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Speaker 1: Last night, the Attorney general of Minnesota joined ages in Washington, Massachusetts, Virginia,

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Speaker 1: and New York ensuing the Trump administration over the executive

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Speaker 1: order restricting refugees and immigration. They'll be a hearing in

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Speaker 1: that case in Seattle tomorrow. Sixteen Democratic attorneys general signed

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Speaker 1: a letter on Sunday vowing to use all of the

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Speaker 1: tools of our offices to fight this unconstitutional order. Maryland's

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Speaker 1: Attorney General, Brian Frost, was one of them. Attorney General

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Speaker 1: Frost has been the chief legal officer of the state

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Speaker 1: of Maryland since tift. Prior to that, he served in

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Speaker 1: the Maryland General Assembly for twenty eight years. He joins

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Speaker 1: us now, thank you for coming on the show. General Frost,

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Speaker 1: thanks for having me. In addition to signing the letter,

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Speaker 1: you have tweeted condemning Trump's executive order. Explain why you

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Speaker 1: and the other ages say it's illegal. Well, um, we

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Speaker 1: think it violates the Constitution. We think it's illegal, and

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Speaker 1: so far for United States, federal courts have agreed with

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Speaker 1: those positions. Beyond that, I think it's important to note

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Speaker 1: that these this order will not make us safe. It

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Speaker 1: will make us less safe. Uh. It's great propaganda fodder

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Speaker 1: for for Isis. It plays right into the hands of

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Speaker 1: our enemies in the Middle East and undermines our our allies.

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Speaker 1: On top of that, it's bad for American business. The

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Speaker 1: executive words will hurt American companies, It'll make us uncompetitive,

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Speaker 1: cost us jobs, were interfering with with some of the

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Speaker 1: smartest people in the world who want to come here

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Speaker 1: to work, to study. We make their lives difficult, unstable,

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Speaker 1: and perhaps impossible. And finally, you know it'll cost us

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Speaker 1: millions and millions of dollars to carry out this folly. General,

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Speaker 1: those for court orders you mentioned, of course, didn't go

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Speaker 1: to the substance of the order. They just blocked parts

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Speaker 1: of it from taking effect. Tell us specifically, what is

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Speaker 1: it about the order that that is either unconstitutional or

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Speaker 1: somehow in violation of the broad authority a president has

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Speaker 1: under federal immigration law. Well, in the most in the

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Speaker 1: most simple and direct case, they detain people without due process,

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Speaker 1: people who come here with their papers, their visas, etcetera,

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Speaker 1: in order show up land in America and are put

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Speaker 1: into custody. Uh, that's a violation of our constitution. And

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Speaker 1: can I just file that because are those are the

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Speaker 1: people that There were some people, of course, who were

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Speaker 1: on planes when the order went into effect, and those people,

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Speaker 1: some of them were detained. But is there any danger

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Speaker 1: that that going forward, that anybody is going to be detained.

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Speaker 1: I think there is a possibility that that that will

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Speaker 1: happen going forward, But whether it does or not, the

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Speaker 1: the the orders are expand beyond what the president's authority allows.

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Speaker 1: And uh, the in addition to the fact that they

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Speaker 1: detained people, you've got you've got situations where uh families

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Speaker 1: are separated, where a five year old child shows up

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Speaker 1: in the United States and is held for several hours

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Speaker 1: before being released to members of his family. All of

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Speaker 1: those activities, all of those actions violate not only are

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Speaker 1: our constitution, but the the principles on which America has

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Speaker 1: been founded. So General Frost, why haven't you joined in

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Speaker 1: the lawsuit with the other ages. Our authority is dependent

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Speaker 1: upon direct authorization from either the General Assembly or the

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Speaker 1: governor in Maryland, were working on both avenues. General, it

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Speaker 1: wasn't that long ago that Democrats that Democrats are saying

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Speaker 1: that Republicans state attorneys general who were assuming the Obama

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Speaker 1: administration over immigration policy didn't have standing to sue now

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Speaker 1: that everyone is sort of on the other side of

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Speaker 1: this issue. What business does a state have in taking

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Speaker 1: on the federal government and the president on immigration policy.

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Speaker 1: The actions that the Trump administration has engaged in have

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Speaker 1: harmed residents of Maryland, They've harmed businesses in Maryland, and

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Speaker 1: the state attorneys general across the country. Though some uh,

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Speaker 1: some and not others have parents patriarch authority to act

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Speaker 1: on behalf of the citizens and on behalf of the

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Speaker 1: state in those instances, Maryland happens to be one of

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Speaker 1: the states that does not have that common law authority,

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Speaker 1: and that's why I say we're seeking it from the

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Speaker 1: General Assembly and the governor. How do you view your

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Speaker 1: role as attorney general in this political environment we're in now,

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Speaker 1: where there will most likely be executive orders from the

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Speaker 1: President that you see as harmful to your state or

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Speaker 1: the people in your state. I think it's our job

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Speaker 1: to stand up for our people and our our state

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Speaker 1: to protect them from orders executive orders that either exceed

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Speaker 1: the president's authority or that harm our citizens and are

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Speaker 1: otherwise illegal. Uh. The idea that the Mr Trump is

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Speaker 1: going to undermine repeal the Affordable Care Act would irreparably

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Speaker 1: harm four hundred thousand people in the state of Maryland

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Speaker 1: who depend upon it for their their health care. And uh,

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Speaker 1: I think it's incommon upon us as attorneys general to

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Speaker 1: protect our citizens. There seemed to be a group of

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Speaker 1: seventeen or eighteen Democratic state attorneys general who are getting

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Speaker 1: involved the way you are. To what extent did the Republicans?

