The Many Legal Fights Facing Dem AGs
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It's Tuesday, March 11th. I'm Jane Koston, and this is What A Day, the show that felt pretty okay until it heard Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville talking to Larry Kudlow on his Fox show Monday, where he said this. We have no chance unless he does tariffs and holds people accountable to what's been going on. I don't like where this is going. On today's show, the Trump administration is asking undocumented immigrants to self-deport using the Customs and Border Patrol app.

And more than a million Americans could expect to see a hike in their utility bills as the tariff war on the northern border heats up.

But let's start with our series of conversations with Democratic Attorneys General, currently tasked with dealing with all of this. On Monday, the Supreme Court announced that they decided to hear a case challenging Colorado's ban on conversion therapy for LGBTQ kids. The plaintiff, a Christian therapist, argues that it is a violation of her First Amendment rights for the government to prevent her from helping her patients stop being gay, lesbian, or transgender.

Of course, conversion therapy is stupid because there is absolutely nothing wrong with being LGBTQ. Also, it doesn't work and it causes real and lasting harm to the people who have endured it. But the Supreme Court says, eh, let's hear this out.

As we've said, Democratic attorneys general are fighting a multi-front war. First, they're the top law enforcement officials in their states. That means they are handling criminal cases and working on behalf of their constituents to stop, say, robocalls or debt collection fraud schemes. But they're also having to battle the Trump administration's efforts to limit the ability of states to determine how their citizens live their lives.

From cases on birthright citizenship to arguments over the administration's efforts to stop federal funding for services from wildfire prevention to helping rural communities access much-needed services, Democratic AGs have had to stand in the breach to say, actually, the federal government can't just do that. One of those Democratic attorneys general is Colorado AG Phil Weiser, whose state is at the center of the Supreme Court conversion therapy case. I talked to AG Weiser on Monday afternoon.

Attorney General Weiser, welcome to What A Day. It's great to be with you. What a day it is here in Colorado. What a day it is indeed. Let's start with the Supreme Court and the justices' decision to weigh a challenge to Colorado's ban on conversion therapy for LGBTQ kids. Close to half the states have similar bans. The case won't be argued until the fall, but what worries you about this case?

What worries me about this granting of a decision from Colorado saying that our law banning so-called gay conversion therapy is constitutional is we could see the turning of an arc of equal rights for everybody. If this

cruel and this unaccepted practice of so-called gay conversion therapy is given First Amendment protection and Colorado's decision to regulate a practice that both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association say has no value and is harmful, it'll be a sad day for America. It'll be the turning of an arc away from justice, away from equality. I am particularly perplexed in this case because

The therapist has never offered this so-called gay conversion therapy. And you're talking about the therapist who's suing, right? That's right. There's a therapist suing, and the therapist is claiming that her First Amendment rights are implicated by Colorado regulation.

That's a position that I see as damaging not just to equality, but more broadly to regulations that protect the public. There's a number of professions that are regulated, and the standard that Colorado follows, like most states, if we know the practice is categorically harmful, it doesn't provide value, it just harms people, then we would ban that practice. Once you start saying that we're going to second-guess that in the First Amendment, it's a problem for consumers as well as for equality.

You've been the attorney general in Colorado since 2019, so you've got about a year of experience dealing with the first Trump administration. How did that inform the ways you prepared ahead of Trump returning to office? Did you have any advice for your fellow blue state AGs?

I am in an interesting situation because the first Trump administration took a little longer to get its footing. And so some of the cases that we're seeing now out of the box actually took three years before we saw them last time. This time has come fast and furious. We knew we were going to face challenges. That's why even before the election, I and my colleagues were preparing. And I did, as you note, have the experience of the first time to fall back on. And we're ready for whatever's coming.

So what did the preparation look like? And honestly, how much preparation can you do ahead of time for something like this? Sadly, some of the harms, some of the lawless actions were in plain sight in Project 2025, to take one notable example. The idea that a president would seek to end birthright citizenship, I find morally offensive and legally unjustifiable, but we knew it was coming. And so we were ready.

And on day one, we were able to finalize the lawsuit and file it immediately. We now have a preliminary injunction that's preventing that ban on birthright citizenship from going into effect.

