WEBVTT - Operation Protect The Vote (10/19) 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:04.240 KFI AM 640, you're listening to the John Kobelt Podcast 0:00:04.300 --> 0:00:06.220 on the iHeartRadio. 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:09.420 App. 0:00:09.680 --> 0:00:14.400 KFI AM 640, live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:16.250 All right, let's get it together. 0:00:16.290 --> 0:00:19.930 John Kobelt Show, we are on until 6 o'clock, and 0:00:19.950 --> 0:00:22.250 then after 6, whatever you missed, you listen to on 0:00:22.270 --> 0:00:23.830 the podcast, same as the radio show. 0:00:24.350 --> 0:00:27.730 John Kobelt Show on demand. We are live on YouTube 0:00:27.790 --> 0:00:28.830 and live on X.com. 0:00:29.870 --> 0:00:33.089 And tomorrow, and I'll be reminding you, I think about 0:00:33.090 --> 0:00:38.360 17 times this show, tomorrow is Karen Bass Day, 5 o'clock, 0:00:38.540 --> 0:00:42.180 here at the KFI Studios. Karen Bass will be sitting 0:00:42.220 --> 0:00:46.840 down for an interview with me, 5 o'clock, so you 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:50.780 want to be there. And I have nothing else to 0:00:50.860 --> 0:00:53.700 add to that. If you're wondering what's going to happen, 0:00:54.780 --> 0:00:58.230 you have to tune in at 5. Now, we're going 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:01.840 to talk with Bill Assele. who is practically a co-host 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:05.860 these days, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District. 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:14.280 And there was a roundup of these are legal immigrants, 0:01:16.380 --> 0:01:18.720 but they are not U.S. 0:01:18.780 --> 0:01:19.200 Citizens. 0:01:20.220 --> 0:01:23.950 And they have been illegally registered to vote. And some 0:01:23.990 --> 0:01:26.669 of them have voted illegally. And so this was the 0:01:26.730 --> 0:01:30.360 roundup today. The arrests happened, and we're going to talk 0:01:30.380 --> 0:01:31.480 to Bill to see how many. 0:01:31.940 --> 0:01:32.619 Bill, how are you? 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:35.119 Hey, John, good. 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:37.950 How are you? I'm good. So how many. 0:01:37.830 --> 0:01:41.370 People did you arrest today, and how many specifically in 0:01:41.410 --> 0:01:42.330 the Los Angeles area? 0:01:43.950 --> 0:01:48.030 So we announced this morning that we are charging 28 0:01:48.030 --> 0:01:52.270 non-citizens with registering to vote. And a lot of them 0:01:52.350 --> 0:01:56.550 actually did participate in prior elections and voted. As of 0:01:56.610 --> 0:01:58.390 the time of the press conference, the count I got 0:01:58.410 --> 0:02:01.390 from HSI was at least 11 had been found. And 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:03.520 in custody, that number might be higher now, having gotten 0:02:03.530 --> 0:02:07.520 an updated number. But they will all be arrested quickly, eventually. 0:02:07.540 --> 0:02:11.360 There's not very many places to go. And so this 0:02:11.380 --> 0:02:14.190 was Operation Protect the Vote. And we want to get 0:02:14.210 --> 0:02:17.850 the word out that we are coming for non-citizen voters. 0:02:18.130 --> 0:02:20.710 So if you voted in an election, you're not a citizen, 0:02:21.010 --> 0:02:21.669 you could be next. 0:02:21.970 --> 0:02:22.530 So don't do it. 0:02:23.350 --> 0:02:26.970 And these were, it seems, legal residents from some of 0:02:26.990 --> 0:02:29.810 the background information that you've published? 0:02:31.590 --> 0:02:31.890 Yeah. 0:02:31.990 --> 0:02:35.610 So, you know, so the thing about our immigration. 0:02:35.110 --> 0:02:38.050 System is when you let in 20 million illegal immigrants, 0:02:38.530 --> 0:02:40.570 we don't know who they are and we still don't 0:02:40.610 --> 0:02:41.290 know who they are. 0:02:41.389 --> 0:02:42.370 So we have no records. 