Zephyr Teachout: New York Politics Is on the Verge Of Big Change
*By Christian Smith*
Zephyr Teachout isn't scared of bringing cases against Donald Trump. And if elected New York Attorney General this fall, she'll be "pretty damn aggressive" in handling the President and his organization.
"New York Attorney General is the single most important legal office in the country for taking on Donald Trump's business interests and his foundation interests," Teachout said Monday during an interview on Cheddar.
Teachout is one of four candidates for the Democratic nomination for New York Attorney General. Her campaign is focused on filtering out corruption in New York politicsーwhich she traces, in part, back to the state's real estate industry and the Trump Organization.
Teachout was a member of the team of lawyers who brought the first emoluments lawsuit against Donald Trump just three days after he was elected president in 2016. The lawsuit alleged that Trump violated the U.S. Constitution by accepting money from foreign governments while in federal office. The lawsuit, still pending, is under appeal within the Southern District of New York.
Before announcing her candidacy for Attorney General, Teachout was the treasurer of Cynthia Nixon's gubernatorial campaign. She left her position to run for office when former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman resigned amid accusations of physical abuse by [four women](https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/four-women-accuse-new-yorks-attorney-general-of-physical-abuse).
Teachout is no stranger to New York state elections: she challenged Andrew Cuomo in the 2014 governor's race, earning 34 percent of the vote. The campaign put Teachout's name on the map in New York state politicsーattention she hopes will yield electoral success when voters head to the polls for the primaries.
Primary elections for New York's state and local races take place Tuesday, September 13.
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-zephyr-teachout-plans-to-take-on-corruption-if-elected-new-york-attorney-general)
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
Arguments at the Supreme Court have concluded for the day as the justices consider President Donald Trump's sweeping unilateral tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
