NexGen Patriots
The NexGen Patriots exists to inspire, inform, and empower every generation of Americans by connecting faith, values, and community with the issues that shape everyday life. Through meaningful conversations and real stories, the podcast provides a platform where local voices meet national discussions—bridging the gap between small-town perspectives and broader cultural and civic topics. We highlight the strength and resilience of communities while promoting informed citizenship rooted in integrity, responsibility, and hope for the future.
-Empowering every generation-
NexGen Patriots
"Building a Safer Future" | NGP #13
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What does it take to build a safer future? U.S. Attorney Moore Capito joins NexGen Patriots to discuss public service, protecting communities, combating the drug crisis, the rise of AI in law enforcement, entrepreneurship, and why investing in the next generation is the key to West Virginia's future. It's a conversation about leadership, responsibility, and the people working every day to make our communities stronger.
"Empowering Every Gen"
This segment of the Next Gym Patriots podcast is sponsored in support of the West Virginia Tobacco Quit Line. If you or someone you love is ready to quit tobacco, you're just one phone call away. Train coaches are available to provide guidance, resources, and support every step of the way. Call 1-800-QitNOW for free coaching, helpful resources, and encouragement to help you break free from tobacco. That's 1-800-QitNOW to take the first step towards a healthier future. Mr. Capito, thank you so much. It's a pleasure and honor to have you on the F on the podcast today. And uh welcome to the Next Gym Patriots Podcast.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you, Brock. It's great to be here. Let's uh dispense with the formalities. You can call more. Uh and I'll make it a little more relaxed, but I'm glad to be here. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01So I've been really excited about this episode, and uh we have some great topics to dive into, and uh I can't wait to get into it. So with that being said, um everybody has an intro, and so we kind of start with everybody's career, a little bit of background history so everybody gets to know you a little bit better. So um as we talked before the show, um you graduated college from Duke University in 2005. What was your degree in?
SPEAKER_02Well, I was a history major from Duke, which meant that the question that you immediately get when you graduate from college is what are you going to do with that? Um so finding out what to do with that was uh an interesting journey, but I tell you, history degree is great, especially when you come from a state like West Virginia.
SPEAKER_01So Yeah. Yeah. So then you moved on from college. Uh what did you do after that?
SPEAKER_02Did you start out in the workforce or well by the time I got to my senior year in college, I knew one thing for certain, and that's that I did not want to see a book or a paper or a test uh anytime soon. So I uh so I went out into the workforce. Um I started working in Washington, D.C. Uh, you know, young in those days. Uh it was an exciting time. I worked in on Capitol Hill actually for a few years. Um at one point, you know, I did uh sales, uh going door to door, uh selling office supplies, actually. Um I kind of wanted to try everything to see uh what I enjoyed, uh to test my skill set, uh, to improve my ability to, you know, be able to interact with people. Um and it was a it was a wonderful time to really do that in that that age period. And then uh I moved back to Washington, D.C. after being in California for a little while and worked at the Department of Uh then Defense, now Department of War, uh doing advance uh for the Secretary of Defense. I got the opportunity to travel all over the world, uh not to the places that you see on the travel magazines, uh, but certainly to many, many places, and gained a really great appreciation for what we have in this country uh and what we have in this state. Uh and at that point it was kind of, you know, I was talking to my parents and they said, well, what are you gonna do now? You know, you can't, you know, fly all over the world all the time and do this. And so, you know, just as they recommended, take out the little notepad, do the pluses and minuses, and I said, Well, what the heck? I'll go to law school and see how it goes. And uh so I went to law school from there. Nice, nice.
SPEAKER_01So what year did you graduate from law school?
SPEAKER_02Aaron Ross Powell, Jr. I graduated law school in 2011. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Which what school did you do?
SPEAKER_02From Washington Lee, a little small school in Lexington, Virginia.
SPEAKER_01Nice. Okay. Wow. So not too far from home. Not far at all. Awesome. Okay. So then after uh law school, what did you pursue after that?
