During Thursday’s town hall in Rochester, Minnesota, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison spoke about ongoing legal battles against President Trump.
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NewsTranscript
00:00How you doing, friends?
00:02First things first, first things first,
00:09please put your hands together for North St. Paul High School.
00:14I want to give a special shout out to all of the students,
00:24all of the parents, the school board, all of the teachers,
00:28and certainly our super superintendent, Christine Tucci-Orocio.
00:42I also want to thank all of you for coming,
00:46and I know some people here who need wheelchair accommodation.
00:50It's not the perfect scenario, but please, everyone,
00:54let's be the Minnesotans that we are and do everything we can
00:57to help folks who want to participate in all of the forums.
01:03So I just want to acknowledge that.
01:05Let me also acknowledge a number of folks helped us organize here today.
01:10We had a whole group that pulled this meeting together.
01:13Put your hands together for them.
01:15Thank you very much.
01:21And I mean all the people who ordered logistics,
01:24all the people working security,
01:26all the people doing everything that made this moment possible.
01:29We're certainly grateful to all of you.
01:32I also, friends, need you all, us Minnesotans,
01:35to thank these awesome human beings.
02:04Bless you all.
02:06I have the privilege of being on the phone with these guys three days a week,
02:10and let me tell you, they're all brilliant, they're all smart,
02:13and they're all very tough, no question.
02:17And this meeting we're doing today in North St. Paul
02:20is actually the second meeting that we've done.
02:23The first one was held and hosted by none other than Chris Mays of Arizona,
02:29who is right to my left.
02:35We had a fantastic meeting, and I'm so glad we're here in St. Paul.
02:40Also, you're going to hear from Kwame Raoul of Illinois, everybody,
02:47Attorney General of Illinois.
02:55And all the way from the East Coast from Jersey,
03:00my dear friend and yours, Matt Plotkin, everybody.
03:11And the woman who took on Trump, y'all,
03:14Tish James.
03:36Tish, I think they're pretty happy about that.
03:39And let me just say, the thing I want you all to know
03:42is that we work together.
03:44We work as a team on your behalf.
03:47We're talking to Americans, and you're going to hear from them,
03:49and we're going to hear from you.
03:51So let me get on with it.
03:54The lawsuits that we are filing really are not about partisanship.
04:01They're about the rule of law.
04:09You're going to hear from our colleagues tonight,
04:11and they're going to hear from you.
04:14The fact of the matter is that a tax on our Constitution
04:18and our right to representative government are not acceptable,
04:22and we will not tolerate it.
04:27We're standing up for the right of the United States Congress
04:30to make decisions around appropriations,
04:33not somebody who just signs a piece of paper
04:36and says we're freezing all of your money.
04:40They cannot tear down institutions like the Department of Education,
04:44which is designed to help educate our families and our children.
04:51And let me say, we have men and women of the press here today,
04:55and we're glad they're here.
05:01But it is simply not acceptable for the president to sue ABC
05:07and make them pay $15 million,
05:10to sue the Des Moines Register because they issued a poll that he didn't like,
05:16to investigate National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Services, PBS,
05:23and to get up at the Department of Justice speech
05:26and say that CNN and MSNBC are illegal.
05:33The freedom of the press is not for the press.
05:37It's for you, your right to know.
05:45And then he turns around and attacks a law firm, several of them.
05:50You have a right to representation,
05:53and it is not just wrong but morally repugnant
05:56for him to attack a law firm like Perkins Coie
05:59just because they represented Hillary Clinton
06:01or whoever else they wanted to represent.
06:05But to add to the list,
06:07Cummington and Burlington and Paul Weiss and other law firms,
06:12and why he's attacking these law firms,
06:15the representatives, people's right to counsel,
06:18he, of course, let 1,500 criminals who attacked the Capitol go.
06:27He's also attacking our universities,
06:30institutions of higher learning which build and grow knowledge.
06:35J.D. Vance, who, I'll make a quote.
06:40He says, we have to honestly and aggressively attack
06:44the universities in this country.
06:48And then he says, the professors are the enemy.
06:53What does it mean when they attack the university
06:55and try to shut down the Department of Education?
07:00This is the same president who said, I love the uneducated.
07:02Remember that?
07:05He wants to keep people without not being able to understand what he's doing.
07:10And they've launched an investigation into 60 universities,
07:13including the University of Minnesota,
07:16the cutting down Columbia,
07:18and attempting to shut down the Department of Education.
07:22So I just want to say, DEI is not illegal at all.
07:27In fact, it's the opposite of discrimination.
07:30And we have to stand up and say that, yes,
07:39we have a big circle of compassion for all of America's people.
07:44And we want to make sure they are all welcome and included, one and all.
07:50No exceptions.
07:53Liberty and justice for?
07:55Liberty and justice for?
07:57That's right.
07:59That's what we're fighting for.
08:01So friends, let me just say that it is an honor that you are here.
08:05We're grateful for your attention.
08:08The people in the overflow room, bless you guys.
08:12You are in this room with us, in our spirit.
08:15And we want to acknowledge you and thank you for coming.
08:22And so now, friends, I want to call to the podium my friend and yours.
08:28Give her a big hand one more time because she's just that awesome.
08:32Chris Mays from Arizona.