Mr. Steyer i want to thank katherine and calvin and derek for those very nice introductions. What i want to do this morning is take as many questions from you as i possibly can. Ill do a short introduction, but what i really want to do is talk to you whatever you want to talk about. Let me say that i was asked on the debate stage on tuesday night what i think people misunderstand about me. And i said that people think that im defined by my money. I am not. My mom was a teacher in the new York Public Schools. When she retired from being a teacher in the new York Public Schools and taught prisoners at the brooklyn house of detention. She was someone that defines her with service to other people and trying to give young kids a chance to get ahead in the world. My dad was somebody who was the first generation in his family to go to college. My grandfather was a plumber. They were people who thought that education was the chance to get ahead. My father graduated from college at the age of 18. Graduated from law school at the age of 21. He was a young man in a hurry. He went into the navy in world war ii. At the end of the war as a naval officer, he prosecuted the nazi war criminals at the newer emberg trials. Nuremberg trials. My parents were people that thought that the point of life was service. Actually doing things for other people was the way that you justified your life. And so when we were being brought up, the other thing that was true about my parents, they had a strict sense right and wrong. It wasnt easy being the son of parents who had a strict sense of right and wrong. But my father being a nazi prosecutor, you have to stand up against what is wrong. What he said was a country that didnt stand up against the nazis. And honestly that is why i started the need to impeach movement. When you see something really wrong in your society, it is going to flourish if good people dont do anything about it. [applause] mr. Steyer South Carolina was way overrepresented in the 8. 5 million people. They needed to impeach way beyond the numbers of the people in this state. If you look at whats happening, people ask me, are you sad that mr. Trump got exonerated. I say he has never been exonerated and never will be exonerated. Thats what you call a republican coverup of the facts. And we had a trial where they didnt allow witnesses. Theyre the jury. We had a jury said before the trial is starting didnt bring in the evidence. The senator from this state, Lindsay Graham was out front. I dont view that as an exoneration but them breaking their oath to the constitution and the American People. [applause] mr. Steyer look, i started a business. My parents had a deal, well get you through school and thats it. Nothing after that. Youre on your own when you graduate. I never got a penny from my parents. And i started a business, i built a business i walked away from the business and talked the giving pledge to give the bulk that i made to good causes while im alive and spent 10 years putting coalitions of people to fight of what i think is the unchecked Corporate Power in our country. Let me say this. We have never lost. We can win every time. You know, i started taking on a fight against two Oil Companies in my home state who are trying to repeal our very Progressive Energy laws. And they thought that they could get their way because no one would fight them. And honestly, nobody wanted to fight them because they thought the Oil Companies are so rich theyll do whatever it takes, well lose. And if you lose, you will spend a lot of time and money doing it. We got 70 of the vote. The president of one of the Oil Companies was complaining about what a mean person i am. My feeling is, you know what . I want all the Oil Companies and Drug Companies and all the Insurance Companies and all of the private hospitals to be saying what a mean person i am. Thats what i want to hear because that means i stood up to them successfully and i want them to complain, whine and pout. But we have never lost. I took on Tobacco Companies in my home state. They won 17 times in a row over 20 years. I got them to give up 3 billion to 4 billion in text money and gave it to medicare to the lowest income californians. They didnt think they were going to have to do that but now they are doing it every single year. [applause] mr. Steyer i think we have a broken government in washington, d. C. , its broken. Our problems have to do with a government thats been bought by corporations. And i spent 10 years as an outsider taking on those corporations and i never lost. Thats why i want to go to washington, d. C. , and i dont have any conflict. As an outsider, im not tied to the washington establishment. Im the only person in this race who is for term limits for congress and i think more what is good for the American People than has allegiance to the american system as it is. If we are going to change things, we need new and different people in charge. The sixword argument for tim term limits is Mitch Mcconnell, tezz cruz and linds a graham. We need a new group of people running the United States of america. I am fighting for stuff in this election that i have been fighting for for decades. Im fighting the things im promising to do, i have been doing for over a decade. It comes down to beating corporations, you have to ask who you can trust, someone who has done it successfully for over a decade. From the outside or someone from the system. Is the system going to reform itself . Do those systems ever reform themselves . No. Mr. Steyer no, i know. I have three simple things. Im fighting for economic justice. All right mr. Steyer im fighting for Environmental Justice and fighting for