There are other things that we didn't necessarily have knowing at the ready, like for example, giving the so-called Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE access to our private information. We had to move quickly in a case involving DOGE and we also got a preliminary action there that's helping us protect our private information. One of the hardest things in this moment, it's hard for all of us, citizens, government leaders alike,

is how do we sift the signal from all the noise out there? There's so much noise that people can react to. We need to make sure we're focusing on the signal. There might be things that are problematic as a policy. It might be harming people maybe in other countries. But if, you know, it's not a violation of law that harms Coloradans, it's not going to be in my lane.

Yeah. How do you weigh whether to get involved with a suit against the administration? Is there an example of the kind of noise you were talking about where you thought, like, this is bad, but we're going to put that to the side? The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development appears to be happening without legislative authorization and appears to actually run counter to separation of powers.

There is litigation on that case, but it's not one that I as a state AGM involved in because it's not something that I've been able to identify Coloradans who are directly affected by it or a law that I am involved

authorized to enforce that protects Coloradans. By contrast, let me give an example from last week. Colorado has a grant we get from the Department of Education to supporting rural teachers who are growing up in rural areas, get trained, and go back to rural areas to teach. Fifty individuals are set to be in that pipeline, and that pipeline is about to be shut down immediately without any notice, without any justification in a way that was illegal. There, I've got a clear harm to the people of Colorado to protect

our rural communities and a clear legal violation, we took action. That was one of the seven lawsuits we brought. In another suit, you joined three other states, Washington, Oregon, and Minnesota, in suing the administration over a Trump executive order that would, in part, block federal grant funding to hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to kids under the age of 19. Why was that an important case for you to join?

I'm a big believer in listening, and I'm a big believer in hearing from people. And I have had friends who told me that they've had kids whose access to gender-affirming care is the reason they're alive today. And that, for me, made this a pretty straightforward case. And so I jumped into this case, and what

difference it made is powerful because our hospitals in Colorado were affected by this executive order. And this is worth lifting up a little bit. A lot of these executive orders, ones on diversity and inclusion, for example, are meant to intimidate, are meant to change behavior, even if they're illegal. And what I need to do as attorney general is fight to defend the law and protect people

And that's what I'm doing in this case to make sure that Colorado gets to decide that gender affirming care is legal or not. It is in our state. We have made that clear. The federal government can't bully us into allowing people to be harmed in a way that I know, again, from my relationships, from having listened, is potentially a life or death issue.

It feels like there's been a growing divide among Democrats since the election over how much to go to bat for LGBTQ people and whether that can be done without alienating swing voters. Just this week, the Human Rights Campaign and other LGBTQ advocacy groups wrote a letter that called on the Democratic Party to do more to stand up for LGBTQ rights. Do you think the party is doing enough in the face of Trump's attacks, especially for trans people?

It's very important that we all stand on principle and we explain what we're doing, why we're doing it. And when I took this case on, it is easy for me to explain the principle, which is people have the right to live as their best authentic selves and gender affirming care for parents and families and medical providers in Colorado is critical. And that's why it's a principle I would stand for. You mentioned before this case about

so-called gay conversion therapy. There's a critical principle there too, which is what happens to people when they're put into that therapy is cruel. It is motivated by an animus towards gays and lesbians. And what I would say on this point, and it's a point I've had a chance to talk about, attacks on anyone based on who they are, who they love, their gender identity, their religion,

It's an attack on all of us. We as Democrats have moved for an arc that is towards a more inclusive we the people. Everyone in Colorado matters. I'll protect everyone. We have to protect equal rights for all. On a totally separate note, how are you staying sane in these times? What are you doing for fun or to disconnect when you're not working? I mean, you live in a state where it's pretty easy to go outside and find something to do. I want to go back to this point because a friend of mine who was active in

equal rights efforts in the 1990s said that he had a friend who said, there's an importance of finding joy in difficult moments or dancing in the storm. We're in a stormy time right now. We're in a dark time. We have to work to find the light and we have to find the light in our lives. So I'm lucky to have two kids who now are old enough that I'll take every moment they'll spend with me. Have a dog who I enjoy walking. A beautiful state where I've gotten out skiing once this year and it was tremendous. And

a big fan of the Denver Nuggets who, uh,

are in it. We'll see whether it gets to the finish line or not, but we've got the best player in the world on our team, Nikola Jokic. And I do enjoy watching TV with my family. I'm someone who needs to continue to find time for joy, time to take care of myself, to exercise. I am working as hard as I can with people of Colorado. And for me to do my best work, I need to stay in good shape, good frame of mind and stay fit.

