
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: go and, and fight the fight. And we tend to
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: deliver results. Starbucks, they were using racial preferences for hiring.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: We investigated that turned out to be true. We brought
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: a lawsuit. Ultimately, we just settled with them. We got
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: a good chunk of change for the state, and they
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: changed their practices where they're not doing that anymore. They're
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: back to the business of doing business. So I love
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: hearing problems, attacking them, and getting results.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Yours is also different, meaning your office as attorney general,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: in that you're not very reactive in the sense that, yeah,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: crime's committed, you react to that, and you do whatever
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: is needed within the court system. But there's a proactive
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: side of this. Do you ever find yourself in a
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: position where you're hearing from members of the community, as
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: you just mentioned, but you see because you know the
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: laws of the state, there's a hole. Do you find
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: yourself having to sit down with the governor, with perhaps
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: the leadership of the House and the Senate and say, hey,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: we have a problem here. Our laws aren't covering this.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: How does that happen? How does that work?
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Well, a good example hits very close to home. There
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: was a case where a guy was convicted by a
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: jury of child abuse, sex abuse of a minor, and
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: then the judge lets him out while he's awaiting sentencing.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: So he's been convicted now by a jury, and we're
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: all scratching our head, and he ends up murdering his
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: five-year-old stepdaughter, Missy. And so we realized there is a
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: hole here. A judge actually has the discretion. You'd think
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: nobody would ever do that, but the judge had the
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: discretion and lawfully exercised it to let this guy go
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: free after being convicted of such a heinous crime. And
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: then another little girl now is dead because of that.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: So we went back and we worked on Missy's Law
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: to basically close this loophole. So yeah, we see things
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: every time when there's an injustice and we want to
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: go prosecute it. And Maybe we don't have all the
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: tools we need or the law's not as solid as
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: we would want it to be. We go and address
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: it that way.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: I want to, before we go to break, I had
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: a story here. A Pittsburgh judge released a guy. He
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: was released after stabbing somebody. Within six days of release,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: stabbed somebody else so viciously, I won't go into the details.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: When a judge makes... And a horrendous decision like that.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Should judges face consequences? And if so, what should they be?
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. I mean, in some of the most extreme cases,
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: there might be ways to prosecute them. But at the
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: very least, the Constitution affords us the impeachment process. It's
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: in almost every state constitution, but we haven't seen them
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: in modern history. And that's why I've been out there
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: proposing where a judge in Miami let a guy go
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: free on bail, literally after he put rocks in a
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: little girl's mouth while she's being molested. you should lose
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: your job. You're not adhering to your oath. You're not
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: keeping the streets safe. Letting dangerous people go free should
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: not be a goal of anybody, Republican, Democrat, or otherwise.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: We can agree on that.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Reminder for those of you, especially in and around Bay County,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: pay attention to what's going on with your emergency management,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: whether it's Bay County, Gulf County, or any of the
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: surrounding counties. Make sure you know what's happening. Make sure
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: if the evacuations go from voluntary to mandatory. The storm
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: right now looks like it's going to hit winter. in
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: the mid-afternoon. That could change a little bit. It seems
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: to be speeding up just a touch. But everywhere in
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: the broadcast area, tornadoes. That's the big challenge here. You
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: know where the hurricane's coming. You know when it's coming.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: And you know the likelihood of what it's going to
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: bring with it. You don't know about tornadoes. So again,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: abundance of caution, kind of our personal defense model that
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: we talk about here in the program. Have a plan,
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: have some awareness of where you would go in your
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: home should there be a tornado warning in the area.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: The Attorney General with us. So what has your attention
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: right now? What are you focused on? And what do
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: you think the lawmakers are going to be focused on?
