Congressman's Fight to Expose Epstein Files | Rep. Robert Garcia

We all knew Donald Trump was in the Epstein files, but he and the Republican Party, well, they're executing a massive coverup to protect him from being exposed. But today's guest, Representative Robert Garcia, well, he's leading the House Oversight Committee's effort

to release the Epstein files. He's not just doing that, but he's rooting out corruption and holding the Trump administration accountable for their gross abuse of power. He joins me today to discuss the latest Epstein bombshells, what his committee is doing to make sure the full files see the light of day, and how this can be the final nail in

Trump's political coffin. We'll also get the latest on what's going on in California redistricting and how it might be a model for the rest of the country. But before we get into it, Democracy Ducket needs your help. So please leave a comment below to let us know what you think we should be covering next and who I should interview. Congressman Garcia, welcome back to Defending Democracy.

Sure thing.

Happy to be with you, always.

All right. So were you ever right? Let's start with that. You know, the fact is that what we have all been living through for the last 10 months, it seems to me, is one big cover up that the Republican Party and Donald Trump and the White House have been trying to do to keep out of public view what is really in the Epstein files. And you, my friend, have been an absolute champion and hero. And we all owe you a huge debt of gratitude. So first, tell us what the latest is

on the Epstein file release, what you think people should know about what's in it, and then we can go from there.

Thanks. I mean, look, it's really been an incredible effort, I think, by our committee and the team. Obviously, I had taken over the committee for Democrats

just a few months ago, and from day one, it was clear to me that this is a massive White House cover-up. And I think this last week, for anyone that was doubting that, I mean, that doubt should be gone. I mean, Donald Trump right now is obsessed with keeping these files hidden from the American public.

And he's going to immense lengths and using presidential power and bringing in members of Congress to the Situation Room and doing everything he can to stop this release. And it's clear that right now, all arrows are pointing back to the White House.

There is one man in our country that has the power right now to bring justice to the survivors and to release the files, and that's the President of the United States. And he's refusing to do so, and the question is why.

So to take everyone back, how did we get here? We've known, obviously, that the President's been campaigning on releasing the files for a while. That's been central to him, to JD Vance, the magosphere. They've been obsessed with it. President gets into office within the first,

obviously, few weeks and month. He pulls a stunt saying that he released the files, which we know he did not do. We then learn that the files are on the attorney general's desk per reporting, and that she has told the president that he is in the files, in a different reporting

we've seen in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. Since then, Trump has been focused and the Republican machine in the Congress, and in oversight, on stopping and slowing down any sort of investigation. We immediately forced Republicans, as you remember, to a subpoena vote, which we won. Then it ended up getting all of this subpoena vote, which we won, that ended up getting all of this subpoena moving, whether it was to the Epstein estate, bringing forward testimony

from different folks like Alex Acosta and others, but forcing the subpoena from the DOJ began this process. And while the DOJ has only given us a limited amount of information, and they're actually, as you know, they are breaking the subpoena right now. They're not following the law, which is that they have to provide these documents to the Congress. But by doing that, we were able then to move forward

and get the information from the Epstein Estate, which we subpoenaed, which is a different organization. Again, we force a Republican's hand there. And through the Epstein Estate, we've been receiving obviously significant document drops including the 23,000 emails and correspondence we just got over the last week. In that we're finding that there are now more questions about their relationship. We know that Jeffrey Epstein and Donald

Trump were best friends for over 10 years. We know that Jeffrey Epstein had a desk a picture of Donald Trump on his desk that survivors have told me about that they personally saw would see when they went there. We know that there's a lot of happening, things going on at Mar-a-Lago and Palm Beach in New York City, a place that obviously both the President and Jeffrey Epstein know well. We know Ghislaine Maxwell is now seeking a pardon for her commutation and that Trump's former personal lawyer Todd Blanch is somehow

working with her, moved her to this resort-like facility, which is unconscionable. She's a monster. So all of this has been building and now we see these new emails that Jeffrey Epstein telling Glenn Maxwell essentially that Donald Trump spent hours with one of the victims, obviously allegedly in one of those emails, and also possibly that he knew with one of the victims, obviously, allegedly, in one of those emails, and also possibly that he knew about some of the girls was another email that Jeffrey Epstein sent.