Attorney General Weiser, thank you so much for joining me. It's really a pleasure. Thanks for having me on. That was my conversation with Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. We'll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads.

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Here's what else we're following today. Headlines. Believe me when I say I do not want to do this. I feel terrible for the American people because it's not the American people who started this trade war. It's one person who's responsible. That's President Trump.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford means business. Ford announced Monday that Canada's most populous province is implementing a 25% surcharge on electricity exports that could hit 1.5 million American homes and businesses. Ford said at a press conference Monday that the surcharge will cost people across Minnesota, Michigan, and New York each and every single day. On an average, this will add around $100 per month to the bills of hardworking Americans.

Let me be clear, I will not hesitate to increase this charge. If necessary, if the United States escalates, I will not hesitate to shut the electricity off completely.

He is talking some big shit, and I've lived in Michigan. I know what those electricity bills look like in the winter. Yikes. Ontario's tariffs come in response to Trump's will-he-won't-he tariffs against Mexico and Canada. After a lot of back and forth, they went into effect last week. But days later, Trump postponed them on a huge swath of imports from both countries until April. Ford said until the threat of tariffs is gone for good, quote, Ontario will not relent.

In response to Ontario's threats, New York Governor Kathy Hochul called on Trump to immediately rescind his tariffs and said, quote, this is a textbook example of bad public policy. Elon Musk claimed his social media site, which I refuse to call X and will always be Twitter to me, was targeted in a cyber attack. And he blamed, with zero evidence, Ukraine?

Multiple outages were reported on the platform Monday. Tracking website downedetector.com said at one point more than 40,000 outages were reported. Musk said in a post, quote, we get attacked every day. But this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large coordinated group and or a country is involved.

He went even farther during an appearance on Fox Business host Larry Kudlow's show. Musk said, quote, we're not sure exactly what happened. But there was a massive cyber attack to try to bring down the X system with IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area.

Musk didn't provide any evidence to back up that claim, and as of our recording late Monday, it has yet to be verified. And given the sources, Ukraine had also not issued a response. Meanwhile, another one of Musk's companies is facing major problems. Tesla dealerships have become a popular protest site in recent weeks, thanks to the billionaire's role in the Department of Government Efficiency. Shares of Tesla plunged 15% Monday, on top of seven continuous weeks of losses.

NASA laid off more than 20 workers Monday. It's the latest federal agency to cut jobs under orders from the White House to downsize the federal workforce. NASA shuttered three departments. They include the Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy, and the Office of the Chief Scientist. Part of NASA's Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity was also shut down.

Workers were notified about the layoffs Monday morning via email. NASA spokesperson Cheryl Warner told What Today that the firings are to, quote, optimize our workforce. But Victoria Simpson, a longtime space expert at the Secure World Foundation think tank, told us the job cuts at NASA will have huge consequences.

She said that's especially true for the agency's studies on climate change. We're seeing this happen elsewhere in the government. It just seems a pity that an agency, an administration that's set up to deal with scientific missions and research is having its wings clipped in terms of dealing with one of the biggest scientific problems of our current time.

Elon Musk and his doge bros have been playing a key role in the mass federal layoffs. Sampson told Waterday that Musk's aerospace company, SpaceX, could play a bigger role in the agency if it cuts more jobs. I'm worried there's the mentality that, well, why do we need NASA? We have SpaceX.

And while SpaceX has been able to do a lot of amazing things, they have a different mandate than a government agency. Not to mention that President Trump has nominated commercial astronaut Jared Isaacman to be NASA's chief. The billionaire is not a scientist, engineer or academic of any kind. He just happens to be pals with Musk. Isaacman's nomination has yet to be confirmed by the Senate.

The Trump administration has unveiled a new version of a cell phone app to help undocumented migrants voluntarily deport themselves. The Department of Homeland Security announced the CBP Home app Monday. It used to be known as the CBP One app, short for Customs and Border Control. Under the Biden administration, migrants used it to apply for asylum in the U.S. Trump shut down the app immediately on his first day in office, canceling tens of thousands of asylum appointments.