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: I'm hyper-focused on big tech and AI. We just keep
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: seeing dozens and dozens of cases where young adults, children,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: they're hurting themselves, committing suicide, engaging in criminal activity, and
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: we go into their computer, and they've been talking to
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: ChatGPT for weeks. And it's not a Google search. It's
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: designed to mimic human personality and empathy and egg people
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: on to some of their worst desires. Obviously, we saw
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: the FSU shooting where ChatGPT was used to advise that
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: shooter on what type of gun to use, ammo, how
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: to use it, where to go on campus, at what
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: time to encounter the most foot traffic. So we've got
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: to make changes here. I'm not anti-AI. I use it.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: It helps us in our office. We use it to
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: get child predators. But the companies cannot be left to
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: their own devices to regulate themselves. So we as civic leaders,
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: state leaders, human leaders, we've got to get in and
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: control this before it gets away from us. And they're
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: already screaming that, you know, they lost control, where you
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: see hacks through firewalls and government agencies and companies. And
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: then we learned months later that they didn't direct it
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: or even know about it until it had already happened.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: What's interesting to me is it's not just the whistleblowers,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: but the companies themselves, they work with an outside group,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: they do some checks, and the software, the AI software
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: itself is shown capabilities of doing what its programmers said
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: can't be done and what it wasn't programmed to do
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: and act independently. And so a little bit of James
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Cameron in Terminator 1 starts popping in your brain, and
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: these things seemingly are becoming a little bit independent and self-aware.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: So what can be done to rein it in? Well,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: two things.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: One, we've got to make it costly when there's injury
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: and harm at the result of their device. So we
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: brought a nation-leading suit against open AI, and we're seeking
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: billions in damages given all the harm we see out there. Second,
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: we do need legislation. I'd love it to be federal.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: That's not going to happen. So I think Florida needs
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: to lead the way here and make sure we have
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: proper age verification and content moderation and that we're restricting
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: these devices from engaging in certain topics or talking to
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: kids in a way that's going to be harmful. I'll
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: give you one quick example. We found a chatbot that
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: was literally creating child porn upon request, where people could
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: ask for this or that type of visual, and it
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: would create it. We go to the head of the company,
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: and he said, well, we didn't want it to do that.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: We didn't design it to do that. And by the way,
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: that's a state crime, very serious. It just learned on
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: its own, machine learning on the internet. That's scary. So
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: they fixed it quickly, but When these things can go
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: off and educate themselves, and now there's AI apps to
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: manage your finances and help pay bills, Lord knows what
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: happens when they start thinking for themselves and wiring your
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: money where it's not supposed to go.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Well, I've grown to believe that AI is eventually, if
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: not already, going to be like a cat. I believe
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: our house cats plot to kill us at every moment
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: of the day. And... And I think that AI is
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: in a similar position in certain areas. But when you
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: see a judge, and this has happened across the country somewhere,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I forget the jurisdiction, but a judge said, okay, that's
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: not actual pornography of a child, but yet the image
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: that it conjures up is based on real human being images,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: is it not?
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: It is, and that's why we passed an additional law
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: in Florida where AI depictions of child pornography have the
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: same criminal weight. And look, a lot of judges, they
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: slap guys down for child pornography. I promise you, these people,
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: when they're going there to scratch that itch, they want
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: to go further.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: This is a step towards real abuse, so we've got
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: to kill it in the cradle.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's no doubt about it. It's one of those
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: progressive crimes that it's a little bit like shoplifting. If
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: you don't catch it and deal with it the first time,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: it will grow and get worse. That's right. 35 minutes
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: past the hour. Attorney General James Uthmeyer with me for
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: another 10 minutes. He's going to have to duck out.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: And actually, he's just being kind and polite because we
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: have What's the Beef Friday. I think it would be
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: unfair to have him, you know, kind of be the
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: precursor to What's the Beef. But anyway.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: I'll give you my beef.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: And I'll ask you for it in mere moments. A
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: little bit of a lightning round here. We'll take a
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: couple minutes, maybe a minute and a half per topic here.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: Why in Florida have we not seen employers that employ
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: illegal immigrants held responsible?
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Well, number one, I don't think the law is strong enough.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: We've got to verify laws, but there's tons of loopholes
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: and employee limits. And unfortunately, it's just not addressing the problem.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: There are lawful visa programs that the businesses can go
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: through if they are looking for seasonal workers, having trouble
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: finding people. But we've got a real problem that's not
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: being fixed. Look, yesterday we arrested 21 child predators, four
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: not U.S.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Citizens.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: One had an outstanding deportation order. That's a trend we
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: see every time we do one of these stings. And
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: a lot of them are making a living somehow by
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: being in the state.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: If we just sit here mopping up the leak and
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: we don't actually go fix the pipe, then we're not
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: fixing the problem. So there does need to be some enforcement,
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: but we need some new legislative help, too.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Second question. I saw yesterday the U.S. House has a
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: bill seeking to strip the Democrat Socialist Party of America.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: It's party standing. Is that enough?