racial justice. [applause] mr. Steyer trump said he is good on the economy. He stinks on the economy. No one ever faces him down on the economy. Every time i go on fox news, we go through something and then the fox anchor says he is good on the economy. I say no, he is terrible on the economy and then they have a fit because no one ever said that to them. There is a mean in the United States. He is incompetent. He stinks at his job. [applause] he has done two big things and about to do a third. Big tax cuts for rich people and rich corpgs that is going go to grow the economy and trickle down. Not true. By the way, we are not going to have a deficit. Not true. Trade war, we are going to force these people, im so smart and so tough. False. Terrible idea. Even the administration is admitting is a total flop and third thing, he he has done those two. Not respond to the coronavirus. That is a big deal, you guys. Do you remember katrina . George bush. We have an actual crisis and the president totally flops. Actual crisis and watching the president of the United States show us in realtime that he has no idea what hes doing. He is two months late. The coronavirus was announced publicly to the world, to all of us in december of 2019. He decided two months later this was a problem. That is the problem. He was two months late. He put in charge mike pence. Mike pence was in charge of the aids epidemic when he was governor of indiana and his response was, we need to pray. That is not the angs to a medical scientific problem. We are watching in realtime a president of the United States show us that he is deeply incompetent. And we are going to see the results medically and see the results economically. And we have to make sure he is going to explain a million different ways that its not his fault, i promise, because thats what he does. And the president is going to repeat what he says. And we have to make it clear. Actually, it is your fault, sir. You blew it. You got rid of the centers of Disease Control and two months late and thats how you get in front of problems, anticipate them, not if you are competent. Im talking about doubling the minimum wage, i have been fighting for 15 bucks for years but it should be 22 bucks. A tax cut of 10 who make less than 250,000 bucks. Easy to pay for. Easy to pay for and charge rich people and corporations a far rate and 4. 5 Million Union goodpaying jobs. We have to rebuild the United States. We have a Climate Crisis. We have to do it and do it tass. Millions and millions of good paying jobs. Think about an economy with double the minimum wage, people paying 10 less taxes everywhere in the United States. That is a growing economy where working people are making more and keeping it in their pants pocket. Thats what we are supposed to have in the United States of america. [applause] mr. Steyer Environmental Justice. It is an emergency. This is exactly like coronavirus. Deal with the facts. It is an emergency. We have to get ahead of it. Day one state of emergency, do it through Environmental Justice. Start in the communities like denmark, South Carolina, where you cant drink the water without getting sick places where you cant breathe or drink the water getting sick. Start in those communities because thats where the energy is and thats where the leadership is. I fought this stuff over a decade. We never lost. Why is it that i passed 50 clean energy in this country and nobody else has. We start with Environmental Justice. We start with black and brown communities who are in the fight and provide the leadership. Thats how you get things done in climate. Its a completely different attitude. Its not a topdown attitude but a grassroots bottomup attitude. We will do it, if you are going to rebuild the country, people have to get paid to do it, thats called work, jobs. You cant rebuild the United States without hiring people and cant hire people in beijing to rebuild the roads and bridges. And the third thing is racial justice. It is impossible i have been traveling around this country fulltime for eight years as a political organizer. I started up one of the biggest grassroots organizations in the United States, next jen and turning out voters and we are focused on young people and sporadic democratic voters and overwhelmingly people of color. One of the biggest grassroots organizations in the United States. It is impossible to look at the major policy areas in the United States, any of them, education, housing, health care, criminal justice, every single one has a gigantic unspoken racial component to it. And i tell you, climate, people think climate is a science issue and it is, melting ice in ant arctica, threatening charleston. It is a science issue. If you want to solve it, its a human issue with a gigantic racial subtext to it. You want to solve climate, you have to start with Environmental Justice. If you want to solve climate. Thats true in every single issue in the United States. If you want to solve them, you have to get down to the Grassroots Level and understand there is an unspoken racial component to it because people are too scared, awkward or too selfish to talk about it. I want to talk about it because thats the way you solve problems and im for reparations for slavery, because i think if we are going to move forward and be the just society we want to be, we have to tell the truth. For 400plus years of whats happened to the Africanamerican Community in this country and its a story about system attic legal discrimination, cruelty and injustice and is the 400plusyear story of enormous contribution both in terms of building the country and providing the moral leadership not just for the Africanamerican Community but for everybody in the United States of america. And that story has to be told. And the reason that we have to tell the story is so we understand how we got here so we understand together how we got here. And so we understand together how to repair the damage that has been done so we can move forward together. And what derek was talking about historically black colleges and universities. Im proposing to give the hcbus 125 million over five years. That is 40 times what they get right now from the federal government. 