The app rebranded as part of DHS's bigger push to get migrants to self-deport to help the Trump administration save money while carrying out its mass deportation plan. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem launched a multi-million dollar ad campaign last month threatening undocumented migrants in the U.S. President Trump has a clear message for those that are in our country illegally. Leave now. If you don't, we will find you and we will deport you. You will never return.

As of our recording time, it was not totally clear why DHS thought CBP Home would pop off on the App Store. Gnome did tweet Monday that migrants who use the app, quote, may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future. Seems like a pretty good deal to me to submit personal information into an app, including a photo, and hope the government that spent the last few months demonizing your mere presence in the country doesn't screw you over. Sign me up. And that's the news. One more thing.

Donald Trump loves cryptocurrency, I think. Though every remark he makes on the subject raises some questions as to what Trump thinks cryptocurrency is. From this day on, America will follow the rule that every Bitcoin knows very well. Never sell your Bitcoin. That's a little phrase that they have. I don't know if that's right or not. Who the hell knows, right? Now, to be fair, I also am a little unsure as to what crypto is.

But Donald Trump definitely loves cryptocurrency owners and advocates and made a big play to pander to them during the election. And it paid off. The crypto industry put millions of dollars into his campaign for the presidency. And now he's trying to seal the deal with crypto fans with the creation of a strategic Bitcoin reserve. But why?

To try and figure out why we are keeping a strategic reserve of a form of currency most countries don't use and most Americans don't have or trust, I had to turn to a friend of the pod, Bloomberg Senior Story Editor, Stacey Vanek-Smith.

Stacey, welcome back to What A Day. Thanks, Jane. It's good to be here. So what is the purpose of a so-called national crypto reserve? How is it supposed to work? That's a very good question. And I'm not entirely sure I have the 100% answer. So normally, a strategic reserve in a country, like we have a strategic petroleum reserve, because...

We need gas to make the economy go. Like if we ran out of gasoline tomorrow, if our supplies were cut off or if the price went haywire, most of our economy couldn't function. We couldn't get shipments. We couldn't drive. So it makes sense for us to have a strategic economy.

petroleum reserve because it's very central to our life. The digital strategic Bitcoin reserve, which was created through executive order by President Trump last week, is more puzzling because certainly we don't need Bitcoin to make the economy go. We do not. No, we do not. So everyone's been a little bit scratching their heads about this. I mean, I think it's seen as kind of just a pro-crypto move. How does the government plan to fund this reserve?

So apparently this is not going to come from taxpayer money. It was emphasized. They're just using the Bitcoin that have been seized in criminal cases. So civil asset forfeiture? Yes. Wow. Yes. We have $17 billion worth of Bitcoin, apparently, from this. And so that's going to be our reserve for right now. How is this reserve supposed to benefit Americans like me?

You know, I'm not sure. So that's a good question. I read the executive order and they were kind of comparing this. They said, oh, this will be like a digital Fort Knox because Bitcoin is like digital gold. And I think the idea would be to sort of help stabilize the economy. Maybe if something were to happen to the value of the dollar or we somehow needed this

this pile of Bitcoin for some reason, it is unclear. If the idea here is that cryptocurrency having a reserve of something that's stable, well, the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has been falling. So if this is such a great idea, why is that happening? So Bitcoin's apparently lost like almost 20% of its value in the last month, around 17%.

The reason is apparently people were speculating that the strategic Bitcoin reserve would not only be created, but the government would start buying up a ton of Bitcoin, which it's not going to do for right now. It's just using these seized assets. So that apparently disappointed all the investors. So the price of Bitcoin went down.

Stacey, thank you so much for coming and attempting to explain the strategic crypto reserve to me, a crypto skeptic. I wish I'd been able to explain it more, but it is just a little bit. It's a bit puzzling to everybody, I think. That was my conversation with Bloomberg senior story editor Stacey Vanek-Smith. Before we go.

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That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, blame Ukraine for your personal problems, and tell your friends to listen.

And if you're into reading and not just about how, who knows? Maybe Ukraine is responsible for why that girl ghosted you that one time. I mean, sure, you were an asshole, but hey, maybe it was Ukraine. Like me. What Today is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Jane Koston, and apparently blaming Ukraine is our America first destiny.

Water Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producers are Raven Yamamoto and Emily Fore. Our producer is Michelle Alloy. We had production help today from Johanna Case, Joseph Dutra, Greg Walters, and Julia Clare. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our executive producer is Adrienne Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gillyard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.

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