Chad Holmes Show: Tuesday, 1/27/26 (AG Josh Kaul, Yee Leng Xiong)

And welcome back.

822 is the time here on this Tuesday morning.

I am Chad Holmes, Chad Holmes Show.

We are continuing our conversation with the Attorney General in the state of Wisconsin, Brad Calt.

I mean,

Josh

called.

Justice in the general terms.

You talked about court cases going on and we've seen so many battles, I think, between federal officials and state officials around the country.

Do you think the

system is working right now?

You know, I feel good about how the court system has reacted so far during this administration.

There are, I think, a few points that are really important to make.

One is Donald Trump is...

really outstanding at commanding attention.

We all see it all the time.

We see him all the time.

And when he makes some pronouncement, it's front page news, it's on the media, they're taking this action, they're taking that action.

What you don't often see on the front page of the paper is court has blocked Trump administration effort to do this thing.

And so I think that to some extent,

A lot of what the administration has done has actually been successfully blocked through some of these actions But I think that just doesn't get the same kind of attention that the action does in the first place So that you know when they talk about dismantling AmeriCorps that gets a lot of attention The court order that helps restore AmeriCorps maybe gets less so so I do think there's maybe more going on than is always front and center in the news the other thing is you know the

Like I said, the courts have been engaged in a lot of these cases.

Like I said, we've joined over 40 multi-state suits.

In a majority of those cases, we've gotten some sort of positive result either through a court order or because the administration has backed down.

Others are still pending and we're waiting to see.

A lot of them are still working their way through the early phases of the cases.

But in a lot of those, we've gotten these emergency orders early on.

So the lower courts have been very good at holding the administration to account and protecting the Constitution.

The US Supreme Court, I think, remains to be seen, I think,

their decision granting this broad immunity is part of the reason we're facing some of the challenges we are today.

There was an opinion that allowed for these so-called Kavanaugh stops.

That's a significant concern, and the Supreme Court has now tried to, at least Justice Kavanaugh has tried to walk that back a bit, but I think that's a concerning development.

And then the Supreme Court has been very...

supportive of what the administration has done, or at least permissive, when it comes to executive power and allowing the president to have a lot of control over the executive branch, whether that's firing employees or trying to significantly reduce agencies.

But I also think we're gonna see some significant cases pushing back.

And the tariff case looks like they're inclined to rule against the president.

This effort to fire a federal reserve board member seems to have gotten a lot of pushback.

You know, I think the birthright citizenship case where

Our constitution literally provides for this, and it has been understood as a constitutional protection for over 100 years.

I feel really optimistic that the Supreme Court will ultimately stand by birthright citizenship.

So the court system has, I think, overall been very effective.

Congress, on the other hand, has not really been very effective as a check on the president.

And so that's how our system was set up, checks and balances.

We've got the executive doing what the administration is doing.

It would be great to have a Congress that was doing something, but the courts have been important and the states, often in conjunction with the courts, have been important.

So there are parts of the system that are, I think, that have been quite effective.

There are other parts that leave a lot more work to be done.

You've mentioned a few of these successes already, because you kind of give an overview of some of the successes you have seen in all these cases.

Yeah, in a lot of these cases, the administration has tried to do something very abruptly, often without notice.

I mentioned the education funding before.

That happened very abruptly, and so schools that had been expecting to get these streams of funding as part of their budget all of a sudden had to scramble in response to these changes.

When there have been actions that happen very abruptly, we have often gone to court and asked for what's called preliminary relief, where we say to the court, this case will play out over a period of time, the justice system is sometimes quite slow, but we need an emergency order or a temporary order that blocks the administration from taking this action.

So they need to be blocked from putting this grant condition as part of a grant, for example, or their effort to...

freeze this source of funding should be blocked.

So we will often ask for that from the courts.

In some of the cases, we've gotten orders like that that have stopped the administration.

In some cases, the administration has preemptively backed down, like I mentioned in the education context.

There have been a variety of ways that those things have unfolded.

But in a lot of these cases, we've had success.

In others, the process will play out over a longer period of time because the need isn't as urgent.

