Rep. Garcia Announces Oversight Investigation into Trump

0:00Ben Meiselas:Hey, Chicagoland, Wayfair's Black Friday in July sale is coming to the Wayfair store. From July 23rd through 27th, you can score up to 80 % off everything home in person. Like up to 80 % off area rugs, up to 60 % off outdoor furniture, and up to 60 % off mattresses. Take home the small stuff that day and get the big stuff shipped fast and free right to your door. Shop the sale July 23rd through 27th at the Wayfair store at Edens Plaza in Wilmette. Wayfair, every style, every home. Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited premium wireless for$15 a month is back.

0:38Ben Meiselas:So I thought it would be fun if we made$15 bills. But it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. These Republicans were just getting schooled by Democrats and whatever they were trying to do with these witnesses was backfiring in their faces. Seriously, what is going on with these MAGA Republicans?

1:12Ben Meiselas:What world are they living in? How embarrassing is this? You have like MAGA Republican Nancy Mace. She's questioning the mayor of Washington, D.C. The mayor of Washington, D.C., Mayor Bowser, is trying to answer the question. and then Nancy Mace is like, actually, I'm reclaiming my time. You're asking the question, right? Don't you want an answer? Here, play this clip. To create unique dynamics and effects. Can you explain what this means to the committee? Where is that, ma 'am? Section 3-703 of the DC Code. Do you know what that means? No, you don't know what that means. So chapter 14D of the DC Code establishes the commission.

1:50I'm happy to answer questions. Mr. Chairman, I'm going to reclaim my time.

1:54Ben Meiselas:This is not her time. It's my time. You can be quiet as I ask you questions and then you can answer them. And then you can answer them. I'm not Mr. Chairman. This is my time, not hers. I'd like to reclaim my time. Let's make good use of the time. I'm making very good use of my time. And you're making my point. You're the mayor. And then you have MAGA Republican Nancy May say, what's a woman? Are you a woman? What's a woman? And Mayor Bowser's like, I'm a woman. Dude, There's something seriously wrong with Nancy Mace. Here, let's play this clip. So Mayor Bowser, what is a woman? I'm a woman. Are you a woman?

2:31Ben Meiselas:100%. Okay. 100%. I'm a woman. You're looking at one. Okay, good. You actually... Then you have Marjorie Taylor Greene at the committee hearing yesterday saying that Tyler Robinson was not MAGA, even though he was from a MAGA family. She goes, he was identified as a furry. He's an Antifa furry. What are you talking about? Why can't we just condemn violence, say that this 22-year-old sicko deserves to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law, and we should start understanding why it is so frequently that it is these young white men from these religious backgrounds, gun-toting families, that continue to fall down this rabbit hole.

3:17Ben Meiselas:and engage in these horrific acts. Here, play this clip. Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he lied on ABC about the identity of the man that Tyler Robinson that murdered, assassinated, martyred Charlie Kirk. He lied and said he was MAGA. Tyler Robinson was not MAGA, not one bit. He was part of Antifa. He was in a relationship. He was in a relationship with someone who identified as furry and trans. And and this this is this is an absurd lie. And so I moved to table the motion to subpoena. So, Mr. Chair, since Democrats fighting back, you have Democratic Congresswoman Stansberry, who I've said before, and I'll say it again.

4:09Ben Meiselas:She deserves a lot more attention and credit than she often gets from corporate news. It's why I love showing you when she just calls out MAGA during these hearings. Here, play this clip. Now, I want to turn to where the ranking member went at the beginning of this hearing and talk about the real crime wave here in D.C. I think it's very demonstrable, and the data shows that the largest crime wave that we've had over the last nine months began on January 20th. And the epicenter of that crime wave, one might call it a white collar, or in this case, an orange collar crime wave, is the White House.

4:54Ben Meiselas:because we have seen a slew of illegal firings that have resulted in millions of Americans being without vital programs, the withholding of millions of dollars of funds, violations of the Constitution, rule of law, separation of powers, due process rights, illegal arrests, illegal deportations, hundreds of lawsuits, grief that's resulted in billions of dollars in crypto schemes lining the pockets of the president and his family, government contracts to his friends, and an epic cover-up of the largest known sex trafficking scandal in American history with the director of the FBI lying under oath in this chamber just yesterday.

5:37Ben Meiselas:And I just want to say this, that it is a felony under the U.S. code to lie under oath in front of Congress. So if you want to talk about crime in D.C., then look no further than your own damn hearings. And then you have Democratic Congress member Swalwell saying, I just want to be very clear, you know, to all of these MAGA leaders and MAGA colleagues out here and to the FCC commissioner and to everybody. like y 'all may think that this is like that your path to dictatorship is cemented but when democrats take power we're going to make sure we explore what's really been going on as trump and the fcc are shutting down comedians and anything that hurts donald trump's frail little ego here play this clip so i want to make it clear there's going to be a democratic majority in just over a year.

