Rep. Garcia Reveals His Next Move with Trump Investigations

0:00Ben Meiselas:Hey, Chicagoland, the Wayfair store is in your neighborhood at Edens Plaza and Wilmette. Finally, you can feel the fabric, sit on the sectionals, and even open the refrigerators. Plus, our in-store designers will help you bring it all together with free one-on-one design support for any project on any budget. Yep, we said free. Oh, and did we mention the cafe? So what are you waiting for? Come see all that's in store. Visit the Wayfair store today at Edens Plaza and Wilmette. Wayfair, every style, every home. The American people are hungry for real oversight. And this government shutdown is also shedding a spotlight on the massive corruption and grift by this Trump regime and the utter lack of transparency.

0:44Ben Meiselas:Now, you may recall last weekend, I did a video with Congress member Robert Garcia, ranking member of the House Oversight Committee for the Democrats. The video is called Where Did These$17 Trillion Go? It's been viewed over 1.2 million times because Donald Trump's out there saying he brought in$17 trillion in tariffs that he keeps on a shelf, he says. And while we're seeing these reduction in force notices go out, as Donald Trump and the government also claim now, they have no money. It just makes no sense because he's out there bragging about how rich we got. And the American people know that it's all a lie.

1:24Ben Meiselas:Nothing that this Trump regime is saying about this shutdown is sticking because enough is enough and it is impacting the lives of American people. And when you see Donald Trump's Oval Office appearances and you see just the things that he's saying, I mean, just the utter lack of being tethered to reality. Let's use that line because multiple federal judges, including a Trump appointed judge in Oregon, use that language tethered to reality. Like what you're saying exists does not exist. And it's actually been refreshing to see federal judges on a bipartisan basis, although judges shouldn't be talked about in partisanship.

2:06Ben Meiselas:But in a Trump world, sometimes you have to. They've been saying your facts, Trump, are not existing in the real world right now. So speaking of that, when Donald Trump is asked a question about the United States Supreme Court denying Ghislaine Maxwell's final appeal to the Supreme Court on her claim that that sweetheart deal by Acosta, Trump's former labor secretary, who was a federal prosecutor in 2008, somehow applied to her. Trump was asked about Ghislaine. So are you going to pardon her? Remember this moment from earlier this week? Let's not forget about it. Let's play it. Yeah, please. today the Supreme Court is back and yeah they rejected today I know the appeal by the way Maxwell to overturn her conviction that means her only chance of getting out of prison is a pardon from you is that something you're who are we talking about you know I haven't heard the name in so long I can say this that I'd have to take a look at it I would have to take a look did they reject that she wanted to appeal her conviction and what happened I see well I'll take a look at it.

3:13Ben Meiselas:I'll speak to it. I will speak to the DOJ. I'll have to speak to the, you shouldn't be speaking to the DOJ. You don't know who she, what are you talking about? You don't know who, of course you know who she is. I want to bring in democratic Congress member, Robert Garcia, ranking member of the house oversight committee. And you're demanding that Ghislaine Maxwell now sit for that deposition after the Supreme court denied her appeal. Her lawyer was claiming, that's why she wouldn't sit for the under oath deposition. Although she spoke with Donald Trump's former criminal defense attorney at the Justice Department.

3:42Ben Meiselas:Talk to us about what you're doing on the oversight committee to demand that deposition. Absolutely. I mean, first, let's be really clear. Ghislaine Maxwell is a sex trafficker. She herself abused children, girls, women. She was part of a massive sex trafficking ring, of course, led by Jeffrey Epstein. And so she deserves no support pity from us. And to this idea in that clip that that Donald Trump is going to somehow possibly consider look at a pardon doesn't know anything about it is just complete bullshit I mean give me a break he knows he knows her he's met her Jeffrey Epstein was Donald Trump's close best friend according to Jeffrey Epstein he himself moved her from a maximum security facility to a club fed facility where now she's just roaming around the first time by the way that's that's been done for someone of her caliber of crime And so it's really shocking for the president to essentially lean into this possibility of a pardon.

4:42And we know why that's the case, right? I mean, he wants to control what she says. He wants for her, who has a ton of information on what actually happened, to perhaps tell stories or not tell things she might know or omit memories she might have of the president from any testimony. So it's very concerning. We have been demanding from day one for Ghislaine Maxwell to appear in front of the oversight committee because we have a lot of questions, critical questions to ensure that we get justice for the survivors of Epstein and Maxwell. We demanded that. Co-Chairman Comer had agreed. And then, of course, when the appeal went through and moved forward to the Supreme Court, Comer said, well, we ain't going to do it until after the Supreme Court considers her appeal or not, which we, of course, pushed back against, did not agree with.

5:32But nonetheless, he has the power to do that. And so now the Supreme Court rejected the appeal. And we've asked Chairman Comer again, let's reconsider bringing her back. It appears that they are moving forward. And so we should have a date, hopefully soon, for Glenn Maxwell to appear in front of the Oversight Committee.

5:49Ben Meiselas:Do you feel, though, that her lawyer is just going to put a new barrier in place and say, well, actually, now we have to wait till the habeas petition before the Southern District and or now it has to be done on this term or that term. And isn't isn't she basically moving to try to invoke the Fifth Amendment or come up with some pretext? Well, I have to invoke the Fifth. And you're like, well, why? You have no more appeals. What do you mean? You didn't invoke the Fifth when you spoke with Trump's former personal lawyer. I think that will be very revealing when that moment happens. But it feels like her and her lawyer's plan all along is a very Trumpy plan.