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:46.220 Of most of the illegal immigrants because they've never interacted 0:02:46.300 --> 0:02:50.360 with any government official. So the records that we have 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:54.470 are mostly for legal immigrants or people who've been arrested 0:02:54.530 --> 0:02:57.650 by Border Patrol, people who've applied for asylum, people who 0:02:57.690 --> 0:03:00.610 have what's called an alien file. So people with an 0:03:00.710 --> 0:03:04.630 alien file, we can make a 100% match and say 0:03:04.910 --> 0:03:07.119 beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are not 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:10.530 a citizen. If there's just random names on the voter 0:03:10.550 --> 0:03:13.250 rolls and we don't have a corresponding A file, it's 0:03:13.290 --> 0:03:15.790 more difficult for us to make that determination. That's why 0:03:15.830 --> 0:03:18.859 you see most of the charges connected to people with 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:19.639 immigration files. 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:23.440 I noticed that they're from all different countries. It's not 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:32.160 just Mexican citizens, Belize, India, El Salvador, Honduras. Philippines, Guatemala. 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:37.740 It's a wide range here. These people, they registered when 0:03:37.780 --> 0:03:40.480 they applied for a driver's license. Is this a motor 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:42.820 voter situation and they were supposed to opt out? 0:03:44.380 --> 0:03:48.780 You know, every case is different. But even when you 0:03:48.820 --> 0:03:52.990 go to the DMV, there is a clear question box 0:03:53.170 --> 0:03:56.870 and there's a clear signature box where you have to 0:03:56.930 --> 0:04:01.940 attest you're a citizen. So, you know, Okay, maybe you 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:03.900 didn't know, but guess what? When you get the ballot, 0:04:04.020 --> 0:04:06.279 you know you're registered. And if you fill the ballot out, 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:08.040 you're voting in an illegal election. 0:04:08.100 --> 0:04:10.070 So every case is different. 0:04:10.110 --> 0:04:13.310 The guy we profiled in my district today, he voted 0:04:13.370 --> 0:04:16.750 in multiple elections and multiple times. And even when he 0:04:16.790 --> 0:04:20.130 filled out his naturalization paperwork, which asks you, have you 0:04:20.150 --> 0:04:22.740 ever voted? He said, no, which is a lie. It's 0:04:22.770 --> 0:04:25.060 also a crime. But I think what's important here, John, 0:04:25.100 --> 0:04:27.820 like this is more than just the 28 people we're 0:04:27.860 --> 0:04:33.080 announcing today. All 28 people are listed on the list 0:04:33.140 --> 0:04:37.400 we provided to California last week, okay? So that proves 0:04:37.740 --> 0:04:40.660 what we've been saying is that we have pretty good 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:45.349 evidence that there are tens of thousands of non-citizens on 0:04:45.410 --> 0:04:48.530 California's voter rolls. And this is just a small proof 0:04:48.570 --> 0:04:52.150 of concept that we pulled out 28 people that we 0:04:52.170 --> 0:04:52.730 charged today. 0:04:53.089 --> 0:04:54.150 We checked. We even looked. 0:04:54.190 --> 0:04:56.350 Okay, let's look at the list we gave California last week. 0:04:56.710 --> 0:04:59.090 They're all on there. So it's a pretty good list. 0:04:59.410 --> 0:05:01.710 So California should take it seriously. They're not. 0:05:02.150 --> 0:05:03.670 They're still being dismissive about it. 0:05:03.670 --> 0:05:06.430 So that's why this morning we also filed a TRL. 0:05:06.850 --> 0:05:10.070 We're seeking an emergency order to get California to sequester 0:05:10.110 --> 0:05:10.650 these ballots. 0:05:11.710 --> 0:05:16.990 I saw Rob Bonta when he was asked about your request, 0:05:17.810 --> 0:05:22.109 and he was very dismissive and said, well, no, basically 0:05:22.130 --> 0:05:25.040 we haven't cooperated. We don't think it's in good faith. 