California AG's anti-Trump lawsuits are political, have cost taxpayers $21M, state GOP says
Foxnews
More than 60 lawsuits filed by California against the Trump administration in less than three years have cost the state's taxpayers $21 million, according to reports.
Since Trump took office in 2017, California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra has sued the administration over issues including Trump's travel ban, protecting DACA and sanctuary cities, fighting family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border and plans to construct the border wall, according to FOX 40 of Sacramento.
Earlier this year, California challenged Trump’s declaration of an emergency at the southern border and most recently, Becerra sued the administration over the rollback of the Endangered Species Act.
Republican strategist Tim Rosales says Becerra’s lawsuits are more about politics than policy, FOX 40 reported.
“This is politics,” he told the station.
“It’s politics by Becerra. He wants to make a national name for himself. He wants to get himself on the evening news and this is how you do it if you're the attorney general of California.”
"It’s politics by Becerra. He wants to make a national name for himself. He wants to get himself on the evening news and this is how you do it if you're the attorney general of California.”
He added that the Trump campaign is fundraising off California’s lawsuits in every other state.
“He’s gaining support in dozens of other states that look at California and they say, ‘Hey, look what California is doing,’” Rosales said.
“And California is kind of leading the way in terms of the progressive left and the far left, and that’s where we’re at right now.”
Becerra’s office claims the state's lawsuits have never added up to more than 1 percent of the state Department of Justice’s budget.
"He’s protecting our values,” Democratic political consultant Ed Emerson told FOX 40. “Separating children from their families, detaining them for unlimited amounts of time and keeping them in cages. This is not who we are and California has to step in.”
He said that while the Trump campaign may be fundraising off California’s lawsuits, “so are we.
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In a statement to FOX 40, Becerra said, “The fact is, I don’t wake up in the morning planning to pick a fight with the administration. We file lawsuits to stop the Trump administration from breaking the law and taking actions which would hurt Californians.”
As of last May, California has gotten favorable rulings in at least 25 of the cases, The Mercury News of San Jose reported.
California's lawsuits against the Trump administration surpass the 48 lawsuits that Texas filed against the Obama administration, according to FOX 40.