announcer: building a better bay area -- moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc 7 news. kumasi: kristen: watching getting answers on abc seven. we get answers for you in real time. today, california's environmental often leads policies ahead of the nation in the fight against climate change and at the head of the cal epa is the new secretary, yana garcia, will be joining us to discuss her prairies. a college swimmer turned conservative activists will be speaking at sf state university. she had competed against trends swimmer, mia thomas.

the latest battle in free speech on college campuses. at first, for the first time in u.s. history, a former president has been charged with a crime. donald trump pleaded not guilty in a manhattan courtroom on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. he's on his way back to florida where he scheduled to speak at around 5:15 p.m. our time. joining us to discuss this event is rick klein. good to see you on this busy day. let's start with your impressions from today's proceedings. >> historic, a lot of waiting around to see that moment, he saw president trump stone faced, he seemed to lock eyes and narrow eyes with the camera. no surprise he pleaded not guilty, no real surprise in the details of the allegations, though there is a suggestion there's a lot more evidence and has been presented so far. this is going to be a tough case

to bring for a whole range of reasons, not least of which are the novel legal theories and the novel politics of the moment. it's not only a former president but now the leading candidate for the republican nomination. kristen: tell us about the 34 counts and what they are for. guest: they stem mostly from the alleged efforts to cover up the hush-money payments donald trump is alleged to have made to the porn actress, stormy daniels. michael cohen served federal prison time for his role in the same scheme. he is since changed his tune. a former editor of the national enquirer appears to be ready to provide testimony against the former president. they are suggesting there was a scheme to hide the way these payments were being made right before the 2016 presidential election. in an effort to essentially

defraud voters, hide all of the tawdry details of multiple affairs, the former president conspired with people around him to make hush-money payments and launder them through phony entities and hide the sources. what he stands charged of his forging documents or misrepresenting documents in official ledgers that have to do with companies registered with the state. it is sort of convoluted, even though the details of the affair is the juiciest part of the story. that is not illegal. what would be illegal as to hide the sources of that and do it in the context of a campaign where you are trying to convince voters to vote for you. kristen: explain to viewers why they are felonies and not misdemeanors and the das allegation that these were crimes committed to conceal other crimes. guest: bingo. that is the thing that takes it from being a misdemeanor to a

potential felony. these were crimes, but because they were trying to commit other crimes, including violations of campaign finance law, both state campaign finance law and federal law as well as an overall conspiracy. this was not just a one-off thing. the 34 counts make it look bigger than it is. in many cases it was three violations for essentially the payment, the check itself, and how it is being recorded and registered. but the bottom line is that the difficulty of this case. even if they have irrefutable proof of the former president's culpability in this scheme, that doesn't necessarily make it worthy of a felony. you have to prove there another crime being committed at the time. kristen: let's talk about the timing of this. why ring up tse charges now? guest: the manhattan district

attorney was asked about it and he said this is when they had the evidence and were ready to bring the case before a grand jury about it. similar facts were presented under his predecessor. the federal authorities stepped in and told him to stand down. the federal authorities have been quite occupied with other investigations, some of them including the former president. the timing has to do with the grand jury's schedule and the evidence being lined up. politics and political schedule doesn't really matter for a new york prosecutor. they don't time these things around a clinical schedule. in any event, we are still a year or year halfway from the general election, so maybe there is enough space here. the time we are heating up around the presidential race will raise questions. kristen: there is that presidential election calendar whether they are minding it or not. how would this affect his eligibility or chances? guest: on the eligibility

question, it is a quirk of constitutional and federal law that there's nothing that prevents someone from even convicted or indicted or accused of a crime or charge of the crime for running for president or holding the presidency. it is harder to vote then it is to get people to vote for you if you are a convicted felon. but there is some evidence out there in recent polls to show trump's speed among his opponents has gotten stronger, whiter in the wake of these elevate -- allegations. however, we had some polls over the weekend that suggested a lot of people, including republican they areo e m not waiting to pue harsh judgment buying this. it is an open question. it's a new buccal realm wherein very much. kristen: what does the public think about these indictments? enough people think they may be politically motivated, that this could and if it him. guest: i referenced that pole about as many people say it was

put a clean motivated and also that many say it was justified. both things can be true, as wild as it sounds. just because they are publicly motivated doesn't mean it isn't a valid case. there might be some people it is because he is a candidate that the suspected legality has to be brought against them. you have to bring a case to illuminate the public on these things. it is obviously wrapped up in politics. this is a district attorney who made it clear he would be investigating trump. we know trump was a political animal. he has been attacking this prosecutor, attacking the judge. we will hear from him in a couple of hours. i don't know how you take the politics out of this. it's going to be out there for a jury. kristen: what do you expect him to say tonight? people asked him questions and he didn't say anything. what do you expect? guest: it is striking how much