0:05:26.620 --> 0:05:30.549 And so it was pretty good to come right back 0:05:30.770 --> 0:05:35.670 and give you 28 examples of people who really have 0:05:36.050 --> 0:05:40.000 registered and or voted illegally. No, this is a real story. Now, 0:05:40.060 --> 0:05:42.940 there's a lot of people saying, well, 28, big deal. 0:05:43.620 --> 0:05:45.500 In a state of 40 billion people, this is a 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:47.539 lot to do over not very much. 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:51.900 That's what Rob Bonta said today. You notice how the 0:05:51.940 --> 0:05:52.940 goalpost keeps moving? 0:05:53.310 --> 0:05:55.089 So first we give the list. He goes, we don't 0:05:55.110 --> 0:05:55.830 believe the list. 0:05:56.290 --> 0:05:57.890 There's no non-citizens on that list. 0:05:57.910 --> 0:06:00.250 It's like, okay, well, here's 30 people from the list 0:06:00.310 --> 0:06:03.010 that we indicted. We got a federal judge to sign 0:06:03.029 --> 0:06:06.549 arrest warrants saying these people voted illegally in an election 0:06:06.570 --> 0:06:09.599 and they're not citizens. Then the bar moves again. Well, 0:06:09.620 --> 0:06:13.380 that's only 28, John. Well, you know, how many people 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:15.320 do we need to charge for him? I compare this 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:18.140 to speeding tickets. How many tickets can a cop write? 0:06:18.580 --> 0:06:21.779 Not that many in a day. Just because he wrote 0:06:21.779 --> 0:06:24.200 10 tickets, that doesn't mean there's only 10 people speeding. 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.110 That's just how many we can put cases together and charge. 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:28.589 It takes a lot of resources. 0:06:28.210 --> 0:06:28.890 To charge people. 0:06:29.250 --> 0:06:31.830 And the standard is not we have to charge all 0:06:31.830 --> 0:06:34.950 20,000 people for California to take this seriously. That's not 0:06:34.970 --> 0:06:37.430 how that works. So we're going to present our evidence 0:06:37.450 --> 0:06:38.990 to a judge, and we're going to get a TRO, 0:06:39.310 --> 0:06:41.450 and they're going to sequester those ballots. And we're going 0:06:41.470 --> 0:06:43.110 to have a conversation before they get counted. 0:06:44.770 --> 0:06:47.760 Yeah, well, they're awfully arrogant, but they're awfully arrogant about 0:06:47.820 --> 0:06:50.120 everything because they don't think they'll ever get penalized in 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:52.100 any way. And maybe this will be an example of 0:06:52.900 --> 0:06:55.240 a serious penalty that the state's going to have to 0:06:55.279 --> 0:06:55.660 deal with. 0:06:56.620 --> 0:06:57.750 Do you have more? 0:06:58.150 --> 0:07:01.349 Not only that, they're also looking at, you know, Trent McCotter, 0:07:01.410 --> 0:07:04.070 the deputy attorney general, warned them on Friday. that if 0:07:04.089 --> 0:07:07.710 they ignore our list and they ignore our warnings that 0:07:07.730 --> 0:07:11.550 they are counting votes for non-citizens, they're exposing themselves to 0:07:11.590 --> 0:07:15.270 federal charges, the election officials themselves. Because now at that point, 0:07:15.290 --> 0:07:17.970 they're aiding and abetting the commission of a federal crime. 0:07:17.970 --> 0:07:21.910 18 U.S.C. 611 makes it a crime for a non-citizen 0:07:21.930 --> 0:07:24.890 to vote. So if they know that these people are 0:07:24.910 --> 0:07:27.310 not citizens and they're allowing them to vote, they're going 0:07:27.330 --> 0:07:27.830 to be in trouble. 0:07:28.470 --> 0:07:31.600 So you're talking about state election officials? 0:07:33.330 --> 0:07:35.860 That was the letter sent on Friday to election officials 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:38.620 by the deputy attorney general, warning them that if they 0:07:38.660 --> 0:07:41.620 move forward in counting these ballots, after they have actual 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:45.220 knowledge that these people are not citizens, they are jeopardizing, 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:47.970 they're opening themselves to criminal liability. All right. 