Michael Gates
Appearances
Ask Dr. Drew
Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
So yeah, good question. So it goes back about 20 years. I started working as an attorney in medical malpractice defense. So representing some of the best doctors, hospitals, and Dr. Drew's case came to my office. And he didn't do anything wrong, but he added some celebrity to an enterprise plaintiff's attorney. Right.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
So they named Dr. Drew in the suit against the facility and some of the other providers, some of the other treating doctors. And so we got you out easy. But you were very kind at that time. We developed a relationship and we stayed in touch. But going back 20 years representing you in that case was an absolute pleasure. And it's been good to know you all these years.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
And I've been following your success. We didn't know each other. We reconnected. We did reconnect. We did reconnect. We did reconnect a year and a half ago, I guess. Yeah. So and some of our contacts in between were about politics, because I don't know if many people know this, but you were looking at maybe an opportunity in politics. And we talked a few years ago about that.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
Well, I was sharing my thoughts. I think he would be a fantastic candidate in whatever he decided to do.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
How'd you knock him out? Is that what happened? Well, if you knocked him out as a congressperson, he would have been appointed. I don't know.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
so anyway you're our attorney and then 20 years hence yeah so um we got connected again i think again through politics um and i came up and did your show and i think at the time that i did your show whatever it was a couple years ago you had forgotten that it was your attorney i didn't recognize you as the same person yeah we were a lot younger So we reconnected that way.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
But, yeah, I mean, at the time, I was the elected city attorney of Huntington Beach, and you interviewed me based on a lot of the battles that we were engaged in, suing Newsom over the beach closures during COVID when he brought armed state troopers and bulldozers down to Huntington Beach to keep us off of our beach. Sand and the skateboard. Yeah, and sun.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
But then also pushing back the state on, you know, voting issues and sanctuary state issues and a lot of these other types of issues. So it's been very, very, very good. And then actually, I think that was one of the reasons that, you know, Harmeet and I got to know each other very well, again, with that case during COVID. And then since then, we've kept in touch.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
And I can tell you now it's an absolute pleasure to be in D.C. serving this country at this time. And I'm here for two reasons. One is Donald Trump and the other is Harmeet Dhillon. It's just been absolutely fantastic. I understand.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
Yeah, they did. In fact, he was one of the few restaurateurs who actually stood up and he was very outspoken about it. He did a lot of media trying to get the word out saying, hey, you know, we don't have to go along and get along. We can push back. So he's one of those one of those strong personalities.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
One of the heroes stood up.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
Harmeet's representation of the president was very personal and direct. I was able to go into court last week and say I represent the president and the administration when a bunch of plaintiffs sued to try to stop one of his executive orders.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
Yeah, so as you know, like I mentioned, I was the city attorney that was an elected position. So I served as an elected official in California for 10 years as city attorney of Huntington Beach. And for folks who don't know, Huntington Beach is a pretty big city. It's 23rd largest out of 482 in the state of California. So there's a lot going on there, a lot of issues.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
And we were really at the forefront of pushing back on state overreach, on constitutional overreach, overreach by the governor, overreach by the legislature.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
Right, right. Yeah, just plenty to do. So it was a constant fight, constantly in the public eye. But serving in this way at this time, as I said, is such an honor and a privilege. There's just no way I would have predicted this. But with Trump in office now, with Harmeet, there's what's...
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
super awesome about this experience is seeing so many patriots now serving the government that have passion and grit. They know how to fix this country and they're ready to fix this country. They're rolling up their sleeves and they are really taking the bull by the horns. And you know, Harmeet's done a great job. She got Senate confirmed, I think, three weeks ago. Congratulations to Harmeet.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
already in three weeks steering the division in the right direction, Pam Bondi the same way, Kash Patel, just an amazing cast of people, cast of leaders here in DC that are really riding the ship here in America. To be able to be here right now is just so awesome. And as you know, I've got a home in Huntington Beach. I've got a wife and five kids in Huntington Beach.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
So we're all sacrificing a lot. I know Harmeet has sacrificed a tremendous amount. We are all here sacrificing because the nation has called and we're here to serve and we mean business. And that is just remarkable. It's awesome.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
I had a little bit of that in Huntington Beach because we were doing some groundbreaking work fighting the state of California and we were actually winning in a lot of ways. There were some losses, but winning in a lot of ways. And so to be able to have that type of experience here on a national level, it's just it's remarkable.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
You do?
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
So that's a big sacrifice. How'd you get it out of here? I have a trophy surfboard. There was a surf shop kind enough to ship it out. So I have it mounted on the wall. And when you're here next time, you can come by and see it.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
Absolutely. And Harmeet's got a great vision for where we're headed. Laying out the priorities, along with Pam Bondi.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
So next time you come, Leo will be thrilled to see you. But righting the wrongs of some of the Biden era stuff, including the weaponization and you know, fixing those cases, resolving some of those issues. I mean, that's also a huge step in the right direction, which we've been doing.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
So I think America is going to be very pleased when they start to see some of the results of Harmeet's leadership, Pam Bondi's leadership, the work that we're doing, you know, it's my job to invest the sweat equity. You know, I'm dedicated to the process. We've all, like I said, sacrificed a lot.
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Harmeet Dhillon: LIVE from Washington DC w/ DOJ Attorney Michael Gates – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 479
we're here and we mean it and we're working like 14, 17 hours a day to make sure that we're getting the work done. And I think America is going to be pretty happy.