Former second gentleman Doug Emhoff, now a distinguished visiting professor at USC’s Gould School of Law, said he hopes to encourage future lawyers at USC to stand up and “protect people” from the Trump administration’s actions, which he said people should “be appalled by.”
On Monday, he participated in a sit-down interview with Annenberg Radio News, his first since leaving the White House.
He characterized President Donald Trump’s administration as one that “is incompetent; it is cruel and corrupt.” Witnessing measures like the weaponization of the Department of Justice and targeting of political enemies during President Trump’s second term, he encouraged law students to get involved.
Listen to the interview here.
“I want to impart to the students, it’s on all of you to use the skills that we’ve learned here at USC, and then in practice, and use those to lift people up, to protect people, to be there for people,” Emhoff told Annenberg Media on Monday.
Rather than passively accepting the Trump administration’s actions, he pushed current lawyers to get engaged. Emhoff pointed to immigration as one area where lawyers should step up to protect vulnerable groups that he said have been “illegally and improperly targeted.” He also said it is important for lawyers to take up pro-bono cases to support those who can’t afford legal help.
In a June 23 Gould law school news release announcing his return to USC, Emhoff wrote that he was excited to continue mentoring college students in what he called a “difficult moment for the legal community.”
In March, Gould Dean Franita Tolson, who praised and welcomed Emhoff in the news release, joined 78 law school deans in signing a letter condemning the Trump administration’s sanctions against law firms and targeting of major firms.
“This is a very fraught moment, obviously, in our country, in our history,” Emhoff said. “Lawyers, frankly, need to step up. We are and always have been at the vanguard of protecting our rights, our Constitution, our rule of law, and all the things that are under attack right now.”
Emhoff’s wife, former Vice President Kamala Harris, ran a 107-day campaign after former President Joe Biden unexpectedly dropped out of the race just months before the election. Harris lost in what she has called the “closest presidential election” in United States history, though previous races have been decided by fewer popular votes and electoral college votes.
In the interview, Emhoff said the media was light toward Trump compared to what he called unfair coverage of Harris, which unfairly “caricatured her.”
Emhoff said transitioning into a public figure as second gentleman was difficult for him, despite advising public figures as a lawyer previously, and has still been adjusting to the change.He said Harris would often have to calm him down and recalled his journey to let public comments about him “bounce off.”
“They started attacking me. Then I was like, ‘What? What are they attacking me for, I’m just your spouse?’” Emhoff said. “Then you realize, my kids still love me. She still loves me. My friends love me … that’s what really matters. So you really develop a way to deal with it.”
Emhoff said as a lawyer, he entered the office hoping for guidance, but had to make the role his own as the first in his position.
“There was a dotted line, it said ‘second lady,’ so they crossed out ‘lady’ and just put ‘spouse.’ Emhoff said.
Emhoff’s experience as the first second gentleman of the U.S. is mentioned in Harris’ recent memoir, “107 Days,” which gives Harris’ personal account of her uncommonly short campaign for the Oval Office.
Emhoff said he was “really glad” Harris wrote her memoir, explaining that it gives readers a good look at the behind-the-scenes of a campaign. He said a major reason she wrote the book was to give voters “hope and optimism” they may be missing now.
“Just like Kamala Harris, I’m still hopeful,” Emhoff said.“You don’t have to not feel that way because of one guy and one election.”
He said that he sees too much “picking on” the people without power, but believes that even those who feel powerless can become advocates for the change they want to see.
“We got to start small, neighbor to neighbor, neighborhood to neighborhood, city to city, state to state, and all of a sudden, you kind of get momentum,” Emhoff said. “Even these little things will help, if practiced by millions of people doing little things, all of a sudden, you’re going to have, hopefully, a change and people realizing the power that they have.”
Katie Havens and Nicholas Lindsey contributed to this report.