0:07:49.650 --> 0:07:53.270 Great work, Bill, as always. And we'll talk further as 0:07:53.310 --> 0:07:58.030 this case progresses. But for sure, there are people who 0:07:58.130 --> 0:08:01.510 are on the voter rolls illegally and they're voting illegally, 0:08:01.750 --> 0:08:05.270 although most of these people are not illegal aliens. They 0:08:05.470 --> 0:08:10.380 are people on green cards. They have status here to live, 0:08:10.740 --> 0:08:12.820 but they're not supposed to vote and they're not supposed 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.240 to be registered to vote. Bill O'Saley, thanks for coming on. 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:16.900 Thanks, John. 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:17.260 Anytime. 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:17.920 All right. 0:08:17.980 --> 0:08:21.700 First assistant U.S. attorney here in the Central District. We've 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:22.460 got more coming up. 0:08:23.250 --> 0:08:29.570 You're listening to John Kobelt on demand from KFI AM 640. 0:08:29.690 --> 0:08:33.960 We just finished talking with first assistant U.S. attorney Bill Asseli. 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:35.100 The latest. 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:39.620 Roundup, crackdown that his office was involved in. In fact, 0:08:39.740 --> 0:08:46.500 four U.S. attorney offices in California collectively arrested at least 11, 0:08:46.500 --> 0:08:50.640 and they're going to arrest 28. These are foreign nationals, 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:53.440 people who are living here legally. 0:08:53.660 --> 0:08:54.559 Think green card. 0:08:55.160 --> 0:09:01.400 But they've also registered to vote and voted in some cases, 0:09:01.740 --> 0:09:04.900 and all that's illegal. And this is the stuff that 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:08.680 Bill Saley has been talking about, along with others in 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:13.380 the Trump administration. And some Newsom, and I got a 0:09:13.420 --> 0:09:14.760 doozy of a quote I got to read to you 0:09:14.780 --> 0:09:19.080 from Newsom about this. Rob Bonta kept insisting, oh, it's 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:24.839 not going on. It's not going on. Well, they found 28. Well, 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:31.070 it's only 28. Look, California's system is corrupt. I never 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:39.270 bought into Trump's. Election rigging from the Biden election. I 0:09:39.370 --> 0:09:42.100 thought when you go to court 62 times and you're 0:09:42.100 --> 0:09:46.059 0 for 62, then you don't have a case. Because 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:49.220 out of 62 trips, something would have broke your way. 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:56.430 So I didn't believe any of that ultimately. In this case, though, 0:09:57.370 --> 0:09:59.310 I know what happened election night here in L.A. with 0:09:59.350 --> 0:10:06.920 Nithya Raman. And there is no chance that there wasn't 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:11.110 something corrupt going on. Because Nithya was third place. She 0:10:11.150 --> 0:10:16.929 was crying at her, well, at concession speech is what 0:10:16.950 --> 0:10:17.270 it was. 0:10:17.309 --> 0:10:18.030 That's what she gave. 0:10:19.230 --> 0:10:22.369 And then votes start coming in from Skid Row of 0:10:22.429 --> 0:10:25.910 all places, and she's getting thousands and thousands of votes. 0:10:28.380 --> 0:10:31.839 So in my mind, she's got no business being on 0:10:31.860 --> 0:10:35.180 the ballot with Karen Bass at all. That's a fake, 0:10:35.860 --> 0:10:41.240 illegitimate slot that she has on this ballot. No way 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:44.960 do I believe she beat out Spencer Pratt. It's just mathematically, 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:53.349 statistically impossible. It was all ballot harvesting, homeless drug zombies 0:10:53.870 --> 0:10:56.790 somehow voting while they're passed out or dead on the ground. 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:03.360 But this stuff, yeah, those voter rolls are probably really dirty. 