← The Joy Reid Show
The Joy Reid Show
Holding Trump Accountable: Letitia James Speaks Out | The Joy Reid Show, Sep 15, 2025
00:43:16
Loading summary
Transcript53 lines
- [00:01]
Robinhood Advertiser
Wouldn't it be great to manage your portfolio on one platform? Well, now you can trade all in one place on Robinhood. That means you can trade individual stocks and ETFs and also buy and sell crypto using seriously powerful and intuitive tools at one of the lowest costs on average without needing to manage multiple apps. Robinhood makes withdrawing and depositing crypto seamless. Send crypto to your Robinhood account or send crypto from your Robinhood account to other wallets without deposit or withdrawal fees from Robinhood. Trade all in one place. Get started now on Robinhood Trading. Crypto involves significant risk. Crypto trading is offered through an account with Robinhood Crypto llc. Robinhood Crypto is licensed to engage in virtual currency business activity by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Crypto held through Robinhood crypto is not FDIC insured or SIPC Protected network fees may apply to crypto transfers. Crypto transfers may not be available to all customers. Investing involves risk, including loss of principal securities trading is offered through an account with Robinhood Financial LLC member sipc, a registered broker dealer.
- [01:01]
Poet/Spoken Word Artist
Okay.
- [01:07]
Joy Reid
Hello everyone and welcome to the Joy Reid show, live from Harlem, our secondary studio. We always love being with you. Thanks to everybody who's tuning in, whether you are on YouTube or Spotify or substack, and especially big ups to our team TJRS members. Don't forget to hit that like and subscribe button to make sure you you keep this independent media content coming. All right? We had to make sure that we thank and appreciate love everybody who's a part of our family. So thank you all once again. Now I'm gonna say this. I think this is true. Since 2019, at least, I don't think anyone has been as aggressive at holding Donald Trump to account than New York Attorney General Letitia James.
- [01:51]
Donald Trump
This is the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country. There has never been president or perhaps even another politician who has been persecuted, harassed and in every other way unfairly treated like President Donald J. Trump. What Letitia James has tried to do the last number of years is a disgrace to the legal system, an affront to the New York State taxpayers, and a violation of the solemn rights and protections afforded by the United States Constitution.
- [02:34]
Joy Reid
XI has held his so called charities to account, his company to account, his fake university to account. And Donald Trump has clearly noticed not just what is happening, but who is causing him to have to face this accountability that he's simply not used to. And so his attacks against Letitia James have been relentless. Relentless. But she's not backing down. She's continuing to fight for the interests of the people of New York. And so we decided, let's talk to her and get her opinions on what's happening now. And joining me now is Letitia James, the attorney general of the great state of New York. Madam Attorney Attorney General, thank you so much for being here.
- [03:20]
Letitia James
Thank you for having me. Joy. I need some joy in my life.
- [03:23]
Joy Reid
You got it. Look, literally. So let's talk about this because, you know, you began investigating the Trump organization in 2019, and this grew out of an investigation where you were actually looking at the sort of unlawful appearing, raising of rents against New Yorkers, really harming New Yorkers ability to afford to live in New York. But this wound up being an organization, an investigation of the Trump Organization. Talk about what prompted that investigation and what you wound up finding successfully in court.
- [03:55]
Letitia James
So, first of all, thank you for allowing me to be on your wonderful show. And I miss you so much. And I'm so glad that I'm back. The Trump Organization, Donald Trump, some family members and the Trump Organization et al, came to my attention as a result of a congressional hearing. There are those out there who are attacking me, who are arguing that this was all about politics because I ran on a campaign and people were asking me with regards to the misdeeds of Donald Trump. The reality at the end of the day is in a court of law, people really don't care about your comments that you make during a campaign. It's really all about the facts and the evidence.
- [04:41]
Joy Reid
And so based upon you're talking about the fact that when you ran for office in 2018, you said, I'm going to investigate Donald Trump. You said that in your campaign.
