California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Standing Up to the Trump Administration

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has filed a spate of lawsuits against the Trump administration, including challenges to mass terminations of federal employees, the sharing of Medicaid data with immigration authorities and the federal government’s takeover of the California National Guard. His office is also involved in lawsuits related to public health funding cuts and stalled clean energy projects. We’ll talk to the state’s top prosecutor about what’s at stake in the cases and what it’s been like to fight a president he says has an “endless desire to seize more power.” Guests: Rob Bonta, California Attorney General Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Comcast business can help turn small businesses into reliably up and running,
0:07.6	performance boosting, reliably connected, modern businesses.
0:14.9	Support for KQED podcasts comes from the San Jose Museum of Art.
0:19.6	Photographer Paul Ho-Hare explores homeland and family among her Hmong American community.
0:25.8	See the imaginative landscape.
0:28.1	Learn more at SJM-U-S-A-R-T.org.
0:32.9	From K-Q-E-D.
0:49.7	Thank you. From KQED. From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Mina Kim.
0:52.6	Coming up on forum, California's legal battles with the Trump administration.
0:57.1	We sit down with the person leading those fights, state attorney general Rob Bonta. He's filed more than 30 lawsuits against the federal government since January, nearly double the pace of Trump's first term over the federalization of the state's National Guard, sharing Californians
1:12.1	personal data with ICE or withholding funding for education.
1:16.4	We'll talk about the stakes in those cases and others and what it's been like to battle
1:20.5	a president that Banda says, quote, has an endless desire to seize more power.
1:26.2	Join us.
1:41.2	Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim. Several National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles by the Trump administration are reporting low morale and questioning the purpose of their mission, according to the New York Times.
1:48.0	This is the Pentagon Tuesday called back about half of the 4,000 troops deployed after scattered protests against ICE.
1:56.2	My guest, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, sued the administration over that deployment and is here to talk about the status of the case and many others that the state is bringing against the federal government, ranging from immigration enforcement to the rights of trans athletes. What questions do you have for California's Attorney General? The number is 866-733-6786. The email address forum at KQED.org. Find us on
2:21.8	Discord, Blue Sky, Facebook, Instagram, or threads at KQED Forum. Attorney General Bonta, welcome. We really
2:28.9	appreciate you being here to talk with our listeners. Thanks for having me, Mina. Honored to be with you.
2:33.7	So I've been curious about what you make of the Pentagon's decision this week to release
2:38.3	from duty some 2,000 National Guard troops in L.A. It couldn't have come soon enough. These
2:47.0	patriots who serve in the National Guard were having their time wasted.
	...

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