CLAY: Wee’ve been talking a lot about what exactly is going on when it comes to minors having gender-change surgeries and that being allowed anywhere and what the Biden administration is trying to do to make that legal everywhere. And we’ve got somebody to help us understand the legalities of what exactly is going on. He is Jonathan Skrmetti. He is the Tennessee attorney general. Appreciate you joining us right now. And you were part of a group of 13 attorney generals that is trying to ensure that this is not happening to minor children. Explain from a legal perspective what’s going on and what you all are trying to make happen.

SKRMETTI: Sure thing. And it’s great to be here. So, the letter was actually… It wasn’t even about the substance of what’s going on. The American Medical Association and two other big medical groups had written a letter to the Department of Justice asking that they investigate and prosecute not just people who have committed acts of violence or threatened violence, but people who are “provoking” violence against the transgender pediatric clinics. And of course, “provoking” is something that there’s no legal limit on, right? You say something that makes someone mad; you’re not responsible for what they’re going to do with that.

But this was a request by these medical organizations representing hundreds of thousands of doctors saying, “Hey, we want you to prosecute our critics,” and so our letter was just saying that is not acceptable. You know, we have the First Amendment in the United States. It guarantees people the right to free speech. And particularly in this context, there is a desperate need for more speech. You know, we’ve got lots of questions about what’s going on. You look at what other countries are doing and they’re pulling back.

General Skrmetti leads 13 state coalition demanding US Dept of Justice respect free speech rights of critics of irreversible pediatric transgender procedures.https://t.co/X1xkA3W3pU pic.twitter.com/9PE7kGUeEl

— TN Attorney General (@AGTennessee) October 12, 2022

And meanwhile, you know, the folks here who are doing it don’t even want to be criticized for it. And that’s a problem. And obviously, the Department of Justice does not have the authority to do that. The same groups requested that the big tech companies suppress any criticism on social media. So they’re… You know, I think that’s an indication of the weakness, of the underpinnings of their position that their focus is on silencing criticism rather than justifying what they’re doing.

BUCK: So just to be clear, Attorney General Skrmetti, what’s going on here is large medical associations are lobbying the Biden DOJ to go after, intimidate, and even prosecute people for provocation in speech when it comes to gender-transition surgery stuff going on in some of these clinics and hospitals for minors. That is what is going on.

SKRMETTI: That’s exactly right. So, they say that things like calling double mastectomies for a teenage girl, saying that that’s mutilation, the implication of the letter is that’s the kind of provocative language that shouldn’t be used. Identifying hormone treatments as chemical castration… They don’t have a right to decide how their critics describe what they’re doing. You know, the answer to criticism in America is to refute the criticism, not to silence the people who are opposed to you. But instead, they’re running to the two most powerful entities in the country — to the federal government and the big tech companies — and saying, “Hey, shut down this criticism!”

CLAY: Jonathan, I know you have kids. Buck doesn’t have kids, but he’ll probably have kids sooner rather than later, we hope. When you think about the idea of, “Hey, you can’t get a tattoo until you’re 18 years old. You can’t buy a beer until you’re 21. Many places you can barely rent a car until you’re 25, but we’re letting 14-year-olds get double mastectomies because they think they’re boys?” How is this not child abuse? And is this something that legislatures, in your mind — because this came right in the backyard here of where you and I live where Vanderbilt University was uncovered to be doing this by Matt Walsh and The Daily Wire people. I mean, this is crazy stuff, right?

SKRMETTI: I mean, I think in Tennessee, the big takeaway is the legislature found out about it, the governor found out about it, and they immediately made very clear their intention to put an end to this. You know, there was a letter by the majority of the House of Representatives that went out to Vanderbilt. And in response to that, Vanderbilt stopped doing the surgical treatments. You know, I have concerns about the long-term impact of hormone treatments and whether that’s being accurately described, whether the potential side effects are being clearly conveyed to people who undergo those treatments.