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Speaker 1: He did the same thing over the past eight years.

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Speaker 1: Kind of provide a blueprint for for your group. Well,

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Speaker 1: I think you can. You can see their blueprint, it's

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Speaker 1: pretty obvious. One significant difference is I think that their

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Speaker 1: activities were funded in large part by UM a number

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Speaker 1: of different foundations and corporations who were trying to press

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Speaker 1: their ideological agenda. That's not been the case for for us.

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Speaker 1: We're working with the resources within the offices of the

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Speaker 1: attorneys general across the country. UM. But you did see

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Speaker 1: the Republican attorney's General engaging in a concerted strategy to

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Speaker 1: thwart the policies of the Obama administration. And uh, you

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Speaker 1: know they they fought regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency

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Speaker 1: of the Department of Labor, uh and so on. Last month,

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Speaker 1: Maryland joined four other states and the Federal Trade Commission

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Speaker 1: in settling a lawsuit against Malancraft Pharmaceuticals for one million dollars.

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Speaker 1: The lawsuit accused the drug company of monopolizing the market

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Speaker 1: for a life saving medication Act Thar by buying the

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Speaker 1: rights of their only competition and jacking the price up

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Speaker 1: from forty dollars of vile to thirty four thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: of vile. Maryland's Attorney General Brian Frost played a major

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Speaker 1: role in the case, and he's our guest on Bloomberg Law.

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Speaker 1: General Frost, how did you get involved in the lawsuit, Well,

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Speaker 1: it was one that we were investigating on our own.

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Speaker 1: UH found out that the FTC and other states were

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Speaker 1: looking at the same issue is and joined with them.

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Speaker 1: So did you have complaints from your from citizens of

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Speaker 1: your state about it? We we did, um and UH,

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Speaker 1: as you say, this was an egregious case of violating

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Speaker 1: any trust laws. They jacked up the price by thousands

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Speaker 1: of dollars per treatment, and it's something that I think

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Speaker 1: we're seeing across the market on generic drugs. It's not

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Speaker 1: just Act THAR, it's we've joined with a number of

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Speaker 1: other states in suing six generic drug manufacturers for any

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Speaker 1: trust violations. We alleged that they got together divided up

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Speaker 1: the market and UH that allowed them to raise the

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Speaker 1: price of drugs that have been available and off patent

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Speaker 1: for for many years. General, a few months ago, you

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Speaker 1: and some Democratic law may cares unveiled legislation that would

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Speaker 1: let you go after companies believed to be gouging consumers

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Speaker 1: on drug prices. What does that would that legislation let

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Speaker 1: you do that you're not currently able to do. So,

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Speaker 1: it would allow us to enjoin drug company from price gouging.

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Speaker 1: And I'm talking about drugs that are off patent, generic

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Speaker 1: drugs UH. If the price increase is unconscionable, and by

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Speaker 1: unconscionable we mean that the amount of the increase is excessive,

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Speaker 1: not justified by the cost of producing the drug, and

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Speaker 1: it puts UH folks who need the drug in UH

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Speaker 1: threat where they have no meaningful choice and the drug

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Speaker 1: is important to their health. So it would it would

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Speaker 1: apply to those situations. Would not require proof that they

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Speaker 1: had conspired with other company use merely that they have

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Speaker 1: raised the price too an unconscionable level. Attorney General, do

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Speaker 1: you feel that there are ways in other words. Will

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Speaker 1: this settlement send a message to drug companies or is

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Speaker 1: there just so much money to be made that drunk

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Speaker 1: drug companies will continue to jack up the prices until

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Speaker 1: they are stopped by the law. I think it's the latter.

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Speaker 1: I mean, look, we you can see this in the market.

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Speaker 1: The US Senate Committee on Aging did a study. They

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Speaker 1: looked at five different drugs off patent. In one case

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Speaker 1: it was off patent for more than sixty years, others

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Speaker 1: fifty forty and thirty years, where the prices had been

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Speaker 1: jacked up five thousand percent, three thousand percent, two thousand

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Speaker 1: percent um. There is a study by the g a

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Speaker 1: O hundreds of generic drugs where the price has inexplicably

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Speaker 1: risen by a hundred or or more, and it appears

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Speaker 1: that UH companies have figured out a way to corner

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Speaker 1: the market in certain circumstances, especially where you have a

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Speaker 1: drug that's vital to a small class of patients and

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Speaker 1: you essentially have folks moving from the hedge fund industry

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Speaker 1: into the pharmaceutical industry and treating it as if it's

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Speaker 1: a hedge fund, jacking up to the price as high

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Speaker 1: as is possible. General Freshman only have about thirty seconds.

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Speaker 1: But I am curious what you make of what the

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Speaker 1: president is doing on drug prices. He, among other things,

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Speaker 1: that said he wants to negotiate with drug makers over

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Speaker 1: the prices on their Medicare and Medicaid. What do you

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Speaker 1: think I think the government should be negotiating with pharmaceutical

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Speaker 1: companies in Medicare and medicaid. There's absolutely no reason not to.

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Speaker 1: It makes perfect market sense. Thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: being on Bloomberg Law. We appreciate it. That's the Maryland

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Speaker 1: Attorney General, Brian Frost, coming up on Bloomberg Law, the

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Speaker 1: net neutrality rule. The new Republican chair of the Federal

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Speaker 1: Communications Commission won't say whether the agency will enforce the

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Speaker 1: net neutrality rule that was put in place by Democrats,

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Speaker 1: even though he voted against it and is a longtime

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Speaker 1: critic of the rule. That's coming up on Bloomberg Law.

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Speaker 1: I'm June Gronslo with Greg Store. This is Bloomberg