6:34And to the FCC chairperson and anyone involved in these dirty deals, get a lawyer

6:39Ben Meiselas:and save your records because you're going to be in this room and you're going to be answering questions about the deals that you struck and who benefited and what the cost was to the American people because that happened. And then finally, you've got MAGA Republicans like the leader of the Oversight Committee, James Comer. And James Comer is so petrified, terrified of the new ranking member of the Oversight Committee, the Democrat Robert Garcia, who has turned this whole thing around. I mean, Garcia's leadership has been incredible. You've seen all of the subpoenas going out, real oversight taking place.

7:21Ben Meiselas:So what does MAGA Republican Congress member Comer do? He's like, he's a drama queen. He goes, he goes, Garcia's a drama queen. Why are you calling him a drama queen? Because he's gay. Like, what does it even mean? He's a drama queen because he's conducting oversight over a sex trafficking ring and actually getting the information that's making Donald Trump upset. So you call him a drama queen? How offensive and also homophobic, don't you think? Here, play this clip. The Democrats, they find one thing in there and they promote it and try to get a narrative. This investigation is about providing justice and accountability for the victims.

8:04Ben Meiselas:And the Democrats, you know, it's really disappointing to see how they've acted. I mean, Garcia, he's been on the job for about two weeks. He's proven to me to just be a real big drama queen because this is all about providing transparency to the American people and justice for the victims. So apparently issuing subpoenas and actually conducting robust oversight makes you a drama queen. So let's bring him in, Democratic Congress member Robert Garcia, now the ranking member in the House Oversight Committee, meaning he's the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. So that's what they do when you try to uncover what's going on with the Epstein files.

8:43Ben Meiselas:When you say, I'm going to issue subpoenas to see how the Trump regime is chilling our free speech and going after comedians, they call you a drama queen. That's where they're going with this. Yeah, well, apparently then we need more drama queens in Congress, because I think that at the end of the day, what James Comer doesn't like is that he now has a very aggressive opponent as the ranking member. that we have a team of people on this committee that are committed to fighting, to the truth, to pushing back on every lie. And I think that he's probably frustrated that we have navigated some pretty big wins out of the committee in a short period of time when we don't have majority of votes.

9:22We force a subpoena vote. We got the Donald Trump birthday book and the note. We're getting Alex Acosta in front of this committee, which they did not want to do. So time and time again, I think we're proving that when you fight and when you push, you can actually get some big wins.

9:36Ben Meiselas:And when you do oversight, you find things that maybe were unexpected, but that the transparency is needed. I mean, there was a bunch of other things in the birthday book, other than the letter that raise additional concerns, which if you're doing oversight that when I was a litigator, that was, you would do discovery, you would do another round, you would do another round and you follow the facts. And I think that's what you're doing. Great. Thanks. No, absolutely. And look, we're at the real beginning of this investigation. The reality is, is that we're still waiting for the DOJ to actually release the files.

10:08They've sent us a tiny bit of the subpoena that we've put in place. I mean, we are expecting tens of thousands of documents, which we don't have yet. Everything they've sent us, most of that was already available to the public. The birthday book and note we got from the Epstein estate. And so we're going to do everything we can to get to the truth, to get justice, of course, for all the victims. and regardless of Comer or the oversight Republicans in their positions, they're trying to stall this thing. They got another thing coming because we're gonna push really hard every day.

10:39Ben Meiselas:Look, you announced earlier on Thursday that you were launching an investigation into ABC, Sinclair, Nexstar, that whole cabal firing Jimmy Kimmel. The Republicans then tried to create some other narrative and say, well, you know, it wasn't because, It was because of the ratings. Then Donald Trump on Air Force One moments ago goes out and says, when you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump, that's all they do. If you go back, I guess they haven't had a conservative one in years or something. When you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump. They're licensed.

11:17Ben Meiselas:They're not allowed to do that. They're not allowed to go after Trump. That's what he's saying. And I mean, with that information, talk to us about what you want to see happen at the oversight committee. I mean, first, I'm not sure if folks remember who the late night comedians made fun of when Biden was the president. I mean, it's always whoever the president is at the time, one. And second, we're talking about a late night talk show host who is allowed to have opinions during a comedic monologue. I mean, it's completely ridiculous, but it's also concerning. And we be concerned that every single day the Trump administration tries to move back and tries to push back the free press, the First Amendment, the right to speech.

12:00And at this moment, particularly in this era of political violence, look, we should all be denouncing political violence clearly, but we should also understand that our country was based on this idea that we can also disagree with each other, that we can have debate and we cannot stifle debate. We know that Trump wants to silence critics. He wants to silence anyone who will stand up to him. He sues all these big organizations. And what I want to know is why did ABC fold? Why did Sinclair take these actions? Did anyone from the Trump administration or the president himself call anyone at ABC and essentially get the Kimmel show off the air?