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: Well, I hadn't seen that yet, but I'll tell you,
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: when you've got an association that is tied to dangerous
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: organizations and networks and terrorist ties, you know, we just
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: went after anybody that's promoting Sharia law in Florida, that
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: is not a religion. When you are preaching death and
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: destruction to Western Republican ideals, that's not a First Amendment
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: item to be protected. We need to go and shut
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: that down before people get hurt. I have studied Islam,
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: along with other religions, for about eight years, and I
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: have been saying that for quite a while now. Islam
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: is not a religion. It cannot coexist with a constitutional republic.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: But let's broaden this just a little bit. Let's put
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: your legal scholar hat on here for just a second.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Whether it's socialist activities or Islamic activities, they have some commonalities.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: One of them is that what they've stated, what is
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: in their stated beliefs or system of governance or whatever
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: it might be, is in contravention to our United States Constitution.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: So I've had legal scholars say, well, you can't keep
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: them from running, but when they take action, you can
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: do something.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I'm a big believer in the First Amendment
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: and discourse, the exchange of ideas. I think we need
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: to be wary of government action to silence views of
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: people associating. But when it kicks into a new level
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: of preaching death and destruction, we do not want Sharia
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: law in our schools saying, oh, the boys get to
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: go eat lunch first. because they're a higher citizen, and
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: then we'll let the girls go in after that. We
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: don't want them talking about death to America being the
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: ultimate ideal. We've got to protect from these societies that
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: are embedding themselves in communities across the state, preaching destruction.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: How big of a challenge is it? Because I am
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: of the opinion one of the first steps the federal
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: government needs to take is strip Islamic organizations and mosques
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: of their 501c3 because of the very reasons you're mentioning.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: I agree.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: You can go through 990 tax documents and you can
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: see ties in funding and sponsorship between a lot of
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: these domestic organizations like CARE and legit terrorist networks overseas.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: And that's why we've taken action in Florida. We've laid
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: out an entirely new rulemaking process where the Florida Department
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: of Law Enforcement can make recommendations to the governor and
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: he can designate domestic terrorist organizations, and then we can
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: deny them school choice vouchers. We can deny them permits
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: on construction and expansion. We can deny them nonprofit status
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: here in the state. I think this is great. I
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: hope other states follow suit and ultimately that the federal
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: government needs to do the same thing.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Some pro sports leagues have made news in the last
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: year or so, and I've laughed and I've had a
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: great time talking about your responses on social media. The
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: Attorney General's Office of Florida would like to have a word.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: whether it was Major League Baseball or the NFL. And
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: the WNBA.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: I never thought I'd be going head-to-head against all these leagues,
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: but they deserve it.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so what have you heard back from any of them?
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: Well, the MLB, you'll remember, they were going to fine
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: the players for writing Bible verses on their hats, but
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: if you did LGBT or whatever else, you were fine.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: We've had great conversations there. They know it was wrong.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: They've apologized. They didn't punish the players. The NFL, with
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: the Rooney Rule, where they've got to interview black coaches
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: and you can get extra drafts, picks for advancement of minorities,
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: they've basically told us to pound sand. So that one's
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: going to be a fight, I think.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: What a shock. Yeah. Okay, we're going to lighten things
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: up just a little bit. Consider this Insights into Florida's
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Attorney General, James Uthmeyer. He has no idea what's coming
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: his way other than one question at the very end.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: What's the last movie you and your wife either rented, streamed,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: or went actually out to a theater to see?
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: I believe it was the Gladiator sequel.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: Were you as disappointed as everyone seemed to be?
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: I had low expectations because I think the first one
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: is my favorite movie. So I went in thinking... You know,
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: this is only going to be a letdown. And I
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: actually was somewhat surprised. Okay. So I give it, you know, again,
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: not the original.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Because I'm a huge fan of the original. Would you
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: tell me to watch it? Yeah, you should. Okay. Okay.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: If you could pick one meal that just, like, this
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: would be the perfect meal to sit down and eat,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: what would it be?
