Oregon AG Dan Rayfield takes on Trump Administration: 'Constitution must be followed'
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon’s Dan Rayfield has been among the most aggressive attorneys general in the nation in challenging President Donald Trump's executive orders and Elon Musk's DOGE job cuts.
Rayfield was the Oregon House Speaker before he was elected attorney general in November. And as Oregon's top lawyer, he has joined other attorneys general Democrats in about a dozen lawsuits on issues ranging from birthright citizenship, mass firings of federal employees, or challenges to the way elections are run.
He joined Eye on Northwest Politics this week to discuss the Trump Administration and why he is fighting back against certain decisions made in the White House.
“I think when you talk to Democrats, you talk to Republicans, you talk to Independents, everyone agrees that the Constitution should always be followed,” he said. “And it doesn’t matter who you are. You can be the most powerful person in the world, you can be the President of the United States, but you have to respect and follow the Constitution and our laws.”
One of the responsibilities of being AG, he says, is to “hold the line” when Trump issues an executive order that pushes the bounds of the law. Of the president's executive orders and actions by Musk, Rayfield believes DOGE’s attempts to invade privacy have had a major effect on Oregonians.
“We walk through our communities, through our state, and we all have expectations of privacy,” he said. “And it’s incredibly fascinating to me that when we file our tax returns we have these expectations of privacy, and DOGE under Elon Musk have tried to be above the law to get access to information we all believe private.”
Additionally, Rayfield discussed threats to funding for crucial services such as the National Institute of Health, wherein $240 million previously allocated to OHSU is on the line.
“We’re talking about things that we all care about,” Rayfield said. “This is about research on HIV, cancer research, diabetes, opioid addiction. That’s what’s at stake right now.”
Watch the full interview in the video player above.