- [04:50]
Letitia James
I said that during my campaign, individuals were asking me questions with respect to Donald Trump. He was the subject of concern amongst New Yorkers. But again, that will not get you in court. What will get you in court is facts and evidence. And so there was a congressional hearing, as you know, and there were the testimony of Michael Cohen, his then Mr. Fix. It brought to light that, in fact, Donald Trump, the Trump Organization and his family members had engaged in basically seeking to get favorable mortgage interest rates by raising the value of their assets and decreasing the value of their assets for the purposes of getting tax benefits and insurance benefits. As a result of the testimony of Michael Cohen, we decided to launch an investigation. That investigation took almost two years, two and a half years. And it was based upon the law, the analysis of the law, the application of the law to those facts. We decided that there was sufficient evidence to file a complaint against Donald Trump, some family members in the Trump Organization. And as a result of that, there was a trial. It resulted in a judgment, a summary judgment, resulting in a fine to the tune of $425 million and an ult, as a result of interest, almost a half a billion dollars. As you know, most recently, the Appellate Division, the first term, decided that, in fact, the judgment was substantiated by the facts, but the fine was excessive. So the only part of the case that was reduced, that was addressed was the fine. And they argued that that was excessive in violation of the Eighth Amendment. And so they knocked that part of the laws out. But they did come to the conclusion that Donald Trump and some of his family members engaged in fraud, they engaged in financial manipulation, they overvalued their property to take advantage of lower interest rates. And now that is the subject of an investigation by the Department of Justice, which has been weaponized by Donald Trump. Donald Trump said that he wanted. He said that I was. He called me all kind of names, and he basically directed the Department of Justice to investigate my affairs. And they're using mortgage fraud as the vehicle upon which they're investigating myself, Adam Schiff, Ms. Cook, Lisa Cook, and countless others. And most of it, as you know, is frivolous. It's baseless, because in order to prove mortgage fraud, one has to prove intent. And that's a very high standard and very high bar to meet. And we will be appealing the decision by the Appellate Division that, in fact, the fine was excessive. We have filed a notice of appeal. Donald Trump has also filed a notice of appeal as well with respect to the finding of fraud, which was the underlying basis for the fine.
- [08:14]
Joy Reid
So let me break this down just into a few pieces here. If the appeals court has determined the fine was excessive, does that mean they reduced the fine to zero? Will the people of New York get zero money now?
- [08:26]
Letitia James
Yeah, the fine was reduced. It was eliminated. It was removed. It was found to be excess, no fine at all. There was a finding that, in fact, he had engaged in fraud, but there was no penalty at all. And so we are appealing that decision. And as you know, it was a divided court. It was divided. There were two members of the court who basically said that the judgment that the fine was excessive, the judgment was valid. There were two other justices who basically argued that they had questions with respect to the judgment and the fine and basically said that it should go back down to the trial court to make a determination on whether or not the Fine was excessive. And then there was one judge who, in fact, said the whole thing should be thrown out, who questioned my authority and the basis for bringing this complaint against Donald Trump at all.
- [09:25]
Joy Reid
And I want to back this up, because the thing that I think is shocking about that is that if in fact, and what Michael Cohen testified to in Congress is that Donald Trump would increase the value on paper of his properties when he wanted to get loans for the properties and then decrease the value of the properties when he wanted to get insurance or the other way around.
- [09:47]
Congressional Investigator
To your knowledge, did the president ever provide inflated assets to an insurance company?
- [09:53]
Donald Trump
Yes.
- [09:55]
Congressional Investigator
Who else knows that the president did this?
- [09:57]
Joy Reid
Allen Weisselberg, Ron Lieberman and Matthew Calamari.
- [10:01]
Congressional Investigator
And where would the committee find more information on this, do you think we need to review his financial statements and his tax returns in order to compare them?
- [10:10]
Donald Trump
Yes.