already has internalized this investigation into a new campaign mantra. he has made it his main rallying cry. he has made it something he has centered his messaging around. i would fully expect we are going to hear more about that. i would imagine he's going to lash out at the prosecutor and the prosecutor's motivation and he will talk about this in the context of his campaign. this is a campaign speech tonight more than a speech from a criminal defendant. kristen: do you expect other presidential candidates to use this for their own benefit? guest: some are using it directly. the former governor of arkansas who declared his candidacy just over the weekend said trump should drop out and is called on evangelicals to question their support for him. short of that, most are attacking the prosecutor more than they are tacking trump. biden is staying out of this though he is likely to run against him. he's saying he wants to let the process play out on its own and a lot of republicans are

watching and waiting. there's other cases that might be stronger brought against him long before we get to voting. kristen: i am sure democrats in the down races will be talking about this as well. of all the allegations trump has against him, these are the first indictments. what else may be coming down the pipeline? guest: there are several other active investigations -- one is his handling of classified documents at mar-a-lago. another is his actions on and around january 6, potentially inciting an insurrection that turned deadly. and his efforts to overturn the election. there is a georgia grand jury that has looked into that. there is a phone call that was recorded trying to get him to change the results. all of those and more could be the subject of criminal at some point. kristen: but if trump is convicted on these 34 counts, what could the sentence be? guest: potentially many years in

prison. but as a functional matter, it's very rare to get prison time for a first-time offender. it would depend on what else comes out about this. is there evidence that any potential conviction would have against serving prison time. kristen: thank you for your time and insight. coming up next, we will talk with california's new secretary for environment of protection. how she is making history in the role come what she hopes to accomplish and what here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. the three what? the three ps? what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget.

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in the past several months. one person overseeing it all is the head of the states environmental protection agency. yana garcia is also the first latina to head the agency. she joins us to talk about this role and her mission. thank you for joining us. guest: thank you for having me. kristen: you have been in this role since august and it's a new position. what does it mean to you to be the inaugural secretary? guest: secretary, but not the first secretary, nor am i the first attorney. i've had the privilege of working with two of my predecessors. it feels in some way like a homecoming. i spent quite a bit of time here. i worked my entire career in environmental law and environmental policy implementation. it feels urgent. it feels like an urgent call to action. i am certainly not alone in terms of my colleagues across the administration and all levels of government from the

federal government to many local partners who are addressing the climate crisis straight on these days. it is an undeniable force we are all dealing with from years of consecutive drought to some of the wettest weather we've had in modern history, the threat of now some of the most significant snowmelt we will be seeing in far too many communities suffering from the impacts of flooding. also hurricanes, tornadoes and the other things affecting so many of our counterparts in other states, all to any americans, too many folks across the globe. kristen: you have named lots of pressing priorities. of all of those which would you say your top right ready and what would be your goal in how you plan to achieve it? guest: in terms of priorities, my central, northstar priority is to truly ensure a california for all. the primary reason i joined this

administration is because that's a deeply rooted belief that the governor shares. what design our policy implementation in terms of how it will help not only the entirety of this state but the most vulnerable communities. this includes communities across our state suffering from, experiencing the impact of social economic burdens and limit what is often called the intersection of poverty and av also suffered from the impacts of t cov pandemic, the ensuing economic challenges that have come to bear on too many communities across our state. we do this through prioritizing pollution reduction, this includes portside communities, committees across our freight were adores, those in close proximity to toxic waste facilities and the like and those who are struggling to

attain the human right to water, access to clean, safe, affordable drinking water. we do that through a variety of ways. the air resources board has done this through groundbreaking pollution control programs, including programs that drive down emissions across our heavy duty sector, our trucking sector. these programs represent 22% of the national markets with six states that signed on. a clean air act waiver was signed which is critical to implementing these key programs to not only address the climate crisis, reduce climate change causing pollution, but improve health and and dress -- address environmental injustice. kristen: one thing california is very proud of is getting 100% of vehicles sold to be zero emissions by 2035. in terms of how to get there and how realistic it is, i am reminded how in recent storms,

there are people who had electric vehicles but were only allowed to charge up to 30 miles because of a lack of infrastructure. how do we ramped that up in a hurry? guest: we are at a pla we are needing to ramp up a whole lot of infrastructure we need in our climate resilient future. that includes electric vehicle charging infrastructure. it includes infrastructure to capture stormwater. very front of mind for so many of us right now is what we are doing to recharge our groundwater aquifers that have long been depleted by years of drought and capture stormwater in some of our urban communities. charging infrastructure and stormwater capture, housing, creating transit corridors, transportation access for communities, these are ways in which we are going to improve our resilience capacity and be able to comprehensively address the climate crisis we are facing.

