Transcript: Gov. Wes Moore on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” March 16, 2025
The following is a transcript of an interview with Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, which aired on March 16, 2025 on “The Country Facing Margaret Brennan.”
Margaret Brennan: We are now heading to Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, who joined us from Annapolis this morning. Welcome back to face the country.
government. Wes Moore: Thank you. Very happy to be back.
Margaret Brennan: So, your port in Baltimore, the state is one of the largest ports in the country. The president has put all these tariffs into practice, lifting them, and is expected to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods on April 2. When you see the impact on shipping volumes, do you know what impact will have on your state’s economy?
government. Wes Moore: We’ve seen these disastrous effects, and frankly, the policy on tariffs is not very good. You know, tariffs are a tool. They are not ideology, but this government uses it like ideology. So while the decisions are not made with us, they are made for us and we have seen how this will have a significant impact on the ports of Baltimore, which is indeed one of these countries – one of the largest and most effective ports in the country. It is the largest port for rolling vehicles. It also sees how tariff policies have a catastrophic impact on East Coast farmers and chicken farmers on the East Coast. This lack of predictability, this unstable behavior and the indecisive decisions being made have had a very practical impact on costs, it has had a very real impact on our businesses and small businesses, it has a very real impact on our economic engine and the competitiveness and national security of the United States and our national security, so these things are like this, people have actually impact on our behavior, and now it is the reality of people, we have actually impact on our behavior.
Margaret Brennan: So your state is 20 decisions legally challenge the Trump administration’s decision to dismiss the Department of Education’s decision to 1,300 workers. I wonder, how do you choose the question of legal battles when you sit there? Is litigation the only tool for the Democrats?
government. Wes Moore: Well, no. I mean, when you look at the series of execution actions and executive orders prescribed by this government so far, they do fall into three different categories. It’s either invalid, performative, or illegal, right? These are the three buckets of water that all these administrative actions belong to. And those are illegal, we will take legal action to ensure that these decisions have legal consequences, and frankly, the U.S. president has no right to make it unilaterally. So when we talk about the different tools we have – in the past week alone, I signed up – I signed up for executive orders that focused on supporting law enforcement, our police officers and our firefighters and giving them a raise. Because on the federal side, we have seen attacks on our civil servants and law enforcement departments and first responders such as the FEMA. Just the past week, I have focused on partnerships like reducing the cost of prescription drugs and actually building partnerships with the private sector to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, and we are now working to increase legislation to increase the inventory of homes that can lower housing prices, which is the exact opposite of what we have seen. So, the legal tool to work with our attorney general so that we can file lawsuits is one tool to file lawsuits when the federal government goes beyond its boundaries, but we will use all the tools we can use to ensure protections from the people of Maryland and we make sure we restore additional resources and money to their pockets.
Margaret Brennan: President Trump went to the Justice Department on Friday, where he said the FBI headquarters would no longer move from Washington, D.C. to Maryland. He called Maryland a “free country” and he said he would stop it. I know your office thinks this will bring 7,500 new jobs. Have you contacted the White House and tried to convince them not to take it away?
government. Wes Moore: It’s an irony that I found out that the president made the announcement to the president through the news. This shows the level of partnership in this administration, that is what they have, they want from the governor of our country and the chief executive of our country, so what we know about this is a direct attack, a direct attack on the law enforcement department, a direct attack on the FBI, because we have been in the process, because we have been in the past few years, but the years since, except for the past, I have been in the past, but I have been in the past, but I have been in the past, because this is a member of Maryland – Maryland won this element, this game, fair and square, and we show that we can be the only place where it can be built, build the site. We are the place where national security assets we can actually take advantage of, especially when you talk about the future missions of the FBI, a lot of them are networks. We are the only place to have close-range transport assets, and workers can benefit from it. And, you can make the cheapest place for U.S. taxpayers by talking about putting it anywhere else, you’re talking about increasing the cost of over a billion dollars to U.S. taxpayers, not that we’ve gone through with the GSA, the General Services Administration in Maryland. So the building is ready to enter Maryland, but the president has just decided to politicize it by talking about it – but he doesn’t want it to go to a liberal country. We will not be able to continue to politicize national security when it is too important for those who serve us –
Margaret Brennan: – Did you call him? Did you call the White House?
government. Wes Moore: We’ve tried calling the White House before, and there’s no response. Frankly, it just highlights the fact that I once again discovered this announcement through a news break –
Margaret Brennan: Do you believe it?
government. Wes Moore: I didn’t find this news from the White House.
Margaret Brennan: But do you believe it?
government. Wes Moore: Announcement?
Margaret Brennan: Yes.
government. Wes Moore: Well, I believe the president thinks he has the right to do it, but I also think it belongs to a series of other things that the president has no right to do. Congress is actually the one who allocates capital to where federal agencies are going to go. It was the GSA that decided that after a thoroughly transparent process that the new FBI building should go to Maryland. So, I believe the US president thinks he can do that. But I know one thing, I said one Sunday morning, I know there is a king of kings and a king of Lords, and I know he doesn’t live in the White House.
Margaret Brennan: I want to ask you about the speech you gave last night. You represented your party at the Gridiron dinner, an annual journalist gathering where you dedicated your remarks to federal workers. You say the work they do has dignity. However, you also talk about your party and its struggles. You said the Democrats were once cool people. You joke about the seniority of the party leaders, saying that their employees must stand with the defibrillator. I know these are jokes, but – but you admit something here. Is your party’s age a question? Or lack of vision? Reset to resolve these issues?
government. Moore: I think we need to be very clear about who we are fighting for. And I think we need to be very clear about the vision we offer. You know, what I think of is that at this moment, even the conversation of ongoing solutions, we all know, we all know that the consequences of the federal shutdown are disastrous in the state of Maryland, and we will not only see our economy completely falling into recession, but we will also see more and more credit in our country, and everybody’s credit, and so along those ranges, because that ranges are all, and along those stages. The United States believes that the bills will no longer be paid. Now, we would have seen thousands of federal workers being fired or trimmed. So we know the consequences. But one thing we didn’t do is offer another option. One thing we haven’t done is to articulate the terminology of the American people. So, I think there is a measure of frustration when the American people, when they have no choice, or when they don’t see people fighting on their behalf. Therefore, we must do our best. I know in Maryland, we are mobilizing to make sure we are protecting our federal workers, and we have not only reduced them to work in the private sector, but also stated open and available work. We want to make sure we increase unemployment insurance and we are doing things like lowering the price of prescription drugs and we are doing things like increasing housing stock, which will lower housing prices. We are doing our best to fight for the people and I think that becomes very important because people are paying attention to who their warriors are and who their warriors are not.
Margaret Brennan: Well, you have voices at the party on Capitol Hill and they offer an alternative. They just didn’t listen. Do you think there is no leader?
government. Moore: I can’t see the difference –
Margaret Brennan: – Attend a party?
government. Moore: I don’t – I can’t see the difference. Frankly, I don’t think the American people see the difference. If they don’t hear alternatives, if they don’t hear alternative plans, if they don’t hear plans for counterattack and counterattack, if they don’t see us fighting for our best interests in the streets, communities and communities, I think for Americans they just see it as a theater. It’s a depressing performance politics. People have done it and they are exhausted by it. They just want to see the results, which is exactly what we are trying to provide in Maryland.
Margaret Brennan: Governor Moore, thank you for this morning.
government. Moore: Thank you.
