Attorney General Pam Bondi (00:00):
I do have a nine o'clock meeting, you guys. Shoot.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Attorney General, we heard the President used the word insurrection, insurrectionist repeatedly. What is his bar for invoking the Insurrection Act and can you describe some of the conversations around that particular topic that have been underway?
Attorney General Pam Bondi (00:15):
Well, sure. Right now it's keeping California safe. If Gavin Newsom isn't going to keep California safe, we are. They imposed a curfew last night, I think that helped a bit. But today we wanted them to declare, they didn't declare an economic disaster out there with all of the businesses. Had they done that, Kelly Loeffler and the Small Business Association could have come in and helped given federal aid to all of these businesses in California. We've been seen on the news, all of these drug stores getting robbed, getting looted, the Apple Store just got raided. I mean, we're all watching this live on the news and this isn't just looting to me. You think people just run in and take something leave and nothing happens? We're using the Hobbs Act. We are charging robbery to protect Californians under this. If you loot a store, we are going to charge you with robbery under the Hobbs Act and you're looking at maximum 20 years in prison. But we're going to prosecute you for that.
(01:11)
Identifying people now it's a different world. The guy with the cinder blocks, we were able to identify him, great FBI work, DEA, ATF, all working together with ICE, with Homeland Security, great partnership out there. And back to your question, our National Guard, our Marines, they have come in to protect our buildings, to protect… The Marines have come in to protect the National Guard. It is total chaos out there. We're all watching it on the news and they're throwing bricks. We had a law enforcement officer injured. They're throwing bricks at cars and this is very orchestrated. They're not just cinder bricks, they had hammers in place, they're breaking them up. We've all seen on the news where the sidewalks they're coming in with these huge sledgehammers breaking up the sidewalks and taking these huge pieces of concrete, throwing them off a bridge, throwing them at people. It's truly a miracle that no one has been seriously injured or killed yet.
(02:09)
But we're going to do everything within our legal authority to protect our law enforcement officers and all the people in California right now. You guys, this is serious out there. We want to protect people. We want to protect law enforcement and all the hardworking people there who are trying to go to work every day, their businesses are shuttered. They can't do anything because of this and it has to stop.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
And Attorney General, just let's ask that again. What is the threshold for invoking the Insurrection Act?
Attorney General Pam Bondi (02:39):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
And beyond California, are you seeing examples in other cities where the President might have to consider what?
Attorney General Pam Bondi (02:45):
Sure. Well, first in other cities, well, we've seen it in New York, but what happened in New York was very different. NYPD came in right away. NYPD came in and shut it down. We all believe in peaceful protests. You saw in New York, there peaceful protests happening in New York. Much different situation. So law enforcement, they need to have their hands untied where they can do their jobs. Right now in California, what we're doing is working by bringing in the National Guard, by bringing in the Marines right now to back them up, to protect our federal buildings, to protect the highways, to protect the citizens. So right now in California, we're at a good point. We're not scared to go further. We're not frightened to do something else if we need to. Right now we're trying to-
Speaker 3 (03:31):
[inaudible 00:03:32] hammers banging up sidewalks. Is it something else? Like what's the threshold for [inaudible 00:03:36]
Attorney General Pam Bondi (03:36):
Well right now we're hoping it's going to get under control. We hope the curfew will work and we're going to continue to do everything we can to keep California safe if the Government of California is not going to help them. One more question. Shoot.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Attorney General, one question. The administration has talked a lot about defending law enforcement over the last week or so that these protests are going on, but you've been criticized for having a double standard with the President pardoning all these people who attacked police officers on January 6th in his first day in office. How do you answer that criticism?
Attorney General Pam Bondi (04:03):
Well, this is very different. These are people out there hurting people in California right now, this is ongoing. No longer, we're going to protect them. We're going to do everything we can to prosecute violent criminals in California. California is burning, these people are waving Mexican flags, yet they don't want anyone to go back to Mexico. They're burning American flags. This is the United States of America and we're going to protect Americans, we're going to protect all citizens out there. Thank you. You Guys have a great day. Thank you.
