“Inherent contempt power!” Bondi gets news she feared

I'm joined now by the Democratic. minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries. Thanks. so much for joining me. >> Good to be with you. >> So, I want to talk about the the number. one issue that the right is pushing. right now, which is the lack of funding. for TSA. Obviously, we're seeing massive. amounts of TSA agents call out of work. because DHS hasn't been funded. The. right is claiming that this is all the. result of the Democrats. They're waging. this big disinformation campaign where. every time there's a delay in some. airport, and we're seeing massive. delays, they're saying, "Thank a. Democrat." Can you talk to me about the.

effort being put forward by Democrats to. get TSA funded? >> Thanks for asking cuz there are a few. things uh that are important here. One, listen, Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the presidency. And from. the very beginning of this president's. term, they've taken a my way or the. highway approach. The reason why TSA is. not being paid is cuz Republicans have. made a decision to hold TSA agents. hostage and to create chaos in airports. all across the country because they. don't want to get ICE under control. And.

if you go back to the one big ugly bill, $191 billion. was given to the Department of Homeland. Security, including $75 billion in a. slush fund to ICE. They have more than. enough money to make sure that every. single TSA agent is paid. They've made. an affirmative decision not to do so, which is why we've launched this. discharge petition to force an up or. down vote to ensure that we can pay TSA. agents and reopen the other parts of the.

Department of Homeland Security like. FEMA and the Coast Guard and our. cybersecurity professionals that don't. have to do with ICE or don't have to do. with Donald Trump's extreme and violent. mass deportation machine. >> So, if if they're saying right now that. it's the Democrats' fault for not. funding TSA, and the Democrats have. stand-alone bills to fund TSA, then what. is the excuse for TSA not being funded? >> Yeah, it's just is. again engaging in massive disinformation. and lying straight-up lying to the.

American people. These are pathological. liars over on the other side of the. aisle in terms of what many of them just. do and certainly we see that on the. extreme far right. They know they're on. the run. They know that the American. people recognize that Donald Trump and. Republican policies have been a complete. and total failure. This guy promised to. lower costs on day one. Costs haven't. gone down. Costs have gone up. Republicans are losing elections all. across the country up and down the. ballot. We've seen that now happening.

for about 15 consecutive months. Donald. Trump is deeply unpopular. The one big. ugly bill is unpopular. This reckless. war of choice that Donald Trump has. gotten us into in the Middle East is. deeply unpopular. And the American. people want to see taxpayer dollars. being spent to improve their quality of. life. And that's what Democrats have. been fighting hard to achieve, whereas. Republicans are spending billions of. dollars to do things like drop bombs. in Iran or to unleash violent untrained.

and mass ICE agents to brutalize or in. some cases kill American citizens. and violently target law-abiding. immigrant families. And so of course. they're trying to distract the American. people, but we're not going to let them. do it. >> To that end, there is reporting that the. White House is now asking or considering. asking for $200 as a supplemental aid. package for the ongoing Iran war. Uh can. I get a reaction to to that news?

>> I mean, it's the craziest thing in the. world that the White House might. potentially be floating. Coming to Congress for an additional. $200. billion dollars when they haven't. justified a dime that has already been. spent. and have no view. as to how to actually get us out of the. situation that they recklessly got us. into. and simply want taxpayers. to be on the hook for tens of billions. of dollars more.

when there's no justification for the. billions of dollars per day that they're. spending right now? They've not made the case in any. compelling way as to how actually the. American people have made. been made safer by this conflict. of course. and we're seeing as a result of this. reckless war of choice cost go up. particularly. gasoline prices which are through the. roof right now. By the way, this all. happened when Donald Trump came to the. house floor bragging about the fact that.

in his view gasoline prices were down. The guy has been a complete and total. failure and so while we haven't been. presented with any request for. additional funding. they don't have any ability in my view. to justify additional funding at this. point in time when they haven't made the. case to the American people to the. Congress. or even to our native NATO allies as to. why we're in this situation in the first. place. >> We've already seen a few instances where.

that spending is for this war is already. out of control. The first couple of days. cost roughly 5 to 6 billion dollars. The. first 6 days of this conflict or war or. incursion or excursion or whatever. they're going with today cost over 11. billion dollars and now as I mentioned. there's that reporting that suggests. they're looking for 200 billion dollars. What could that money be used for if not. dropping bombs in the Middle East at the. hands of a president who swore up and. down that there would be no new wars. >> Yeah, it's a very important point. Candidate Trump said that he's not going.

to get America into another reckless war. of choice in the Middle East. President. Trump has done the exact opposite gotten. us into a reckless war of choice in. Middle East spending billions and. billions of dollars already. perhaps up to 30 billion dollars have. already been spent if not more, and now. he wants to come to us potentially for. an additional $200. Listen, this is the. same group of people who enacted the. largest cut to Medicaid in American. history, ripping healthcare away from.

millions of people including children, women, and seniors. They also enacted the largest cut to. nutritional assistance in American. history, $186 billion. in their one big ugly bill. They've. literally stole food from the mouths of. hungry children and veterans. And so, that money. could and should be used. to restore as many of the Medicaid cuts. as possible.