SPEAKER_02Well, I I I knew at that point uh that again, another thing was very clear to me after law school is that I didn't want to sit there and read a bunch of cases immediately. So I thought I was gonna go into business at that point in time. So I went into uh the natural gas industry. Um I've always been interested in energy. Of course, the b one of the bedrocks of what we do here in West Virginia is the energy industry, uh. No different than what goes on here, obviously, for many years in McDowell County. Um so I wanted to learn more about that from the legal side and the business side. Uh I did that for about 11 years, uh a little less, close to 10 actually, closer to 10 uh years, and then I went into private practice after that. But it was a great experience uh to learn from an in-house perspective.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So then did you start your private practice after that?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I did. So I went into private practice because I kind of wanted to expand uh the sort of clients that I could work with, look at the projects and the business endeavors that I could, you know, jump into uh with groups and really have an opportunity to recruit people to West Virginia and businesses to West Virginia. I was very passionate about that. Uh still am actually. Um and then in about 2016, I ran for House of Delegates. So uh as they call it, it's part-time. Uh I I quickly appreciated that it's not necessarily part-time all the time, but a great experience uh and dovetailed well with uh the practice of law.
SPEAKER_01Awesome, awesome. So then, as we know of October of 2025, you was appointed. So walk us through how that all happened and and how you got to that point.
SPEAKER_02Well, I really have been similar to what you know you're doing here and and the passion that you uh pour into you know your county and your state. I've sort of always felt that drive in my life. Um certainly from a very young age. You know, I sort of grew up in a political cocoon. My grandfather was in politics, my mother was in uh what you know, public service. Uh I spent some time doing it. And um, you know, it it was it's always burned in my mind, how can I really give back to my community? What can I do? Uh what do I have to offer to a state and a community that I love so much? Um, you know, my wife and I are are lucky to be raising three kids here, so how do we make that place better and want uh you know our three kids to want to, you know, to grow up here? And um and it's you know, I I sort of say that like it's a job that you could apply to, but I was really blessed and honored to have the opportunity to to throw my name in the hat for consideration for U.S. attorney in the Southern District. Um candidly, it wasn't something that I had thought about uh long in my career for a very, very long time. Uh I did give it a a ton of consideration because really when the rubber meets the road, we we think about what is so impactful in our communities and it's and it's the structure that we put around them. And in in our office, in the United States Attorney's office, we get to put structure around the whole southern part of West Virginia, working not only with our federal partners, but with our state and locals as well. So it was really the opportunity to give back and to serve um, you know, this state and this country. Uh I was very honored to have the nomination by President Trump. Uh very lucky and grateful to the Senate for confirming me. And uh since October, that's what I've been doing, and we have a great office uh and we're going uh every day of the week, all the time. I'm I'm very fortunate to have really, really good people and dedicated people that work there. Yeah, well what an honor that is.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Yeah. So let's kind of move on into this a little bit here. So we have a few segments uh that we'll dive on into here. So I kind of want to really start with the rule of a U.S. district or a s the southern part of the state that you're the attorney over. Um so what does that role actually entail that you currently hold?
SPEAKER_02Well, if you differentiate it from there's there's two federal districts in West Virginia. We're lucky to have that. Uh one of the districts is just by far superior and better, and that's the Southern District, of course, where we are. I'm kidding to Matt if you're watching. Um Matt Harvey is the Northern District Attorney. He's a great guy. We get along well. As a matter of fact, I was in Wheeling last week and I was at a uh at an event with Matt for uh law enforcement appreciation week, which was great, by the way. Um and I said when I went up there and they asked me if I wanted to say a few words, I said, rare is it, or not long ago was the time when a United States attorney from the Northern District would have one from the Southern District to an event, let alone let them make a remark, because it's pretty territorial. But we work together, we are all about uh the mission uh and what this president, President Trump has uh put before us to go do, and and we're we're working together to do that. But um basically our job is you know, they they call us on the website, they're the chief law enforcement officer, as they say. It's a fancy title. But really, what we do in our office is not unlike what county prosecutors do in each of the counties in West Virginia, except for we enforce federal law. So um anything that has a federal nexus, uh we can prosecute. Uh anything in those federal statutes or that the United States Congress passes that they say you can't do, if you do those things, we can prosecute. I'm putting it very simplistically. We also have a civil side where we enforce um, you know, if we have health care fraud or you know, some of these qualified uh regional health centers that receive federal dollars are are uh sued, we defend them on behalf of the United States. But um, what was probably the most moving thing uh to me was to go in and to watch our prosecutors who are really tremendously smart, smart people, um stand up and say, on behalf of the United States. And what a powerful statement that is that every day uh folks in our office stand up in front of judges and say, Your Honor, on behalf of the United States or for the United States. Um and I I I try to remind them and they remind me what that really means and the importance and the uh power behind that. Uh and so as we've seen over the last uh ten years, the Department of Justice has received um critiques, rightfully so, on how it should be used. It's not a weapon to be used. Um, it is something to be used to protect people, to protect communities and keep communities safe. Uh that's what we're focused on in our office, and I think we're making uh good strides at it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So as we kind of dive into this a little bit even more deeper, what does a U.S. district attorney do on a day-to-day?
unknownAaron Ross Powell, Jr.
