We made it to the end of the week.

So that means that it's time to go inside Kentucky politics.

I'm Emily Prince, and I'm joined by our dynamic duo, Trey Grayson and Bob.

Gentlemen, thank you for joining us today.

Welcome.

Great to be here.

Absolutely.

So let's hit it off with the top story for tonight.

This ripple between the Department of Justice, the US Department of Justice and chief election officials across the country, including in Kentucky.

So, as we reported earlier tonight, Secretary of State Michael Adams, he received a letter earlier this month from the DOJ saying that if he did not comply with their request to give our certain voter information or preserve voter records, he could be subject to, quote, criminal or civil sanctions.

So let's start with this.

If someone's hearing this for the first time, they're probably wondering what information is the DOJ wanting and why do they want it.

To kick us off there.

Well, the timing of all this is there's a federal law and a state law that requires election officials at all levels of government to keep documents, voting records, ballots, things like that, for 22 months.

And the idea would be, if there's some reason to investigate, you've got time to do it.

And so the DOJ is basically to is they're putting a marker down and saying, hey, don't don't destroy those documents because we're putting you in a notice that you're under investigation.

And that buys them more time to do this.

More broadly, we've seen the last really since the Trump administration got this.

They got back into office an attempt to try to investigate, non-citizen voting questions on mail voting and all that goes back to the 2020 election, where Trump lost and, has ever since then not accepted his loss.

So the DOJ and others inside the administration have really been targeting election officials.

And Adams and Kentucky, State Board of Elections have stood up, won a lawsuit a couple of weeks ago, against, an attempt to try to leave the voter rolls.

But that's the kind of the greater context and that's the timing of the 22 month rule.

Has Kentucky had any issues that we know of to be under investigation?

No.

Michael Adams is right.

DOJ is wrong.

Judge bloom was right to her credit.

In pushing that back.

Ultimately Adams wins.

Intellectually, morally, he's got the right place.

This is bunk.

Sorry to have to be so blunt, but it's bunk.

Yeah.

Well, what is if someone is watching this and says, well, Adams is a Republican.

You have a Republican administration.

What is Adams's argument for not just turning over this information?

Well, I think he would say that, the request is to preserve everything.

So they haven't necessarily requested anything specific at this point.

So it was a preservation request.

The voter rolls, which goes back to the lawsuit.

He would say, I'm not allowed under Kentucky law to give this to you.

Certain groups, campaigns, political scientists and researchers, political parties can get the full list.

Individuals can ask for open records, like, I can go and ask for your voter voting history.

I can get that from your some of your peers, your birthday.

And so all that's protected.

But I can get your voter file.

That's an open record.

But DOJ wanted that, Adams said.

You can't do this under state law, and or the federal law is the full list.

And that was what has been challenged in court.

And Bobby's right.

The judge ruled in favor of Kentucky.

And in every case across the country, that's been the case because the DOJ, they could they could cite a reason.

We have reason to believe this.

We need this list.

They could do it that way, but they haven't done it.

They haven't offered specific the kinds of specifics that a normal, government request would require.

Okay.

And you mentioned as a Republican, so is the judge, Claire Bloom.

Yeah.

So Trump appointed.

That's right.

Right.

Yeah.

So we're reaching a conclusion here that other states can follow, and many states are trying to because DOJ is so out of whack, so out of line on this.

I hope they don't come after us, but.

Yeah.

And the DOJ did though appeal results from the case.

Right.

So it's ongoing.

It is ongoing.

Yeah.

The trial judge says does bloom.

Right.

Did did rule in favor of Kentucky, Kentucky in the secretary of state.

And also, to be clear, like each state has a chief elections official.

So we used to get sued all the time.

And, You're the point.

Person.

Nobody's got to get sued.

Right?

So that's why they pay the big bucks.

We receive the suits.

But, you know, it was a different era and a different time.

So it was not something created out of a whole cloth.

Mythologically.

There must be a problem out there someplace.

That is simply not true.

And most of American elections have gotten stronger and better at the same time, the federal government is trying to persuade everybody that something is amiss.

Well, we'll see what Secretary Adams, if he comes down and says something we'll certainly keep an eye on that.

And let's go now to the sixth district race.

Governor Andy Beshear is getting further involved in this race.

We have seen him endorse Bo, the Democrat running there.

He's been at events with him on the campaign trail, but now he's putting some money out there.

Tell us about what we've seen and how is Beshear getting involved?

Bob, you want to hit us with that one?

We've had a very popular in central Kentucky.

In fact, one of his major statewide races.

That's what carried him, the Lexington area and around it.

This has been a very purple district for really 40, 50 years.

It's moved back and forth.

It's in flux now.

There are a lot of factors here, but for sure being popular.

And then when he says, what kind of democrat are you?

Says, I'm the Democrat.

They're trying to lock in that favorable perception and transfer it to Debo in this race.

All the while, Alvarado also very well known, very popular, been to all these places before, trying to fight against that, call it that, Republican sleepiness that happens in the off year elections when Trump's not at the top of the ballot.

Meanwhile, President Trump says, yes, I am.

Imagine that this is all about me, and I am at the top because he have every reason to want a Democrat House and Senate, excuse me, a Republican House and Senate as it goes along.

And we're seeing, information from various reviews not favoring the Republicans to win again, but favoring Democrats almost universally.

Yeah, that could change.

But the focus of these messages, is to take the Beshear popularity and demo of being a kind of a rising factor in the Democratic Party, winning justice, teaming up with.

That or so Beshear, super PAC has dropped a quarter of $1 million.

Quarter million.

Sounds like a lot.

But now it is not.

As it's.

A good point.

This time with the incredible a fund that President Trump has to disperse.

He could come in for Alvarado 3 or 4 times that much.

But open seats are hard to raise money.

So haven't even, you know, haven't having the ability for your governor to come in with a quarter of million is, you know, doesn't have a governor who can come in for a quarter of million.

That's right.

Gentlemen, final topic.

Our US senior senator has returned.

It's made huge news across the whole country.

We saw him on the Senate floor and also in committee.

Real quick significance of his return.

And what is the future?

I mean, how impactful is that for Kentucky?

Well, it's great.

It's great to see the recovery.

But also for all the haters out there and all the people who shared the memes and continue to share the memes about him, you know, I hope they feel I hope they feel badly about it.

So I'm glad he's back.

I'm glad he's, you know, in good enough health to go do that.

His vote was needed.

They needed to get the farm bill out of committee.

And it couldn't have happened without him being there.

No matter how negative you are, this was a positive.

It was great to see someone who's had this enormous historic career, deserves a capstone that is appropriate and celebratory and strong.

So, after the election, when there's a lame duck look to see him again, that will be, that will be a special moment for us to discuss at that time as well.

All right.

Well, as always, thank you so much, gentlemen, for stopping here.

And we will see you at least by next month.

That's right.

Good.