The president, for example, has said he's going to make changes relating to election oversight, for instance.

That's another case.

Some of these things may play out over different periods of time, but we've tried to use the tools available, not only to get relief, but to get relief when it's needed to make

an impact.

Before we went on the air, I asked you about why you're here in Washington.

You're visiting some...

folks from the DOJ that work in this area?

Could you maybe explain?

Because I think a lot of people think, hey, DOJ down in Madison.

How is the DOJ reaching to the Wausau area?

Well, part of what we do at the Department of Justice is we've got our division of criminal investigation, and their responsibility is to investigate crimes of statewide importance.

And that includes investigating homicides, sexual assaults, arsons, fraud, internet crimes against children, some really, really serious offenses.

They often work in combination with local law enforcement as part of efforts to investigate cases.

And we have several DCI offices in the state, including one.

right here in the Wausau area, so I had a chance to check in with some of the folks who work there today.

They do incredibly important work to keep communities across the state safe, and we're really fortunate as a state to have a division like our Division of Criminal Investigation that both has a ton of expertise and can conduct significant investigations themselves, but also that works with partners in law enforcement and supports law enforcement agencies across the state.

And Isabella, do you

have a final question for the attorney general?

Sure.

So these legal cases, they can get really complicated for the average person to try to decipher.

What are some recommendations you have for locals who want to understand more about these cases that Wisconsin's involved in?

We try to talk at the Department of Justice about what's happening in these cases, and we try to highlight when there's an order that changes fundamentally what's going on.

So what I think is really important about some of these cases, because there are lots of development.

in these cases, and there's a lot of procedure that goes into them.

But sometimes you will see orders that say, this policy is blocked.

They'll say enjoined in the court decisions.

That's when there's real significance in the case.

Part of our job at the department is to inform the public about what's happening in these cases.

So we try to do that, and hearing from people.

As we communicate about the work we're doing around the state is also a way that folks can learn more.

But we have a website, we release this information at the Wisconsin Department of Justice and we encourage folks to learn more.

Attorney

General Josh

Kahl back in a moment.

And welcome back to our home show 98.9 WXCO and online time is 8.52 here on this Tuesday morning We are talking to a state treasurer candidate Yi Leng Zhang We're talking off the year and of course a lot of folks know you now in your position as the executive director for new beginnings for refugees

I guess I would like to ask, I mean, because it hasn't been that long.

I mean, time has no meaning at times these days.

It seems like they go so fast.

How long have you been in the position now?

Since April, I feel like it's been years, but I know it's only been since April.

How is it going?

And in terms of the processes over there, because obviously this has been a very, I think, trying time for a lot of folks in the refugee community as well.

Yeah, it's, you know, one of the things I would have to say, despite the fact that it's been challenging for our new

neighbors as well.

One thing I have to say is that our Wisconsinites and our folks in our community here has definitely arisen to the call of action.

You know, they've, they rose to provide, you know, services, provide rides, continue to tutor and doing home visits to our new neighbors.

And we need that more than ever.

You know, we need people to realize that these are new neighbors.

They're here.

They're, you know, they're contributing to our community.

They're working in our grocery stores, you know, or they're working our factories and they're making our community a great

place to live.

Question I and I'll give back to Isabella here in a moment But sort of a general question for you because you're somebody who has been involved in so many different areas and and I think when we look at governmental

folks or leaders or followers, whatever you want to call them.

There are some that want to come in here and get their hands dirty and do a lot of work.

And others, I think, just enjoy being part of the club and be part of the system.

I've never got the sense that's with you.

And I was saying to you off the air that in this year of 2026, with so much happening, there's so much noise out there.

But at the same time, I think there could also be opportunity.

Do you sense that

For leaders for people like yourself that want to get things done that there are opportunities right now to get significant issues Accomplished because there's so many out there But at the same time I said to you as well that often in this country We wait until the last possible moment to actually fix things because there is I think a resistance to change in a lot of ways

Yeah, so I've been a nonprofit my entire life and you know even the local government here one of the things I value is I'm a person

who likes to plan in advance, right?

I don't like to wait until something happens and then do it.

