Trump’s Reflecting Pool vendors get BAD NEWS

I'm joined now by the ranking member of. the House Oversight Committee, Robert. Garcia. Congressman, we have a major. update now as far as the Oversight. Committee is concerned in this new. reflecting pool scandal that's kind of. consumed the Trump administration over. the last few days. Can you explain the. letter that you just sent? >> Yeah, first, what a complete disaster on. Donald Trump's part. I mean, he's so. obsessed with creating vanity projects. for himself. And it's not just a. reflecting pool, right? It's the. ballroom, it's this arch, right? It's. what he did try to do at the Kennedy. Center. And so, the pool is just the.

latest example of, quite frankly, not. just how Donald Trump views himself and. the monuments he wants to create to. himself, but also corruption. And as. relates to the pool, it's a complete. complete fuck-up. You have the pool. right now which we spent about $14. million. There have been two businesses that got. contracts with no bid, basically. Trump. basically handed the contracts. One of. those is a huge Trump donor, by the way. And now you look at the work, and the.

whole pool's falling apart. Algae's out. of control, wildlife is being hurt, the. the paint job uh is completely ruined. They've reclosed the reflecting pool. National Guard are arresting people. around the pool. It it's another example. of Trump, anything he touches, he just. destroys. And and so, we want to know. what happened. We want to understand. from these two contractors like, how did. they get the contract? What What did the. White House communicate to them? What.

was the expectation? And so, there's. clearly something here, and it's another. example, and we want to bring light to. it. The American people care about it. >> If If the Oversight Committee was led by. somebody who was actually interested in. um in upholding the law, is it lawful. for Trump to have awarded these no-bid. contracts basically not only to his. pals, but his pals who were clearly. grossly unqualified for this job? >> Well, um look, the the the the president. does have some ability to award certain. contracts, but you've got it's got to go.

through a process that awards um the. best person for the job. >> Yeah. >> Uh and that just does not seem to be the. case here. I mean, who were these. companies vetted? Clearly one's a Trump. donor. Clearly neither could do the job. Uh one of the companies had only done. one other federal contract in their. entire business career. I mean, it it's. completely ridiculous. that friends of the president are. getting these massive. multi-million-dollar deals, uh and Trump's directing what he wants,

and then these projects are falling. apart. And. this is all part of of Donald Trump. trying to uh leave some type of legacy. in DC. The only legacy he's leaving is. complete disaster. And so, oversight's. going to be investigating. Look, we've. already We're already investigating the. ballroom. Uh we're looking at uh. obviously the pool. There's a lot more. here, and I think uh folks are going to. hear in the in the days and weeks ahead. we are planning really a major review of. all of these monuments and all these. actions uh that are really I think.

damaging DC, um and and and really just. sidestepping the responsibility of. Congress uh to approve and oversee these. projects. >> Is there any buy-in from James Comer or. Republicans, or as far as they can or as. far as they're concerned, Donald Trump. can do no no wrong? >> Yeah, they don't they don't care about. oversight. They they care about a. rubber-stamping whatever Donald Trump. wants to do. I mean, Donald Trump is completely. I mean, in my opinion, he's like he's. falling asleep at meetings. He's saying.

weird stuff all the time. Uh he's more. focused on fixing reflect the reflecting. pool than the cost of people's groceries. going up, the cost of gas. And I think. that's why this reflecting pool issue is. really like I think hit the American. public a certain way. And the reason why. everyone's talking about it is because. people realize that why is the. government spending so much time and. energy and resources on the pool when it. was perfectly fine when. prices are going up, when people can't. afford the rent, when health care is.

being rolled back. And so, the. priorities here are just completely off. We're going to war, and a war that. nobody wants. We're spending money on. fixing up monuments while people can't. afford child care and food on the table. And that's I think the big issue. >> Well, you know, the the Republicans and. right-wing media will say that, you. know, as if they're born yesterday, they'll just say, "Oh, this is the. Democrats' fault for focusing on all of. this, and and it's a reflection of the. Democrats' priorities." And so, what. would you say to that?

>> It's not our It's not our priority. We're We're not the ones. trying trying to direct money. for vanity projects. We're not the one. trying to destroy a memorial to. President Kennedy. We're not the one. that raised part of the White House with. no oversight and then try to get. permission after the fact. This has all. been directed by Donald Trump. And I think for us, we're trying to hold. Trump and his administration accountable. for all the wrong, whether it's the. Qatari plane he's about to get,

whether it's stealing billions of. dollars, whether it's enriching himself. his family. for God knows how much money with his. crypto scheme, selling pardons, selling. access to the White House. These are. serious, in our opinion, really really. serious possible crimes. But things like the pool, those they. also matter because these are national. treasures. I mean, these are things that. people. know. And And And when I talk to folks. and talk to folks here in DC, um they view it as corruption. You're.

giving contracts to friends. And if it's. going to happen at the pool, it's. certainly happening at the Pentagon, and. it's happening everywhere else. >> Right. Right. I mean, Don Jr.'s $620. million contract for a startup that he. was a part of is a testament to exactly. that. Um Congressman, I don't want to. put words in your mouth, but it seems to. me like you may not be on board with the. whole elusive vandals coming under the. cloak of darkness to cut a football lamp. football field length gash in the pool. lining. >> I mean, that is like the biggest.

