AG Fights Campus ANTISEMITISM

All right, we've got a fantastic first guest for you. Why? Because I'm always proud of the fact that our founding fathers thought that the best ideas would always come from the states. That is always true when it comes to our first guest in Kentucky. He's the top law enforcement official, Attorney General Russell Coleman, joining us to top off the show. General Coleman, great to have you on the show today. It's great to be here. What you're saying, John, is not all good ideas come from Washington, D.C. I'm shocked to hear that. Exactly what I was saying, and exactly what our founding fathers intended. They knew that a central government would not have the best ideas, it would be the states. And that's the great beauty of federalism. You've had two major efforts in the last couple days, and you've done lots of important work. Let me start with anti-Semitism. We just talked about those very powerful cases brought today. You are working to. To make sure that free speech on college campuses doesn't swerve into hate speech with some of these academics seeking the protection of academic freedom, tell us a little bit about the actions you took yesterday and where that could potentially head. Well, over a dozen attorneys general, my colleagues from all over the country, Republican AGs have said that college professors don't have some sort of extra constitutional right that allow them to spout anti-Semitic speech. And we're taking this fight all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States to protect those on campus, our Jewish citizens. John, I was in Israel this time last year. I walked in the kibbutz attacked on October 7th. I've seen what happens when anti-Semitism is not crushed when it rears its head. We saw it on October 7th. We have to prevent it here in this country. We'll crush it when it rears its head. Yeah, such an important thing. Sir, let me just interrupt real quickly. Some breaking news. The House of Representatives has defeated the effort to refer the articles of impeachment to the floor of the U.S. House. That's a win for President Trump, a win for War Secretary Pete Hegseth. The breaking news over at justthenews.com. Go check it out. General Coleman, I didn't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to get that word in. Thank you, Tim. When we see, you mentioned October 7th and what happened when anti-Semitism went unchecked for a long time. We now have evidence that many U.N. workers. At UNRWA, we're participating in that attack. Here in America, we've got some fresh examples, the FBI and the Justice Department bringing fresh charges today against a group of people that were going to carry out 20 plots against Jewish temples and communities around Europe and the United States, and then a guy walked into a temple here in—a synagogue here in America with some weaponry. He was arrested. That threat is real. It's beyond speech. In many cases now, it's taking action, isn't it? It's what happens when we don't preclude this kind of conduct. It's what happens when you don't take the line and say that college professors can't call for the destruction of Israel or eliminating from the river to the sea or free Palestine. These are professors that should be teaching the courses that we hire them to teach, not spouting this hate. And that's exactly what this effort with AGs from across the country is asserting up to the Supreme Court of the United States That while While our professors, we do support academic freedom, what we don't support is some sort of extra-constitutional right. This is a professor at the University of Kentucky. We're not talking about in Western Europe or in the Middle East. We're talking about a professor at my own alma mater, John, the University of Kentucky College of Law, who was hired to teach antitrust, and instead, he spouts anti-Semitism. We are a country, and I know you, as a true defender of freedom, we believe in free speech, and you always defend it and aggressively have defended it. The line between hate speech and free speech is sometimes tricky. We've allowed the burning of a flag. We've allowed, in Skokie, Illinois, many years ago, in a famous case, to allow Nazis to protest. But there's a line where calling for something to happen, calling for action or inciting or creating a hostile environment for teachers, is that the line between free speech and hate speech here Well, the line was drawn here in Kentucky by our legislature that adopted a definition that is widely accepted in this country. We're not talking about gray. We're talking about creating an environment where Jewish families make decisions now in this country about where kids go for school based upon whether the campus is friendly to those who practice Judaism. That is remarkable that we're in this era now. We have constituents, one who came alongside me and said that she felt like she grew up in the golden era of Judaism in the 80s and 90s, and that she has to be concerned about her kids wearing a Star of David or putting a bumper sticker on her vehicle. That's in America, John. And we say, no, it's unacceptable. You cannot spout these kind of things to put students in a position. We're not talking about shrinking