There's 20, we're still going through these documents, and we know there's many more coming from the estate. Last piece of this, we've been demanding that Oversight Republicans subpoena the bank records. James Comer told me that he was going to subpoena the bank records. James Comer told me that he was going to subpoena the bank records. That is critical. I can't tell you, Mark, there's nothing more important than the bank records and the financial records of this investigation.

And so we're waiting on that to happen. We're putting pressure on them to do so. And while we're waiting for that to happen, we're demanding that the DOJ release the files and adhere to the subpoena by the US House. And so that's where things are at today. I think we've been able to do what we can by fighting. We're scrappy, we're tough. I think we're showing, I hope that we're showing the American people through our work

that we can be in this fight and we can get results even in the minority. And Donald Trump is losing his fucking mind right now. And he, you know, posting crazy things. And so that's kind of a snapshot of where we're at.

Yeah, so first of all, you know, for everyone out there, the Congressman has actually been quite humble. He's given credit to the committee and to his team. This guy is a bulldog. You know, I told you all when he you know, I am on you Go back and watch the last video when he got this position. I said, this is what we need These are the kind of fighters we need

This is a guy who was targeted by DOJ early on in the earliest days of this administration They thought they could back him down. You see what the hell he's able to get done this guy's got the gavel, it'll be a whole different ballgame. So, Congressman, I want to ask you about the latest sort of, you know, Trump kind of screed on this. And it's interesting because he also talks about banks. He says that he is going to tell the attorney general and the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate.

And then he lists, you know, former President Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman. Then he says JPMorgan Chase and many other people to determine what's going on with them and Epstein. Beyond the fact that the president is obviously in a complete panic, beyond the fact that he seems to admit in this in this social media post that he actually does tell Bam Bondi who to investigate.

And also that he seems to have familiarity with what's in the files, right? Because he says that also in the social media post. He mentions JPMorgan Chase. Is this him maybe agreeing

with you that you need access to the bank records? Great, we agree. But but look, we it's more than just JPMorgan Chase. There are numerous financial institutions that we have requested Comer to subpoena records for. We sent a long list of documents that we need of records that we'd like of banks that we should be talking to. So we'll send the president a copy of our letter, but that information has to go to the American public and to the Congress, not just to the White House. Because right now, the DOJ is complicit in this cover-up. They're not releasing documents.

I've told people, they've said, wow, this is interesting what you've put out, these emails. And I've reminded them, these emails we've had to fight to get from the Epstein estate, it pales in comparison to what the Department of Justice has. They have an enormous amount of documents, photos, possibly videos, other artifacts that is central to our investigation. So look, I appreciate the Epstein estate,

I think they've

been a partner in getting us information, but we need the Department of Justice to do their job and release the files.

So how does what you have been doing so successfully, how does this intersect with another initiative you and other House Democrats have been involved

in, which is the discharge petition, right, which is the is like, seems to be kind of a parallel, but a separate way to get Epstein files. And that is now gonna vote. Can you explain to people what, does that cover the same records

or those different records?

So the same, but a different execution, and I'll explain. So first, you know, Ro Khanna, I was actually just communicating with him this morning. We're, look, we're real partners on this. I think that he's a member of the oversight committee, to be clear.

