Peggy Flanagan denies inflating her college honors

All right, our conversations with candidates continues. We got another one in here. We invited the candidates from the four major statewide races plus the Hennepin County Attorney's Office to come in. Most have responded. A few were still waiting on response. But we continue today with Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan. We've got 10 minutes. To be fair, we try to keep to that as close as we can. So I'll try to make my stuff brief here to give you more time to talk. Normally, I start with a biography I think people are pretty familiar with your background. Minneapolis School Board, state legislature, now Lieutenant Governor, running for the US Senate. We have to start with a headline from this morning. Wall Street Journal report, a lot of other people who picked it up saying about a statement you made in 2016 about graduating Phi Beta Kappa. And that records don't seem to back that up. What's your response? My response is that that's inaccurate reporting. I've been a member since September of 2002. So what's the discrepancy here then? I imagine that it's because they saw the graduation program, which didn't indicate it. I graduated in the spring and have been a member since September, the fall of 2002. Okay, so what is their reporting then based on or what is incomplete here that you're saying? I think it was based on the graduation program was what they saw and I was inducted after I graduated. Do you have documentation that you will be providing to everybody to show that? For sure. I was a real nerd in college, Rob. Okay. This is one of these things that you expect this time of year, things like this to pop up as we count down here to election day. Another one is concerns about this streamer, Hasan Piker, who's gonna be in Minnesota on Monday. What is your reaction to his presence with Ilhan Omar, Omar Fateh, sharing the stage with DFLers in the state of Minnesota? I believe he did endorse your campaign. I was not aware of that endorsement. Well, I read that potentially, okay. I did not seek it, I'm not aware of that. I will not be at that event. That's not my event. I am focused on talking to Minnesota voters all across the state, and I think that the party is gonna be unified as we go into November. And this has been kind of a source of maybe disunification, I guess, is that there's some Democrats concerned about his statements related to Israel, etc. And here's some state Democrats, but you say you will not be there. I will absolutely not be there. Okay, let's get into some of the other issues here then. Obviously a big one that's been thrown at you throughout this campaign by your opponent, by others, is the issue of fraud during the Walz administration. In fact, I think Amber, we have a viewer question here pertaining to that. Let's just put that up now here. This is one of the viewers. What was Lieutenant Governor's role as it applied to fraud in Minnesota? This is important for people to know just how deeply in the know she was. What did you know? When did you know it? So I just wanna be really clear that fraud of any kind is completely unacceptable. I understand that Minnesota taxpayers are upset about it. I'm upset about it. I'm someone who relied on public programs as a kid. So stealing taxpayer money that should be going to the most vulnerable folks in our state is completely unacceptable. It's why I supported the Independent Office of Inspector General that just was passed this last session. I support harsher penalties as well. And my role as the Lieutenant Governor was to look at issues around children and families. I led on paid family and medical leave, breakfast and lunch for kiddos at school. And so much of that was a continuation of my work when I led the Children's Defense Fund, which is why the governor asked me to be part of this work. What I will tell you, I hear a lot about on the road is what about what's happening in Washington DC. And I think we've watched this president who fired 19 inspectors general right out of the gate, whose entire job is to police fraud and essentially enforce ethics, right out the gate. He then went on to pardon 90 white collar criminals, including one person who stole $1.3 billion in Medicaid. He's making money hand over fist from the White House. And when we look at things like this ballroom, which now we have the full list of people who've contributed. In exchange for that, folks got no bid contracts, one person got a pardon. My opponent, Michelle DeFoya doesn't have anything to say about that. And he has endorsed her. And I think she's passed his litmus test with flying colors. And so I'm focused on really highlighting the choice in this race. It's between Michelle DeFoya and Donald Trump and Peggy Flanagan and Minnesotans. Yeah, well, you connect her to Donald Trump, they connect you to Tim Walz and some of the criticisms there. Are those fair connections on both sides to say, well, we're gonna connect your campaign with this other person? Well, I would say this, the governor himself has said that the buck stops with him and that I did not have a role in overseeing our response to fraud. I think with Michelle Tafoya, she