That money should be used to make sure. that no one in America goes hungry. That money should be used to make sure. that the money that was stolen from. consumers as a result of the Trump. tariffs, which have cost them thousands. of dollars in additional expense per. year, and have now been declared illegal. and unconstitutional. by the Supreme Court, the American people should have their. money refunded. to them. And of course, that money could. be used to make sure.

that we extend the Affordable Care Act. tax credits so more than 20 million. Americans. aren't put in the situation that they're. in right now because of Donald Trump, where they can't afford to go see a. doctor when they need one. >> I I would also add that, you know, TSA's. budget I I checked their 2025 full-year. budget. It was like $11.8 billion, meaning TSA could have been funded three. times over for the amount of money that. Donald Trump has spent dropping bombs in. the Middle East. Again, which would be.

bad enough, but even more egregious. given the fact that he campaigned. expressly on never doing this. Um I want to switch gears here to a. different topic, and that is Pam Bondi. Do you think that what Pam Bondi is. attempting to do. in the aftermath of the subpoena being. issued to her to come testify before for. a private deposition. in April that by holding a a briefing. and this was just this just took place. yesterday that she's looking to. basically satisfy her requirements in. her own mind so that she doesn't have to.

fulfill any obligations to appear for. that private deposition per the subpoena. that she received. >> Pam Bondi is a partisan petulant. pettifogger. She is a political hack. She's deeply. unqualified. And we saw how she performed when she. came before the House Judiciary. Committee before the American people. performing for Donald Trump and no one. else acting like she's his personal. lawyer as opposed to the people's lawyer.

which is the job of the Attorney General. and she's engaging in a massive cover-up. as it relates to the Epstein files which. is why led by House Democrats we have. forced the Oversight Committee to. subpoena her. And now Brian as you've. indicated she's trying to get around. that. By holding a briefing? This is unheard. of as far as I'm concerned. There was no. deposition transcript. There was no. recordings. And there was no swearing. her under oath. And so she can say all.

manner of things without fear of being. prosecuted at some point later on. for perjury. And so. Summer Lee was exactly right. That Pam. Bondi needs to testify under oath before. the American people so we can talk about. the massive cover-up that the Department. of Justice has undertaken. There about 3 million files connected. to.

the Jeffrey Epstein situation. that Epstein and. have firmly and appropriately and. passionately demanded. be released so we can achieve. transparency. and full accountability. >> You know, the problem as it relates to Pam Bondi. and and her failing to comply with a. congressional subpoena is that the the. agency that would normally be tasked. with with enforcing that subpoena is the. one that she herself leads. And so I.

spoke with Congressman Raskin and he. brought up the fact that Congress does. have inherent contempt powers. Is that. something that you think Congress would. be in the right to wield in the event. that Democrats took control of the House. in the aftermath of the 2026 election. and we still have. an Attorney General who refuses to. comply with the law. >> Absolutely. Congress has inherent. contempt powers and it's going to be one. of the tools that we will have to use.

when Democrats take back control of the. House of Representatives in order to. make clear that there will be. consequences. if congressional subpoenas are violated. or the Department of Justice continues. to try to conduct itself like it's above. the law. In addition to a wide variety of other. tools that we'll need to utilize. Listen, there's going to have to be. accountability. And my view about how we. move forward, our promise to the. American people, is that we're going to. relentlessly focus on the affordability.

crisis that Donald Trump thinks is a. hoax. We're committed to driving down. the high cost of living. We're committed. to fixing our broken healthcare system. At the same period of time, we're also. committed to cleaning up corruption. And. we know there's a lot of it that has. taken place in the White House and with. the Trump cartel. And the Department of. Justice is front and center in that. regard, particularly as it relates to. the active cover-up that many people. have correctly concluded is taking place. right now. And so yes, it certainly is.

the case that inherent contempt is. something that should be under. consideration right now. But James Comer, who continues to behave. like a malignant buffoon, is someone who is actively participating. in the effort to shield the White House. He's leading the cover-up caucus as. opposed to leading the Oversight. Committee. >> Leave it there. Leader Jeffries, I. appreciate your time. >> Thank you much.