You know, certainly the surgery is irreversible. But I think, you know, there’s evidence out there that even the hormone treatments have significant effects that have been maybe glossed over. And it’s scary when you look at it. You know, there’s a lot of evidence that this has ramped up radically in the last ten years, right? It used to be a very, very, very small number of kids were dealing with these problems. And, all of a sudden, you see clusters popping up.

And when you see it clustering like that and you see the big increase in overall numbers, I mean, the takeaway is there’s some sort of external factor at work separate from any sort of inherent medical condition. And I think we need to be really worried about just the radical increase in this, and about the fact that irreversible treatments are being given to kids who aren’t in a position to make a… I mean, you know, we don’t trust kids to make a lot of decisions, and this is about as serious a decision as you can make.

BUCK: We’re speaking with Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and, Mr. Attorney General, what role do you have in legal protection for children from what is — certainly something we argue on this show — a social contagion, unproven science at best, often ideologically driven. And it is irreversible damage for so many of these children. So, if you can pass laws for a drinking age, you can pass laws for any number of age related-issues, what do you think the role of the law should be in in protecting kids from some of the gender-transition surgery phenomena that we are seeing right now?

SKRMETTI: Well, there are really three things that we can do in my office. The first is enforce the state’s laws. And, you know, we have some state laws relating to these issues. We’re going to have more. I mean, every indication from the governor in the legislature is we’re going to have some significant new legislation on this next session. So, we’ll be in a position to enforce those and to defend those laws. The second thing is consumer protection. You know, there are a lot of people who are making money off this. And to the extent that there are representations being made about the effects of this stuff or the lack of side effects of this stuff, we can look into that. We looked into the Big Pharma companies for opioids.

We found rampant misrepresentations; we held them accountable. We have huge amounts of money coming into the state now, and I know every other attorney general did the same thing, going after people for lying about that. Well, if there are lies being told about the different treatments available, there’s the opportunity for big liability there as well. And then the third thing we can do is protect the dialog and make sure that there isn’t that kind of external suppression of points of view. So that just because the establishment position is that this is all fine and it doesn’t need to be questioned, that doesn’t mean that people who have questions can be shut down.

CLAY: Jonathan, last question for you. But you and I were talking about this earlier in the show. You just mentioned state attorney generals getting involved on opioids. Certainly, state attorney generals got involved on Big Tobacco, too, based on fraudulent health claims that were made. Why shouldn’t state attorney generals also get involved based on the misrepresentations — potential fraud from Pfizer and Moderna and maybe Johnson & Johnson as well — about these covid shots? The claims that they made are not true. Why shouldn’t there be a state attorney general investigation, maybe a group of state attorney generals filing lawsuits to try to figure out what was known about these shots in the same way for tobacco and opioids, given that there are, it appears, a lot of deleterious health effects. And also, there were mandates that guaranteed these companies tens of billions of dollars in profits.

SKRMETTI: So, I mean, I think there is a lot of evidence out there about side effects. I have to look at that because I know there was a lot of federal legislation and federal regulation at the time, and I don’t know if that interferes with the consumer protection authority that we have. So I’d have to look into that before making any commitments.

CLAY: But does that sound like something that state attorney generals could end up having conversations about? I mean, I assume you guys have conference calls every now and then to talk about things that aren’t just apropos for your individual states but might also implicate other neighboring states and beyond.

SKRMETTI: Yeah, no, we have conversations all the time about potential work to be done, and if there’s a context where there are misrepresentations being made, particularly in the pharmaceutical context… I mean, we’ve, you know, we’ve done a number of cases involving not just opioids, but various other medical devices and medical products. You know, if there’s evidence of misrepresentation and there’s not some other federal obstacle where, you know, federal legislation or the Department of Health and Human Services has somehow given a pass, that’s certainly something we’d be interested in.

CLAY: Appreciate the time. Thank you for fighting the battle on behalf of so many kids all over the country and making sure that we protect them through their adolescence.

SKRMETTI: Thank you. Pleasure to be on.

CLAY: Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti.