Following the money in the California Governor's Race

00:00:00
Speaker 1: And very happy Tuesday to you At twelve oh six in the West each the John Phillips Show, Mister Randy Wggs in Culver City.

00:00:07
Speaker 2: John, I have an update for everybody. I am proud to report that less than three weeks after putting my name into claim it dot CA dot gov, the State of California sent me a check for two hundred and ninety seven dollars.

00:00:24
Speaker 3: Wooooo, it works.

00:00:27
Speaker 2: I found a whole bunch of like insurance premium overpayments that went to my old bourbank address I haven't lived in in a decade, and because I put my name in, I put in the claim it got approved. The check actually ended up in my mailbox yesterday.

00:00:44
Speaker 3: It works.

00:00:46
Speaker 2: Swimming pools, movie stars or tequila. Well, I finally filled out the form I turned mine intoday, so let's see how long that take. But according to the website, I only had under one hundred dollars in there. The real money was in a deceased grandmother's name, and I don't even know how to get.

00:01:11
Speaker 1: That money out of the state without having to share it with my siblings and cousins.

00:01:16
Speaker 3: Are you saying that it's not worth that fight?

00:01:19
Speaker 2: Well, it's worth the fight if I can cut them out. Hey, you're the first one to get at it. But yeah, I got to imagine. That's where this stuff gets real complicated. Is what if the state owes you money but you died.

00:01:33
Speaker 1: That's true, but from my point of view, I should be the one to get it because I'm the one that landed in California in eighteen forty nine. If the siblings stick around on the East Coast, then the gold is mine.

00:01:50
Speaker 2: So what you're saying is this should apply to the law of finders.

00:01:53
Speaker 1: Keepers losers weepers. Eight hundred and two two five two two two is a jelephone number one eight hundred two to two two five two two two. Well, we know that the race to replace Gavin Newsom as governor of California is starting to heat up, and so is the fundraising.

00:02:16
Speaker 2: There is so much money being spent. As we now get at a crunch time, we're just over two months away from the primary, which means we're just over a month away from the ballots go into your mailbox, which means that you're going to see more Tom Steyer ads than you ever thought possible.

00:02:34
Speaker 1: I think I now officially see Tom Steyer on TV trying to sell me something more than I did in the nineteen nineties.

00:02:43
Speaker 3: From Ron pol Peel.

00:02:45
Speaker 2: For more on the money that is being spent and raised in the governor's race, here's a report from KPIX in the Bay.

00:02:55
Speaker 4: We're getting a better idea where all the money is going in the race for governor. We're a little over two months out from the primary election where these eight Democrats and two Republicans will ask for your vote to become the next governor. It's a race that's well still wide open with no clear front runner.

00:03:10
Speaker 2: If you're a Tony Thurmand or a Betty Ye and you've been in this race for two years and you have raised a little bit of money over those two years, when do you start spending.

00:03:20
Speaker 1: Well, they're all waiting to start spending at the very end. And it's not just the money that they've raised for this particular race too. Many of these candidates have run statewide a number of times. And if you have a safe seat, let's say you're the controller or the attorney general, whatever, you don't have to spend all of your money on reelection, So you can save it, you can invest it and you can spend the money that you raised in previous cycles, and then if you were good in the stock market, you can take those profits and you can spend them in this campaign too.

00:03:53
Speaker 2: Or you could do a Bob Bonta and use your campaign money to hire attorneys to defend you from the FBI. Bob Bonta. Uh, that's what Eric Swallwell did.

00:04:02
Speaker 4: Our Lauren Thoms is following the money trail and how it could impact the outcome of this race.

00:04:11
Speaker 5: As the race for California governor heats up, new numbers from the California Secretary of State are giving a better idea of where the money's flowing.

00:04:19
Speaker 6: As we enter the month of April, that's when candidates start turning to their ground campaign, their voter id operation, where they.

00:04:26
Speaker 2: Oh, gosh, how many people are going to be knocking on my door next month.

00:04:30
Speaker 3: You got to get a gate around your house.

00:04:33
Speaker 6: Where they start identifying who their voters are.

00:04:36
Speaker 5: At the top of the field when it comes to fundraising, sits billionaire Tom Steiner.

00:04:41
Speaker 2: That doesn't count. He gave himself all that money. How much money is he in on this yet? Some say it's in the sixty millions. Some say that we're getting close to the triple digits millions.

