Washington, DC – Last week, Minnesota AG Keith Ellison was joined by Arizona AG Kris Mayes, New York AG Letitia James, New Jersey AG Matthew Platkin, and Illinois AG Kwame Raoul for the second in a series of multi-AG Community Impact Hearings. Democratic AGs heard directly from individuals impacted by the Trump administration’s federal overreach, including federal funding cuts and mass firings.

Over the weekend, Minnesota AG Keith Ellison and New Jersey AG Matthew Platkin spoke with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart to discuss the town hall and their actions fighting the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.

Key highlights from The Saturday Show with Jonathan Capehart:

• “There’s a reason why we are undefeated in court through the first two months of this term,” AG Platkin said. “It’s because they have violated the law, they’ve disregarded the constitution, they’ve hurt our residents, they’ve hurt their healthcare, they’ve threatened their kids’ education, they’ve gutted law enforcement, they’ve really hurt veterans.”
• AG Platkin continued, “And we heard some really powerful stories from veterans in Minnesota the other night. And that’s why what Keith and I and our colleagues are doing is we are doing our jobs. We are standing up for the rule of law and we are protecting the people that live in our states and in this country.”
• “Because if you represent the people, you need to listen to the people,” AG Ellison said. “And what the people are telling us is that they are rejecting this unconstitutional attack on their freedom, on their programming, on things that they need.”
• AG Ellison added “We heard from people who are farmers. We heard from veterans. We heard from federal workers who are dedicated to their jobs and they are really upset… at the end of the day we’re gonna be fighting in court but we also need to win in the court of public opinion.”
• “We need people to express their first amendment right on how much this unconstitutional illegal action is impacting them so you know we’re gonna keep doing it,” AG Ellison concluded.

Key highlights from The Guardian:

• “Before the town hall began, the attorneys general said that they had secured temporary restraining orders halting or reversing Trump administration directives in nearly all of their cases so far.”
• “‘Everybody’s putting in double duty. But the point is, we’re absolutely up to it. We got four and a half years of gas in our tanks, and we’re here to fight for the American people all the way through,’ Ellison told reporters before the event began.”
• “After several probationary employees shared their stories, Arizona’s Mayes cut in to ask whether the Trump administration or their agencies had reached out to rehire them. The Democratic attorneys general secured a win in a lawsuit over these firings, and a judge ruled they needed to be reinstated. If that wasn’t happening, Mayes said, they needed to know.”

Key highlights from the St. Cloud Times:

• “’We’re standing up for the right of the United States Congress to make decisions around appropriations, not somebody who just signs a piece of paper and says, ‘We’re freezing all of your money,’ [AG Keith] Ellison said. ‘They cannot tear down institutions like the Department of Education, which is designed to help educate our families and our children.’”
• “‘I’ve come here today because individuals cry in my arms each and every day in my beloved Brooklyn, immigrants who are concerned about their family being separated, individuals who are concerned about whether or not their spouses are going to come home,’ she [AG Tish James] said.”
• “’Reform must be done lawfully through the constitutional processes that exists for that purpose,’ [AG Kris] Mayes said.”
• “The five attorneys are also taking steps to combat actions they deem unlawful, such as President Donald Trump’s attempts to dismantle the Department of Education, attack diversity initiatives and challenging the press.”

 Key highlights from The Minnesota Reformer:

• “Ellison and other attorneys general have filed nearly a dozen lawsuits against the executive branchover probationary federal employees; the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’; birthright citizenship; federal spending; access to the Treasury payments system; restrictions on gender-affirming care; and cuts to National Institutes of Health grants.”
• “‘Individuals have come up to me in New York and all across…they said, “Tish, aren’t you afraid?” And the answer is, “I’m more concerned about individuals who are losing all of their benefits,” James said. ‘I’m going to be all right, because I’ve got righteousness on my side.’”

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