- [10:10]
Joy Reid
And you'd find it at the Trump. Org.
- [10:12]
Congressional Investigator
Thank you very much.
- [10:14]
Joy Reid
To your knowledge, did the president or.
- [10:17]
Poet/Spoken Word Artist
His company ever inflate assets or revenues?
- [10:22]
Joy Reid
Yes, he would lever the value depending on whether he needed to get loans or whether he wanted insurance. Right. So he's leveraging it up and down. If that is costing the state of New York money, meaning the taxpayers of New York are losing out on money. I'm trying to work out how you could find that he did it, but that the taxpayers do not get any restitution. I don't understand that.
- [10:49]
Letitia James
The argument was that there were no victims, that the bank obviously loaned him money, that these were sophisticated instruments, that in fact, there was no victim here in this particular case. And as a result of that, the fine was excessive. And again, two judges said the fine was excessive, two said it should go back to the trial court to make a determination with respect to a wide range of issues. And there was one judge who at the end of the day, said the whole thing should be thrown out. So it now goes to the highest court in the state of New York, the Court of Appeals. Again, we are appealing the issue with respect to the relief, the penalty. And we believe that, in fact, that the penalty that was imposed upon Donald Trump and the interest that accrued was balanced and fair and obviously should stand.
- [11:50]
Joy Reid
There are a couple of ways in which I think that people who are hearing this are going to think this sounds crazy. Donald Trump as President of the United States has said that Columbia University must pay, I guess, the United States treasury, maybe him personally, I don't know who is getting this money. $200 million. He wants Harvard University to pay him the Treasury. We're not sure who's getting this money. Again, I don't know. This seems like a mafia thing to me. He seems to be asking for bribes. $500 million from Harvard. He wants a billion dollars from one of the universities in California, I believe, USC or ucla. And we could go on. Because he wants them to pay money, because he believes that they didn't do enough to stop pro Palestinian protest. And so to, to, to, to recompense, I guess him or whoever, his donors or whoever is angry about that, they have to pay money. So if, if, if the idea is, is that the United States must be reimbursed for whatever these universities supposedly did to offend Donald Trump. I don't understand how Donald Trump does not have to reimburse the people of New York. But I won't ask you to argue that because obviously that's not your argument. But the other issue where you're talking about no victim, right, we have now seen rolled out against particularly black women over and over and over again. And that is the fact that most of us as African Americans, as black folks, are not able to buy houses, cash. You know, we wish that we had those kinds of financial legacies. We don't. We all have to get a mortgage. And so everyone who's ever gotten a mortgage is vulnerable if somebody decides to use it against them. Even though if you're getting a mortgage, you have to pay it back. You're the one that owes the money. You have to pay for it. So I think about Marilyn Mosby, who was the prosecutor in New York, in Maryland, who angered Donald Trump and Donald Trump's people by prosecuting cops for killing Freddie Gray. That angered them because she went all the way and got convictions in those cases, or at least tried to get convictions. They were actually thrown out. A judge threw one out. It ended up not going the way a lot of people wanted it, but she went all the way trying to get convictions of those cases. Suddenly she's accused of mortgage fraud. Lisa Cook, and this was for taking money out of her own 401k to buy properties so that she would have a financial legacy for her children. Then you have Lisa Cook, who is on the Fed. She's a part of the Federal Reserve. The Justice Department is now accusing her of mortgage fraud, for taking out mortgages to buy property. You see where I'm going now? They're coming after you for the same thing. Talk about what the case is. And do you believe that there is a pattern to be seen here, or am I being paranoid about that?