SPEAKER_02What does so what do I do or what does what do the attorneys in our office do? Aaron Ross Powell, Jr. What do you do? Trevor Burrus, Jr. Okay, because see if I sit here and I take credit for what they do, then they're gonna watch this and go, he doesn't do that. Uh no, we have so like I said, it's an interesting position because it's one that you come into and you're not I call my I jokingly say I'm a temporary employee. So the president appoints the United States attorney for each of the ninety well, there's ninety-three U.S. attorneys, there's ninety-four districts across the country.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02And he appoints all of them. And um I don't know how many we have confirmed at this point, but we come into an office where you have career civil servants. And um a lot of times career folks in government get knocked, but I can, you know, oh, you know, it's career government. We really have the best employees that you could ever ask for in the at least in the southern district. That's all I can speak for. Yeah. Uh they're motivated, they're smart, uh, they want to help their communities. They're working there because they want to be part of the community and and help their community. So we really have a group of United States attorneys in the Southern District that either prosecute case or they work in our our civil division. And I would say on a day-to-day basis, what they are doing is routinely communicating with law enforcement in the community, routinely communicating with uh community advocates in our communities. Um they're putting together uh oh, it's a lot of paperwork, it's a lot of reading, a lot of writing. Um our judges in the federal system uh like to read and study a lot, and so we have to prepare the written materials, unfortunately, um, or fortunately, because oftentimes we're very successful. And they're talking to the the other members of the bar. I mean, you know, when we're prosecuting a defendant, there's a defense attorney that our prosecutors are communicating with on a daily basis. Um what I do as the U.S. attorney um is much different. Uh you know, we uh try to communicate what our vision and what our message is to um to West Virginians. Of course, President Trump has been very strong on some of the missions that we're going to accomplish in this country. We want folks that are committing crime and that are here illegally committing crime, we want them to be removed from our communities. That's dangerous. We shut down the border. That was incredibly important. Um now we've moved on to really putting a really super tight um grip on fraudulent activity that's going on in our community. I mean, it's unbelievable the level of of fraud that goes on with Federal dollars, and it's sad, quite frankly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh but in a state like West Virginia, we have to keep a close eye on that because we do get a lot of government money that comes in and through here. I would say that our bread and butter are um what is really our uh drugs and violent crime practice group. We have great prosecutors that are pulling very dangerous people off the street all the time. They're pulling off tons of drugs, nasty people, and really dangerous firearms. Now, you're looking at someone who is a huge supporter of the Second Amendment and a gun owner, but guns in dangerous people's hands that are illegal is a really bad thing, and we ensure every single day that more and more of those guns come off of the street and more of the drugs that go along with them do. Um and then I gotta get, you know, I mean, some of the the really neat thing about being the U.S. attorney is that you get to sort of focus on a couple of the things that you think are important. What do you think can make the impact, you know, in the community? And I and like I said, I mean, I've got young kids, and I and to me, um, you know, crimes against children and child exploitation is is disgusting to me. And I um I was actually astounded by the number of incidences uh that this occurs all over the state of West Virginia. Unbelievable. And so we've really put a focus on that to try to make sure that as many child uh sex offenders that are out there get uh put behind bars as quickly as possible. That's an initiative that we're working on very strongly right now. Um and then protecting our seniors. There are a lot of really smart in this technological age that we're living in. There's a lot of really smart um a lot of a lot of it includes this uh artificial intelligence. Yeah. People using that to try to rip off our seniors. And so we're trying to get to the bottom of that and and prosecute those folks as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, do you know like the stats of what your office has covered, like the most range in? I was like what you guys probably prosecuted in genre?
