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By Guy Page
Does Gov. Phil Scott trust the Trump administration?
The question was put to Vermont’s five-time elected governor publicly and directly by reporters for Vermont Public (formerly Vermont Public Radio) at his August 7 press conference in Montpelier. It started with inquiries about the governor sharing personal data of SNAP recipients with the federal government [“Scott defends SNAP data amid condemnation by Dem leaders”, August 7] and morphed into a general back-and-forth about whether Vermont can trust Washington D.C. in the Age of Trump.
Sitting across the table from VP Capital Bureau veterans Peter Hirschfeld and Bob Kinzel, I watched the lengthy exchange between them and the governor. At one point Kinzel asked Scott of the Trump administration, “Do you trust them?”
See Scott’s answer(s) below. On YouTube, the convo between Vermont Public reporters Peter Hirschfeld and Bob Kinzel and Scott begins at about the 33:50 mark. Ah’s and ums and other filler words are mostly edited out.
Vermont Public reporter Peter Hirschfeld:
I was talking with a SNAP recipient this morning who feels personally let down by the state’s decision to share her information with the federal government. Um, she’s worried about what they’re going to do with that information. I wonder if you have any concerns at all about what the Trump administration might do, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not 6 months from now, but might do one day with that sensitive personal information.
Governor:
I guess I’d ask, what personal information is she concerned with?
Hirschfeld:
Social security number, address.
Governor:
Last I knew, the federal government is the one that issues social security numbers. They have that information.
Hirschfeld:
They actually don’t. The USDA does not have that information. That’s what the Privacy Law Act is designed to do — to create very clear and well-defined statutory guard rails around which federal agencies have access to that sensitive personal information. And USDA does not have that information.
Governor:
I had understood that within the last 8 years there was a vote in Congress to allow for that sharing of information, but I can check with Jaye [Pershing Johnson, administration General Counsel] on that.
Hirschfeld:
What law were you referencing….?
Governor:
It was a vote by Congress that put guard rails and enhanced that information that the federal government was entitled to.
Hirschfeld:
So you don’t think that the federal government will — that this in any way increases access to information they didn’t already have?
Governor:
I don’t know what they will do with it. But I just know that they’re entitled to it, and I don’t know how we can resist when they have the information, they have the ability to get the information. I’m not sure what benefit it will have to not give them what they are entitled to.
Hirschfeld:
It’s an active legal question, right? You’ve got a smart legal team and they’ve come to one conclusion. There are a lot of other smart lawyers out there that are arguing to the contrary. Why not let that legal question become settled before you hand over the information?
Governor:
Well, I think there are a number of states who have moved forward — all blue states, I believe — with some sort of a lawsuit, and we’ll see how that plays out.
Hirschfeld:
But why wouldn’t you wait to see how that legal question, that active legal question, is settled?
Governor:
Again, I’m not going to sign on to every single piece of a lawsuit on everything that the Trump administration does. I just don’t think that helps the situation whatsoever. And again, I go back to: I believe they’re entitled to the information. That’s what our lawyers think. And I just don’t think it’s beneficial to resist every single thing that comes out. Otherwise, it’s going to be a long three and a half years.
Vermont Public reporter Bob Kinzel:
Well, Treasurer [Mike] Pieciak said Vermonters now will have to worry about persecution and surveillance from the Trump administration because they chose to trust state government to protect their data. Is he wrong?
Governor:
I don’t think it’s as easy as that. Otherwise, we wouldn’t give the federal government any information. We wouldn’t work with them on any issues if that were the case. If people don’t trust the federal government at all, then we’re in big trouble. And if they’re counting on the little state of Vermont to protect them from everything the federal government does, I just don’t believe they’re being realistic.
We have to trust our government. We have to trust the process. We have to trust Congress. We have to trust our elected representatives. And if we don’t, it’s an unraveling of our democracy.
Kinzel:
Given what you’ve seen the Trump administration do over the last six months with personal data, do you trust them?
Governor:
I think they have the information now. So I don’t know that it’s going to make any difference whether I trust them completely or not. They have the information.
Kinzel:
Yeah, but do you trust him? I mean, there’s a core issue here — whether or not you trust the federal government.
Governor:
I trust them in some ways. I don’t trust the actions of the president at times. I don’t believe that his tactics are fruitful, and I think that it does lead to mistrust, and I think that’s unfortunate. But I think there are a lot of good people in government, and I believe that we have to trust somebody.
So, as I said before, I’m going to call balls and strikes. We’re not going to oppose every single issue the federal government brings up, but we will take action and push back when necessary.
With the National Guard, for example — it just didn’t make sense to me to have 12 National Guard members pulled from their jobs and deployed for a year in St. Albans. That didn’t make any sense, so we pushed back there. There will be other areas where we’re going to push back, but again, it’s not going to be a knee-jerk reaction to every single issue.
News 5 reporter:
Governor, you don’t have any indication from the USDA or another federal agency as to how this data will be used, correct?
Governor:
I do not. I believe they’ll be cross-correlating and making sure that there’s no fraud involved and no duplications.
Gov. Scott also covered questions about nuclear power in Vermont, the out-of-state corrections contract, and more. See YouTube video and upcoming editions of VDC for more information
Cover photo stillshot from YouTube video: Gov. Phil Scott answers question by Vermont Public reporter as Housing Commissioner Alex Farrell looks on. Alden Bryan painting of Cambridge village in background.
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Categories: State Government
Wow! You should not get benefits paid for by others if you are not willing to be tracked on whether you are deserving. SNAP is a saving grace…it’s not for everyone…the goal should be to get off of it…
To the minimum, no one, that is no one, in this Country without benefit of documentation or entering in a legal manner should be on SNAP or any other program.