- [14:35]
Letitia James
No, first of all, let me just talk about black women. As you know, a disproportionate number of individuals who have been impacted by these layoffs in the federal government have been black women. As you know, a significant number of the individuals that Donald Trump has targeted are Black women, including Ms. Wilcox, who was on the National Labor Labor Board, and Ms. Carla Hayden, who is the Librarian of Congress. Both of these are historic individuals. Of course, there was Ms. Cook and of course, myself. You know, and I was always taught by my father that one should own real estate. And so as a result of the equity in my home, I decided to purchase property for a family member. And what they fail to mention is that it's really critically important that individuals own a piece of property, that they have equity, that they use that equity to fund colleges and purchase property and et cetera, that it's part of being a member of the middle class, and that if you want, obviously, to advance yourself, it's really critically important that you own real estate. Now, what they are focusing on is, you know, paperwork issues. No one is engaging in mortgage fraud. And I am certain that the individuals who are investigating all of us, if you look at their mortgages, if you look at their campaign finance, if you look at their paperwork, I am sure that somewhere in there, they perhaps missed a. Missed. Missed a statement, or they fail to fill something out or something minor, relatively minor. But the point is, is that this is nothing more than acts of revenge, retribution and a revenge tour. Donald Trump said that he would engage in acts of retribution. He said that, you know, he would engage in revenge. And that's all that it is.
- [16:45]
Donald Trump
And I had a big victory in New York, I might add. I saved myself 500 million with a fake, corrupt attorney general, a really corrupt person with a corrupt judge who is disgraceful. And they're being mauled right now by everybody. Just it's so corrupt. And it kept business out of New York, stuff like that. But the Appellate Division vacated all of that stuff that you read about. And we're going to do a big number on that whole thing.
- [17:17]
Letitia James
And he is simply going after me and Adam Schiff for doing our job, for using the law both as a sword and as a shield. And it would be based upon what the judge said in the particular case, that it would be. It would be remiss if I failed to investigate all of the reports that came out of that congressional hearing, all of the findings that came out of that congressional hearing, all the allegations, I should say that came out of that, out of that congressional hearing based upon the testimony of Michael Cohen. And we had to substantiate it all, which is why it took two years, an investigation of all of the facts, of all that he said and others during that congressional hearing. And as a result of that testimony and the testimony of others, we proved in a court of law that, in fact, he had engaged in illegality. And that's why the case was brought. Not politics, not anything else. It was based on the facts and the application of law.
- [18:25]
Joy Reid
I actually find it a bit ironic because I'm not sure that Donald Trump has paid back very many of the loans that he has taken out from banks. But he's gotten more, and it's an interesting sort of fact of American history that I will leave that as my commentary, not yours. But, and you're absolutely right, he's gone after Jack Smith. He's gone after John Bolton, having the FBI raid his house. And I know he claims he knows nothing about how that happened. I do not believe that John Bolton is a big critic of his. I'm a big critic of John Bolton, so I'm not a fan of his. But the fact that his home was raided when he was criticizing Donald Trump over being humiliated by Vladimir Putin. So he's gone after people who are not just black women. But I am particularly noting that the people who seem to enrage him the most, Fani Willis, Judge Chutkan, yourself, Ms. Cook. Lisa Cook. It seems to be that black women particularly trigger him. Do you have that sense?
- [19:17]
Letitia James
I think we trigger him one, because we voted overwhelmingly, 94% we voted against him, and 94% of black women voted for democracy and voted for the rule of law and voted for freedom and voted that all of us obviously should have a say in our government. And obviously, he has no idea how to address, handle, work with strong black women, black women who have opened up doors, who have broken glass ceilings, African American women who are leaders and who are a part of the black middle class. And what's so distressing to me and troubling to me is, you know, we, the significant number of individuals who are now part of the black middle class, the fact that he is eroding all of the progress that we have made, all of the laws, all of the struggles, all of the advances that we have made, not only as a people, but as a society contributing so much, and him, with a stroke of a sharpie, obviously is trying to cancel all of that, erase our history and erase us as a community. But we stand tall. We're not going anywhere. We're not going to capitulate. We're not going to bend. We're not going to bow. We're not going to break. We're going to continue to stand tall. Our ancestors have been through a lot worse. And so I'm going to continue to do my work each and every day. A lot of individuals think I spend a lot of time focusing on Donald Trump. I don't. I focus on tenants. I focus on consumer issues. I can focus on environmental issues. I focus on reproductive rights. I focus on issues that New Yorkers care about. I focus on affordability, all of these issues and more. That's where I spend most of my time. Um, I, you know, obviously, you know, he is obsessed with me and other black women, but at the end of the day, you know, we're gonna stand tall, and we're still here.