to do that, we have to agree some types of infrastructure we want to see happen, we need to see streamlined and that will require and all of government approach. it requires a healthy amount of cooperation across the newsom administration and federal colleagues drawing down infrastructure dollars, making sure they get not only to the states but localolieswho need tt kind of infrastructure for our cities and communities. kristen: governor newsom has secured a presidential major disaster declaration to support storm recovery. how is that going? guest: us at cal epa, our focuss on household hazardous waste removal. removal of some of your household cleaning products, electronics you might have in your home, some of the things that have chemical discharges you might not be aware of, but important to know we need

support to remove those safely from people's homes who have been impacted by fires and floods and earthquakes. flooding in this case is what we are concerned with and it has been challenging because we have a lot of people not only throughout state and local government but residents in communities, everyday californians suffering the impacts of floods after dealing with several wildfire season's and now, fled after flat. we have had 12 atmospheric river's so far this year and we are hoping the weather will let up but we are planning for the snowmelt and ensuring we are able to keep communities out of harm's way and make sure we are protecting not only the lives but livelihoods of so many residents across our state. it has been challenging. that will not come as a surprise and we are grateful for the resources we are able to receive. it is certainly a challenge for us that lies ahead. kristen: yana garcia, the head

of the states environmental protection agency, thank you for your time today. coming up next, a speaker is coming to a bay area college and that person has ruffled feathers even before ourve ent. media par ♪ ♪

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kristen: an upcoming event at san francisco state university is pressing two hot button at once -- trans athletes in college sports and free speech on university campuses. our media partner at the sf standard has a new article out exploring the tensions on campus over a scheduled appearance over a trend -- sumer against competing against a transformer. who is this scheduled speaker, riley gains command what is her claim to fame? guest: riley gains is a former collegiate swimmer who since

tying with leah thomas has made a name for itself and conservative media, trying to make a feminist issue out of women competing against women in sports and has made it through all the right-wing media outlets and appeared at cpac with president trump when taking a stance against trans athletes. kristen: for a hint, since we are not seeing her speech of what she might talk about, i want to pull up a pretty recent tweet in which she talked about leah thomas, with whom she competed. riley gains saying leah thomas is not a brave, courageous woman who earned a national title, he is an arrogant cheat who stole a title from a hard-working woman. the ncaa is responsible. is this what we expect her to bring to can -- to campus at sf state? guest: it seems likely. that is the drum she has been feeding. the event is title

sports. she will be continuing that train of thought. kristen: who invited her to speak there? guest: turning point usa has a student chapter on campus. they are a conservative, national conservative group and they have had other events on campus. they seem to be a newer chapter. they have had an antiabortion event, they've had a screening of a right-wing documentary and now they have this event and they had another event about wokeism. i have not heard from the chapter. kristen: and is open to all, i assume? guest: i believe so. you can register for free and there will be another event at the same time. kristen: points existence sta ote campus.

generally a pretty liberal campus. i can't imagine there are events trying that many people. do you have any anticipation of how supported or popular the event might be? guest: it is hard to say. i haven't been to any of their events myself but i can tell you the queer and trans resource center is -- has been noticing the tabling and have had their own counter tabling. they are concerned about this event in particular because they want students to feel safe on campus as they have not been because of the tabling they have been hearing from students nearly every day, they say four weeks now. they decided to have their event about supporting queer and trans athletes rather than having a counter protest because they feel turning point is trying to incite a sort of conflict rather than have a debate. kristen: and we have seen that kind of conflict. a lot of people remember in 2017 when my logan up alyssa showed

up at uc berkeley and those protests turned violent and destructive. that's an extreme example but are there worries on the sf state campus over this type of thing happening? are they taking any actions to ensure it won't happen? guest: i did not hear anything back regarding preparing for a protest of any kind. i haven't heard of a particular protest being planned. it's mainly a counter event. the administration did say they are aware of it and sent out a message to staff and students on monday to say we are a public institution and have two uphold the right to free expression, but we encourage you to engage and also not engage when it is very tense. kristen: sounds like you spoke to the lgbtq student group. have you talked to riley gains or turning point or the administration? guest: i have not heard back

from a representative from riley gains orur tnghe message that they sent to staff and students about having center -- support center have been tryinggeo sta denouncing the event, if not to end it but to show trans students they are going to be cap safe while letting the event happen, no the institution has their back and they will be protected. kristen: you can check out that story and more, the san francisco standard

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benito county. we are told the epicenter is near hollister in san benito county. a 4.5 initially -- it initially came in as a 4.6 -- we are hearing of people feeling that. certainly that is a sizable quake if you are in that region. hollister, not terribly the earthquake back in 1989 in that general vicinity. right now, we are getting preliminary information. if you have felt the quake, certainly led us here at abc7news know about it. we will pull up some information -- my colleague spencer christian is here with me. as soon as he has something, let me know. i know you are