So he's part of our broader team. We're all, if you feel like this is, there is coordination and we're fighting, and it's seamless because we're all working together on the committee. And so what Roe and Massey are doing is really important because our subpoena was to get those records

and to get them to the committee. And it was a committee vote, a subcommittee vote of the Congress. What Roe and Tom Massey are doing is they're getting the entire US House and eventually the entire US Senate on record of whether or not they want to

release the files and those files will go to the entire Congress and will be released to the public. And so it's an it's also a really important parallel effort to what we're doing. And the reason why it's critical is because we need Republicans on the record that they say they're for transparency to vote. And I actually think when that vote comes up,

possibly this week, we're gonna get a significant amount of Republicans to vote, yes. And the more we get, the better, because that will then put the pressure on the Senate. And then the question will end up right back

to the president. And he will have to get one answer to the American people. What are you hiding? Release the files.

Yeah. And, you know, it's funny, I had Congressman Conner on and we talked about this. And he said that he thought that if they got the final signatures before they did, that it would be an overwhelming vote in the House and then it would go to the Senate. And I interjected there, and I'll say the same thing to you now. You know, I've spent, you know, 30 years representing both the House and the Senate Democrats,

and I have a pretty good feel for the Senate, you know, kind of the politics of the Senate caucus and Senate map. If this comes over to the Senate with, you know, a huge vote, the Senate Republicans are going to vote to release the files like the Senate Senate Republicans that they They you know, in the Senate, any den or any Senate Democrat can bring

can file cloture so like they can make the Republicans be on record. And if you have a situation in which the Republican frontliners, you know, their most vulnerable members and

also their Freedom Caucus, their most mega members, some cross-section of them all supporting this. Like, I just don't think the Senate Republicans are going to be the ones who are going to be like, you know

what? We are not. We we are going to be the ones who stop stop this. So then the question will be what the what is the president? Does he veto the bill?

Right. And I think that would be. I mean, that would be something, honestly. That would be something. And so, look, I think the important thing here is, it's clear, it becomes more clear that the president is hiding something or covering for someone or some people or doesn't want information out to the American public.

And you can't spend your entire campaign saying you want the files released and then do a complete flip-flop on that. I mean, J.D. Vance is now having, you know, he doesn't even know what

to say anymore about this topic. He stopped saying. So let me ask you a question. It seems to me you really outmaneuvered Republicans because you released, I don't know if it was three or four, but it was a handful of emails. The Republican members of the committee, as I understand it, but you should correct me if I'm wrong, their reaction was to say, OK, well, if you're going to release just three or four, we're going to release 23,000. At which point it's like, oh, wait, please.

No, no, don't don't show us a good time here. Right. Like by releasing all of them. Like, did they just play into your hands? Like, what, because it seems like they really sort of fucked this up.

Look, we received the files the same day this last batch the Republicans did. And it was a few days before we released those three. And we got them. We began to quickly go through them. You know, I, again, our team spent days with little to no sleep, going day and night, redacting

and looking at the files and going through 23,000 material, pieces of material and pages. And when it became clear after a few days that Republicans on the committee were not going to release anything, and both sides of the committee were aware of what was in there, we made the decision, we're going to begin releasing some of these documents. And we began with a chunk of those three.

We released about maybe 15 additional pages later that day. And the expected outcome is what happened. My thought was, well, Republicans are going to then release everything, which is exactly what we wanted. And they released the rest, which we support. And so we're glad they released the rest, because every single document should be released to the American public. And so it was our intention, by the way, to eventually release all of the documents as well.

And so we were getting through those, doing the redactions. But the fact that they acted so quickly, I think was a win for the American people.

I'll be right back with Congressman Garcia in a moment, but you know, I started Democracy Docket in 2020 for precisely moments like this, when the legacy media was not holding Donald Trump accountable. And five years later, this is a bigger task than ever before. The Democracy Ducat team is tracking everything

that Donald Trump is doing, what all the anti-democratic groups are trying to do in court to suppress your right to vote, and of course, the Republican Party's coverups. Support their work by becoming a premium member now at the link in the description below.