ballots or snowflakes here, my friend. We're talking about speech, about eliminating. a whole class of people about genocide. That's what college professors are spouting. That's not gray. No, it's not gray at all. You're exactly right. Now, in this case here, it's actually a case involving Florida. Florida's the one going to the Supreme Court. You're supporting that. It sends a message to the entire country when you and your colleagues as attorney generals get behind this case. Do you think academics and universities are paying attention? We certainly hope so. We're taking this to the Supreme Court of the United States. There is no larger billboard, no larger playing field in which we can make that statement. And it's also a statement about collaboration. You see 13 AGs supporting Florida. It's about rowing together to defeat crazy, to hold the line against crazy and fight for the rule of law. Yeah, such an important case. It's one we're going to all be watching closely. We'll see what the court does with it, but it's going to be a big one. All right, another thing you've taken on, I think a lot of people, myself included, because I look at my phone and I see spam, spam, spam all day long. Robocalling has gotten out of control again. You and other attorneys general, I think almost all of them in the United States, bonded together today to get the Federal Communications Commission to do something more aggressive. Tell us a little bit about that. Well, everyone watching, including my phone might be buzzing while I'm talking to you or my grandparents or my family, is overrun with these calls. And we need the FCC to tighten some of its definitions. This is an example of red states and blue states rowing together, not unlike the meta-settlement where we came together to do what's right. This is an example of some real collaboration. And so we're seeking for the FCC to To step in and be more aggressive in this space so that legitimate companies, and I had a businessman pull me aside today that said his legitimate messages are not able to be answered because if we don't recognize a number, certainly common sense is dump it to voicemail, right? So legitimate businesses aren't able to convey information to their customers. Yeah, that is an unintended consequence, but it's a growing consequence for people. And it is something that, particularly with technology, that can be solved pretty easily. What is the ask of the FCC? What can the FCC do? It's really about tightening definitions so that we understand the difference between a client-to-customer call and just someone just trying to shake us down for business. It is. It's about asking the regulator, the primary federal regulator in this space that has authority that none of us inherent to states have to be more assertive and using the regulatory process to create these definitions, narrow the lanes. Those that are in this space on robocalls exploit every advantage, exploit every loophole. We're asking for the FCC to close many of those loopholes. Yeah. What an important case. We're going to be watching this very closely. There's a lot of people watching the show tonight that I know are cheering what you're doing here. Before we let you go, you have been an extraordinary public servant for a long time. You've been in law enforcement for a long time. You know how the most awesome powers of law enforcement are supposed to be wielded in the proper manner. When you see things like what have been going on in Washington today and what the Democrats The Democrats are talking about just unleashing nonstop. Lawfare, crushing people even if they've not done anything wrong by putting them under a burdensome process. What do you see in the future, and how do we solve this so that legitimate inquiry and oversight occurs, but it doesn't become political punishment designed to crush people and bankrupt them when they've done nothing wrong? I see the attorneys general, the Republican attorneys general of this country doing what we've done before. It's what we did during the Biden administration. It's what we will do based upon the crazy we see coming out of Congress or any future federal action. We're going to hold the line. We're going to hold the line against common sense. We're going to hold the line in defending the rule of law. It's not our first rodeo, John. And you have seen time And time after time, attorneys general of this country Pushing back on overreach. It's how our founders designed a system of federalism so that the states can push back when D.C. overreaches. It's so funny. You said that I was in an airport the other day, and a Vietnam veteran came out to me, started talking a little bit, and he said, thank God for those attorneys generals. They saved us from so much of the worst Biden ideas by going to court and winning on the merits. The contributions that you and your colleagues have made are really noticed around this country. People know what the attorney generals have done and what they're going to do. Attorney General Russell Coleman, it's a great honor to have you on the show today. It's an honor to be with you, and I tell you, it's an honor to serve with these amazing men and women who are our state attorneys general.