00:04:56
Speaker 1: Imagine being married to him and thinking to yourself, you know, if he had a hobby like bird watching, we would save so much money.

00:05:05
Speaker 2: I'm telling you his campaign is doing more for the billionaire's tax than anything else.

00:05:11
Speaker 1: Did you see, by the way, that there is a poll that's going around right now where the SEIU is now pulling whether or not they can pull the same stunt on people who are worth ten million dollars or more, not just the billionaires, but people who are worth ten million or more.

00:05:28
Speaker 2: Well, of course, and then it's going to be the people worth seven figures, then six figures, and then they're coming for you, the people that make five figures.

00:05:38
Speaker 1: I love the fact that they initially started out denying all of that, and now that it looks like their initiative is going to pass, they're going back to the well immediately.

00:05:48
Speaker 2: Well, that's how public sector unions operate. I don't know why anybody surprised.

00:05:54
Speaker 5: At the top of the field when it comes to fundraising. Since billionaire Tom Steiner, he's largely self fund at his campaign with more than one.

00:06:02
Speaker 2: I got to know who in their right mind gives a billionaire money to run for something, probably people who need something from him.

00:06:12
Speaker 3: We're a big ass crisis, I've heard.

00:06:16
Speaker 5: With more than one hundred million dollars raised so far, that's nearly ten times the amount raised by his next closest competitor, San Jose Mayor Matt Mayhon follows, raising more than eleven million dollars so.

00:06:28
Speaker 2: Far, and the may Hen spending spree has begun. I have KTLA on here in the background in case there's any breaking news or a high speed chase, and every break it's either stire or mayheen or Mayhen then Styre. It's over and over and over again. But we have not seen any bump in Mayhen's palling since he started spending money.

00:06:49
Speaker 1: No, And boy did that go off like a lead balloon. And now you can tell he's starting to recalibrate where his advisors are telling him that he's too popular with republic plans and not popular enough with Democrats.

00:07:02
Speaker 3: So now he stepped up his attacks.

00:07:05
Speaker 1: On Donald Trump, and now he's talking about all the things he's going to do for illegal aliens if he's elected.

00:07:11
Speaker 3: It's just not going to work for him.

00:07:13
Speaker 1: Right now, he's taking the worst possible advice that a candidate could take, the same way that Rick Caruso did when he ran for mayor. And the moment you come across as inauthentic is the moment you're done. And I think he's starting to cross that line.

00:07:29
Speaker 2: You know what's interesting about that is you think about who Mayheen's biggest supporter is, and that would be Rick Caruso, quite frankly, who was mulling about running himself for a really long time. Is it possible that Rick gave his terrible consultants to Mayhean.

00:07:47
Speaker 1: It is quite possible, because they're both making the same mistake, and they're both making the same mistake and approximately the same.

00:07:55
Speaker 2: Time in the campaign.

00:07:57
Speaker 1: And it's just beyond my ability to comprehend that they can't look at what happened at Rick to Rick Caruso and say, let's not repeat those same mistakes.

00:08:08
Speaker 2: They're making the sequel right now with.

00:08:11
Speaker 5: Just over five hundred contributors, largely tech CEOs and Silicon Valley billionaires. Meanwhile, Katie Porter is taking a grassroots approach. The former congresswoman has raised nearly six million dollars.

00:08:23
Speaker 2: Look at you, Katie who's given her money. People that watch cable news. Maybe she's raising a whole bunch of money when she does those instant lives.

00:08:34
Speaker 7: Sorry for the noise on cutting carrots.

00:08:36
Speaker 1: Okay, let's just say that she's hit some steakhouse with a bunch of guys and suits.

00:08:41
Speaker 3: Oh no, and she's raising money.

00:08:44
Speaker 1: Do you think she goes into that room with a little girl voice or do you think she goes into that room with a sharp knife in her hand and she's just kind of rubbing it against the other hand, and she said, all right, now it's time to go around the room and find out how much each of you is in for.

00:09:02
Speaker 5: He Meanwhile, Katie Porter is taking a grassroots approach the former.

00:09:10
Speaker 2: She did a whole video unlike how much the average donation is for the other candidates in the race, And she was so proud that hers is like fifty bucks.

