Since President Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has filed or co-filed litigation against various Trump administration moves, including Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship, Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, access to Treasury Department payment data, care for transgender minors and the administration’s freeze on federal loans and grants. 

Bonta joined “Inside the Issues” host Amrit Singh to discuss his role in leading the state’s legal challenges to the Trump White House, one that Bonta says is a vital one. 

“It’s always been an important job tackling all the issues that are important to Californians... and even more so now as we confront the Trump administration’s violations of the law,” Bonta said. “We’re ready for anything and everything we need to do to advance California and protect Californians.”  

Bonta also reflected on a federal court siding with Bonta’s request to grant a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration’s cuts to National Institutes of Health research. 

“This is how we advance humanity, this is how we take on some of the biggest challenges like cancer, like Alzheimer’s, you need to invest in research,” Bonta said. “The President cannot unilaterally slash the funding... we have the rule of law... he needs to follow it and we’re going to make sure he does.”

Another lawsuit filed by Bonta sought to block billionaire Elon Musk’s DOGE access to U.S. Treasury Department payment systems as part of the group’s goal to eliminate wasteful federal spending.

A temporary restraining order was also granted in that case. 

“Mr. Musk, who not a single person voted for, had access to this sensitive information and it was unlawful and there was no process that was appropriately gone through.” Bonta said. “We believe it was a violation of the Separation of Powers... there’s also a lot of privacy rights that we think were violated. It doesn’t matter how many businesses you started or how rich you are, you have to follow the law and we ensured that was happening here.”

Bonta also discussed potential future litigation against the Trump administration and cracking down on price gouging following the Los Angeles fires.

To watch the full interview with Attorney General Rob Bonta, click on the video above.