0:11:06.100 --> 0:11:10.260 They don't clean them. In fact, every time somebody like 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.119 you have a Trump administration wanting to clean up the 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:17.970 voter rolls— California does everything they can to prevent it. 0:11:18.980 --> 0:11:22.079 And they keep falling on states' rights, that states get 0:11:22.100 --> 0:11:25.260 to control the elections. Well, that's true, but only up 0:11:25.300 --> 0:11:29.670 to a point. This is a federal election coming up 0:11:30.570 --> 0:11:36.030 in November because we're voting for, in California, federal congressmen 0:11:36.070 --> 0:11:43.350 and women. And Gavin Newsom today blasted this whole roundup, 0:11:43.390 --> 0:11:46.170 saying this is a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to 0:11:46.290 --> 0:11:49.720 use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California 0:11:49.770 --> 0:11:52.900 voters three weeks before Election Day. Courts have made it 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:56.880 clear the federal government has no role in running state elections. 0:11:58.100 --> 0:12:03.500 He wrote that on Twitter. As usual, Newsom is lying, 0:12:04.740 --> 0:12:07.070 or he just flat out doesn't know what he's talking about. 0:12:07.090 --> 0:12:07.490 He's wrong. 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:10.929 As Todd Blanch, the U.S. 0:12:10.950 --> 0:12:16.849 Attorney General, said, state-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the 0:12:16.870 --> 0:12:22.090 United States of America. This is a federal election, too, 0:12:22.710 --> 0:12:25.610 in addition to the state election. So just because a 0:12:25.650 --> 0:12:29.270 state's in charge of an election process doesn't mean they 0:12:29.290 --> 0:12:33.670 could have phony voters voting in it. And if there 0:12:33.740 --> 0:12:36.880 are federal offices at stake, then, yeah, the federal government 0:12:36.900 --> 0:12:43.890 can come in. and arrest the phony voters. That's a 0:12:43.929 --> 0:12:47.010 federal crime. It's not getting in the way of the 0:12:47.070 --> 0:12:50.290 state conducting an election. And why would that suppress the 0:12:50.350 --> 0:12:53.109 vote unless you're a foreign national and you plan to 0:12:53.130 --> 0:12:57.680 be voting? But if I'm a legal citizen, I don't 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:04.260 care if somebody else got nabbed for illegally registering to 0:13:04.300 --> 0:13:05.600 vote or illegally voting. 0:13:05.900 --> 0:13:06.990 That's breaking the law. 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:13.060 That's like saying just because I see cars getting pulled 0:13:13.110 --> 0:13:15.510 over on the side of the road for speeding, well, 0:13:15.630 --> 0:13:17.850 that's suppressing my right to drive on the freeway. 0:13:17.950 --> 0:13:18.550 No, it's not. 0:13:19.070 --> 0:13:21.250 It's suppressing your right to drive on the freeway over 0:13:21.270 --> 0:13:24.290 the speed limit. You might get away with it, but 0:13:24.590 --> 0:13:27.309 they can pull you over too and give you a ticket. 0:13:27.670 --> 0:13:31.150 And same thing here. It's not suppressing the rights of 0:13:31.290 --> 0:13:35.500 legal voters to vote. It's suppressing the rights of illegal 0:13:35.550 --> 0:13:39.860 voters to vote. But, you know, that's Newsom, either dumb 0:13:39.900 --> 0:13:47.330 as a stump or psychopathically manipulative. I like the idea 0:13:47.350 --> 0:13:53.070 that they're going to go after California election officials. And, 0:13:53.210 --> 0:13:57.829 in fact, they sent a letter to L.A. County Clerk 0:13:57.890 --> 0:14:03.170 Dean Logan. He's the guy, every time we want a recall, 0:14:04.610 --> 0:14:07.770 he does the count and goes, oh. You fell just 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:11.559 short again. Sorry about that. Did that with Mike Bonin. 0:14:11.620 --> 0:14:15.580 Did that with Gascon. Those recalls should have happened. But 0:14:15.620 --> 0:14:18.240 when Dean Logan does the counting, it's like, oh, God, 0:14:18.260 --> 0:14:19.440 you're so close. 