12:38This happened to Colbert. It's outrageous. We've got to investigate.

12:43Ben Meiselas:Now, different committee, but I saw in the House Judiciary committee, they tried to issue subpoenas to, in the Epstein situation, to banks, to the Treasury Committee, to get Dan Bongino to testify. I mean, Bongino, you know, podcaster, he was out there, I think every podcast that he did before getting the job, he mentioned Epstein and the cover-up over and over again. Dudes literally hiding. I just want to give the dynamic that they're out there calling you a drama queen and Bongino has this deputy FBI job and he's in hiding, afraid to come in front of whether it's the Judiciary Committee, the Oversight Committee.

13:27Ben Meiselas:So knowing that they did that in judiciary, how on oversight, though, do you how do you get it done? I mean, you and other Democrats led by you, you know, you maneuver to get these subpoenas. But how do you get how do you advance it when they're so brazen and Trump calls it a hostile act to try to get transparency on the Epstein files and any of these things? Well, one, I would say stay tuned. We have we have a lot of ideas and we're working on how do we respond if we continue to not get these files. So that that is an ongoing work and project that we're doing. But look, I think what we're what we're showing is I hope that we're modeling that that when you fight, you can actually get results.

14:07And I'm convinced we're going to get these files. We're going to use everything that we have, every tool at our disposal. And even today, even yesterday, more stuff from the estate, other departments are starting to send information. We're getting whistleblowers that are calling into our office. We're putting all the puzzle pieces together. And we're centering these victims. And tomorrow is a big day for us. We're getting Alex Acosta. Alex Acosta put together the Jeffrey Epstein sweetheart deal. Why did he not go after and convict and go after all of these men that abuse women and girls, that rape, that trafficked women?

14:42Why didn't he do that? Why does this man that chooses to essentially give Jeffrey Epstein a slap on the wrist, how does he go on to become the labor secretary for Donald Trump? So these are the questions that we have. And I expect some hopefully some good information.

14:58Ben Meiselas:Well, you know, I think about the birthday book and then I think about the Bloomberg story that brought out those tens of thousands of other emails from Epstein to Ghislaine, which to me shows that Ghislaine was just full of crap and totally lying. Another name for that may be perjury when she was speaking to Donald Trump's former criminal defense attorney. But in those emails, too, they referenced what was going on 2006, 2007. That property that Donald Trump had purchased where he outbid Epstein and it mentioned those names, Abe Gossman, West Palm Beach property. You know, there are a lot of unique financial ties there between Trump and Epstein that I think Acosta would know.

15:42Ben Meiselas:I know you can't give the full roadmap of what your questioning is going to be, but they were clearly inextricably intertwined. And everybody in that West Palm Beach area knew Trump and Epstein were best of friends. Acosta would definitely have known that being from that area. And that's they were they were all part of a crew. So what can you tell us? I'm sure not a lot. But what are you looking at? Look, I think people need to know that a lot of this kind of Epstein cover-up and the actions of Glenn Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein really centered around two locations, New York and Palm Beach. And it's interesting, the folks that have properties in both of those locations, it's interesting the connections, the friendships, the relationships, Mar-a-Lago.

16:29Obviously, we know Trump and being from New York. And so I think that there is just a lot to unpack here. We want to get to the truth. Our request to Pan Bondi and the president has been released the full file. So if you're so confident that you're completely exonerated, then tell the people the truth and release every single document. But they're not doing that. Why? What are they hiding?

16:54Ben Meiselas:And I think, as you said, modeling what it looks like to fight back in the age of Trump. So speak to that, because it seems like it seems like Democrats seems like very recently to, you know, maybe it was just because we came back from the summer break. But it seems that Democrats came back from the summer break ready to fight. What are you seeing before we go? Absolutely. I think also I know I hope that that the next generation of Democrats are coming into Congress right now. I think we're we are really pushing hard. I think you're seeing our leadership push really hard. I think Democrats are right now focusing on one major thing, which is stopping the Trump agenda and not allowing his budget to go unchecked.

17:32It's a budget that wants to give more to billionaires, to cut health care. And so we're fighting every way we can. And for our committee, focusing on the Epstein files, focusing on ICE, focusing on the corruption that's happening and taking on, you know, the work that they're doing with ABC and taking on the First Amendment. These are issues that we're focused on. And I think the American people are engaged, which is important.

17:52Ben Meiselas:So Congressman Garcia, thanks for your time. We appreciate you. And let us know how the Acosta deposition goes. Will do. Thank you. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to six million subscribers. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, add free episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.