WATCH: AG Bob Ferguson discusses Washington’s preparations for 2nd Trump administration

Washington's next governor—and current attorney general—Bob Ferguson addressed the media Thursday morning to discuss his preparations ahead of a second Donald Trump administration.

Ferguson and Attorney General-elect Nick Brown spoke with reporters at both a press conference and conference call from the Attorney General's Office in downtown Seattle.

“Months ago, my legal team began preparing for a potential second trump administration,” Ferguson said. “We knew from our extensive experience during his first term that we would need to be prepared from day one if he was reelected.”

"I want those Washingtonians to know that the Attorney General's Office has been preparing for quite some time and feel prepared to protect their freedoms and defend their rights," Ferguson added.

Ferguson said he and his office have been in touch with other attorneys general in anticipation of Trump's potential election victory.

"My team has gone line-by-line through Project 2025 and has been tracking remarks by President Trump on the campaign trail," Ferguson said.

Project 2025, or the Presidential Transition Project, calls for eliminating the Department of Education, making it illegal to mail abortion pills over state lines, and cracking down on diversity-boosting initiatives in workplaces.

Trump has distanced himself from the plan, but critics have said that some of Trump's advisors and potential cabinet members—including J.D. Vance—have connections to it. Vance wrote the forward to Project 2025 author Kevin Roberts' upcoming book Dawn's Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America.

“Their collective experience in litigating during the first Trump administration is, and this is an understatement, extensive,” Ferguson said of the legal team in the Attorney General’s Office. “There is no legal team anywhere in the country, I’m confident, who has more experience winning and litigating these types of cases.”

Brown was appointed Wednesday as Special Assistant Attorney General, meaning that Ferguson and the Attorney General's Office can brief him and share legal thoughts and analysis.

“Thank you for AG Ferguson for inviting me here today and I will just say it’s been really nice over the last 48 hours to have such a seamless partnership with the future governor of the state of Washington,” Brown said. “He and his team have been very helpful for me to start to understand the landscape of work that we have ahead of us.”

Ferguson said while he and Brown planned to answer questions at the press conference, they couldn’t give away any legal strategy and did not want to get into details of things that may never come to fruition if Trump does not issue an executive action for that issue.

Ferguson, 59, was elected governor Tuesday, defeating former U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert. Ferguson has been the state’s attorney general since 2013.

Ferguson came to national prominence by repeatedly suing the administration of former President Donald Trump, including bringing the lawsuit that blocked Trump’s initial travel ban on citizens of several majority Muslim nations.

Ferguson will take over for three-term Gov. Jay Inslee, a fellow Democrat, who declined to seek reelection.
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