SPEAKER_02Oh, well, definitely drugs. I mean drugs has got to be the biggest one for sure. Yeah. Um yes. Well, of course, as you know, I mean, as we experienced so badly here, we were just hit with you know when i a couple presidents ago, we had uh someone who sort of w wasn't very bullish on the on the on the coal industry, and it you know, put a lot of our people out of out of business. And when when he did that, it was terrible for the state. And so what happened right after that, there was a huge vacuum, and what came in to fill the void of jobs was pills. Pain pills came all over the state of West Virginia. And many people in my office that still work there, actually, um worked and prosecuted a lot of these cases. Fortunately, all of most all of the you know, prescription drug abuse has been tapered down or cut off. But then you created another vacuum and here came heroin. And then you cut down on heroin and here comes fentanyl. So it's a constant and fluid battle. Yeah. But perhaps we'll talk about it later. But I think really the solution to to combat it all is getting great prevention on the front end.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So there's a there's one thing I do want to touch on, because it's not talked a lot about, especially in your rule, but how are cases different from a county level or state law?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think um so you could really go through it all. I mean, e you know, you got the green books and the red books. Uh you know, it's the federal law versus state statute. So what the state legislature what the state legislature passes, the crimes that they pass. They say, you know, thou shall not run a stop sign. And if you do, you get this, and then that's a state law. And then on the federal side, you know, you may have a federal law that says you can't, you know, have a fraudulent tax return. Um but but it but the difference is for us, I mean, it it the federal statute has to have an interstate or a federal nexus. That means that it has to touch and concern something within the jurisdiction of the federal government.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Meaning it has to be an interstate commerce. Did they use a computer to send something, to send money or to send a message? Um if it's guns, we know that guns, by and large, almost 100 percent of firearms are are s some part of them is constructed in interstate commerce. So that's where drugs, inherently, as the Supreme Court said, is an interstate commerce um activity. And then, of course, you have all of these constitutional issues. So if anything is brought up and uh the constitutionality um of something is is questioned, we sometimes, you know, we deal with those questions, of course, a lot of times through hearings, whether it's uh through evidence. But really that's sort of the wonky difference. The main difference is that um when you think about crimes against a person, you think about murder, um, you think about crimes against property like larceny and all of those things, those are more state crimes. So rape and murder uh and those sort of with exception, with exception. When you think on the federal side, we think of drug trafficking, we think of child exploitation, uh we think of um any of your white collar crimes, so fraud, money laundering, those sorts of things are more federal crimes.
SPEAKER_01Okay, okay. Um so as we kind of move on here a little bit further, um I obviously asked what was probably the most basically what was one of the most common cases that you guys do. What outside of drugs is common?
SPEAKER_02Um probably fire I mean firearms when you have I mean they go together. Um I mean we we do unfortunately we do do a lot of child exploitation cases. We have a lot of folks uh that are preying on children um that are trying to engage in sexual acts uh with uh children. I mean, unfortunately we have more of those, but I'd be worried if we didn't have a lot because I know how many there are.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um and that would mean that we weren't on top of them. Uh we do have a lot of those cases. Um you know, a lot of times we have people that are just offending. We have dangerous people, we have sex offenders that are out there that haven't registered. A lot of time we catch those folks. We have people that are on supervised release that were, you know, dealing drugs in our community and now they're back out dealing drugs in our community, uh, or they have a fire, you know, a firearm or something like that, and they're dangerous people. Um and so we get a lot of we get a lot of those as well. Um and then of course we we hear a lot we have we have a lot of prisons in West Virginia, so we hear a lot from our um from our federal prison facilities, correction facilities.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Okay. So kind of on to like current issues and public safety. Yep. Are drug traffickers operating differently today, obviously, than what they were five to ten years ago? They're kind of explaining why.
SPEAKER_02It's unbelievable. You know, you when you look at it, you say this person did all this. I mean, you you you'd be amazed. You look at a file and you're going into sentencing and you listen to this sentencing report. So you have a you know, you get this pre-sentencing report and they write all this person was born here, they did this, they went this much schooling, they did all this, and and then you read what they did in the drug trafficking trade, let's say. And some of them are Brock, I'm not kid they're brilliant. I mean, the w the way that they do accounting, the way that they know how much product goes here, goes there. The problem is it's terrible activity. It's illegal. I mean, it's it's you know, it's it's horrible what they're getting into, but it just makes me think if we can get these folks to use their brain in the right way, they could be productive members of society. It's it's it's really unbelievable. And as drug trafficking changed, absolutely it's changed. Um it used to probably be, you know, conducted on a payphone um from one place to the next, and then you know, it probably went to cell phones and people would call each other on the cell phone and conduct some sort of a drug trade or something like that. Uh then it went to probably text and phone. Uh and then it probably went to messenger, you know, and then it's FaceTime. So it's you're always chasing the latest. What I would say is that the drug trade is followed technology. And the means with which folks trade drugs, sell drugs, yeah, they use the latest and greatest technology to do so.
SPEAKER_01There's something I want to touch on real quick. Because we've discussed this before and it's become an even prominent issue with law enforcement. Talk a little bit about the encrypted messaging and how that's making it even harder to get getting these guys. Okay, so yeah.
