BREAKING UPDATE on Ghislaine Maxwell testimony for Congress
I'm joined now by the ranking member of. the House Oversight Committee, Robert. Garcia. Thanks for joining me. >> Sure thing. >> So, we have an update here, a breaking. update as it relates to uh some. communication that Gain Maxwell's. attorney just sent to the House. Oversight Committee. Can you explain. what that news is? >> Right. I mean, look, I think first. obviously uh the oversight committee has. subpoenaed Miss Maxwell to come appear. before the committee that committee. decision. It's been bipartisan. We all. agree want to hear from everyone on this. case. And now obviously Miss Maxwell's. attorney is putting down some conditions.
that they believe is necessary for this. deposition and some of which of course. is incredibly concerning to us on the. committee. So it's really important that. at moment we kind of take this one day. at a time. our interest is to have her. be fully deposed by both Republicans and. Democrats to do so in a way that gets to. the truth that gets to actually that we. can corroborate her information with. what's already hopefully in the Epstein. files, which is why the release and. subpoena of those is so important. Um,
and quite frankly, I think some of the. requests right now I think are just not. reasonable requests. This is someone. that we know um has a history of lying, is not a good person, has done horrific. things, committed terrible crimes. Uh. and and we've got to take this process. seriously. And so there there will be a. back and forth uh with our team or with. Chairman Comr's team and her legal team. Um but for an example, there there's no. way that we're going to sit around and. wait until her Supreme Court case is.
wrapped up before we move forward with. this deposition. I mean, that could be. many, many months. and that's just not. an acceptable timeline. >> So, let's skip ahead for a moment and. just assume that this will get done and. you do have the opportunity to to um. figure out a situation where you can. actually depose her. Is there any. concern that because Todd Blanch and. Trump's DOJ has already gotten to her. that any testimony is going to be. tainted by any potential deal they may. have been able to strike in private? >> Absolutely. This is this is central to.
what we're doing here because we already. know that Todd Blanch first of all was. Donald Trump's personal lawyer. I mean, this is someone that is uh completely. committed to Donald Trump, not the. Department of Justice or or justice for. the victims. And so, we're very. concerned about those meetings that have. already occurred. Look, in this very. letter that you're reporting on, uh Miss. Maxwell claims that she also wants a. pardon. She wants a reduced sentence. She's being very open about it. And so. what she has told uh the deputy AG, what.
she's actually communicating to the DOJ, we need to also know. And so I support. efforts right now, there are efforts in. the Senate uh to get some kind of. release of the footage of that. deposition and that conversation. I. think that comr and we're communicating. this as well should do the same. We. should request subpoena, whatever it. takes to get that information and to. actually see what was discussed between. those two parties. But this goes back to. the single most important piece of all. of this and that is the release of the. Epstein files. We we can't just take.
what Glen Maxwell says on on her word. She she's known she's a known liar. She's someone that has lied multiple. times in in the court and in other. places. And so we must the files and all. the information so that anything that. she says can be then corroborated with. what's actually in the documents, videos, and the files that the White. House is now clearly trying to hide and. to cover up. And so look, we just got. this letter. There are some things that. are being presented there that are not.
on the table for us. We have to be able. to do this expeditiously. There's. there's no way that we're gonna just uh, you know, take what they want to do and. move forward. I mean, she's she's going. to she's been subpoenaed by the. Congress, and so she's going to have to. come for us. And I think I think also. Comr is is committed to that. And so, we'll we'll see in over the next few. days how this plays out. But we got to. be the public has to know that this is a. person that wants to save herself and. doesn't want to serve the time uh that.
that that she's already been committed. to by by a jury and judge. >> So, you had mentioned that she's already. been subpoenaed by Congress. We we spoke. a few days ago when when the when uh. subcommittee and the oversight committee. voted that out. And so where does she. where does she get by. trying to offer conditions for her. appearance? Like how does she have any. leverage whatsoever to offer up any. conditions? Why isn't it just here's the. day you have to be here. Here's the time. you have to be here. See you then. Well, I think look, there's always some.
negotiation in this process, especially. because we want her to answer the. questions completely. We don't obviously. want her to to to plead the fifth. We. want her to come in and ready to respond. to Congress, to the oversight Democrats, the overans. And so, there always is. some negotiation in these kind of. deposition uh kind of process. But to be. really clear, what we're not going to do. is allow her to kind of set the stage. over how this is going to go. We are not Todd Blanch. We are not. Donald Trump's personal lawyers. And she.
may be trying to cut a pardon deal for. herself. >> Uh which we have to be very I mean I. think very suspicious about about that. meeting. And what what's really. concerning as you know about this is. she's trying to get this part in. So. what is she going to that? Is she going. to basically try to implicate everyone. but Donald Trump? Is she going to try to. clear Donald Trump's name? This is. really concerning. And so that's why. it's so important that we force that. vote to subpoena the documents because. the documents are going to tell us and.
lead us to the truth and that's critical. in this whole process. >> Is there any concern that in the event. she does show up for this deposition. that she could do more harm than good by. virtue of maybe carrying out some plan. that she hatched with the Justice. Department with Todd Blanch to protect. Donald Trump. Like once she gets this. stuff into the zeitgeist, then you've. seen the way that the media allows. misinformation and disinformation to. have a life of its own. And so if she's. able to come out there and say, you. know, because in the back of her mind, maybe she has a pardon waiting for her. that Donald Trump had nothing to do with.
anything, doesn't that just make that. doesn't that hurt the situation more. because it just it it obuscates reality. in a way that that's difficult to, you. know, put the toothpaste back in the. tube? >> Yeah. I mean, look, if someone's got. something to say, uh, let's hear it. However, it's really important that we. lay out the facts about who she actually. is, what her history is, and why it's so. important that Democrats are in the room. during the deposition. So, no one was in. that room when Todd Blanch was talking.
to Glenn Maxwell just just days ago, right? We will be in that room. And so. the the the stories that she wants to. tell, the information she wants to give, myself and other Democrats as well as. Republicans will be able to be there and. also have the same access to the media. and getting the truth out there as she. has. And so it's really important that. it's done in a way that's bipartisan. This can't just be Republicans. interviewing her. We've got to be at the. table and we've got a great team of. lawyers, of researchers, of committee.
members that are going to be involved in. this deposition to ensure that she. doesn't pull a fashion on the American. public. >> And final question, when we had spoken. last time, your hope was that James Comr. would move expeditiously on the subpoena. to compel the release of the files and. the Maxwell deposition. Have you heard. from James CR in terms of the likelihood. of him to do that? >> We have. In fact, we we were. communicating, our teams were. communicating actually just today. And. so, we're still hopeful. There's nothing.
that we have seen right now that that. that's, you know, steering us the. direction where he's somehow not going. to issue it. I mean, he has to legally. under the law. Um, and so we still. expect that to happen here over the next. few days. Um, and the sooner the better. We've got to keep that pressure on. Chairman Kumer knows he's got to he's. got to get this done and get it done. quickly. And so, we'll continue to keep. that pressure. And if we get to a point. in the next few days where we're feeling. that this is not imminent, I think we're. going to we're going to raise the alarm. level pretty quickly. >> We'll leave it there. Congressman, appreciate you staying on this beat and. uh for your time today.
>> Thank you.
