BREAKING: Blanche, Bondi, Patel get the NEWS they FEARED

I'm joined now by the ranking member of. the House Oversight Committee, Robert. Garcia. Congressman, we just watched as. Pam Bondi did a transcribed interview. with members of the House Oversight. Committee just days ago, and something. that was especially striking was the. extent to which, according to to what. what you and other members said in the. aftermath of that interview, the extent. to which Pam Bondi redirected attention. onto Todd Blanche. So, can you speak a. little bit about Todd Blanche's. culpability in this. as it pertains to Pam Bondi's own. testimony? >> Look, I think first, um, look, Pam Bondi.

was the Attorney General. At the end of. the day, she's responsible for what. happened at the Department of Justice. Obviously, when she came in to interview. with us, it was after she had been. essentially fired by Trump for being AG, and it was just really striking how over. 30 times she deflected blame to Todd. Blanche. So, why were the redactions. made mistakes in Survivor's Stalked? Well, that's a Todd Blanche did the. redactions. Why was uh the files miss we. know 3 million documents still missing? Well, Todd Blanche did the charge of was.

in charge of the Epstein files. Why was. Ghislaine Maxwell moved? I've no idea, ask Todd Blanche. And so, look, when the. when the transcript and the full. transcript uh is reviewed by everyone, I. think it's very clear that she is. deflecting to Todd Blanche. So, we need. to talk to to Todd Blanche. And at the. same time, Pam Bondi wouldn't take responsibility. I mean, I I asked her directly five. separate times questions about President. Trump, what he knew, if he directed. anything, and she refused to answer any. questions about President Trump. In.

fact, she had a Department of Justice. lawyer next to her basically telling her. not to answer the question. So, it was. pretty clear that she's part of this. cover-up and that she's putting blame on. Todd Blanche. >> What rational is there for the DOJ to. have a lawyer with Pam Bondi if Pam. Bondi is no longer at the DOJ? She's. She's there in her capacity as a private. citizen. It was It was Pam Bondi who was. who was called in to testify, not the. Attorney General, because she's no. longer the Attorney General. And so,

what like what grounds is there for the. DOJ to even be involved in that. transcribed interview? >> So, we actually raised the exact. questions with with James Comer and the. DOJ, no response. James Comer has the. ability as the chair to allow the rules. of the TI. We've found it to be highly. unusual and unethical for a DOJ lawyer. who currently works for the DOJ to also. serve private counsel to Pam Bondi. And. especially when that lawyer was turning.

to Pam Bondi and basically telling her, "Don't answer that question." or. responding on her behalf. And when I. mentioned President Trump, this lawyer would. basically say, "You know, we're not. answering those questions about. President Trump." So, it's it's. obviously pretty clear what's going on. here. They're controlling the testimony. and at the same time, Bondi wants to deflect all of this to to. acting AG Todd Blanche. And so, frustrating, but also really clear that. Pam Bondi won't answer questions about.

President Trump. We want to know why and. it puts the blame on Blanche for the. investigation. >> So, I had mentioned that this was a. transcribed interview and this wasn't a. closed-door deposition. So, can you. speak about the difference between a. transcribed interview and an actual. deposition and why this was the. interview and not the deposition? >> So, the the deposition has much stricter. ground rules. And so, a deposition would. almost always. be under oath. It would be often times.

videotaped and released to the public. There's strict ground rules about the. amount of time and the length of. depositions. You essentially are. compelled to answer every question that. you're asked. A transcribed interview. is often times not under oath. It's. often times not videotaped. You're not. compelled to answer these questions in. the same way. And so, it's pretty clear. that Comer wanted to give Pam Bondi a. pass. I mean, he could have made this a. deposition and he chose not to do it. And unfortunately, the majority that and.

the chair have the power to set the. rules of these depositions and these. interviews. And so, James Comer. continues to play cover-up for the White. House. Pam Bondi should have been on. both under oath and that should have. been quite frankly, it should have been. a hearing with the public there in the. room. And of course, uh we we don't see that because I think. a lot of these folks are being. protected. >> What what possible rationale could there. be for James Comer to not have this be. an actual deposition uh under oath.

other than other than like, you know, the the the obvious which I think we can. all see which is that the Republican. Party, all of these members of the. Republican Party are engaged in this. cover-up. But what rationale is there. not to have this thing under oath? >> Well, there isn't one. I mean, you just. said it right there. There's no real. reason for doing it this way. I think. his reasoning was because she's no. longer the Attorney General. I mean, that's BS. Hillary Clinton was no longer. the Secretary of State when she was. uh deposed when there was a clear.

transcript of that interview, that uh. videotape that was blasted all across. the country. So, he could have. videotaped this. He could have set rules. that were much more strict. But he he. really chose not to and I think it. points to this broader Republican Party. that continues to play cover-up. for the president and for the White. House. >> Can you speak about um some action that. you're taking as it relates to Bondi, Patel, and Blanche? >> So, we've formally requested to to Comer.