00:09:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, because it's little old widows watching Rachel Maddow getting gimmed up at midnight.

00:09:28
Speaker 5: The former congresswoman has raised nearly six million dollars from forty eight thousand individual donors, while Republican candidates Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton have raised between four and seven million dollars from a mix of small donors, party support and large contributors.

00:09:44
Speaker 6: You're going to need a lot more money, not just to break through the Mayhem Independent expenditure ad or not just to break through every channel with Tom Steyer on it, but what to do relative to who's perceived to have big MO, who's perceived to have momentum?

00:09:59
Speaker 3: Right, No, by.

00:10:01
Speaker 2: Not at this point, to have big MO, who's perceived I've never heard momentum described as big MO, and I'm not going to ever use it.

00:10:10
Speaker 1: Well, that was George hw Bush, I think in nineteen eighty eight who came up with that phrase.

00:10:15
Speaker 6: To have big mo, who's perceived to have momentum? And right now for Democrats, Swallwell has that momentum.

00:10:23
Speaker 5: Campaigns are now spending heavily to build that momentum. Matt Mahon's campaign is pouring money into southern California, hoping to boost name recognition in the state's largest media market.

00:10:35
Speaker 3: You know, would be a great way to do that go on local radio in LA.

00:10:40
Speaker 1: It's so weird because he's the guy who's talking about local issues, He's the guy who's talking about California issues, and instead of doing the local shows.

00:10:52
Speaker 2: He flew to New.

00:10:52
Speaker 1: York and he did Morning Joe, and he's doing the podcasts and he did Jake Tapper, and he's fallen into that trap.

00:11:02
Speaker 2: And we're not even trying to make this about us. You know, you want to go reach people, go on with John Coebalt, go on, Oh, there's so many shows to go on, go on local TV.

00:11:11
Speaker 3: But he's not doing it. No, no, he's not.

00:11:16
Speaker 1: And it's almost as if it's almost as if I'm telling you, I think you're onto something with this Rick Caruso thing, because this is Rick Caruso two point zero.

00:11:28
Speaker 2: Well, there are rumors started by me that the whole reason that debate blew up is because a big donor to USC, quite frankly stronger on them into making sure Mayhen made the debate.

00:11:41
Speaker 1: But at this point they're spending a ton of money. It's not like they're just sitting around drinking scotch spitballing ideas. Why are you going to burn this amount of money on something you now know will not work well?

00:11:55
Speaker 2: And I think we've seen in the last few cycles you can do all that you want unpaid media. It's earned media that really gets people paying attention to you. And that's why you've got to be doing as many shows as possible and getting your message out there. And not talking to any of the local outlets in Southern California when Southern California is trying to get to know you, seems like a big mistake.

00:12:20
Speaker 1: Well, look at Via Regosa. He was at something like two percent in one of the poll a few weeks ago, and the most recent poll that I've seen had him at seven percent. He's the one who's everywhere right now.

00:12:33
Speaker 5: Him and Hilton USC professor Christian Growth says the effort is clear, but the payoff may be limited.

00:12:40
Speaker 8: I mean, Memahn's ads are all over cable.

00:12:43
Speaker 2: They're well and by the way to your point of, you know, making sure you do local. There's that whole hub up going on right now with Bianco and the ballots that he seized in Riverside, and he kept getting reached out to by CBS to talk about this, CBSLA, biggest station in the market. He says no, and he goes on Mike Lindell TV instead to make his case.

00:13:04
Speaker 1: I do not understand this. How many people could be watching Mike Lindell TV.

00:13:11
Speaker 3: Zero.

00:13:12
Speaker 1: Okay, Mayheon goes on Morning Joe that comes on at three o'clock in the morning California time. How many people could possibly be watching MSNBC at three o'clock in the morning.

00:13:28
Speaker 2: I'm telling you right now, if this radio thing ever doesn't work out, we can make a ton of money being bad consultants. Oh my god, I.

00:13:36
Speaker 8: Mean Metmahn's ads are all over cable, they're all over social media, they're all over streaming. He does have some support in the Bay Area, but once you get outside of the Bay Area, he's basically an unknown and nobody's really been supporting him.

00:13:50
Speaker 3: You know what his mistake was.

00:13:52
Speaker 2: He should have done what Katie Porter did and he should have put on the gas mask when he visited the Tijuana River Valley. He can not.