- [21:25]
Joy Reid
All right, y', all, this seems like an excellent time to note that standing up for religious freedom is not just a matter of good manners. It is a matter of saving our democracy from literal fascism. Which is why I am so proud to say that the Joy Reid show is brought to you by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. And here's some good news. We love good news. For those of us who believe in the First Amendment, the Freedom From Religion foundation just helped stop two big pushes to inject religion into our public schools. In Texas, a federal judge blocked a law that would have required the Ten Commandments to be hung up in every single public classroom. And in Arkansas, after another FFRF lawsuit, a judge ordered Conway Schools to immediately remove their Ten Commandments posters. These rulings remind us that public schools are for all children, regardless of their faith or lack thereof. That wall between church and state, that thing, it is holding strong thanks to advocates who are fighting to keep our public institutions free and fair and for everyone. So go to FFRF US School to support and text my first name, Joy to 511-511. To stand up for real freedom, just text Joy to 511-511. Because here's the thing. Once you let religion make the rules in schools, it's only a matter of time before they're making the rules for everyone everywhere. Go to FFRF US School or text JOY to 511. 511. And message and data rates may apply. Okay, so back to business. I love that you put you bumped us up to 94%. I think it was 92, but I'm going to go ahead and go with 94. Upgrade. We was in the high 90s. Put it that way. But let's talk about another issue that Donald Trump is fixated on that helped him in the last campaign that you and I both have a personal connection to because we are both from immigrant families. The issue of immigration has become very high pitched, I shall say, in this country, ICE mask wearing men that we believe are ice, we can't always tell because they're usually not showing identification. As well as federal agents from various agencies, DEA and others seem to be swarming, particularly blue cities, including New York, including showing up in immigration court. And as people are trying to do the right thing, they always say, well, do it the right way. These are people who are trying to do it the right way, go into literally immigration court and are getting dragged out. We're seeing that happening in New York. What can New York do about that? What can you do about it?
- [23:49]
Letitia James
Well, just minutes ago, Joy. Well, first of all, Joy, let me just say I am part of the African diaspora. I do not hail from the Caribbean. A lot of people think that I am from the Caribbean, but I actually, my family is from the South.
- [24:05]
Joy Reid
Wait a minute. This is the breaking news you have destroyed. And I'm going to blame our late friend Chris Metzler, who you know and I know and who was very, was very certain that you were of Jamaican heritage. And I have to bet. Stand corrected. Please correct the record, Madam Attorney General.
- [24:22]
Letitia James
That's okay.
- [24:23]
Joy Reid
We're Caribbean.
- [24:24]
Letitia James
We're all part of the African diaspora. My, my father is from South Carolina and my mother is from Virginia. So but, you know, I'm a Jamaican wannabe.
- [24:35]
Joy Reid
We let you in. Listen, I'm not even Jamaican either. Let you in the Caribbean community because I think a lot of people think you're in it. That is amazing.