0:14:20.970 --> 0:14:21.790 Well, he got a letter. 0:14:25.770 --> 0:14:30.850 He got that thumb drive with the list of suspected non-citizens. 0:14:31.990 --> 0:14:34.940 So did the Secretary of State, Shirley Weber. And both 0:14:34.980 --> 0:14:41.940 of those two are worthless. And the acting Deputy Attorney General, 0:14:42.100 --> 0:14:45.680 Trent McCotter, warned Logan and Weber that they're going to 0:14:45.700 --> 0:14:49.060 face legal challenges if they don't review the list of 0:14:49.060 --> 0:14:54.590 20,000 names in time. Logan's rep said they got the letter, 0:14:55.800 --> 0:15:00.790 and they'll press charges. That's what Bill O'Salley says. They'll 0:15:00.810 --> 0:15:03.450 press charges, even if it's against Logan and Weber. And 0:15:03.490 --> 0:15:10.960 this is the way it ought to be. And I 0:15:11.100 --> 0:15:13.520 think this is kind of not only was it doing 0:15:13.540 --> 0:15:15.580 the right thing, you found 28 names. And for all 0:15:15.620 --> 0:15:22.080 I know, they have 2,800 names. Maybe they have 2,800 names. 0:15:22.820 --> 0:15:24.660 But this was just a warning shot. It's like, look 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:26.710 what we got. You were claiming it doesn't exist. 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:31.470 Well, we got 28 examples that it does exist. And 0:15:31.510 --> 0:15:33.430 we're willing to press it in court. Now, if you 0:15:33.450 --> 0:15:39.770 continue not giving us a resolution here... If you continue 0:15:39.850 --> 0:15:42.550 not investigating these 20,000 names. 0:15:43.830 --> 0:15:44.890 We've got more ammunition. 0:15:46.650 --> 0:15:50.840 And all you're doing by not cooperating is providing us 0:15:50.940 --> 0:15:56.300 with good legal reason to charge you with crimes, aiding 0:15:56.320 --> 0:16:02.109 and abetting illegal aliens or aiding and abetting legal aliens, 0:16:02.140 --> 0:16:05.950 in this case, to vote when you've been told that 0:16:06.010 --> 0:16:09.890 they're not eligible. You have the thumb drive. Go through 0:16:09.930 --> 0:16:14.690 the names. Check your databases. Report back to us. So 0:16:15.170 --> 0:16:17.390 Logan and Weber, maybe they'll get arrested. That's what I'm 0:16:17.410 --> 0:16:20.340 rooting for. In fact, I would suggest to them, don't 0:16:20.410 --> 0:16:23.580 obey this request. Reject this request so we can all 0:16:23.620 --> 0:16:26.920 enjoy watching you get handcuffed and taken away on live television. 0:16:26.940 --> 0:16:29.900 That would be very entertaining. All right. 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:37.830 Now, when we come back, Nithya Raman– Two things we're 0:16:37.850 --> 0:16:39.290 going to talk about with Jamie Page of the New 0:16:39.310 --> 0:16:44.670 York Post. Nithya Raman's DSA group is split into different camps, 0:16:45.820 --> 0:16:51.420 and one of them wants maybe to rescind the DSA 0:16:51.460 --> 0:16:56.520 endorsement because Nithya Raman's not pure enough in their eyes. 0:16:58.510 --> 0:16:59.110 And also. 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:07.360 California gave $ 369, I'm sorry, $ 369 million in federal aids 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:09.520 that was supposed to go to fire victims of the 0:17:09.580 --> 0:17:13.210 Woolsey fire up in Ventura County. And instead, the money 0:17:13.250 --> 0:17:17.030 went to developers who were building low-income housing. And the 0:17:17.090 --> 0:17:21.230 people whose homes were burned down didn't get anything. Jamie 0:17:21.250 --> 0:17:22.580 has both stories when we come back. 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:29.660 You're listening to John Kobelt on demand from KFI AM 640. 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:34.660 KFI AM 640, more stimulating talk radio. It's the John 0:17:34.700 --> 0:17:35.380 Kobelt Show. 0:17:36.220 --> 0:17:36.640 Welcome. 