SPEAKER_02So and I value this too. So we're we're a country that values First Amendment right, right? We all do. We want protection, you know. You're sitting there having a conversation, you say, well, I don't, you know, I don't really have anything to hide here, but I don't really want everybody, you know. And so somebody says, I need the latest and greatest, you know, protective messaging system. And of course, we originally saw it with Signal, and then we had Telegram, I think, I mean They're both uh of course still out there. Um and then they say, you know, you use our platform and it's just between you and the other messenger, and you have the encryption key, and they have the encryption key, and you know, if you throw your phone away, it's gone. Well, the truth is it is. It's not, I mean, that's real. Right. That's real stuff. And and I I mean, so we all appreciate the protections that we're getting. Um now those protections are pretty much on any messaging system that you see. Unless you have a an Android or you're an iPhone user and you get a green message, that is all encrypted. So iMessage, you know, uh iPhone, all face, all that stuff. I mean, and and I, you know, I'd be sitting here and you know, some of the people that work with me are like, why are you saying that everybody already knows? Like all of these people already know that that stuff. And so uh those technological advances are making it difficult. You know, we talk to these big tech companies and we tell them, you know, like, you know, why are you cutting our legs out from under us? I mean, I understand that they've got a they've got to balance some stuff here. Right. But I mean, work with us. You know, we're trying to put bad guys away here. We're not trying trying to sit here and spy on people.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, I think it's very interesting, especially, you know, most most youth has uh some kind of sort of a device you know nowadays. And so that just makes it even harder. So in what ways, now this is an interesting angle, in what ways has AI changed the type of criminal cases your office investigates?
SPEAKER_02This is one area that I think criminals actually are are behind on. Okay. Really. Okay. Because a chatbot really is not going to line up a drug trade for you, if you think about it. Um really what they do is they help sharpen what you want to say or look for. That's that's how I found chatbots to be.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Now, organizationally, they can probably help you with a business plan or um help you with a distribution network or something like that. But or whatever the logistical concern, if you're a really big sort of drug dealer. But um where we've seen AI come into play more, uh, which is sort of unsurprising, I guess, has been in some of the fraudulent activities. Now, you get a call, or your grandpa, you know, one of your grandparents get a call at home, and that says, you know, this is the county sheriff or the deputy sheriff, and uh you owe five hundred dollars in taxes that you haven't paid yet. Okay. If I make that call, your grandparents can be like, who that you know, who is this? Right. But if you know, we're getting to a point where, and I actually heard a story on this, where somebody got, you know, had for, I think, $10,000 because they had an AI voice that sounded perfectly in tone with wherever the person was from, with that dialect, you know, and and friendly and and and all of these things that otherwise, you know, you you would be a red flag to say this is a fraud.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So that's the it's the manipulation that we're starting to see in the fraud cases, I think.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um, that's interesting. Now, I will say we have seen some court filings. We do not do this in our office, but we have seen some court filings. Uh they had a tinge of AI in them, I think. But uh, you know, of course, we don't we don't do that because there's too many, you know, they have AI has what they call hallucinations, as they say. So they'll cite the wrong case or something like that. And I don't want to be in the room when one of our judges finds one of those mistakes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's uh that's embarrassing. Yeah. In the end of the day, for sure. What concerns you the most about the future of young Americans, just in general?
SPEAKER_02Um That's a good question. I I think Okay, so we all have an American spirit, right? We're all um we're all sort of motivated by something. Um and I think each generation is motivated by something different. Um I'm hopeful that, and again, I like I said, I have I have three kids under the age of twelve. I mean um and to find what they're really motivated in and what they want to do. Uh and I think finding what gets their interest or what piques their interest is always, you know, a challenge. Uh and if you look back as a history major, I can tell you, I mean, what interests or motivates other generations doesn't work for the next one. Yeah. And really, in the generation that I'm in, um, I should be thinking about how are we setting up our society for the generation to come. Not for ourselves, but for the generation uh to come. But I I think it's being able brought to talk to people. Um I talked to to folks that come in and interview with uh our office all the time for jobs, and I said, this is a great job because you're representing the your country. That's awesome. Um you can do something that you're prideful in, you can make a difference in your community. And you know what, you get this little benefit of you learn how to talk to people.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You can stand up in a courtroom and present something to real people. Yeah. Um and that's sort of lost on us these days. I mean, I grew up in the era of, you know, you say yes, sir, no, sir, yes, ma'am, no, ma'am. Um we've sort of lost some of those very basic skills. Um they don't even teach kids to write cursive barely anymore. You know, I mean, uh and people say, well, they they're typing. I said, well, you know, let's let's slow down, let's learn the basics. I I think we skipped the basics to get to uh too quickly to things that that aren't as important. Yeah, yeah. And we're slowly starting to see the effects of it.