40 times. Not up 40 , its not four times, its 40 times. And why would i do that. Because thats whats right. This is a system that has worked, was put in place for black kids werent allowed to go to the mainline colleges and universities. Last night i was talking to an allafricanamerican audience and say you think we dont know hcbus turned out over half of the block doctors, engineers, judges and teachers. I can tell you the white people in california dont know. Its a huge part of this society. They are starved for cash. Theyve done the job and reason they exist and we need to take them to the next level in terms of support. And last thing i want to say is this. We need to beat trump. We need to beat trupp and Lindsay Graham and Mitch Mcconnell and pull the Democratic Party together and people think the press wants you to believe we are either going to have a socialist or republican mayor. South carolina gets to reset this. South carolina gets to decide that maybe what we want is a democrat at the head of the ticket for a Democratic Party, strange as that may seem. I believe i can do that. I believe South Carolina can show that i can pull a Diverse Party together. Im asking you to help me do that on saturday. And i believe if we do that and do grassroots that we will not beat the republicans but we will sweep away the republicans which is exactly what we need to do. I know its friday morning. I said i would take questions. Put your hand up and we will bring you over a microphone and i will answer your question. We have a president with a lot of hatred. We have groups who would like Nothing Better to see a nazi run country. What can be done to bring together america . Mr. Steyer i think everybody is disturbed lets put it this way. The democrats are disturbed about the partisanship in this country. I never heard anyone asked Mitch Mcconnell what are you going to do to get along with democrats. I have been asked a dozen times, what are you going to do to get along with Mitch Mcconnell. We are going to treat White Nationalism as domestic terrorism. It is domestic terrorism. [applause] and the f. B. I. Came out with a report this week that said White Nationalism is more dangerous to americans than isis. That isnt the way its reported in the press, i assure. But White Nationalism is more dangerous to americans than isis. What are we going to pull together . I think every single think thing i stand for is good for republican voters. Healthcare as a right for every single american. Thats good for republicans. Quality Public Education for american including universal preschool. That is good for every republican. A living wage. One job should be enough for a family. Republicans want to be fairly paid. A, i think what im talking about is very good for them. B, i think they were sold a bill of goods by mr. Trump. Yes, there is a racial overtone to his presidency. He is a racist. But republicans in general were saying, drain the swamp. This country has been bought by corporations and its corrupt and we want someone to break washington, d. C. I think that, too. The problem is, they didnt drain the swamp but hired the biggest swamp rat there is. Honestly. [cheers and applause] mr. Steyer i dont want to play down how big a deal it is going to be to solve the Climate Crisis. Im looking at those three kids. We are going to have to solve the Climate Crisis for the people of the United States of america. And South Carolina is going to be affected if we dont solve the Climate Crisis. And i think that will pull us together, chuck. The United States is an idea. Its an idea about freedom and justice and equality. We are the moral leaders of the world. We are the country that leads the world in terms of freedom and justice and equality. And if we dont lead the fight to solve the Climate Crisis, it doesnt get solved. There is no second country that is going to do this job. There isnt. So actually doing the job, succeeding in it and Getting Better paid as a result of it, cleaning up the air and water, starting from justice is going to be great for everyone in the United States, democrat and republican and independent. I think winning teams love each other. When you are on a winning team, everyone is a great person. When you are on a losing team, not so much. We can do that and will do that and i think we are going to be proud of each other because we will have to do it and have a completely different feeling in terms of climate, race and the economy. We will care differently about each other when we succeed of making it claim the country it already is. [applause] i know that you, Bernie Sanders and joe biden are the front runners in this race terry i am undecided. Why should i vote for you and not the other two . Mr. Steyer whats your name . Forest. Mr. Steyer those actually are pretty different choices and ill try to outline as objecttively as i can. Bernie has done us all a service by bringing up big problems in the United States. I dont agree with his solutions and i will tell you why. I dont believe the government should take over big parts of the economy. I worked for 30 years in the private sector. I know we need a