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:39.830 Again, we're on until 6 o'clock. After 6 o'clock, John 0:17:39.869 --> 0:17:44.270 Kobelt Show on demand, the podcast. And tomorrow, 5 o'clock, 0:17:44.690 --> 0:17:47.430 Karen Bass is going to be our in-studio guest here 0:17:47.450 --> 0:17:51.240 at KFI. Karen Bass, 5 o'clock tomorrow. Right now, we're 0:17:51.260 --> 0:17:53.679 going to talk to Jamie Page from the California Post. 0:17:54.480 --> 0:18:03.660 This story is galling. California, the state, took $ 369 million 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:06.659 in federal aid. It was supposed to go to the 0:18:06.859 --> 0:18:13.379 fire victims. And instead, it went to low-income housing developers. 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:22.040 This is the 2018 Woolsey Fire. And people who are 0:18:22.140 --> 0:18:28.600 still living in difficult circumstances... are really livid about what's 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:31.760 going on because it just sounds like the state stole 0:18:31.780 --> 0:18:35.890 the money. Let's talk to Jamie Page, California Post, about 0:18:35.910 --> 0:18:37.590 the details. Jamie, how are you? 0:18:38.590 --> 0:18:39.390 I'm good. How about you? 0:18:40.350 --> 0:18:40.790 I'm good. 0:18:41.190 --> 0:18:44.310 So this is the Woolsey Fire up in the Ventura 0:18:44.369 --> 0:18:49.740 County area. It destroyed 37 homes. What was the money 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:51.000 supposed to do specifically? 0:18:53.020 --> 0:18:55.780 So just to be clear, the 37 homes were just 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:59.470 in the small community of Cornell. It's part of the 0:18:59.530 --> 0:19:04.530 largely Woolsey area that, as you know, burned much of Malibu, Cornell, 0:19:05.150 --> 0:19:08.859 up in the Agoura Hills area. The money originally was 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:13.200 supposed to go to building infrastructure and helping people rebuild 0:19:13.260 --> 0:19:16.020 and get back in their homes. And as you just said, 0:19:17.020 --> 0:19:19.290 What the state had done, and I know this will 0:19:19.330 --> 0:19:22.389 not surprise you, John, because you're dogged on keeping track 0:19:22.430 --> 0:19:25.629 of what's happening about spending in our state, but they 0:19:25.670 --> 0:19:29.070 made it really difficult for area residents to be able 0:19:29.109 --> 0:19:35.429 to qualify for any of that grant money. And subsequently, 0:19:35.450 --> 0:19:40.879 they put this money in a pot, and low-income developers 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:43.260 were the ones who were able to qualify and use 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:48.879 the funds to build what is now happening, our low-income apartments. 0:19:50.210 --> 0:19:53.230 And what's really, really hard to wrap your head around 0:19:53.390 --> 0:19:57.660 is these apartments are going up in the fire evacuation 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:00.920 area where these Cornell residents live. Yeah. 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:05.900 I mean, in total, it destroyed 1,643 homes. And so 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:09.140 this specific money was supposed to go to people living 0:20:09.180 --> 0:20:09.580 in Cornell? 0:20:10.820 --> 0:20:13.239 Well, the money was statewide. So this is just one 0:20:13.300 --> 0:20:17.310 example that I found of many across the state. So 0:20:17.650 --> 0:20:20.210 the example that you're giving is in Cornell. It's right 0:20:20.230 --> 0:20:23.470 outside of Agora Hills in between Agora and Malibu, a 0:20:24.050 --> 0:20:28.810 small little mountain community. And that was the $ 26 million 0:20:28.890 --> 0:20:33.740 for that. But yes, $ 360 million in statewide funds that 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:36.620 we're supposed to. to be split up. 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:39.149 Do you think it was all diverted? The whole $ 369 0:20:39.109 --> 0:20:39.750 million or just some of it? 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.410 So in total, there was about a billion dollars, because 0:20:46.470 --> 0:20:49.790 as you remember, in 2018, there were several fires across 0:20:49.850 --> 0:20:50.310 the state. 