6:25Ben Meiselas:Delay, delay, delay, push this thing out and then self-selectively show up where you want to show up versus in a transparent way. Yeah. I mean, it's all part of the Trump playbook. I mean, no question about it. But we're going to demand for her to come forward. And look, and we know when she comes forward, what her goal is. We're very aware that Ghislaine Maxwell wants a pardon from Trump. And so we're going to be very thoughtful in that process and remind the public that much of what she says, quite frankly, might be lies. She is a known serial liar, which is why it's so important that Pam Bondi and Donald Trump release the full Epstein files, because the idea that we're going to have a deposition with her and not have the files to essentially reference information back and forth to, it's really hurtful to the investigation.

7:14But of course, this is what Donald Trump wants. This is now a massive White House coverup. Donald Trump is trying to run away from whatever the truth is. And so we are focused like a laser on this. And I know a lot of folks have said, oh, you know, this is a distraction or we know we should be, Democrats should be, you know, coming up with some work on it in bipartisan fashion with Republicans to do X, Y, or Z. Absolutely not. This is very important. This is the most corrupt president in the history of our country and the most corrupt administration in the history of our nation. And on top of that, this is the largest, most complex sex trafficking ring of pedophiles and monsters in the modern era of the United States.

8:00And the people involved are people of power, are people of incredible wealth, are politicians, are folks that need to be held accountable regardless of political party. And I've told folks and I've told you, Ben, before, I could care less if they're a Democrat or Republican, literally could care less. Just let's make sure that we get justice for all of these survivors and victims.

8:26Ben Meiselas:You know, there are other areas as well that seem ripe for oversight review. Every day, it seems like we learn something new. I mean, that Donald Trump apparently is using his social media platform, privately owned, privately controlled by him on his private social media account, using that to send direct messages to cabinet members like Attorney General Pam Bondi that he thought, according to Wall Street Journal reporting, that he was DMing Pam Bondi about prosecuting his political opponents on that truth social platform. Seems like a private platform, private. He owns the private company. So I'm not sure what the executive privilege claim could be there in terms of all of that, but it seems that's how he messages people.

9:15Ben Meiselas:Is that something that, you know, I know that Comer probably will try to block at all points, but if Democrats are able to take control with the midterms, is that also an area that you're looking into? Absolutely. I mean, look, our agenda when we win the majority and have subpoena power and are able to get anyone in front of the committee, any document from any corporation, from any organization in the country is going to be wide. We have a long list of folks that we want to see in front of the committee and look at the atrocities that are happening across this country. Oversight right now is more important than ever.

9:56We're dealing with corruption in government at the highest levels, corruption that's being passed on to folks at every agency, whether it's ICE agents kidnapping people off the street without due process, whether it's these illegal firings happening at our federal agencies. There is an enormous amount of work that oversight is doing. And I'll break some news with you, Ben. We haven't announced this yet, but Oversight right now is working on launching a tracker. It will be an online tracker based on it will be on our website that is going to track every single incident that we can find of abuse by ICE, Christian Oum and DHS that's happening across the country.

10:35because we want people to know that we're going to hold everyone involved in these kidnappings, in this mistreatment, these inhumane actions across the country. We are going to hold you accountable. Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller will be held accountable. So we'll be launching this tracker very soon. And it's going to be a way of compiling and putting all of these actions by the administration as it relates to ICE and immigration in one place.

11:02Ben Meiselas:You know, finally, Just wanted to chat about, I mean, the last video that you and I did, the last interview about the missing 17 trillion dollars. I mean, look, I think we all know that Trump's a liar about everything, but he keeps going out there and saying I brought in 17 trillion dollars. It looks like from the White House, he was thinking about building now not just a ballroom, but a triumphant arch a la one that looks similar to what Hitler was doing when he was coming up with Germania never was built. but like the model of the triumphant arch. It's like just that we're in a government shutdown.

11:38Ben Meiselas:He's talking about triumphant arches, golden ballrooms. Apparently, there's a military base now in Idaho that will be named the Qatari Ameri military base in Idaho. Like this is what he's doing as Americans are suffering. And I think Americans are saying, OK, if you've got all this money and you're bragging about how rich you are. What about us? What about the people? I think that's why that story connects as well, because he keeps bragging about how rich and people are like, stop bragging about that. We're suffering. So I wanted to give you a final word on that. I think that's right. I think the American public actually is really catching on to the betrayal of Donald Trump, how he's betrayed his own base.

12:19He's betrayed the country. This is someone that is enriching himself every day. The enormous amount of wealth as your grocery costs have gone up, as your housing costs and rents have gone up, as your healthcare is about to go up, Donald Trump's wealth also is skyrocketing. He's making more money right now than he ever has off all of his corruption, his crypto scheme, all that he's stealing from the American public to give to himself and to his family. In fact, people are finally catching on to that. And you're seeing it not just in the polls. I'm talking to people on the street. I'm talking to folks that supported Donald Trump that are like, I don't know what the hell is going on.

12:57This is not what I voted for. Well, here we are. And it's an opportunity for us as a country to come together, push back aggressively, fight real hard. This is the moment where Democrats got to fight hard. We got to be really tough, do a lot of oversight. This is not a time to be cautious or to think that holding hands with Republicans is going to work. We got to steamroll at this moment. And so we're doing that on oversight.

13:23Ben Meiselas:Congressman Garcia, I remember when we covered the swearing in when you became the ranking member, and that was what, 45 days ago or so. So you've done a lot in a very short period of time. And I think the American people are grateful for all the work you're doing. So thank you, Congressman Garcia. Thanks, Ben. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 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.

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