Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott on Reducing Violent Crime

The Al Franken Podcast

Government, Progressive, Politics, Senate, Liberal, Senator, Minnesota, Franken, News, Saturday Night Live, Comedy, Snl

4.6 • 7.7K Ratings

🗓️ 14 September 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Baltimore, Maryland is one of Donald Trump's most frequent targets when talking about crime in America. As the President continues to threaten to send troops into American cities, we wanted to hear from Baltimore's mayor, Brandon Scott.

Since Mayor Scott took office, the city has seen a dramatic drop in violent crime. He explains his policies and how investing in the community has helped calm the violence in Baltimore. So it's no surprise that he does NOT want Trump sending troops to his city.

Mayor Scott shares how growing up in Baltimore impacted his political ideology. He also discusses some of the major victories he's had, including lawsuits against a major gun dealer AND opioid manufacturers and distributors. Those lawsuits have brought hundreds of millions into the city and are being reinvested directly into the community.

LEARN more about the Mayor of Baltimore’s work: https://mayor.baltimorecity.gov/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Building a coffee business?
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0:24.3	Hey, everybody. Before we start this episode, I just want to say something about the tragic
0:30.7	assassination of Charlie Kirk. He was 31 years old and while I obviously was not a fan of his politics, there is no place
0:41.4	for political violence in this country. We've seen far too much of it recently, and unlike
0:49.5	what President Trump said, unfortunately, we've seen this violence on both sides. I spoke a few
0:56.8	months ago about the assassination of Melissa Hortman, the Minnesota state legislator, who was a friend
1:02.8	of mine. The increase of political violence is absolutely chilling. Now, today's show is about violence, not political violence, but criminal
1:14.4	violence. My guest is Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott. Mayor Scott is in his second term as mayor,
1:22.0	the first Baltimore mayor to be reelected in over 20 years. Baltimore has been in the national news recently because Trump has called it a hellhole
1:33.5	and wants to send the National Guard.
1:36.8	Mayor Scott doesn't want them there because, frankly, they won't help address the problem
1:41.0	of violence in his city.
1:44.2	You're going to be very impressed with Mayor Scott, I can tell you, because he has been
1:49.5	incredibly successful in reducing homicides in the city to a 50-year low, and he's done it
1:56.1	through a very comprehensive, multifaceted approach that he would tell you that Trump wouldn't have the first
2:03.4	clue about. Mayor Scott told me he saw a person get shot for the first time when he was just
	...

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