SPEAKER_01I agree. And the workforce. I agree. Especially I agree.
SPEAKER_02There's an entitlement.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there is. And uh it it's definitely concerning for future, future years ahead as as my generation, I can say, gets older. Yeah, no question. Uh what gives you hope about the future of West Virginia? The spirit.
SPEAKER_02West Virginia spirit. I I um I am always amazed when you go to a county, and I've I've traveled, I've been to every county in West Virginia multiple times. Um, and I you will always go into a county wherever you are in the state, uh, and somebody is going to be telling you or talking to you about what that county is going to look like if they get X, or what that county is gonna look like if they get Y. And it's not somebody over here on the deck rocking in a rock chair. It's somebody rolling up their sleeves, writing grants, um, working inside the schools, trying to build a business, trying to pave a road, doing all or trying to apply for permits. I mean, people that believe in the future. So you can have uh this is sort of what we talked about um a couple weeks ago, and I was talking, uh I talked with the the attorney general, and he was saying, you know, there's a lot of happy talk out there. You have a lot of politicians come and say, like, oh yeah, this is gonna be great, and we're doing all these things. And you know, what you really need to ask is people is what are you doing?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, what are you doing? Yeah, I know what you're talking about, but what are you doing? And I know what I'm doing as a U.S. attorney. I can tell you every day. You call my office, you say we put this many people in prison, we arrested this many people, we took this much drugs off the street, these guns aren't here anymore, this child perpetrator isn't here anymore, and that person who ripped off a bunch of old couples isn't here. What are you doing? And when you go to the what gives me hope is you go on the county level and you really look at people that are invested in that county, believe in the future of that county. I think when you lose that on a county level or a localized level, that's when you get into sort of DEF CON sort of area. But we haven't lost that in West Virginia. And we're so resilient. I mean, I I'm a lifelong West Virginia, so it's sort of I I look at it as sort of normal, but you go to a lot of other places and people aren't like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. And that and then I think the community base behind it, I mean, there's nothing like it. No question. Go anywhere else, in anywhere else in the States, and there's nothing like it for sure. So kind of move on more of like personal slash national uh conversation. Sure. How has growing up in a politically connected family shaped your perspective on public service? I think the importance of it.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I think you know, to take it seriously, I think I think my grandfather always, you know, said, um, you know, if you have the opportunity to serve, do it. Um if you if you if you get the call, answer it. Uh, because not everybody has that opportunity to do that. Um it's a noble uh thing to do if you want to do it. Um and for me, I mean, you know, don't and he had always said, and my mom was the same way, don't do it if it if it's if it's if you're just doing it to do it. Do it because it's what you want to do, because you feel it in your heart and in your gut that you're doing it for the right reasons. I mean, I feel it because I I love West Virginia. I mean, I I don't really uh care if I was getting paid to do it or there's some next step. Now my wife might argue with me if anything, um I gotta get something. But um But I mean, seriously, it's it's gotta be something that you believe in. And and and and if you step back and look, I think, you know, you can really tell if people care if they're in it for the right reasons. I mean, I think it's knowing that um that public service is not about the lights and the cameras in the podiums, uh, that it really is about the people. And I I to your question, I think I learned that because I feel like I've been at so many dinner table talks with other families. Um I've been there for so many calls that come in on things that you never see on the camera or behind the podium or in the newspaper. Uh it's really about what you're doing. Um it's about doing the little things.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. There's always little things that go a long way. No question. Yeah. And uh so in such a divided country, where do you think Americans still find common ground? Football.
SPEAKER_02We all like football, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Sports.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, it's interesting. I haven't I hadn't thought about that. Um I haven't really thought about that in a while because I was starting to think nothing. We find common ground in nothing. Um But it we should find things that we find um that we can find common ground. I I I I think in West Virginia we're very lucky. I mean, we got common ground in the fact that we all love West Virginia. I mean, really, I think everybody that's in um I I started to wonder on a national level at one point. I was like, do these people really love our country? Uh but I've never I don't know that I've ever thought that about our state. Yeah. And that's why I feel good about West Virginia, is that I think people have in common um that they love our state. Or they at least love, you know, mountaineer football or herd football. You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean you laugh, but I mean it's sports. Let's find something we can talk about.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Yeah. And that's uh no matter how they do, everybody's still still behind them either way. Yeah. We've had our ups and downs. We're talking about testing. I mean, golly. And Gracie. Yeah, no kidding. Uh so what challenges do you think America will face over the next 10 years that people are not talking about?