competitive innovative dynamic private sector to create jobs and prosperity. I know that unchecked capitalism has failed the American People also. But the answer is not to take over big parts of the economy but for us to break the corporate stranglehold and ownership of our government. [applause] mr. Steyer and so people have tried government takeovers of parts of the economy around the world. Hundreds of times. Its never worked. You know, you really dont want the government running the electricity system. You want a government that says to the electricity system, you are going to be 100 clean energy by this day. Now go invest against it and , make it happen. I dont think the government is going to do a good job running the electricity system because i have seen governments run dozens of electricity systems and never worked. I sort of feel like once you are over 100, does 101 make any sense . Not to me. Second, there is actually a difference between me and joe biden. Im a progressive. I deeply believe we are in a framework in america set by Ronald Reagan and its terrible. The framework is low taxes and small government because governments bad. Fight unions. 7. 25 minimum wage. Thats outrageous. That is outrageous. You cannot live on 7. 25. And they have if the wage was the same as 1980 in 2020 dollars, the minimum wage would be 11 right now everywhere in the United States. If you included the increases of how well people worked over the last 40 years, it would be 22 bucks. Im not making it up. That shows how unfair this system is. The things they promised us werent true. If we help the people at the top, it will trickle down we have had 40 years to find out its not true. If we decrease the tax rates on rich people, the amount of tax dollars will go up because the economy grows so much, we will get more dollars in thats not true. We now have a system. So, i do not want to modestly change what we have. I want to transform what we have to a completely different way of thinking where we are really investing in each other where the success of america is the success of people, actual americans succeeding, making more money, keeping more money, being educated and being healthier. The story that derek told about his friend going to the hospital and dieting because she did not get any care that is not just a story, that is unacceptable. That is unacceptable in 21st century america. So thats why im different from joe biden. Joe biden thinks everything needs a tweak. I dont think it needs a tweak. We have got to turn a page on this whole thing and think differently and get back to the idea that this country is for the people of this country and not the corporations of this country and that is completely different way of thinking. We need a change. [applause] mr. Steyer i have been up to South Carolina more than any other candidate. I started coming here a couple of years ago for need to impeach. I have loved the people i have met here. Just so you know. Love. My wife moved here. We really, really i think we have only met the democrats, to be honest, but we love the democrats we have met. But i have got to say as an outsider and i know im from california and we have big problems, but the injustice here is stark. Its painful. When you he or that story that story its about unnecessary debt. If you see people in denmark, i wouldnt drink the water coming out of the tap in denmark. They showed me the water. Its scary. A guy two nights ago working three jobs and living paychecktopaycheck. Three jobs. Gentrification in the United States is in charleston, South Carolina. The fastest. The education is ranked close to the bottom. I went to hilton head and never been to hilton head. And i went to hilton head to do a town hall and i went around with one of the people whose family has been there for 150 years or something. And i went and looked at what hilton head looks like and i read the law about how they did zoning when they built golf courses and built the bridge or tram so it could be part of the mainland, and they basically wrote the law to make sure that when hilton head got developed and a lot of rich people came in to play golf that the money didnt get shared with the black people who lived there. It was there black and white and it was absolutely deliberate. Honestly, i am somebody who feels as if we need a serious transformational change. We need it. [applause] mr. Steyer and im the only person here running for president who will declare a state of emergency on climate on day one. I dont know how old you are. I have four kids, my kids are terrified on climate. Honestly, they are scared wittless that we are not going to address that. Politicians are going to say things but not do things and im going to say we cant wait for congress. I dont have a plan on a shelf but start dealing with this as a state of emergency on day one because its a state of emergency because if we dont there is no way we can go around this world and lead the world. If we are the biggest polluters per capita, which we are, how do we go to india and explain to them they have to do what were doing. If we are not doing it. Its impossible, they will tell us to go fly a kite, really. And they will be right. Thats why we have to get on it. And if for no other reason. Im sure you have, and i dont want to be condescending but the science on this is overwhelming and the answer has to be immediate. [applause] im regina and i have two questions or two areas of concern. The first one is i dont know if you are aware but on the marketplace in South Carolina to get your health insurance, we only have one Insurance Company which is Blue Cross Blue Shield and we dont have anything to compare