- [24:43]
Letitia James
That's right. But just yesterday I marched in this wonderful Caribbean Day parade and there were millions out on Eastern Parkway. And I marched proudly down Eastern Parkway. And what that this is a cultural experience, a historical experience, a beautiful festive experience, and that the steel drums represent our heart, the heartbeat of this community and the heartbeat of the African diaspora. And that heartbeat will continue. But just a few minutes ago, there was a decision by a federal judge in California. And the federal judge in California basically said that Donald Trump was in violation of the Posse Combatants act and that they cannot militarize National Guards. And so to bring in the National Guard into LA to respond to a protest was in violation of this 1878 law which basically forbids the president from basically using the National Guard as part of the military. And as Donald Trump and Others say that they're going to basically militarize the National Guard and bring the National National Guard into Chicago and even into New York. This decision basically confirms what we have been saying, that he is really not in a position to federalize the National Guard. That's what local police are there for. And in Los Angeles, it was a protest. And clearly the members of LAPD are in a position to address protests. And here in the city of New York, where we have the largest police force in this nation, we are in the best position to address violence. The violence which unfortunately erupted at the end of the parade and the violence unfortunately which has been plaguing the residents of the Bronx. It's nypd, LAPD and the Chicago Police Department that are in the best position and not the National Guard and, or the military. They should not be using those forces to engage in law enforcement, to engage in immigration raids, immigration enforcement. And if you saw, if you see online social media, you've got the National Guard picking up trash, you got the National Guard engaging in, you know, traffic enforcement and you are seeing all time levels of crime in major cities go down, a downward trend. And he's not doing anything about the upward trend of violence in red states, in red cities, nothing about those they lead in terms of national trends in this country. And so in New York, nypd, they got it under control. In Chicago, Chicago Police, they have it under control. And in LAPD has it under control. So I'm gonna back the blue and I'm gonna stand with them. And I urge again, Donald Trump or someone in his administration to read this decision to say that what you did in LA was in of the law.
- [28:00]
Joy Reid
It's interesting that the explanation has morphed. It started out being about immigration and this supposed invasion by criminal transnational gangs from Central America and that that's why they needed the National Guard. The story has changed dramatically. Now it's about crime. What do you make of that shift?
- [28:17]
Letitia James
Well, what they said was that there was an invasion and I don't know an invasion of what and, or who. The reality is that immigrants bring so much to our country in terms of culture, in terms of economic, and they want the same thing that you and I want. And there's countless number of immigrants that fall in my arms each and every day who are afraid to go to work, afraid to go to their house of worship, afraid to go to the courthouse. 26 Federal Plaza, unfortunately is a place where individuals go and they get disappeared. And that is why we have joined with others in bringing litigation against this administration for turning it into a place where individuals don't have any rights, they don't have due process, where you've got mass agents, you know, basically parading up and down 26 Federal Plaza. And the conditions at 26 Federal Plaza are on the 10th floor there. It's also a situation a is the basis of a claim that we have brought against this federal government adjoining with others. So it's really critically important that individuals understand what is at stake. It's also important that individuals understand that we're standing up for the rights of Haitians, we're standing up for the rights of Venezuelans who have temporary protective status. And this administration basically wants to cancel TPS for individuals who do not want to return to a country which is in the middle of some sort of strife, either political strife or local, local strife. And this President of the United States cannot impose upon the National Guards the ability to enforce and patrol our streets. That's the purpose of our local police department. And that is what this decision that was just issued a few minutes ago stands for. And that is the decision that we will use. And Chicago, my fellow attorney general in Chicago, in Illinois will use Kwame AG Kwame, why am I blanking? Kwame Raul, who is Haitian. That's the case that he will use against this administration if in fact the President of the United States seeks to call the National Guard to the streets of Chicago. Now listen, Joy, this past weekend there were over 50 shootings in Chicago. So I'm not going to tell you that we should ignore what is happening on the streets of Chicago and even here in New York City. But at the same time, when you are cutting DOJ grants, when you are cutting grants to local community based organizations, when you're cutting grants to local law enforcement, when you don't want to join with local law enforcement to expand and increase the number of police, that's the way to handle it. Doing it jointly and respecting the sovereign rights of Illinois and the sovereign rights of the State of New York. And to work with us in cooperation with us and to provide us additional resources so that we can expand our police, we can expand local police instead of taking away those tools and cutting those tools and cutting those grants and cutting resources that we so desperately need.