00:13:59
Speaker 3: Right here, it's a write a passage.

00:14:02
Speaker 5: How the money is raised can shape the race just as much as how it's spent. As labor groups have largely back to Eric Swalwell, while police.

00:14:09
Speaker 3: Here, including the teachers. Yeah that's brand new.

00:14:14
Speaker 2: Get that money, which somebody emailed us what that situation was like, and it's actually a lot more complicated where they could because like a lot of these union groups, you need to get sixty percent support to get the endorsement. And they had to ask that question about five or six times, and they were going back and forth between Swallwell and Styre, and finally at the very end they said, screw it, We'll make it Swallwell. But it came that close to being Styre.

00:14:42
Speaker 5: As labor groups have largely back to Eric Swalwell, while police unions are turning to Republican candidate Chad Bianco. Jeremy Mack has been tracking the flow of money through Project Phoenix.

00:14:52
Speaker 9: You know, when you're throwing one hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, up to two million dollars, it's not just silly because they care about the candidate or they like what they stand for.

00:15:04
Speaker 3: No, you're buying their position.

00:15:06
Speaker 1: What's wild to me is that they aren't on the same page. I know the two biggies, the SEIU and the California Teachers Association, are behind Swallwell, but there are significant unions that are behind other candidates. Via Regosa has a bunch, Bianco has a bunch, Porter has a bunch, Besarah has a bunch.

00:15:27
Speaker 2: I think Betty Gee has some. It's all over the board well, and then you look at what Lorna Gonzales did with the California Federation of Labor. They endorsed four candidates.

00:15:38
Speaker 1: I think what's going on is they're hedging their bets. They honestly don't seem to know who it's going to be, and they don't want to be on the outside looking in. Did you see that Fiona ma who's running for lieutenant governor, is refusing to endorse any candidates at all in the race because she said, as lieutenant governor, if I win, I'm gonna have to work with any of them, and I don't want to poison the well right now.

00:16:04
Speaker 9: Smart But because they see a benefit to them coming through this individual getting into office.

00:16:11
Speaker 5: And while money may by exposure, McEwan says, it can't buy a spot on the November ballot.

00:16:17
Speaker 6: And as we move closer and closer to absentees coming out twenty nine days before the election, that push pushes further and further. Candidates are in the single digits to consider their options, where they advertise and what that money gives them the best bang for the buck.

00:16:31
Speaker 3: So there you go.

00:16:32
Speaker 2: That is the latest state on the governor's race, specifically, where all the money is being raised and where all the money is being spent. Let's go to Tom and San Jose. Tom. Hello, that's that in there. Tom there, Sarah, thanks for chaking my call. Yeah hear me, Yes, sir?

00:16:55
Speaker 10: Okay, good, let me go and getting away from all the noise. And I don't know how to say. I appreciate everything to do, John, and then you're always on top of it. And I'm so grateful for you, guys. And I was the one that's been calling and trying to tell you about Maham and I know you know this, but I just want to remind all the listeners if this guy's so fos, he's only focused on why he became mayor and s so he can move on to what he's doing now. He just wants to continue to move on in politics. There's nothing wrong with that. But if you show people that you're the type of person who's a doer, I'm going to get things done. I'm going to be the mayor of Santa Zai. I want to clean this city up. I'm going to do what I promised I was going to do, and then tossure you that I'm a leader, and then I want to do these things, because yes, I do want to be the governor because I want to I want to clean up California. I want to make it great again. And he's done nothing here, He's done nothing. It's just another stepping stone. I literally live across the street from a man whose car was just attempted to be robbed for the fourth time in one month. And oh my god, there's nothing we can do.

00:17:58
Speaker 3: What you're saying is he was several times.

00:18:01
Speaker 11: I've been bipped several times.

00:18:03
Speaker 1: Eight hundred two two two five two two two is the telephone number? What eight hundred two two two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. And Randy ere monitoring the mail bag.

00:18:21
Speaker 2: Ryan writes in at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. Guys, the Katie Porter drop you can small right here is obviously going to be drop of the year. That will be two years in a row for Katie out of my shot. If she wins next year, it would be called the dynasty. Well, pat Riley would call it the three peat.

00:18:44
Speaker 3: Now I know.