As you count, sort of, count votes, you're obviously quite good at this, on the committee, we've talked about the fact that the discharge petition will probably be very bipartisan in the end, like in the end a large number of Republicans will vote for that. Do you think that what you have managed to accomplish so far, which is really extraordinary and you've done an amazing service for the American people, do you

think that you now have more votes on the committee itself? In other words, are Republicans on the committee? I don't I don't really I don't really know the individual members on

the Republican side that well. So I don't know who they I don't know, like how they they navigate Trump and other things. But do you think there is more momentum even among Republicans on the committee now to maybe have to be in favor of obtaining and releasing more? Or do you feel like that's already been the case? Like what what do you what do you say to people who are skeptical that

republic that a Republican led committee won't at some point just clamp down on this?

I think there are more. And look, first, Nancy Mace, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Warren Boebert are all on our committee.

Got it. And they were all in the discharge petition.

That's right. And then when we, I mean, look, I mean, Mark, when we did the original subpoena in our subcommittee, I specifically went through every member of the committee on the Republican side and had a good idea how they would vote. I made an assumption.

And so we've been very, I think, thoughtful about where we think support is. And that's how we got—I mean, all of this—a lot of this is happening because a real strong partnership with Summer Lee, who was subcommittee chairwoman of this committee in oversight, and we kind of planned this out and we got the votes. Had we not won that vote

in that subcommittee oversight meeting, we'd be in a very different place today. And so that was a huge, I think, show of support and it was bipartisan. And now we're working, we're working. I mean, look, I couldn't disagree more with, with, with Marjorie or, you know, or Nancy on a ton of topics. And I do, I'm glad that they're doing the right thing

here. And I hope they continue to do so.

What can you tell us about where things stand vis-a-vis further releases of documents? You may not be able to tell us anything and that's totally fine. We don't want to compromise anything. But you said the estate has been cooperative.

Do you know, are they finished with their production? Are there other sources that you don't have to say who that are also producing records? Like, is this the beginning of the end, the end of the beginning, the middle? How would you put it? I think we're just getting started. Okay. I mean, I really do. And you think that the DOJ has substantially more than 23,000?

I mean, it's substantially more. Yeah look I think first we're gonna get more documents from the Epstein estate we expect to I don't know an exact timetable there but we will we are in constant communication with survivors and victims and hearing their stories and taking testimony we're bringing in folks to the committee and interviewing them, which is part of our investigation. I talked to a survivor yesterday, which was heartbreaking and horrible,

and yet it's inspiring and it motivates you to wanna do the right thing and to get justice for them. And then the real, I mean, the real closure is going to come when we actually get the documents. There have been hundreds and hundreds of FBI agents and law enforcement officials and researchers that have worked to collect what is sitting

apparently on Pam Bondi's desk. And that's, we're not going to be able to actually do our full work until we actually get access to those files. And so, and that's I think what's both frustrating and I think we have to really keep in mind who has seen those files, where are they at the White House?

What's the interaction between those files and members of the Trump administration? And it's very concerning. And so we're gonna do what we can, but every day this is going to grow. And those files will eventually come out

because there has been enough good men and women at the FBI and other places that are good civil servants that have worked on this case. And they know what's in the files. And so there's a responsibility for the attorney general to get the information out.

So I started by saying you are not just a hero, but an unbelievably effective hero for democracy. And I meant that, and I think we all owe you a huge debt of gratitude. We have seen, you know, in the last few weeks and months, an escalation

of Donald Trump's abuse of the Department of Justice to go after his political opponents. Now, people won't remember this if unless they really paid attention. You were one of the first.

