The Issue Is: Rep. Adam Schiff, State Senator Bob Hertzberg

From guns and COVID to the Capitol Riot and the beginnings of the 2024 election, it’s been another busy week in the world of politics.

First, to discuss California’s new gun control law, Elex Michaelson is joined on "The Issue Is" by State Senator Bob Hertzberg (D), who authored the legislation, modeled after the Texas abortion law, that allows Californians to sue the makers of illegal guns.

Hertzberg, who is running for a seat on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, also discusses the effort to recall L.A. District Attorney George Gascon and the possibility that L.A. County is about to become the only county in the country to reinstate the indoor mask mandate.

Then, Michaelson is joined by California Congressman Adam Schiff (D) to discuss this week’s hearing of the House January 6th Committee. Schiff, who sits on the committee talks about key takeaways, the possibility of federal charges against former President Trump, and what’s next of the committee when they reconvene for more hearings in September.

Finally, analysis to last week’s exclusive interview with Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), as national news networks, UCLA, and even Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) respond.

THE ISSUE IS: TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS WEEK’S JAN. 6 HEARING

REP. SCHIFF’S CENTRAL TAKE: "I think the biggest takeaway is that for over 3 hours, while that violent attack is going on, that mob that the President discharged at the Capitol knowing it was armed, for 3 hours, he sat there in the dining room. He watched it happen. His friends, his family, even conservative commentators on TV calling, texting, urging him to do something to stop it. And he won't. He doesn't call the Secretary of Defense. He doesn't call the Secretary of Homeland Security. He doesn't call anyone to put an end to it for over 3 hours. I can't imagine a more profound dereliction of duty by a commander in chief than that…"

THE ISSUE IS: STEVE BANNON CONVICTED FOR CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS

REP. SCHIFF’S CENTRAL TAKE: "Justice was done. You can't simply refuse to show up and testify when you're subpoenaed by Congress, the court, or anyone else, and the kind of arrogance that he was displaying, 'no, I don't have to, because basically he's a friend of the former president and thinks he's beyond the law.' Well, he's not, and the jury just made that abundantly clear to him... In terms of what you just heard him say in that recording, this was the President's plan from the beginning - he knew, for example, that the late votes coming in, the absentee votes, were going to run against them, so he first urged them to stop counting votes because he knew that those votes would go against them, and he was prepared, no matter what happened, if he didn't win, to claim that it must be fraud, it must be rigged. Bannon is just saying the silent thing out loud and it's disgraceful…"

THE ISSUE IS: THE POSSIBILITY OF THE DOJ BRINGING CHARGES AGAINST TRUMP

REP. SCHIFF’S CENTRAL TAKE: "Well, the number of offenses that he may have committed in connection with these multiple lines of effort to overturn the election - Judge Carter, a federal judge in California who has analyzed this, found multiple statutes, a conspiracy to defraud the United States, he found that there was evidence that the president was involved in a plot to obstruct the lawful functions of the Congress - that is the joint session - he didn't even get to, I think, the circumstances around the violent attack on the Capitol, but there may be other crimes associated with that, given what we now know about his mental state, that is, he intended for that crowd to go to the Capitol and he knew they were armed, he knew they were angry because he'd made them angry. So it could be any number of things. I do think that there's certainly sufficient evidence that we put forward to merit an investigation of the President. As you say, the Justice Department will make that decision, it's another question about whether there's enough to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. But there's certainly, I believe, enough to begin the investigation…"

THE ISSUE IS: CALIFORNIA’S NEW GUN LAW

SEN. HERTZBERG’S CENTRAL TAKE: "It's another very important step to try to reduce gun violence. And it also ties together the court case and by the Supreme Court on abortion in Texas... It basically says, well, if it's good for Texas for abortions, we'll use the same standards here. And so as the court moves in a different direction, we have to be nimble and innovative and creative as a state, and if they're going to say they're going to give us more rights, we're going to take them in the direction that we want to take them... Look, if you want to protect your home, if you want to protect your business, you're entitled, no one has a problem with that. It's a .50 caliber machine gun, an assault weapon, or if you file the serial number of your weapon to use it in a crime. That's what this relates to. There is no constitutional right to illegal weapons. So it's a way to shine a big light. It's a way for California to send a message to the nation of how we're taking a gigantic step forward using the Supreme Court's decision to be able to help do anything we can…"

THE ISSUE IS: L.A. COUNTY GEARING UP TO REINSTATE INDOOR MASK MANDATES

SEN. HERTZBERG’S CENTRAL TAKE: "Well, I'll tell you, I took a much slower approach to it.... At the end of the day, we have to take responsibility, and my sense is that an individual in the department, they have their opinion that's great, but the board makes the decisions. So I take a much more cautious approach. I do more homework. I don't have all the homework that they have, but I'm a little nervous that we're the only one. And I talked, yesterday I was with leaders from all across the country I'm involved with, and they were telling me in their states they're not doing it - so I want to drill in a little bit more, but I, I would take a very cautious approach because there's so many consequences to shutting stuff down that you can't just look at things in a vacuum…"

The Issue Is: with Elex Michaelson is California's only statewide political show. For showtimes and more information, go to TheIssueIsShow.com.