of all time. I mean, Donald. Trump honestly is a liar, but he he's. This guy is the This guy is the biggest. liar in the history of American. politics. I mean, the gaslighting to to. actually tell the American people and. then the press that um you know, someone. somehow somehow uh someone went by and. slashed the bottom of the pool. uh and that were vandalism somehow is. what created all the algae. You give me. a break. We We We're all seeing We We. all have eyes. >> Yeah. >> Like we're all seeing the the what's. going on with the pool. We're all seeing.

the paint come up to the top. We're all. We're all seeing the massive amounts of. algae. We're all seeing the workers. dumping in chemicals try to fix the. problem. And we're all all seeing the. wildlife that of course it's just sad. The whole thing is is upsetting and sad. And I think that um on top of that uh. that's where Donald Trump's attention. is. He holds these huge press. conferences in the Oval Office to talk. about the ballroom or talk about the. arts. I mean, give me a break. All the. press conference talk about lowering gas. prices or.

ending this war that's costing us over a. billion dollars a day. This is just. again, why the hell are we Has anyone. supporting Donald Trump anymore at this. point? The guy's lost The guy. has lost it. He's lost it. And it's time. for the Republican Party to honestly. grow a pair and take him on. It's just. not happening. >> Well, in terms of holding a press. conference about lowering costs, that. was literally on the docket for today. Uh we're recording this on Wednesday. Republicans were supposed to have this.

big bill signing ceremony for the. housing bill, a bipartisan achievement. that would for once actually show that. Donald Trump was holding true to one. small aspect of his agenda, and even. that was canceled. And so, can I get. your reaction to the fact that Donald. Trump decided that it was more important. to hold the housing bill hostage so that. he can try and rig future elections than. actually deliver some semblance of. affordability to Americans? >> I mean, crazy that for once Congress was. able to get together and do something in. a bipartisan way. Some massive housing. bill that people have been working on.

this pieces of this for years, by the. way. And and and. everyone agrees, I mean, whether from. Elizabeth Warren to some of the more. conservative members in the Senate or in. the House that this could actually help. lower costs. It could it could. accelerate building. It could really. help people get financed. All those. things are possible. And it's passed the. Senate and the House. Donald Trump has a. signing ceremony ready in the capital. and he chooses to not attend and cancel. the ceremony. as it was about to start because he's.

interested in passing this idiotic Save. Act that all all that does is basically. make it harder for people to vote, especially for women or people that have. recently moved. I mean, >> Yeah. >> It's crazy. And it's going to get. nowhere in the Senate. So, Donald Trump. just does not care about people. He. cares about himself, his pet projects, and rigging elections. >> I I just don't understand, maybe you can. help shine a light on this, what. what Trump has to gain from this. The. Save Act, as you said, is going nowhere. It requires 60 votes. That means you.

need Democrats to cross over and support. this thing. You're not going to have any. Democrats who are going to support this. thing. So, recognizing that there is no. avenue for the Save Act to move forward, why hold his own achievement hostage for. something that is DOA? >> Because he doesn't really care about it. >> Right. >> He he he just doesn't care about things. that actually are going to make life. more affordable for for working. families. He doesn't care. And I think. that's pretty clear. He What he does. care about is building himself a new.

ballroom and he cares about giving his. friends contracts. He cares about. enriching his family and his sons. Um. you know, Donald Trump has become. infinitely wealthier. His friends have gotten a bunch of tax. cuts. Companies that he's invested in are are. now growing. I mean, the. it's happening. I mean, we he this is a. corrupt president and a corrupt. administration. And I think we have to be those of us on. on the left and those of us and whether. it's Democrats or progressives, we've.

got to be louder, push stronger, cuz the American people. are with us. So, we just got to be more. aggressive. >> In terms of what the mechanics are of. next steps here, if Donald Trump's not. going to sign this, can you speak about. what different avenues can take place uh. for this to either get vetoed, pocket. vetoed, become law? Just give like a. kind of a process update. >> I mean, it could still become law, obviously. You know, Donald Trump could. have just allow it to become to become. law. He could he could do a sign I think. he's going to have to do a signing.

ceremony. I think the pressure amongst. Republican senators, I think he's going. to be pressured into doing thing and the. American public, including his base, should push that. But, now we don't. know. I mean, he's holding the house. hostage as well. We were going to have a. series of votes. That's off the table. Uh Republicans. can't get their act together uh to to. get basic votes on onto the floor. Um. and we're now waiting for what's going. to happen on this big housing bill. It's. it's basically just Republican. dysfunction. And I think it's time for a. big change and I hope the American. public is ready. Cuz we need to turn the.

page on the Trump era. This has been the. worst moments in in a in a in modern. American history. You have this corrupt. president who's clearly not interested. in helping anybody but himself and his. family. Um and my my guess is at some. point he's going to sign this housing. bill. I mean, he has to. Um but, the. fact that he's holding the country. hostage, I think is really unfortunate. It's it's. >> Yeah. Yeah. And and again, like like you said, puts his own. priorities on full display because this. was uh an opportunity for him to take a. bipartisan win and actually hold true to.

his own agenda. And he cares so little. about this that he wasn't even willing. to do exactly that. >> Right. That's right. >> Uh with that said, Congressman, thank. you so much for taking the time. Appreciate it. >> Thanks so much.