- [31:39]
Joy Reid
I know we have a few more minutes with you. I want to ask you about the number of states that have joined together to to sue the Trump administration over various things, whether it's tariffs, which also have been overturned by a federal court that says that it was illegal for Donald Trump to impose those tariffs. I know those tariffs have really made it even more difficult to live in places like New York City. What sort of actions should we be looking for the state of New York, under your leadership, to take against this regime? And what would overturning those tariffs do for New York?
- [32:09]
Letitia James
So we joined with the state of Oregon who brought the case against this administration in regards to the tariffs. As you know, we won on the lower court. The court basically said that he was in this administration was in violation of aipa. And that court, that case was affirmed. The case will ultimately go to the United States Supreme Court. And the argument was clear that this president cannot use iipa, which doesn't really mention tariffs, and that tariffs basically fall within the jurisdiction of Congress, and that this president cannot trespass on the rights of Congress and cannot impose upon terrorists in the absence of some sort of emergency or unusual incident. And there's nothing. There's no, you know, emergency. There's nothing unusual that is happening right now for this president to impose these retaliatory tariffs against any particular government. And because of the uncertainty of our economy right now, you know, we are seeing stagflation. We are seeing businesses not higher. We are concerned about what is happening to individuals who rely upon imports from other countries. And this president basically wants to put the genie back in the bottle, and that is go back to a state where. Go back to a situation where you've got this protectionism, protectionism around this country. And I believe at this point in time, you know, tariffs have contributed a lot to tariffs, unfortunately, have provide such instability to this country and have increased imports to this country that we need to have Congress and, or the United States Supreme Court uphold this decision. And Congress basically get some steel in their backbone and basically recognize that they should put some limitations on the power of this president, which basically wants to consolidate his power, wants to consolidate power, and basically wants to turn this government into authoritarian government and wants to ignore our democracy. They have a role in all of this, but unfortunately, they've walked away from their responsibility. And that's why the economy right now is failing. And we are beginning to see our economy become weakened. And we are just losing our position globally. And it's causing concern in the business world, and it's causing concern amongst Americans who obviously who think that. That difficult times are ahead of us. And we are going to feel the brunt of it during the holiday seasons and at a time when we return back to school, our children return back to school.
- [35:22]
Joy Reid
I mean, we've seen the Brunt of it. When it comes to tourism, the tourist economy is down across the country. I know it is down in New York, which is, I believe the second largest tourist attraction in the country is the state of New York, after California. New York, California, Florida, take a lot, are taking a huge hit because people are not coming from Canada, they're not coming from Europe. People are afraid to be stopped by ice, afraid to be harassed. It's also the tariff economy has made the economy less attractive. There are a lot of reasons for it. But it's also just the idea that America has become authoritarian has turned people off. Can we expect New York to join other lawsuits? We know that Obergefell the gay marriage. A same sex marriage ruling is now at risk. That is public back to the Supreme Court if same sex marriage is then banned. We already have seen New Yorkers threatened with attempts to extradite them to red states because they are assisting women to obtain abortions through legal medical means. And New Yorkers having to defend them and not let them leave here and go back to red states. Do you feel that Project 2025 has already turned the US into an authoritarian country? And if so, what can you as AG do about it?