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: I'm an Italian pasta guy. So cacio e pepe or carbonara.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Really?
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: How does a guy with the name Uthmeyer end up
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: an Italian food fanatic?
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: I love good pasta, especially when you're over there. You
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: don't feel lethargic and sluggish the way you do here
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: if you eat a big pasta bowl. Something's wrong with
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: the ingredients here in the good U.S.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Of A.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: Over there, they're all still thin, and they can eat
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: as much pasta as they want.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Mediterranean diet, baby. We talked earlier in the program about
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: ConAgra Foods doing away with Celeste frozen pizzas. They're going
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: to be gone. So they're selling out the rest of them.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: For a lot of people, it was nostalgia, and it
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: was what they remember mom and grandma having in the freezer.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: If you had to eat a frozen pizza, what brand
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: would it be, and what would it be?
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: It's been so long since I've had a frozen pizza,
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: I don't even know.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: I'm a big New York-style pizza fan, so I'd go
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: that category.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Fold it in half?
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: You've got to fold it in half. You like a
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: little grease dripping off of it?
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Lubricate a few parts. tools with what's dripping off the pizza,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: that kind of thing?
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: When I lived in D.C., I lived on top of
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: a pizza shop in my apartment, so it was dangerous
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: to go home from work every night at 10 and
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: grab some pizza on the way in.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: Do you have sports allegiances, and if so, what are they?
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: I do.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: I'm a Green Bay Packer fan, as I think we've
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: talked about. My dad's side of the family all hails
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: from up there, so I make the pilgrimage up.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Every other year. Can you talk Wisconsin?
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: So-so. I don't follow along as much as I used to.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: All you have to do is get a little nasally
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: there and, my gosh, have a brat and a little
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: beer cheese on the side there.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: I do like a good brat.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay. And do you call it soda or pop?
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: My dad always said pop. I was raised down here.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: I'm a Florida boy, so I stick with soda.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: What about other sports? Is there a sport that you
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: personally enjoy playing?
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: Uh, I'm, I'm trying to learn how to golf and
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: all the kids like it. Uh, so we're, we're now
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: I'm too far in, you know, it's so frustrating and
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: it's not as easy as it looks. I'm about five
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: years in and we're, we're shaving some strokes down where
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: we can.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: You and I need to have a talk, my friend, but.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: Grew up playing baseball. Uh, I've always been a Braves
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: fan though. I am excited about the raise and, uh,
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: what's going on there. So there'll be a, there'll be
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: the team I'm rooting for, for the stretch.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Last question. And this is the one I actually allowed
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: you to prep.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I thought hard about it. Yeah.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: It's What's the Beef Friday coming up in just a
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: few minutes. So if you were to call our program,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: and I'm not suggesting you do that, although you do
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: have the number. If you were to call the program
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: and have a beef, what would it be? I'm going
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: to give you two. The more serious one is these
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: scam texts and calls. We're all getting them. I'm tired
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: of it. I'm going to do something about it.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: We're going to go and prosecute some people and change
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: some laws for accountability. But the other one is the
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: paper straws. And I know it's been out there forever,
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: but I drive back and forth to Gainesville teaching at
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: UF Law School, and I hit Chick-fil-A the other night
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: on the way back, and Chick-fil-A's got these paper straws.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: No, they don't. They do. They don't.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: They do, and it just ruined it for me.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Is it in Gainesville that they have them? Because they're
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: plastic red here. I don't know.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: You better go check. I think they might have... bent
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: the knee on this. And by the way, we've looked
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: into this. It costs a lot more. So it gets
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: passed down to consumers. Consumers are paying more for them
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: to feel good about the ESG environmental movement.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: It gets so gross in your mouth after just a
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: few slurps.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: It does. That's my beef.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: All right. Fair enough. Thanks for the time today.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: I always enjoy it.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: You're always welcome. See you soon. Thanks so much. James Uthmeyer,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Attorney General, State of Florida, our guest here on The
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Morning Show with Preston Scott.