00:18:45
Speaker 2: That everyone's pretty sure that Katie Porter at the Tijuana River will be drop of the year.

00:18:50
Speaker 3: You can have small right here, but the year is still young. There are so many contenders.

00:18:56
Speaker 2: The Katie Porter dropped that won last year out of my job that didn't even get into our world until September, so there's plenty of time for other people to emerge, or for other Katie Porter drops to emerge. So don't be so sure that you can smell it right here is going to be the drop of the year, although it probably will be. Well, just think about this. The ballots go out in what early May? They go out in early.

00:19:25
Speaker 7: Nine.

00:19:26
Speaker 1: That's right around the time that Tom Steyer is going to be dropping all of his oppo research on her.

00:19:32
Speaker 2: Oh boy, I'm pulling in to the bakery and Randy.

00:19:37
Speaker 1: If you missed yesterday's show, or maybe a show from last week and you want to.

00:19:40
Speaker 3: Find out what you missed out on, that's easy to do.

00:19:43
Speaker 2: All you got to do is search for the John Phillips Show. Wherever you get your podcast, that could be the Apple podcast app, iHeart Spotify, search for the John Phillips Show, hit subscribe. You could download all the episodes. Everyone listening to this show. If you're not subscribe, I've subscribe today just so we can brag that our numbers went up. Search for the John Phillip Show, hit subscribe. You can download all the episodes. You can do a Google on the YouTube. You can get the free KABC app, the KSFO app, or the KMJ now app because we're on that station Saturdays at noon. There are so many ways to listen to this show from noon to three wherever you are thanks to streaming. And you can also listen to the noon to three show whenever you want, thanks to podcasts.

00:20:26
Speaker 1: In the meantime, what do you say we make a couple of listeners very happy, Well, let's do that right now.

00:20:31
Speaker 2: Seven ninety KABC welcomes Weezer to Thecrypto dot Com Arena. It's in the copy, so I have to say it. October twenty fourth. Tickets are on sale Friday at ticketmaster dot com. But right now, caller number nine at one eight eight eight seven ninety five two two two gets a pair of tickets to the show. Tickets furnished by Live Nation. Good luck dialing if.

00:20:56
Speaker 1: Haven't seen Weezer in person before they put on a Grit eight concert. I've seen them once before in Chicago. The one thing I will say is the venue they were playing in Chicago didn't have any seats. So I walk into the concert hall and I'm looking around. I'm really excited to see Weezer, and then I go, Okay, where's my chair? And they go there is no chair. Everyone's supposed to stand up throughout the entire concert.

00:21:25
Speaker 3: That's a young man's game.

00:21:27
Speaker 1: It seems like bait and switched to me personally eight hundred two two two five two two two. He is a telephone number. Eric Swalwell, as we mentioned, just received the endorsement of the California Teachers Association. The Democratic Party is looking to coalesce behind one candidate so they don't get locked off the November ballot. Locked out of the November ballot, I should say. And right now, Eric Swalwell had a gift fall into his lap up and that is heat between himself and the FBI director Cash Pattel.

00:22:06
Speaker 2: That whole Fang Fang controversy is getting stirred up again, and political analysts believe that it will only help the Swallwell campaign.

00:22:16
Speaker 3: For more. Here is ABC seven in the Bay.

00:22:19
Speaker 12: ABC News is learning that the FBI is getting ready to release old case files that could taint the campaign of one of the leading candidates for a California governor.

00:22:29
Speaker 3: Or give him a big boost.

00:22:31
Speaker 2: This is where Republicans have to understand. You don't think like Democrats. If he's nailing Chinese spies, democratic voters do not care. It makes him unpopular.

00:22:46
Speaker 1: With Republican circles because they don't want the Chinese government to have access to sensitive information. But Democratic voters, particularly when they're voting for someone for a state office, could ear less.

00:23:01
Speaker 2: All you're gonna do is you're gonna make it seem like he's the Democrat that the Trump administration doesn't one in. Now, this case involves, in effect, it's the cash Betel FBI that has figured out a way to nationalize this state election.

00:23:15
Speaker 1: So good, right, because think about it, the Trump administration doesn't like Eric Swalwell. But it's not like they like Katie Porter any better. It's not like like Tom Steyer any better. They hate all three of them. But what each of those three is looking for is they're looking for a way to frame this race is them versus Donald Trump and everyone else's background noise.