You were one of the first people that Donald Trump's, you know, henchmen threatened. And you stood up and said, basically, bring it on. people that Donald Trump's, you know, henchmen threatened. And you stood up and said basically bring it on and they backed away and went away. I mean, it was a it was a ridiculous nonsensical letter that I think you got from from from Ed Martin. Yeah, Ed Martin. And

you didn't cower and you and you were undeterred. Now you're doing this incredible work. In the meantime, we have seen Congresswoman MacGyver indicted in what I think is an absolute travesty and abuse of the Department of Justice to go after a Democratic member of Congress. We have, of course, seen the

indictments against Comey, against James. There is a threat. You know, the president has threatened former congressman, now Senator Adam

Schiff from from California, who you no doubt know quite well. And, you know, like, how do you keep doing what you are doing? Right. Which is poke. I mean, you are literally more than any other person right now poking Donald Trump in the thing that he cares the most about.

And so, like, do you worry that he's going to turn back to you, that he's going to try to, you know, sick Pam Bondi after you? How do you how do you deal with that?

I think it's part of the work, unfortunately. I mean, I understand. I understand what the job is. I think that in this moment of defending our our basic foundation of what the Constitution means in our country, like if you aren't prepared to go all in

and to to bear the consequence of this regime and what the president is doing to go after political enemies, I think you've got to create space for other folks because that's what the moment I think requires. Is I think, it is sometimes,

I look that I know that there will be a moment in the future where I'll have to face serious You know serious backlash from I'm sure the Department of Justice and the president already you know we've had to make adjustments obviously you know whether it's the constant death threats that that we get and I get or you know the matter the Magell universe

kind of going after you online or whatever it is all that's real stuff and I think it's concerning what you would hope is that your own country would and understand that Congress the U.S. House where we're separate where the legislative branch of government were equal to the executive to our job is to do oversight and to happy it balanced a check on on presidential power that's

over and that's what we're doing and so I'm not deterred by it, nor should anybody be. And then we've got to push forward and be aggressive. And I think the American public are with us. And so I'm all in. We're going to get the files released. And it's going to be painful at moments, but we've got to do it.

There's no other choice.

Yeah. Well, I mean, a huge, huge admiration for that and for your willingness to fight these hard fights. And I want to raise one other thing that people may not know about the congressman.

There has been redistricting wars now going on around the country. Republicans started in the state of Texas. They gerrymandered their already gerrymandered map to draw out five Democrats and create five more Republican seats. We'll see whether that turns out that way in the midterms.

You know, there's a lot of debate about that. They've they've they've targeted Representative Davis in North Carolina by trying to do away with that and create another Republican seat in Missouri. They redrew the map there to target Kansas City, another another Democratic member

of Congress there. And in California, you know, you guys fought back, right? The California Democrats fought back. And I give everyone this long run up because

one of the things in order for California to do what they did and Gavin Newsom deserves a lot of credit and a lot of people deserve a lot of credit for doing what they're doing. But in order to do that, you can't create more Democratic districts, which the new map does, right? As many as five. You can't do that without reducing the number of Democrats in existing districts. Right. I mean, there's not there's not like a magical storehouse. Right. When you when you add

when you add Democrats to an existing more Republican district to make it fairer, you have to take them from somewhere. And tell me if I'm right, Congressman, as I understand it, your district is losing the largest number of Democrats and you not only are okay with that, you actually are like you were like enthusiastic. You were like, yes, please do this because this is what we need to do for the country. And is that do I have the basic facts of that? Right?

Yeah, yeah, I'm basically taking on more Republicans than any other Democratic member in the state of California in redistricting. I had a very blue seat before I still have a, you know, it's still a blue seat, but I'm dramatically different as far as the kind of super blue seat that I used to have. And I picked up more Republicans than anyone

else. And that was the only way that we could honestly I'm surrounded by kind of seats that are much more toss-up seats. Dave men Derek Tran Mike Levin all frontliners and so they're all surround kind of my very very blue seat and so the only way to support them and do the map is for me and I said hey, I'm happy to do it like I'm going to win my

seat.

I'll do what I need to do. I was mayor of eight years. I've had to work with Republicans at the end of the day, being anti-corruption is popular everywhere. And so we're gonna continue to fight and no issues there. We just gotta keep going, but people should, you know,

be supportive of what we're doing in California. And it's really important work. I'm really proud of our governor.

