Rokita outlines second term plans INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita on Thursday said to expect more of the legal actions that defined his first term, even with Donald Trump returning to the White House. Rokita took home nearly 60% of the vote in Tuesday’s attorney general election. He said the result shows Indiana voters overwhelmingly back the way he’s run his office. “This was a referendum on the work we’ve done over the last four years, and I look forward to continue to do it,” the Republican said. Rokita said he wants to work with Republican Gov-elect Mike Braun on bringing down health care costs. Lawmakers have expanded his office’s ability to investigate hospital mergers, but Rokita said he wants lawmakers to add a means for him to investigate agreements between doctors and hospitals. He said it’s not uncommon for hospitals to buy out private practices, such as radiologists, and then become the sole providers for such services in a given community, thus driving up costs. Legal fights with the Biden administration were a hallmark of Rokita’s first term. Rokita said although he welcomes the second Trump administration, he plans to continue ongoing lawsuits against the federal government unless the agencies in question change course. “The problem is that this a very deep state, and this deep state dissent isn’t going to stop overnight,” he said. Rokita has strongly supported Trump’s hardline rhetoric on immigration. In an interview with News 8 for “All INdiana Politics” prior to the election, he said he hoped to carry out more immigration actions in a second term. On Thursday, he said he will continue actions against sanctuary cities and inquiries such as one he is pursuing against nonprofits and employers in Evansville, Seymour and Logansport. Rokita said those inquiries amount to requests for information under oath. He said he’s probing whether employers in those cities are unlawfully working to hire undocumented immigrants, but added the action does not amount to a full-scale investigation. He said if Trump implements mass deportations or other actions, he’s willing to help but he doesn’t know how much authority his office would have. Rokita also said he will push for changes to the rules that govern what lawyers can say about pending cases. He faced disciplinary complaints during his first term over his comments about Dr. Caitlin Bernard, who drew attention after she revealed she performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio who could not get an abortion under that state’s laws at the time. Rokita again called those complaints politically motivated. “Lawyers need to be able to speak about political issues. They need to be able to speak about controversial issues,” he said. “I was hindered from doing that in my first term.”