00:23:39
Speaker 13: Now, this case involves a decades old investigation into a suspected Chinese spy ring with ties to Congressman Eric.

00:23:47
Speaker 12: Swalwell eighties and seven ie when this news political reporter Monica Madden is here now to explain why some people are questioning the timing of this release.

00:23:54
Speaker 9: Yeah, it's chat.

00:23:55
Speaker 2: It is interesting that you know, we heard about the Swallwell thing a long time ago, but we also know that this isn't a one off because we know about the mayor of Arcadia and her fiance that was a Chinese spy.

00:24:08
Speaker 3: Oh my, and he was also her campaign manager.

00:24:13
Speaker 14: Yeah, it's Kristen Larry. Keep in mind that Congressman Eric Swalwell is a longtime foe of President Donald Trump. So Swallwell says this is why he believes that the case is resurfacing now with his candidacy for California governor. Front and center. Congressman Eric Swallwell slamming the Trump administration Monday amid reports the FBI is resurfacing a closed counterintelligence probe into him.

00:24:36
Speaker 2: We are here.

00:24:36
Speaker 15: Today because of absolute nonsense.

00:24:43
Speaker 1: The thing about this guy is, this guy is super reckless. So I can only imagine what Tom Steyer and even Katie Porter. And we know that via Gosa has stuff on him, by the way, because if you go back to that initial toy from the Democratic strategist who talked about the alleged problems that he has by he, I mean Swallwell with women who work in his office and interns. That consultant was affiliated with the via Goosa campaign. If you are the Republicans, you're afraid of two things. You are afraid of the Democrats all getting behind one candidate, and it looks like that's a possibility with Swallwell. But you're also worried about wanting one of those candidates collapsing, because if Swalwell peaks too soon and then suddenly they come out with all this damning information about him that the allegations say they're sitting on, then his support is going to collapse. And if one of the top three sees a complete collapse, that will theoretically benefit one of the other two.

00:25:54
Speaker 2: Now, if it's the via Gosa campaign that releases that, how do they frame that Swalall has affairs with spies? Tony only has affairs with reporters.

00:26:07
Speaker 14: The records relate to a decade old investigation into a suspected Chinese spy who previously volunteered for Swalwell's twenty fourteen reelection campaign. Swalwell was cleared of wrongdoing and House Republicans closed in ethics probe in twenty twenty three.

00:26:22
Speaker 3: This case is so, then why are we bringing this up again?

00:26:26
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's a pattern of behavior, is what they're going to allege, because, like I said, I don't think Democratic voters care about him sleeping with the Chinese spy. But if he's promoting people in his office who he's had relationships with or in turns or whatever, there are a lot of feminists who might have a problem with that.

00:26:47
Speaker 15: This case is closed, but this effort to weaponize the FBI against the president's political enemy at a time that we are at war shows a distraction.

00:26:57
Speaker 2: Swalwell did not directly someone got some free yesterday thanks to the FBI.

00:27:03
Speaker 1: It's funny you look at his ads, you look at what he's putting out there. He doesn't even bother to mention anything California related. It's all him and Trump.

00:27:13
Speaker 14: Swallwell did not directly mention the allegations to reporters in San Francisco on Monday, but stressed the political implications.

00:27:20
Speaker 15: Trump and Patel are trying to interfere in the California election. That's why they're targeting me. I'm the only name in the race that they know, the only one that they're threatened by.

00:27:28
Speaker 2: That shows how low the name idea is for most of these candidates. Well, I beg to differ because I don't think you can be living and breathing in California and not be aware of who Tom Steyer is, the only one.

00:27:39
Speaker 15: That they're threatened by.

00:27:40
Speaker 14: How's judiciary?

00:27:41
Speaker 3: Now, what does that mean? DC knows who Tom Styer is?

00:27:45
Speaker 2: I don't know. Well, I guess he's not buying TV in Washington.

00:27:49
Speaker 15: The only one that they're threatened by.

00:27:50
Speaker 14: Hou's judiciary. Democrats coming to his defense, with ranking Member Jamie Raskin writing quote, this is plain weaponization of the FBI for partisan political per versus.

00:28:00
Speaker 3: Hey, there's some alliteration for you, Mark Brown.