Yeah, and again, I just want to emphasize this. Like part of the reason why, and I'm not gonna pick on any particular member or any particular state, but part of the reason, because I've been advocating for redraws all over the place. And by the way, my law firm and I were defending

the state of California against a Republican tank. We're suing Texas. We're suing Missouri. Like, I'm doing everything I can do. And I know you've done everything you can do. And but part of the reason why I raise this is that one of the difficulties that we oftentimes run into is that existing members of Congress don't want to

change their own districts. And so it is hard to redraw. And so you've done the complete have shown what what leadership is, what it is when we are in democracy is at peril. It's not just what you're doing in the legislative arena, but it's also what you're doing, you know, in the

political arena, which is the place where, frankly, a lot of your colleagues and again, I'm not going to call out my name in other states like they they don't want to give that, you know, they're willing to do But they don't want to make their seats, change them and make them more vulnerable. So I almost never, ever on these interviews suggest that audience donate to campaigns,

because I think that like, that's not the role. That's not my role here. But I make an exception here, because of what you are doing, what you're doing to fight for democracy with the Epstein files, frankly, just I mean, for a lot of people, you are doing, what you're doing to fight for democracy with the Epstein files, frankly, just, I mean, for a lot of people, you are just like the breath of fresh air that we all knew we needed

on a committee like the Oversight Committee. But, you know, what can people do to support you? Like, how can how can the rest of us say,

look, you'll use the money for good either to elect yourself or to elect or whatever those neighboring districts are like, what can we do to support you?

Well, no, I think I really appreciate that. I mean, look, at the end of the day, folks go to robertcarcia.com. It's just my name, robertcarcia.com. And you can contribute. It means a lot. Chip in whatever you can.

And that's because I will have a competitive race like granted it's it's it's definitely a blue leaning seat. But I am taking on the most Republicans I'm in care of some communities like Huntington Beach if you've heard of this community, the big conservative base, it's kind of the heart of the maga movement in our state. And so, yeah, it's gonna be tough. And I've got to show a big win. I am proudly progressive and, and what's

going to be much more competitive seat. And so if folks can chip in, that would be really a great way to help it and follow us on on the official side. Follow us on social media. Follow the oversight committee. That's a great way of

staying engaged. All right. And last question. So give us give us some motivation here. When Democrats retake the House in 2026 and the new Congress is sworn in in early January 2027 and you have the gavel, tell us what will be different. Because you're so effective now in the minority, but I don't want people to think that that's as good as it would be, right? Like what would you be able to do if you were the one who had a majority on

the committee? I think it's really important. Before I was in politics, I was an educator. I still am. I've had, you know, thousands of students in my classrooms over my career. And one thing that I've always been committed to is the truth and people learning from history and understanding mistakes that we've made as a nation and as a world. And I think it's very important that after that post Trump and that people

understand that what happened during this time was damaging to our constitution and is not who we are as a country and the damage that's happened. And the accountability for Trump's, for example, what he's done, his family have done on corruption, what Christian Noam has done at DHS, what Stephen Miller is doing at the White House. These folks need to be held accountable,

not just because this moment requires there to be justice, but because we owe it to future generations to tell them that what's happening right now is wrong. And we can't continue this way and so it's going to be for me I feel very strongly that a big role for us is going to hold this administration and their crimes and corruption

accountable for the next generation and for them to understand what what what true patriotism and what true love of country actually means, which is the opposite of what they're doing. So that for me is really important. And then the second thing is as a former mayor and someone that wants to make government better, we're gonna

have a forward looking agenda. How do we make government actually work better, so that when someone is interacting with an agency, because the committee committee is oversight and government reform. And so you're going to be seeing a lot of government reform ideas coming out of, let's make government a better place for the country, faster, integrate technology,

support federal workers. Let's make it a better place for workers Let's make it a better place for workers and for the country.