00:00Troy, any comment on the ProPublica report alleging corruption in Senator Collins' campaign in 2020?
00:07Well, I mean, obviously, that was a very detailed report.
00:11I think it does answer a lot of questions for me about why Senator Collins has been voting with Donald
00:17Trump 96% of the time.
00:20Yeah, I mean, that's obviously the worst type of corruption and, you know, something that, I mean, I don't know
00:28what else to say.
00:28I mean, you're not supposed to be the chair of appropriations to steer money towards people that fill your campaign
00:34coffers.
00:37And, you know, I mean, I think we deserve a better government.
00:40Troy, any comment on the ProPublica report alleging corruption in Senator Collins' campaign in 2020?
00:47Well, I mean, obviously, that was a very detailed report.
00:51I think it does answer a lot of questions for me about why Senator Collins has been voting with Donald
00:57Trump 96% of the time.
01:00Yeah, I mean, that's obviously the worst type of corruption and, you know, something that, I mean, I don't know
01:08what else to say.
01:08I mean, you're not supposed to be the chair of appropriations to steer money towards people that fill your campaign
01:14coffers.
01:17And, you know, I mean, I think we deserve a better government.
01:20Let's go WNPW.
01:24We're at a family event.
01:25How do you plan to close child care gaps in Maine if you're elected?
01:29Well, I don't think that's really hard at all.
01:32I mean, I think if you don't pump $70 billion in a rogue agency like ICE,
01:36if you don't fund foreign wars, if you don't fund bombs going to Israel, you know,
01:44if you don't give tax cuts to wealthy people, I think you have resources to do child care, you know.
01:50And, I mean, we've proven in the state that, you know, Republicans and Democrats can support that
01:54because they know it makes the economy better.
01:56It's obviously better for the kids.
01:58So, I mean, that should be an easy thing to just prioritize where we're going to put our money.
02:05You know, I know where they want to put it, but this is one I want to, you know,
02:09this is an area I want to put it into.
02:10I believe that child care is going to make our economy stronger,
02:13but certainly make our young people, our kids, a lot stronger,
02:17and that's really what's important.
02:19Drew.
02:20And when you hear Senator Collins say that you and others are lying about this corruption
02:25that has been reported, as well as just lying about her votes on certain things like the Epstein files,
02:32I guess, what's your response to that?
02:35Well, I mean, as far as the corruption, I mean, there's a man in jail with two felony counts.
02:42You know, I didn't write the article.
02:44There's a very detailed article about, and there's a check that went to her pack from that guy.
02:50I mean, those are all facts.
02:53And as far as, you know, other things like Epstein files, stuff like that,
02:58I mean, she's supposed to be the most powerful senator in the country.
03:02Why haven't Epstein files been released?
03:04You know, why has she voted against them?
03:06You know, I would say because she's protecting the people on that list that have given to her campaign,
03:13you know, Republicans and Democrats probably.
03:15I don't really care.
03:16I mean, that is an issue that people should know.
03:20I mean, nobody should be able to get away with that.
03:22And she and others have the power to release them, and they're not.
03:27Greg, let's go to you.
03:28Sure.
03:28So Collins and her team, they say, you know, she voted against the one big, beautiful bill.
03:33She's pressing for heating assistance.
03:37She's against the tariffs.
03:38She's not behind the policies that are driving up prices from Washington.
03:41What is your response to that?
03:43I think Senator Collins thinks that we're all stupid in this state and in this country
03:47because, you know, you can't say on one hand, I'm the most powerful person,
03:51I'm the chair of appropriations, you know, don't replace me, we'll never be this powerful again.
03:56But all these things that she could have done something significant to stop, she wouldn't.
04:01I mean, she let the bill go to the floor.
04:03She could have blocked it then.
04:05And, you know, I mean, that is clear, you know, as far as the ICE, she put no guardrails on
04:12that $70 billion.
04:13That's her committee.
04:14The Iran war, she could block funding for that.
04:17Tariffs.
04:18I mean, she's the chair of appropriations.
04:21She could leverage that to do so many things to stop what's going on in this country.
04:25And she's not willing to, and honestly, that article that came out Tuesday makes a lot of sense why she's
04:31not willing to do that
04:32because Donald Trump owns her, and he helped her get out from underneath that article, that investigation,
04:39and now she lets him do whatever she wants, and she doesn't block anything in there.
04:45So I, look, I've been in government for 20 years.
04:48I've put people on appropriations, things like that.
04:51I know the power.
04:52She's not using the power.
04:54And Charlie, we'll finish with you.
04:55Thanks.
04:56I wanted to ask you about communities like the one you're from on the border with Canada.
04:59How are these kind of communities being affected by the trade war, by the fuel prices?
05:02Could you kind of encapsulate that for me?
05:05I mean, it's not just the communities on the border, but it's, you know, the fishing industry, the firemen,
05:11the forestry industry, tourism in the old orchard.
05:14I mean, tourism has been down for a couple years now.
05:18Cross-border shopping has stopped.
05:19Parts are coming out of Canada.
05:22Our products have to go to Canada.
05:24I mean, this is devastating in the economy, and the Iran war on top of that,
05:28like the fuel prices are seven times more than what I used to pay working in the woods,
05:33and the rates are pretty much the same.
05:36They've been sagging all that time,
05:37so a lot of those people are working for about the same amount of money
05:41and paying seven times more for their fuel,
05:43and, like, this is not drama or anything.
05:48This will not go on.
05:50You know, they will end up going bankrupt.
05:54They'll end up losing their equipment.
05:55They'll end up losing their homes because many times that's how they got their equipment.
05:58There's no way that they can continue like this because we're, like,
06:03in the forest products industry, we're a production-based service contract,
06:08and so, you know, there's no way to make it up.
06:10You don't have the product to actually charge more, much less I don't think the consumers would pay more,
06:16but we're looking at a big crash here if something doesn't happen with fuel prices.
06:20And also, folks around the border are a bit more conservative in the border areas.
06:25And, you know, what about the argument your policies might be a little bit more progressive
06:28or too progressive for that more conservative sort of community thing?
06:31Well, I mean, I've won there 20 years in a row, or for 20 years.
06:36I mean, I've been on the ballot with Donald Trump three times, Susan Collins three or four times.
06:42You know, people, I don't think people thought I was too progressive.
06:45What they thought was I was a Mainer that was fighting for them,
06:48and I'll take that against her record every day, fighting for Elon Musk.
06:52Okay, that's all we have time for.
06:54Congratulations to the grandchild as well, by the way.
06:58Well, I mean, I don't know how many people know, but, yeah,
07:00we had a little baby granddaughter yesterday morning, my first grandchild,
07:05and she's about that long, and she's just as cute as can be.
07:08She doesn't look like me.
07:09That's why she's cute.
07:11But I'm pretty damn excited about her, yeah.
07:13I mean, it's, you know, obviously, I'm not trying to use her as a campaign prop,
07:18but it certainly makes, you know, what I've been trying to do even more important.
07:23I mean, what we talked about here today is the same mindset.
07:27I mean, you know, people should have time with their kids,
07:29and they shouldn't have to stress about making it work.
07:32And I just think that our world's upside down,
07:34and I'd like to make it better for them and my granddaughter.
07:39And now we're done.
07:42Thank you, everyone.
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