00:28:04
Speaker 11: The irony is that this will probably help him more than hurt him with the voters that matter in the upcoming primary.

00:28:11
Speaker 2: A vocal Trump critics, you could do a pall of does it matter to you? Which candidate Trump hates the most. I can't imagine Trump having any love for Katie Porter.

00:28:27
Speaker 14: You can smell it right here, a vocal Trump critics. Swallell is a leading candidate in the California Democratic primary for governor, which ABC seven News insider filmat Here says might be advantageous for Eric Swollwell.

00:28:41
Speaker 11: Having a Trump attack like this is actually balafides that he is a legitimate warrior, that he is really battling, that the Trump administration fears him. It's a one upsman shit at.

00:28:51
Speaker 2: This race is no longer about California, is it? Oh, it hasn't been for quite some time. On the Republican side, the two of them are talking about Californi and the issues. On the Democratic side, it was Mayhan and via Regosa, and Mayhan is starting to move away from that, and via Regosa, I guess, is the last man standing.

00:29:11
Speaker 11: And that's why he's touting the fact rather than getting into the details of what might be in the investigation, but saying that the investigation is in fact the story itself.

00:29:19
Speaker 14: It's not the first time the Trump administration has gone after the congressman who led Trump's first impeachment and Mattiir says it likely won't be the last.

00:29:28
Speaker 11: We're going to be entering that second part of the race where we've done the niceties, we've set our policy papers. Now it's time to get personal, and that usually means Mudglinging.

00:29:39
Speaker 2: Is going to be an ugly April as soon as Easter ends. The gloves are coming off well.

00:29:45
Speaker 1: As we've said before, a lot of these candidates are waiting until the last minute to start spending their money and dumping whatever oppo research they have. This right now is the calm before the storm.

00:29:58
Speaker 14: And sources are telling ABC News is that the agents have been working this weekend through the potential release, but there's been no timeline on when these documents might become public. And keep in mind that move would break DJ's long standing tradition of not releasing any records in an investigation if there were no charges pressed. So we'll have to see what happens next.

00:30:18
Speaker 13: I know Phil mentioned it is there any chance this could work in Swalwell's behavior, because now he's saying I'm the target. I'm clearly the one that they're afraid of.

00:30:24
Speaker 14: That was exactly what Phil's analysis was pointing out that you know, right now it is popular. Look at amongst Democrats, look at Governor Gavin Newsom to have this adversarial relationship with Trump. So this gives Congressman Swallow the opportunity to say, look, he's coming after me, he's afraid of me, this is a problem. I'm going to fight him at a.

00:30:41
Speaker 2: Time when this is how you become the front runner in California.

00:30:45
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, But I would add this in the case of Swalwell, whatever dirt is out there, whatever transgressions he committed, it is unlikely that the Republicans would be the ones to be aware of it. It's the Democrats who are going to be aware of it. Because what happens is these people work for a politician, and then they go and they work for a different politician, and then they go and work for a campaign, and then they go and they work for a party or an independent expenditure group. And they all talk to one another. So there are few secrets in that world. They don't tell the other side, but they tell each other. And if you work for someone like Swallwell and you had a bad experience or you observed an ethical behavior going on, you're not going to tell the Speaker of the House. You're not going to tell Mike Johnson. You're going to tell people that you work with in whatever office you end up in next. And so what happens is within democratic circles the transgressions of Democratic officeholders. That knowledge is common knowledge, and the ones who accumulate the most knowledge are the ones that have been around the longest, who are the most likable. So I would imagine that people who are not pulling very well, people like Betty E, Tony Thurman, Javier Bsera, Antonio via Ragosa, they're the ones that are sitting on this information. Katie Porter was not well liked, so she's probably not in the loop. And Tom Steyer was never an elected office, so he's probably out of the loop. So I would imagine that the biggest threats right now to Eric Swalwell are those Democrats who are pulling at the bottom, because they're the ones that have the information that can cause his campaign to collapse.

00:32:39
Speaker 2: And I think that that's also part.

00:32:41
Speaker 1: Of the calculus as to why the Democratic Party is going to push them out or wants to push them out, because if you push them out before they go nuclear on Eric Swalwell, then you can preserve the one candidate that you can all get behind. If they go nuclear on Eric Swalwell, they're going to knock him out and you're going to lose control over who your candidate is, or you might not find real estate on the November ballot at all.