it with. And i believe it all happened when nikki haley did not accept the whole Medicaid Expansion so a lot of the providers walked away from South Carolina. I believe that Blue Cross Blue Shield only stayed because they are the second or Third Largest employer in South Carolina. What are you going to do for states like South Carolina that has one provider to choose from because i dont have any choices so i have to pay what Blue Cross Blue Shield says. And i dont have anything to compare it to. My second question or area of concerns is gun control. Carolinamter, south has experience. Last summer was one of the most horrific summers ever. It wasnt on a National Scale where we have massive shootings but every weekend, there was someone getting killed, someone getting shot and when you hear about gun control, its always after these big mass shootings, but they dont hit every Community Like the weekly shootings. They affect our community. And it is a trickledown effect and what happens here on the federal level. The state cannot go below what the federal level says. What are you going to do to address those issues . Thank you. Mr. Steyer thank you very much. Let me start with the Affordable Care act in the marketplace. I want the government to provide a public option for every single american to join medicare. [applause] mr. Steyer and so, mr. Trump has tried to he had tried to break he couldnt repeal the Affordable Care act so he has done everything he can to hobble the Affordable Care act. What i want to do is have a public option for every single private insurer to compete against, that they have to compete on cost and coverage or we will cut out the overhead and drive down the cost. The Health Care System is owned like everything else, but owned by Drug Companies and private hospitals, Insurance Companies, and they are ripping us off. They charge us much as other they basically charge of us twice as much as other countries get charged. You can see it. Its just numbers and data. How do we drive that down. My answer is a public option and cut out the cost in overhead and cut out the profit and drive down the costs of drugs and private hospitals and provide an option that will not only be better than Blue Cross Blue Shield but will force it to compete and thereby drive down their own costs. We are getting eaten alive by health costs in this country. I call it the creature that eight new york. It is a blob that keeps getting bigger and eating more of us and the government has to lead the fight and they have fallen down on the job because when a drug Company Negotiates with the u. S. Government over price, they are negotiating over something they own. They decide what they are going to charge and then they charge it. And thats not a change. And im promising you, thats a fight im dying to take on. I have been fighting for these companies for 10 years and never lost. They have to lose for the American People to win, its true. [applause] mr. Steyer and the second question was about guns. Why dont we have common sense Gun Legislation in this country . We do not have mandatory background checks for guns. 90 of americans want to itch. Most nra members want mandatory background checks on guns. It is not the nra members. The nra is controlled i gun manufacturers and their money and they control the Lindsay Grahams of the world. You are absolutely right. We have mass killings, yeah, we do like no other country does. If norway has one, it was eight or 10 years ago. We have spousal killings with guns at a level nobody else has. We have streets people are scared to walk down like no other country does. And we have suicide levels in this country that are responsible for 60 of the gunrelated deaths. We have too many guns and in the wrong hands. In order to change it i have to tell you what we have to change it. Im proposing mandatory background chebs and licensing background checks, licensing every gun owner. We license car owners, why not gun owners. Registering every assault weapon and forbidding the sale of andre aars ars highcapacity magazines. Voluntary buybacks of ar. States have different rules. We know that when there are fewer guns and not in the wrong hands you have much lower levels of gun violence. The question is, how are we going to actually get that to happen . Its easy to say what you want. How are you going to get that to happen . And honestly we need to do a great job of grassroots organizing and truth telling, just those two things. Tens of millions of americans dont vote including hundreds of thousands in South Carolina. And they are all democrats. They all agree with us they , think the system is broken and no one tells the truth and nothing will change. Why would i vote for a system that doesnt work . The answer is if we can get those people to turn out, next gen, the organization i started in 2018 went into 38 republican congressional districts. We doubled the turnout of young people, more than doubled the turnout of young people. Young people are the biggest generation in america, most diverse in history, most progressive and vote half the rate of other americans. Went into 38 republican districts and doubled the people turnout and flipped districts. And we flipped 33 of the 38 districts. That is what we need to change gun control. We need to organ change it. We need to organize and change it. Because if we change that, we change everything. We need to change the composition of who runs the senate. We need to change who lives at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. We need to organize on a Grassroots Level and its very doable. The crazy thing is, look, it is crazy that an organization started by me in