0:20:50.450 --> 0:20:51.290 Yeah. 0:20:51.650 --> 0:20:55.810 So some of that money did go. It was split up, 0:20:55.869 --> 0:20:59.400 and it did go to help build 110 homes across 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:02.120 the state, which is nothing when you look at how 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:04.399 many homes were destroyed in these fires. 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:06.040 And how much money they got. 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:07.320 Yes. 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:07.840 Yes. 0:21:08.060 --> 0:21:12.280 There are more right now currently on the books, low income, 0:21:12.380 --> 0:21:15.600 affordable housing units built as a result of those fires 0:21:16.060 --> 0:21:18.810 than there are units or houses built for the people 0:21:18.850 --> 0:21:19.810 who lost their homes. 0:21:21.310 --> 0:21:25.369 And did they anybody break any laws? I mean, obviously, 0:21:25.410 --> 0:21:29.350 the Newsom administration was involved in this. Did they violate 0:21:29.510 --> 0:21:32.290 the agreement that that they had with the feds on 0:21:32.330 --> 0:21:34.130 where the money was supposed to go or was there 0:21:34.190 --> 0:21:35.260 no specific language? 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:40.130 I think that's to be determined. It didn't happen under 0:21:40.170 --> 0:21:42.869 the current administration. I have reached out to HUD several 0:21:42.910 --> 0:21:46.690 times and asked them, do you know if this is 0:21:46.730 --> 0:21:49.430 how the money is being spent? I haven't heard back 0:21:49.470 --> 0:21:53.670 from them. My experience is usually when that happens, they're 0:21:53.690 --> 0:21:58.520 looking into it and seeing. I mean, this could be 0:21:58.580 --> 0:22:00.520 new news to them as well, too, that this is 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:03.090 how the money is being spent. I can tell you, 0:22:03.190 --> 0:22:07.390 I reached out to every community that the fires took 0:22:07.430 --> 0:22:10.690 place in and asked them, do you know this is happening? 0:22:10.990 --> 0:22:14.060 They knew it was happening, but they also said, this 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:18.100 is state money. We have no control. So these apartments 0:22:18.140 --> 0:22:21.420 are actually being built in communities that have no control 0:22:21.440 --> 0:22:23.860 over them being built. 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:25.920 See, I know the people in the Palisades and in 0:22:26.000 --> 0:22:28.859 Atlantina feared that this was going to happen, that the 0:22:28.900 --> 0:22:32.869 state looks at these... fire disasters as an opportunity to 0:22:32.910 --> 0:22:38.129 cram low-income housing. And they may be misleading the federal 0:22:38.170 --> 0:22:40.800 government as to where these huge grants are going to go. 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:45.180 And the state gets its wish. And the community gets 0:22:45.220 --> 0:22:46.240 completely changed. 0:22:47.930 --> 0:22:50.510 The only reason I stumbled upon this is I actually 0:22:50.570 --> 0:22:53.470 don't live far from where one of these units are 0:22:53.510 --> 0:22:56.820 being built, and I just by chance looked up to 0:22:56.859 --> 0:22:59.700 see what funding was being used to build these apartments, 0:23:00.140 --> 0:23:04.340 and I saw Woolsey Fire Recovery Funds. That's what started 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:06.300 me on this, looking into this. 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:07.220 Yeah. 0:23:07.580 --> 0:23:12.080 I mean, it's nothing that's publicized. No, no. I mentioned 0:23:12.100 --> 0:23:16.219 in my story these fire victims, they don't even have first– 0:23:16.710 --> 0:23:20.490 call at these apartments, they're being lumped in with Section 0:23:20.490 --> 0:23:24.310 8 and immigrant housing. So they don't even have to 0:23:24.350 --> 0:23:27.129 be chosen to be able to get into these units. 0:23:27.670 --> 0:23:28.070 I see. 0:23:28.510 --> 0:23:32.540 So this community could get an influx of immigrants and 0:23:32.580 --> 0:23:33.419 Section 8 people. 0:23:34.600 --> 0:23:35.440 Not can, will. 0:23:35.880 --> 0:23:37.360