Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show”.

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Rachel Maddow, MSNBC: Joining us now live, is Governor Kathy Hochul of New York. Governor, I really appreciate you making time to be here.

Governor Hochul: Thank you.

Rachel Maddow, MSNBC: Tell us about this decision that you made when you received this extradition order from Louisiana. How should people in this country expect this case to move forward? How do you expect the Louisiana Governor to respond?

Governor Hochul: We put this in place as soon as we heard about the overturning of Roe v Wade. I needed to protect our doctors because telemedicine is the number one reason people can get abortion pills. And two thirds of all abortions are now by pills and they've been approved by the FDA for 20 years. It's safe. We have a doctor who's trying to help someone in another state who's been denied the right of control over her own body just doing what her oath requires her to do, and now she's treated like a criminal. It was not a tough decision for me, Rachel.

I said, “No, and hell no.” I will never ever send this person into harm's way to stand for 15 years of possible jail time for just being a doctor, and that's what our country has come to. This is the ripple effect of the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the stacking of the Supreme Court under the last Trump Administration.

My mother's generation fought for these rights, my generation was able to take them for granted, and they're not there for my daughter's generation. My God, we've got to stand up and fight and let these women know — and I'm sorry for the sisters in these states where they're being repressed. But we should not allow government mandated pregnancies: That's what happens when women don't have control of their own bodies. So, we're always proud to stand up for women's rights here in the State of New York.

Rachel Maddow, MSNBC: I feel like I've been both anticipating this for a long time because you signed that shield law, because you knew this was coming, but I also feel very unsettled by the fact that it's on us. I really don't know how this is going to resolve. I presume that you're expecting this to end up in federal court, potentially with the United States Supreme Court deciding the strength of your shield law versus the strength of Louisiana or potentially Texas's ability to take action against this New York doctor despite the shield. Is that where you think this is going?

Governor Hochul: Yeah, I believe it is because what they've set up was by saying this goes back to the individual states. Well, I have to stand up for my state laws. The law that I signed in 2022 and again updated in 2023, says I have a responsibility, a legal responsibility, to protect this doctor and other providers who are exercising this form of care for women, even out-of-state.

So yes, it'll probably end up in another judicial litigation situation, but we've got it. We can't just roll over and play dead here, Rachel. I mean, what are we supposed to do? Let this happen? No, we've got to fight for these rights. This is the place where the Women's Rights Movement started in 1848. We had reproductive rights passed by a Republican governor and Republican legislature three years before Roe v. Wade. Let's look at that history and have people start saying, “My God, how did this happen? We cannot have this.” And as a governor, I will always stand up for the people of my state.

Rachel Maddow, MSNBC: New York is also leading the way with a number of other Democratic led states in challenging some of the initial actions of the Trump Administration.

Day one: challenging the birthright — the effort to take away birthright citizenship — challenging the access by Elon Musk and his sort of “kids” to get into the Treasury payment system, among a number of other lawsuits. New York is taking on, with other states, the burden of litigation to try to stop them. Do you see that as essentially the major clash in this country? The best legal footing the Democrats have in terms of trying to stop them in the courts?

Governor Hochul: It's truly all we have, as sad as that sounds. I served as a member of Congress when the House was Republicans, but we had Democratic leaders in the Senate, so there's always this firewall to stop crazy from happening.

We don't have that anymore. I worked so hard to elect enough Democrats to make Hakeem Jeffries the Speaker, just to be a counterbalance if we ended up with Donald Trump in the White House. We came as far as we could in New York; other states didn't get there. This is what we have to focus on. 2026 is right around the corner, so we as Democratic governors need the reinforcements to stop this in Washington, but until that time, we are it. And we have a lot of bold, courageous leaders — they're great friends of mine — and the message that I want to deliver is that we're not going to have a hair on fire every moment.

There's too much incoming and you lose your credibility with the American people if they think all you're trying to do is attack, attack, attack, attack. Now, if the Trump Administration wants to roll up their sleeves and work with me to make New York City great again, help me invest in the subway system, make the subway system up to — extend the second avenue subway up to Harlem so communities of color can have a shorter commute to the money jobs down in Wall Street — you have my attention. I'll work with you. That's what I'm trying to do.

And also fight for congestion pricing, which I wasn't sure how it'd work. Rachel, people are getting around this city with ease and more of the commuters are coming in saying, “My ride — I shaved 20, 30 minutes, and that is worth the cost.” So these are areas I'm happy to work with the Trump Administration on, so it's not all “anti-everything.” But you come after any of the rights that we take for granted in our state? Now you've got a fight on your hands.

Rachel Maddow, MSNBC: Let me ask you about this drama involving Mayor Eric Adams and the corruption charges against him. What we've just seen with the resignation of the U.S. Attorney: the Trump appointed acting U.S. Attorney, the removal of line prosecutors on that case, the demand from main justice to drop that case, the refusal from SDNY to do it, then the resignation of main justice officials who had the case dumped on them and they wouldn't take it either. This is just an incredible drama in terms of federal law enforcement right now, but you are in a very unusual position — a singular position with regard to this case — which is that, thanks to the New York State Constitution and New York City law, you are the only person who has the power to effectively fire Mayor Eric Adams and remove him from this position, which might conceivably moot this whole fight.

How are you thinking about that now? You could have done it at any point until now, but now given this crisis that's emerged in federal law enforcement around this case, are you feeling differently about that responsibility?

Governor Hochul: Let me tell you from a couple of angles here: One is that this is unbelievably unprecedented for The Department of Justice in Washington to interfere in this way. My husband was a 30 year old federal prosecutor. Barack Obama made him his United States Attorney. You look at what happened here, this is not supposed to happen in our system of justice. The Bondi Administration in that Department of Justice is already showing they're corrupt.

Now, set that aside, I did see the letter that was issued by the acting United States Attorney. The allegations are extremely concerning and serious, but I cannot, as the Governor of this state, have a knee jerk, politically motivated reaction like a lot of other people are saying right now. I have to do what's smart, what's right, and I'm consulting with other leaders in government at this time. You got to have one sane person in this state who can cut through all the crap and say, “What does my responsibility guide me to do?”

And when the allegations came out last September and the City was in chaos, I said, “I will intercede, work with the Mayor to get rid of a lot of people who are under indictment, calm it down, bring in a new police chief commissioner who's doing an outstanding job, our subways are safer, people are feeling better around the City, more people are coming back. I don't want our rebirth to be stopped by this. I have to maintain stability.” And the chaos and do what's right for the City of New York, because as governor, I also represent the City. These are my constituents as well. I'm going to make sure they're protected here. So this just happened. I need some time to process this and figure out the right approach.

Rachel Maddow, MSNBC: But you are consulting with other leaders, consulting with your advisors and looking anew at this matter?

Governor Hochul: Of course I am. Of course I am.

Rachel Maddow, MSNBC: Governor Kathy Hochul of New York; the woman very much at the center of multiple storms right now. Thank you so much for coming.

Governor Hochul: Thank you.