san francisco, california, should be the largest youth Voter Mobilization effort in american history. Im proud of it, but to be honest, it should be called the Democratic National committee, honestly. Why is it that im doing it . Im doing it because no one else would do it. Because someone had to do it. Why did i have to do it at all . Every time someone says, you dont have to do it, i say here are the keys to the car and drive the car, we have to do and thats what we have to do in 2020 honestly and we have to win. [applause] good morning. My name is Gary Washington and i have a Company Called it was based in columbia. I contacted Lindsay Graham and tim scott some fraud has taken place recently and our profits were stolen. I would like to see if you are i would like to see if in fact you would get involved. Not only because your headquarters are based that. To brooklynone baptist in columbia and the bottom line is, i represent over 612 businesses. We help Small Businesses build infrastructure and win contracts. We have done 50 million worth of contracts. Our Business Incubator was on that property and great steps through the court system and looking for your commitment to evaluate what i have brought to you and to see if you would get involved to assist us. I am a republican, point blank. I have gone to the people that assist us and they dont understand and cant address this issue. We have some judicial thoughts we have some judicial fraud from judges and attorneys in columbia and we have some great difficulty in being heard. I had to go out of state to florida to engage to fight this corruption here in columbia. Thank you for hearing me. Mr. Steyer let me say a couple of things. I dont know if you know but k. A. T. And i started a Nonprofit Bank 15 years ago basically to support black entrepreneurs and Latino Entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurs because the Banking System is so prejudice and discriminatory. And that bank we had to get a it ise and filled it and now over a billion and and it is one. Dedicated. We measure every single loan impact in the community. So the idea there would be discrimination in commerce in this country is something we have not only known about but we have taken action on for over 15 years. When i say there is a racial component to every single policy area and aspect of American Society this is a big one. And you know, i was just in las vegas, nevada, and they rebuilt they built a raiders stadium because the raiders are moving to laskland, california vegas. One in 11 contracts went to a blackowned firm. When you tell me there is discrimination in commerce that affects money, ownership and control of things in society, that is not news. It is news that we do something about it but not news that it is happening. Our bank and that activity is not in South Carolina. We are californiabased, in three states but not as far east as South Carolina but we can definitely look at it and help you, at worst we can refer you to people here who we are in contact with that fight the same battles as we do. When i talk about term limits, im talking about putting new and different people in charge and that includes a lot more people of color across this country. Im talking about changing control and the reason we have has done the bank over 8,500 Affordable Housing units in the last three years. It does a lot of things. But it was started to put new and different people in control of economic activity. So, when we see the transformation of this society, its got to include change at the very top. Our campaign and our bank are more than 50 people of color. I promise you that any campaign, any administration i have will be more than 50 people of color, more than 50 women. Time to put new and different people in charge of america. And thats what we are talking about here. [applause] good morning, tom. William anderson here. Im a military brat, so i didnt do any actual service. What is your plan to keep americas military at home and keep us out of the desert over there for something that has no business, especially with the new energy that we are looking at, we dont need any of that over there . What is the energy for this country that you propose that we take the initiative to improve on . Mr. Steyer the implication of your question is we wasted trillions of dollars and thousands of american lives in the middle east and i totally agree. [applause] mr. Steyer we have been reckless with the lives of our service people. We have gone into we have thought there were military answers to issues and we have almost 20 years in iraq and afghanistan to show that we were wrong. And there has to be a different way of doing it. As you point out, what is our purpose in the middle east . Is it to secure the oil supply, which if we move to clean energy, will not be something we are so worried about at all . Is it to preserve peace in the middle east . Is it to make americans safer around the world . I think we have to ask ourselves if we have done any of those things other than secure the oil supply. I think when you look we spent trillions of dollars in iraq and afghanistan. That is money we did not spend in South Carolina educating our children. That is money we did not spend in South Carolina on health care. It is money we did not spend in South Carolina building Affordable Housing, fixing up the roads. And its totally failed. We have accomplished less than nothing. In answer to your question, i believe we need to rebuild our diplomatic efforts and our status in the world and leadership of freedom and democracy. Loving coalition. I believe we have to acknowledge that our being the sole policeman of the world is a