SPEAKER_02I think people are talking about AI too much. You didn't ask me that question. You asked me about AI earlier. Um that we're not talking about. Here's what I think. I think that the impacts that we that some of the impacts that we had in this country by sort of shutting down this country like we did over, you know, the the pandemic, I think is going to have um much more impact than people really thought. I think that we still are trying to I mean, on on kids learning and their development. I don't know that we really fully appreciate what we did to this guy. I mean, I I again so my eight-year-old was, you know, two at the time, learning to talk through like a mask. You can't do that. Um and so so that that was one thing, but it that leads me to the to the to the pandemic, or no, not the pandemic, the the drug scourge that we face, not only in you know, this state, but it was all across the country. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this I mean the tentacles of this thing has to be huge. Um you know, it's it's not just we we learn about grandma and grandpa raising the kids, or uh we learn about um, you know, the fact that these people haven't even met their parents, some of them having met and never will meet their parents. But what is the mental and emotional health of of that youth, you know? I mean, I uh you know, and they're gonna be that's gonna have to be factored in their entire life. And we're getting to the point where that first age group of of uh children that came into that environment, I mean, their grandparents are probably getting on the end of where they're not gonna be there anymore. So they have no support structure at all. Yeah. Yeah. Uh so I think that's what's I mean, that's sort of stating the obvious, Brock, but I mean, I think that's what it is.
SPEAKER_01There's something I wanted to go back to real quick, because you started to mention it. What do you feel like in your eyes, what do you feel like your solution is to this drug crisis, not just as a state, but nationwide? Well, here's the way I look at it. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Again, I I'm a history major, buddy, but I know a little, I did listen to economics in high school just a little bit and understand, you know, a little bit about supply and demand. Okay. Drug dealers have got to have demand. There's got to be demand. They've got a product, clearly, that they've been able to get people hooked on, right? It's not probably a hard thing to sell once you get somebody hooked on it, assuming that they can have money. But they've got to have some demand. And what are we gonna do about demand, is what I always say. Because we, every day in my office, I'm trying to kick doors down to kill supply. I'm pulling cars over all the time to kill supply. Um, we can do that as long as we want. But there's a reason why stores that keep getting robbed restock the shelves because people are gonna come in and buy it. So that drugs are gonna keep coming, and we will keep picking them off and bringing the bad guys out. So I think you have to attack with interdiction, like we're doing in my office. You have to find and chase your way up the ladder to try to find the big drug dealers, okay? So that's one thing. But then what are you gonna do about the demand side? And people always, you know, we talk about recovery, and I and I applaud people that are in the recovery, but it's just such a moving term. We don't even know what we're doing. I mean, I know there's there's evidence-based programs out there uh that you know that that are doing the best they can. And again, I applaud them for doing it. Yeah. But the reality is we haven't found that the right pedagogy or whatever it is to sort of make that work. But that's something we have to continue on. But there's no question that the best way to cut it off at the past is through prevention. I believe that fully, I will tell you that frankly. Um, a child that never wants to try drugs is a drug dealer's worst nightmare. Um, and so how do we do that? It's not just about saying no. I was with a program last week talking to kids that were sort of peer tutors in this or peer-to-peer counselors. And it's sort of giving someone the confidence, the independence, and the knowledge that they need to be able to say no.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because I mean, in middle school and high school, peer pressure is a heck of a thing. Um and it's gotten so more complicated. I laugh, I'm telling stories just about my middle son the whole time, but he literally said the other day in the car, he goes, Ah, life used to be so simple. I was like, dude, you're eight. I was like, what are you talking about? But it's true. I mean, with all of these technological advances that are going on right now, um there's just so many different ways that they can get at these children. And so we've really got to focus on how do we get our kids to know what a threat in a dangerous situation looks like and then how to say no. Yeah. And keep saying no.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And I think that's the long-term solution. That's really the long-term solution is prevention. Yeah, that's uh that's actually a good point.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I've not heard of it that way, but yeah, I completely agree. Yeah. What role will you what role will technology and AI play in public service, well, public safety and government, do you feel in the next few years?