to bring in both Blanche and Kash Patel. Kash Patel was actually mentioned also. um. by the uh the the the former AG multiple. times as someone who kind of oversaw the. redactions piece and the FBI agents that. were brought in and how certain things. would get redacted and and and and so. forth. And so, clearly she continued to. mention both of their names. And so, we. told James Comer, "Look, we've got to. talk to both of them as part of this. broader investigation." And so, that. request has been made. We've yet to hear.

from him on that, but we need them to. come in and if not, we're going to make. efforts, of course, to try to get. bipartisan subpoenas in place. They've. got to come in and testify about the. Epstein investigation. >> Going back to Todd Blanche, you know, something that was striking was when he. was testifying just a couple of days. ago, I believe he was speaking with. Representative Dean, and and basically just defiantly. claimed that the DOJ had complied with. the Epstein Files Transparency Act, that.

they had released all of the documents. that the law required them to release. It is. it is as as clear and egregious a lie as. you can possibly make. I mean, there are. 3 million files that have been released, 3 to 3 and 1/2 million files still. remain hidden. And yet, and yet, Todd. Blanche, the acting Attorney General, just seems not to want to acknowledge. that objective reality. And so, it. doesn't seem like that is. the behavior of somebody who intends on. releasing the rest of these files. And. so, what happens next? Like, I feel like.

we're at an impasse where you have the. DOJ that's just opted not to comply with. the law, and you have a criminal defense. attorney of the former president who. continues to serve in that job as. opposed to the one he's actually. actually acting in, which is the. Attorney General. >> I think what happens next is we have to. continue to put pressure on Todd Blanche. to do the right thing, to release the. remainder of the files. The survivors. are asking for that. We have to continue. to bring in and interview folks. Look, over the next few weeks, we've got we've. got people that are coming in that we. are interviewing,

former Epstein employees, folks like. Bill Gates who's coming in here pretty. soon in the next within the next what, 10 10 to 12 days. So, there there are. important interviews that we're going to. have to try to get more information. about what actually happened. But, the. public pressure is really important. I. mean, you see what happened right now. with the slush fund that Trump tried to. do. There was so much public pressure, and the court stepped in and did the. right thing. The same is happening. through the Epstein investigation. We. have numerous. lawsuits that have been filed by both. private citizens as well as good. government organizations. There are.

numerous efforts by the Congress to pass. new laws. as well to really get to the truth, and. we've got to ensure that they comply. with the laws and subpoenas that already. been passed, but they have yet to do so. Even if that takes us getting into the. majority to actually get the subpoenas. in place, compel people to testify, we're going to do whatever it takes to. get convictions so the survivors. actually get justice. >> And that's the part I want to dig into a. little bit here. Talk about what would. what how things would look differently. if Democrats win the midterms and we.

have. Chairman Garcia leading the House. Oversight Committee as opposed to James. Comer. >> I mean, well, first, we're actually. going to subpoena all of the folks that. were in Epstein's circle. We're going to. bring back folks like Alex Acosta and. put them under oath. We're going to. bring back folks like Pam Bondi. We're. going to have Todd Blanche in front of. us. We're going to make sure that people. are in hearings. We're going to have. real oversight hearings on the Epstein. files, which we have not had. There have. been no hearings on the Epstein files.

that that James Comer has actually. scheduled. We've had to have shadow. hearings. We've had to collect testimony. ourselves. People deserve to be heard, and they deserve to be real. investigation. And we've said that we. don't really care who is essentially. called out here. We don't care who has. to face justice, whether they're a. Republican or a Democrat. We just want. justice for the survivors and for the. truth to come out about why the cover-up. and who abused these women and girls. >> Last question on this, and that is, let's say that these.

subpoenas are issued, and Todd Blanche, Pam Bondi, Alex Acosta, Kash Patel. refuse to comply with these subpoenas, and the DOJ refuses to hold any of those. people to account for their failure to. comply with congressional subpoenas. What happens next? >> Look, I think we we begin the process. like we did for Pam Bondi. I mean, Pam. Bondi, we forced we're going to force a. contempt resolution on the floor of the. house. Later that day, she agreed to. testify. If we have to hold people in. contempt of Congress, uh which have.

multiple different types of. consequences, we're going to move. forward and do that. And so, we're going. to have hopefully that majority to get. those votes to hold folks in contempt. But first, we're going to need to go get. the truth. We're going to have real. hearings. We're going to have to make. those tough requests. We're going to. have real subpoenas and get people to. testify under oath. I can't I can't. emphasize enough how important it is for. people to know that can't lie to. Congress. You've got to be honest with. American public. >> We'll leave it there. Congressman, thank. you for your leadership on this issue, uh for not letting it slip by the.

wayside as James Comer is trying to do, and thanks for your time today. >> Thank you.