literally has been endorsed by Donald Trump, said she would be honored to receive that endorsement. And Rob, you and I both know that he doesn't hand out endorsements willy nilly. In fact, is endorsed against members of his own party when they dare to disagree or push back on him. And so to be clear, she has supported the tariffs, the trade war. She has supported the cuts to Medicaid and SNAP and cheered on the big beautiful bill. Up until 216 days into the war in Iran, she was on board and when asked about the high cost of fuel and diesel prices, she said that people should just take one less trip to Starbucks and keep a stiff upper lip. I think that's pretty disconnected from what Minnesotans are experiencing right now. And I think the other two things that I would just name is that she She was a-okay with these January 6th insurrectionists. In fact, she platformed them on her podcast, has called them her brother. I think that's pretty out of step with Minnesotans. And she even supports the president in invading Greenland. So I think Michelle Tafoya is trying to reinvent herself in the last weeks of this campaign. And I think Minnesotans are smarter than that. Let's talk about the war in Iran. First of all, let's talk about a statement you made last week during a debate with Minnesota Public Radio. You believe the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should be impeached, you said. Why? I mean, this war in Iran, where there seems to be no plan in place that has put us at risk. It's cost already at least $40 billion. 21 servicemen and women have been killed, including a Minnesota mother, this cost is too high for folks to pay. Not to mention the fact that he said that an individual should be put to death by firing squad, which hasn't happened since World War II. I just think he is in way over his head. And frankly, we deserve better leadership from Washington. Okay, three minutes left, so we gotta get through a couple other topics here. Another one is healthcare. We have a viewer question, I believe it was on this topic, yes. What Medicare for All is, and is that going to be available for non-citizens? You have promoted Medicare for All, is part of your platform? Yeah, so Medicare for All is essentially Medicare, and it allows everyone to be covered from birth to death. The thing it also includes is hearing, vision, and dental, which I always think is so interesting, and I'll use that word the most Minnesotan way possible, because clearly all of those things are part of your overall health. What we know is that it will also save a trillion dollars a year and save the lives of 114,000 people per year. Right now we've got folks who are paying incredible amounts for health insurance but not getting health care. Everywhere I go in this state, this is the number one thing that I hear from folks. And so I think we first in January of 2027 have to push to roll back these cuts to Medicaid, which are crushing rural hospitals, clinics, nursing homes. And then we have to ban prior authorization. I think that it's outrageous that some dude behind a desk or An AI bot can determine whether or not you get the life-saving health care your doctors prescribe. And ultimately, I want to get to Medicare for All, which is what I'm fighting for. Well, the second part of that question is, would it be available to non-citizens? As it's currently written, no. And so that is, you know, that's the bill that I support. And, you know, I didn't start off this campaign supporting Medicare for All. But it was hearing stories from Minnesotans that moved me to fight for the things we actually need and deserve. We have one minute left. Yes. So we've got to do this quickly. Immigration, you have said you would like to see ICE dismantled and reimagined. What does that mean? So I want to rip ICE apart. And what that means is that we absolutely need an immigration system in this country. But what we've experienced under Operation Metro Surge, the chaos, the cruelty, the death of two Minnesotans, Alex Preddy and Renee Good, we can have secure borders. But we also have to have an immigration system grounded in public safety for everybody. Humanity, dignity, a pathway to citizenship for folks. And this is another place where, you know, my opponent and I differ. She used footage from Operation Metro Surge and her rollout video of the day that Renee Good was killed. She said on a podcast she's essentially responsible for her own death and now is starting to change her tune. We don't know which version of Michelle Tafoya we're going to get. But we do know the version, three weeks out from the election is the version that's been endorsed by Donald Trump. I'm gonna be beholden to the people of Minnesota and no one else. All right, and you are right on time. Our 10 minutes just expired right now. Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, thank you for coming in and answering questions and addressing some of these difficult issues too. Thanks Rob. All right, appreciate it. We should point out too that we have invited Michelle Tafoya in for this conversation. So far she's not responded. That invitation does remain open. We've got to take a break. We'll be right back.