SPEAKER_02Oh, I mean, there's no question. I mean, t AI and technology, you see, um I I I'm a big I I say we have to embrace, you know, AI. Of course, you're reading about it on these national levels. I I think my wife would, she talks more knowledgeably on this than I do, but but, you know, there are some scary parts about it. But um the I think the benefits that it can provide uh techno uh society is unquestionable. I mean, for our law enforcement, for instance, it's able to put together, if you say, you know, where was you know Brock's car today? They can say boom, boom, boom, boom, it was here, and then it can say, you know, it was likely in all of these places because it was ultimately going here. You know, it can read trends, it can it can come up with theories, it can help you um it can sort of help you polish your legal arguments. Yeah. Um it can always help us uh make our writing better or how we synthesize reading. Um it can ask us questions about what we read to make sure that we understand what we read and understood it the right way, or do we think about it from another dynamic? It's almost like having um I think it's almost like having a tool that you can use to sharpen yourself. And I think if we use it in that way, it's very beneficial. If we help it, if we use it to help us solve crime with predictive analysis, um certainly uh I I think it's hugely beneficial. Um I don't know how helpful augmented, you know, uh AI is, um, but we we you know we time will tell, but I think it can be hugely beneficial.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Where do you see opportunities in West Virginia over the next five years?
SPEAKER_02I mean, entrepreneurship I think is always a big one. You can look at um, look, we're gonna have um success as long as we have spirited people in West Virginia, and and we do. And as I I talked about that earlier. Uh but you know, all of the great sort of companies and things that we've seen in West Virginia over the years, all of these wonderful um things that have been built. I mean, geez, look at Welch. I mean, look at somebody had to have built all this amazing architecture at one point. And that was through entrepreneurship. And I think the more that we can lean into entrepreneurship and how do we tell people that they can start a business here? How do we tell young folks this is the best place if you want to bring your business and you want to start a business uh and you want to take a chance, you can take it in West Virginia. I mean, that's sort of like an empowering thing, especially for a generation that's willing to take risks. We want people to be risk takers in in um in West Virginia. I mean, you know, there's tons of policy things that go along with that. You want a great tax structure, uh, you want a great housing environment, you want a place that has low energy costs, low housing costs, uh, you need good roads, um, you need good broadband to do all of that. Infrastructure is a um is a huge piece of that. But at the end of the day, I mean, I I maybe I'm just sort of entrepreneurial in in my spirit, but you know, you you you throw a hundred seeds into the into the soil um and you just need one spud.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But what do you have the whole time? Well, you have this ecosystem of people that are talking about ideas, collaborating, talking about what they can do. And it's is it is it self-beneficial to them? Sure it is. They get to build a business and make dough. Yeah. But the state of West Virginia gets to benefit, and we want the right people, of course.
SPEAKER_01Kind of talking to you about your seed analogy, everybody still gets to grow, no matter if they don't build if they're still growing from it. 100%. So as we wrap this up, where do you see yourself in politics after this term? Oh, I'm not in politics.
SPEAKER_02Um but um you know, I I I don't know. I'm uh I love what I do right now. Um I would I I love serving uh in this role. I love being the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia. Um giving back is what um sort of fuels me, I think. Um just working with people in the community, getting to talk and meet with so many people, being able to effectuate change. I mean, being able to for somebody to say, hey, can you help me with this? And you actually can, and doing it, yeah, um, I I love doing that. I mean, it's a service-oriented business um that we're in. And to the extent that I I can continue to work and help with um moving this state along, absolutely I'd love to do that. But I I have no idea. Right now I'm uh working every day to make sure that our communities are safer. Uh that's what we'll continue to do, um, and we'll see what happens ahead.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I asked this last question to every person that I interview. Because every person has a different perspective on it. So in your own words, how would you define success?
SPEAKER_02So um I think success is only uh is uh I I think is only can only be defined well it can be defined objectively, of course. Um but sort of it has to be a subjective definition that moves into the objective. I mean, I I think it is self-fulfillment. Uh do you do are you getting something out of what you're doing, or are you just going through the motions? I mean, success is um building on uh what you've learned and passing it on to somebody else and then um feeling fulfilled about that. And I think that goes not only to what you're doing professionally, whether that's you know, community service related or whether that's business related, whatever that is related. And certainly there's a family element to that. I I think um, you know, you're only as successful as the parent that you are to your children. I often think about that. Um but I think it's what what gives you if you feel fulfilled um in what you're doing in your gut, I I'm you know, there's nobody out there that should tell you that you're not successful. That's what success is to me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, the U.S. West Virginia Southern District Attorney, Moore Capodeau, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. It's been an honor to have you. Thanks, Brock. And so I thank you for making the trip down here. I know you got a busy schedule, but we greatly appreciate it. And uh, and for you guys, until next time, we will see you guys in the next one.