Who trusts any government? Federal, State or local? I have some faith in my local government and that is where it ends. The federal government is a many headed Hydra and not Ttump or any one man has control over it.
I really could not give a rat’s donkey whether the Governor of the SOV “trusts” the POTUS or not ! He (the Gov.) may, or may not, provide a snipit of information now, and then that I may consider when making a decision, but I care about as much about his opinion of the POTUS, as I suspect that he concerns himself with my opinion As far as one gov. agency sharing info with another, They will always find ways around when they want info. Remember FISA warrants aren’t supposed to be issued against a citizen of the U.S. Right ?
He should have asked those reporters: “Do you trust Democracy? The majority of Americans voted for the man, by a decent margin at that. If you turn against Democracy just because we don’t always get our way, then you should be honest about only liking Democracy when it suits you. As for me and my administration, WE will support Democracy. WE will support the rule of law over anarchy.”
RIght on! A majority of the people did vote for him by a decent margin. The biggest victory in history! Yet Trump still complains the 2020 election was stolen.
And the response should be, NO. no to democracy, YES to a REPUBLIC!
You’ll see no talk of a democracy in ANY founding documents.
Then why was the last administration allowed to strip us of most of our rights?
It sounds like this was a political interview where the interviewers followed a Leftist Narrative with the purpose to magnify disagreement with Scott’s decision.
Someone should interview “VP Capital Bureau veterans Peter Hirschfeld and Bob Kinzel” to ask them some substantive, foundational questions on this subject. Do they know or care about the “facts?”
Questions like:
1.) Do you know the Federal Government pays for the SNAP Program?
2.) Since the Federal Government pays for the SNAP Program, should the
Federal Government have knowledge of who is on the Snap Program?
3.) Do you know how many Vermonters are on the SNAP Program?
4.) Do you know Vermont is an illegal “Sanctuary State and welcomes illegal
aliens to live in Vermont in violation of Federal Immigration Laws?
5.) Do you know it is also illegal to harbor illegal aliens by giving them access
to housing, food, licenses, work, legal and educational services, voting
ability, healthcare, etc.?
6.) Do you know how many illegal aliens are signed up through Vermont to
receive SNAP Program Benefits?
7.) Do you believe Vermont should be held accountable to be a Lawful State
that abides by our U.S. Constitution and Federal Laws such as Immigration
Laws?
8.) Do you believe our Vermont Elected Government Officials including our
Governor should be held accountable to abide by their Oaths of Office?
Speaking of our Elected Officials representing Vermont, why was our Senator Bernie Sanders campaigning in Ashville, NC last week, who down there elected him? He no longer represents Vermont and is hardly in the State, he is actively only representing his political party!
The question should be does Trump trust King Philip the Scott 1st Eunuch King of Castrati not the other way around. The answer is no he has stabbed us in the back too many times.
this is why pbc was defunded. only one sided in any news questions.
The proper question is “Mr Governor do you trust the state agencies?”-i know I do not!
The irony of willfull ignorance is beyond my comprehension. The recipients of SNAP or anyone else doesn’t understand that Meta, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, TikTok, X, AT&T, IBM, BlackRock, Vanguard, the Fed, the State, the Military (here and abroad) has recorded and stored every email, every text, every selfie, every transaction, every medical visit, every shot in the arm, every swab shoved into the cranium, every single thing entered into a “smartphone” or PC. All is sent to a hackable cloud – nothing is deleted or secured. All this includes your children and all contacts – all cross-referenced and mapped down to the location, time and date stamped. The notion of privacy went out the Windows.
When you press “accept…continue” or signed the consent/contract form without reading the contract, all personal information signed away and sold away.
It was all fun and games. The techno billionaires, the data collector, sweepers and keepers, Palantir/Oracle, control the controllers. Today the recipients, tomorrow everyone else. Order out of chaos – coming soon. Agenda 2030.
Great exposure Guy!
This is not reporting from VPR, this is open propaganda debating, trying to fill a narrative the NWO pimps want to have the populace drink up.
It would have been good for some others to chime in about Covid,
The fact they are suggesting we should trust anybody is a fools errand.
How about this should we trust VPR?
When Keith Stern was running against Scott they had an “open” call in where they curated and prevented people from asking questions, that were perhaps favorable to Keith Stern, there were MANY that can vouch for that me personally.
Maybe somebody should ask them, vPR about censorship and propaganda, aka fake news, fair game for reporters to ask reporters questions….
Look at the front page of VTDIGGER
https://vtdigger.org/
Could the be more blatantly propagandists? Of all the stories in Vermont, what do they cover, and HOW do they cover it?
People believe this is unbiased news…..there’s a problem in and of itself!
Notice, still nobody is allowed to comment, not like they could freely comment before anyway, it was always curated.
Guy when you see the comrades in the press room, might be a good question to ask them.
Why are you so afraid of free speech?
You could ask the Governor, why do they get non-profit status when they don’t’ allow free speech? Would that imply they are working for someone else? Whom are they working for?
These press meetings could get interesting, just asking civil questions.
Who cares what Scott thinks about President Trump? Who trusts Scott, and why should we? He sold us out during Covid. He kowtowed to big business, and the medical/pharmaceutical agenda without any proof the vaccines worked, and no knowledge of the ill effects of the vaccines. But that’s okay, “we had to do something”, right? Without the needed knowledge needed for the vaccines it should have been a personal decision whether to take them or not. He locked up and restricted families during holidays while the “Privileged” thumbed their noses at us, as usual. He berated ex-police officers at a public forum for using their Constitutional rights.
One of the governors primary concerns is upholding the Constitutions of Vermont and our Nation. He failed miserably then, and still is. We need a governor, and a legislature for the people, not ones continuing to uphold out of state dictates and agendas.