- [36:36]
Letitia James
So let me just say that, you know, I believe in the systems of our government and the courts, and particularly the trial courts and some appellate courts have stood up to this administration and have applied the law. And it's unfortunate that in some cases the United States Supreme Court has turned a blind eye to what this president is seeking to do, and that is consolidate power and or trample upon the sovereign rights of states in violation of the 10th Amendment. And so I and my colleagues will continue to join together and respond to executive orders, and I will respond to any executive order that hurts New Yorkers, executive orders that hurt New Yorkers in terms of SNAP benefits. Basically, this administration seeks to punish New York if in fact, we don't comply with their immigration enforcement, Medicaid as well. Voting rights. The list goes just on and on and on. I don't believe we're close to passing the Rubicon, but obviously it has caused all of us concern. But we're going to continue to push on. We have achieved some victories just recently on AmeriCorps. We were victorious on the Department of Education releasing those funds. We were victorious on the case involving birthright citizenship. We believe at the end of the day we will be victorious and we will stand up against this administration on any attacks to the LGBTQ community. We've stood up for the trans community on Oberfeld. We believe that we are hopeful that the administration will affirm that decision and protect the rights of the gay community, the right to marry and to love who they want to love. Some have predicted that it will be a states rights issue, but hopefully that will not be the case on reproductive care. You've got states like Texas where women don't have reproductive care. And we are seeing more and more individuals who are bleeding out in bathrooms and individuals who are dying because they do not have access to reproductive care. As you mentioned, there's a doctor in the state of, in upstate New York who has been providing medication, abortion to individuals in other states and, and they've issued warrants for her arrest. And we are standing up against the execution of any warrant for the arrest of that particular doctor. So we will again stand up and join with other states and other organizations like the ACLU and Democracy Forward and Democracy now, against any efforts to turn back the clock of progress. And we have been successful. And we will continue to use the law both as a sword and as a shield and to stand up against any authoritarian effort that hurts our democracy and the rights of individuals and most importantly, the rights of this sovereign state.
- [40:07]
Joy Reid
Does that include the right to protest against Israel? I mean, we have seen Mahmoud Khalil arrested and detained for protesting and for even writing op eds. We've seen people pulled off the streets of New York for pro Palestinian protest. Is the state of New York prepared to defend that right to protest? Because it seems that a lot of what the administration is doing is criminalizing just the idea of protesting on behalf of Palestinians.
- [40:36]
Letitia James
We support the First Amendment. We know, we recognize that the First Amendment is not absolute. And we will continue to defend the rights of New Yorkers and defend the rights of individuals to peacefully protest. It's just part of who we are. It's part of our democracy. It's a part of our constitution. And we will do everything, joining with others, to defend the rights of individuals to peacefully protest.
- [41:04]
Joy Reid
Attorney General Letitia James, do you have aspirations to run for any other office besides Attorney General?
- [41:10]
Letitia James
I aspire to one day to have my own podcast just like you. And so perhaps one day you'll see me host you so we can interview you about your career and all that you have done and how you have advanced our democracy. And it's journalists like you that are so really key at this point in time. You know, we have seen journalists, obviously, who are just an extension of this administration. But what we need are journalists who can speak truth to power, and journalists who are not afraid. And when I think of any particular journalist that obviously who has stood tall and who has not capitulated like some of these law firms and some of these universities, that individual that comes to mind is Madam J. Reed.
- [41:55]
Joy Reid
Oh, that is very kind. Attorney General Atisha James. You're very kind. Thank you very much. You get to come to all the West Indian barbecues. We have invited you into the family because we are a diasporal people and I think African people around the world. What we need to do is to globalize our support for one another. And I appreciate you stating that and being here. Thank you so much.
- [42:18]
Letitia James
Thank you. Have a good day.
- [42:19]
Joy Reid
Thank you. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of the Joy Reid Show. Thank you to Attorney General Leticia James and her team. Be sure to hit like and subscribe. It's great for the algorithm. The more likes the better. We also want you to hit share and maybe hit that notification button as well so that you'll always know when we go live. Thanks to everybody who tuned in on YouTube, on Spotify, Spotify also on the stack and we will see you on the next the Joy Reach show. Bye. Bye.
- [42:49]
Poet/Spoken Word Artist
Back to the basics grassroots level Let me dig a little deeper with the shovel plenty can't tell the forest from the trees and I'm hard to detect like a black hole in the dark injustice anywhere it's a threat to justice everywhere Let me make this clear I got a bone to pick and I'll never fear the threat of poverty they don't want to talk about it they rap the party so I'm a real talk about it for sure there's a purpose in this ride.