00:33:08
Speaker 12: At a time when Tom Steyer has been rising in the polls and the two are really going at each.

00:33:13
Speaker 14: Other right on the Democratic side, Timing is everything in politics.

00:33:16
Speaker 13: Yeah, thank you, Monica.

00:33:17
Speaker 3: So there you go.

00:33:18
Speaker 2: The latest on Eric Swallwell getting national attention thanks to the FBI.

00:33:25
Speaker 1: Eight hundred two two two five two two two is a telephone number. And surprise, surprise, we've found more corruption in California.

00:33:34
Speaker 2: This time it's in San Francisco. The San Francisco DA's office arrested their former head of human rights for what do you know, misappropriation of funds. For more on this, we go to Koran form up.

00:33:51
Speaker 3: Let me turn off the music. Now we got a Koran four.

00:33:56
Speaker 16: The former head of San Francisco's Human Rights Commission has been.

00:34:00
Speaker 2: Charge was first off, why is that a department? And how much do we waste on it?

00:34:04
Speaker 10: Yeah?

00:34:04
Speaker 2: Talk about something that can be totally eliminated.

00:34:07
Speaker 16: Has been charged with seventeen felonies alleging financial misconduct and the way she used and distributed city funds while on the job.

00:34:15
Speaker 17: Godforest dan Kerman reports after being tipped by a whistleblower and an eighteen month investigation, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has filed seventeen felony charges against Cheryl Davis, the former executive director of San Francisco's Human Rights Commission, alleging financial misconduct in the way she distributed and used city funds.

00:34:36
Speaker 18: For the Dream Keeper Initiative, the program designed to reinvest in San Francisco's black community.

00:34:42
Speaker 2: Are there any nonprofits that are legit in San Francisco? How is that even legal?

00:34:49
Speaker 19: We have to hold government actors accountable, certainly when they are abusing the trust of San Franciscans, when they are abusing taxpayer dollars and in this case, using funds that were supposed to be targeted and given to the black community to actually engage in a reinvestment, in an uplifting of community, to help children, and that money was lost from the community.

00:35:17
Speaker 18: James Spingola, the former executive director of the nonprofit Collective Impact, which Davis used to run, was also charged before felonies.

00:35:26
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm shocked by the way.

00:35:28
Speaker 1: If anyone ever decides to actually follow through with reparations, this is exactly what's going to happen. A handful of criminals are going to take it all.

00:35:37
Speaker 18: Prosecutors allege in addition to misappropriating funds, Davis had numerous conflicts of interest.

00:35:43
Speaker 19: We did find that a portion of this money was spent in a manner that was self dealing and was for her benefit and the benefit of her brand, ultimately her finances, and paid for things that it was not intended to be used for the charge.

00:36:01
Speaker 2: This is what happens over and over and over again, whether it's in the Bay Area or southern California. We give all of this money out to help let's say, the homeless, are the underprivileged, and it goes straight into the pockets of the people administering it. And mind you, at.

00:36:18
Speaker 1: The same time, police departments and fire departments don't have the resources they need to keep us safe.

00:36:24
Speaker 7: The charges are a distortion of the truth. What they do is they make it look like doctor Davis.

00:36:33
Speaker 3: Oh no, is she a doctor.

00:36:36
Speaker 2: You notice they all have Doctorid's.

00:36:39
Speaker 7: Was misappropriating funds for her own benefit.

00:36:43
Speaker 3: Davis's attorney.

00:36:44
Speaker 2: I mean, that's what the charges show from the DA, and that DA make sure to cross the t's and dot the ice.

00:36:50
Speaker 18: JA Davis's attorney, Tony Brass says what actually happened was the city hired Davis, gave her no training in government worker managing city money, and now is blaming her.

00:37:02
Speaker 3: That's a defense, So we have to train you not to steal.

00:37:06
Speaker 7: Sure, it yields an imperfect result, but that's what it is. It's not felonious conduct.

00:37:11
Speaker 18: The DA says the investigation is far from over. That could mean more charges for these two or additional arrests at the DA's office in San Francisco. Dan Kerman Crown for News.

00:37:22
Speaker 2: There you go, yet another person in San Francisco charged with wasting your money by giving it to themselves. And if you couldn't see this coming, you need to go to Lens Crafters