Even when I go on vacation, I like to plan every single minute of the day here, what I'm going to do, you know, what time we're going to get there, etc.

Because I don't like guessing, you know, I can be ready to be flexible enough to pivot and address those issues.

But I also don't like to guess what I'm going to be doing because I don't like to waste time.

That's just me as a person.

So

with the current challenges that I think we're facing as a country, as a state, as a community, it gives us an opportunity to reevaluate the challenges that we have currently in front of us and be able to come up with new solutions to address them.

Because as I was saying earlier during our break here, I've been, you know, I was at the educational convention that happened this week here in Milwaukee, and we know for sure that right now what we're doing, funding for our state, for our state education, for our programs, for our students, and just looking at what's happening across the state here, even the country here, what we're doing.

funding for our education, our healthcare, our workers, it is not working.

We need to reevaluate what we're doing here and making sure that we're providing some creative thinking because as a nonprofit executive, if you know that you're not receiving funding or something's not working, you have to pivot and look at other ways here to address that issues as well.

And that's one thing I value nonprofit executives or nonprofit workers is you have to be creative to ensure that every penny lasts as long as possible.

You've mentioned your time in non-profit has made you kind of a frugal person, but as you're talking with...

people around the state, they might be concerned about, you know, we need local projects funded.

We need roads fixed.

We need funding for our local programs.

How are you going to kind of balance, you know, making sure that the state is spending its money responsibly, but also addressing concerns of your constituents?

Great question.

I'm frugal, but I'm not cheap.

I want to be honest with that.

And I think that frugality mindset comes from the fact that I'm a child of refugee.

You know, so my parents have always taught us that we needed to be insured to

ensure that whatever we're doing, it needs to last as long as possible here.

So, you know, if we need to fix roads so that that way we can get fire, you know, firefighters to go to the, or paramedics to a household, we need to invest in that.

If we need to invest a little more so that our teachers are able to teach our students here, we need to do that.

I look at the return of investments, and that's one of the reasons why I sit on our organizations, like for, you know, foundation boards, where you want to make sure that what you're contributing to the community here will have significant impact on progressing.

communities and that's why as a nonprofit executive, although I am frugal, I also want to make sure that we're seeing a return on investments that are delivering results that's having a significant impact on communities.

So that's how I would be able to balance.

For folks that want to find out more information about your campaign, especially for Treasurer, find out some of the issues that you're focused on.

Is there a good way to...

Find that information.

They can follow me on Facebook at YeForWe.

We is in Wisconsin, WI.

Or go to my website, ye4wi.vote.

Once again, ye4wi.vote.

How exciting the time is this?

It's extremely exciting.

I see a lot of potential coming up in the future here.

I see a lot of ability to make progress, and I'm just excited.

And I guess one final question, again, along that line.

I know there's a lot of concern in our communities throughout the country.

Are you optimistic about the future for the state and the country?

I'm always optimistic.

You know, we have to look at the light at the end of the tunnel and work together towards addressing, because, you know, overall, I'm going to say this, despite the fact that we may disagree with each other, all of us are Americans.

We are, we want the best for this country.

And I think sometimes we forget about that.

And I always see the good in every person.

That's my mentorship from, you know, background of my working with people.

So I am excited and optimistic of the future for this country.

I hope we can get your back to talk about these issues.

And also I want to talk a little bit about the county board because I'm trying.

I think we kind of focus not enough on the county board.

So I want to find out what your thoughts are where we are in Marathon County and in the future as well.

So as you travel the state, best of luck.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Yiling Zhang, a candidate for the state treasurer also DC ever school board member Marathon County board as well.

Don't forget tomorrow morning, we will be joined at 806 by Katie Rosenberg, the former wasa mayor and a candidate for the Marathon County board.

She'll be with us at 806 live in the

studio we are done here for our number one but we have another hour but you have to tune in online because we're strictly online for our number two go to youtube.com and our 98.9 WXCO channel WXCO.FM and the Civic Media app go to our stream that's the sports to stream and we have another hour to come glad you could be with us it's almost nine o'clock chat home show 98.9 WXCO