FINALLY: Pam Bondi gets the news she FEARED MOST

I'm joined now by the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Robert Garcia.Congressman, thanks so much for joining me.We have a major update here with all eyes on Pam Bondi because this April 14th sworn deposition for the Oversight Committee came and went.She didn't appear.You made an announcement this morning that you were moving forward with the contempt resolution and then suddenly we had an update.Can you explain what that was?

Yeah, look, she obviously missed her date two weeks ago, right?So she was able to come in, have her deposition in place.It was under subpoena, bipartisan.She misses it.And so since that date, we've been warning Pam Bondi and Chairman Comer that we were going to file contempt charges.And if we did not hear, we reached out to the DOJ.

We reached out to Pam Bondi and her counsel directly.We've been talking to oversight Republicans.Nothing, no information.And so this morning, just like we promised, we filed contempt charges to Pam Bondi.in the house and you know ironically enough 45 minutes later after we file those charges James Comer announces we now have a date that's been rescheduled uh with Pambani and so clearly uh they folded I'm glad that we actually finally have a date it's we've got a Ask these questions.Pam Bondi has a lot to answer for.

And I'm glad that James Comer finally set a new date.

What do you presume happened behind the scenes?Do you think that this date already existed and was being was being, you know, hammered out between Pam Bondi and James Comer or the oversight Republicans?Or do you think that they saw that you basically called their bluff and were like, okay, what date works for you?April 29th, great, let's put it on the books and then pretend, of course, that that was going to be the case all along.

Yeah, I mean, we don't know, right?I mean, what we do know is we had had zero information or communication.We had sent Comer a letter asking if there had been any progress on setting the date, nothing.We'd called, talked to James Comer's staff, no response.We reached out to Pam Bondi, to the DOJ, nothing.And so as of this morning,

by the time we had filed those contempt charges, we had had zero communication or information about rescheduling that deposition.And so the fact that 45 minutes later, they came up with this date, whether they had already been working on that date or whether they came up with it on the spot, we'll never know because they weren't communicating with us.What matters is we finally got a date and that we pushed through.and got the Republicans to actually do the right thing.And I think, you know, I've said from day one, we have to be in the fight.If we're willing to fight and push hard, we're going to get good results.

uh, DOJ or Pam Bondi's team that it's going to be May 29th.But have you gotten official word?And I ask that because right now you have, you know, the contempt resolution that's filed.And so that's going to move forward.And we've seen, you know, this wouldn't be the first time if Pam Bondi decided to play some games.Um, this wouldn't be the first time that, you know, the Republicans will have screwed around.

And so is this contempt resolution going to remain in place and presumably moving forward, um, while you wait for any official It is.

We're not removing the contempt resolution.It's been filed in the U .S.House.And now we have a date.And so I don't expect there to be a vote or this get taken up until we see if she actually appears.

And if she doesn't appear on her scheduled date, then I think that this obviously gets elevated.And I think it'll really caused a lot of issues for Republicans.She needs to come for her deposition.It was a bipartisan vote through a subpoena.And so I'm glad that we have the state, but it's just unfortunate that we have to fight so damn hard for them to do the right thing.But we're going to continue to do so to get justice for the survivors.

So the assistant attorney general, Harmeet Dhillon, had come on to Twitter and replied to a tweet that Oversight Democrats posted whereyou all laid out that that Pam Bondi was going to contend with these contempt charges.And Harmeet Dhillon said, fake news.Why lie, Oversight Dems?You know that Pam Bondi, through counsel, agreed to a specific date.Your committee counsel proposed for a transcribed interview earlier this week.

Be better.Cheap stunts like this are a waste of time and space.Now, we've already spoken about the fact that, you know, There was no date that was given to the oversight Democrats.This is just, you know, this is basically just make -believe to make themselves look better in retrospect.But why do you presume that Harmeet Dhillon, on behalf of the DOJ, is out here advocating for Pam Bondi, when just a few weeks back, the whole point of this effort to try and claim that Pam Bondi didn't need to be there was because she's no longer at the DOJ and so she could no longer speak for what's happening at the federal government.And yet now you have DOJ officials who are speaking on behalf of Pam Bondi and fighting her battles for her.

Well, I think what's incredibly bizarre is the DOJ continues to essentially be a mouthpiece for Pambani and its officials.She doesn't work there anymore.The DOJ has said that their position is that Pambani doesn't need to appear.And now we're there pushing back and calling us liars.I mean, that's a joke.I want to see the correspondence.

I want to see the email or the letter where they told us the date.They didn't share anything with us.And so they were communicating with Chairman Comer He had been keeping us in the dark.And so look, we're not going to sit around and just take their word for it.I think at the end of the day, we need her to show up.We're going to keep that contempt resolution filed.

Pam Bondi hasn't released 50 % of the files.And now Todd Blanche is doing the same thing.She doxed survivors.She put them in danger.Why were Ghislaine Maxwell given so much special treatment and so many others then get exposed in the files and the personal information put out?I mean, just the haphazard nature of the way they've treated this whole thing.

It's got to be investigated.And so we look forward to her coming in.We have a lot of questions for her.I think she's going to face a very, very aggressive and committed group of Democrats to get the truth.

And that's the part I want to dig into here, because, you know, while I think all of the mechanics surrounding, you know, the will she, won't she come are certainly interesting, the important part of all of this is what's going to happen once she appears.And so can you talk about why it's so important to get Pam Bondi in front of the Oversight Committee for a sworn deposition?

Yeah, I mean, look, first, this is the same attorney general that said the binders were on her desk.I mean, she started off by creating this whole bizarre influence, like MAGA influencer event early on, saying that the files were released.They weren't.Then she said that it was a hoax and followed along with President Trump was saying that wasn't true.Then they tried to hide the files, defy the subpoena.I mean, over and over again, this has been just a constant cover up at the highest levels.

ask questions.Who was the person that actually mandated the move for Ghislaine Maxwell?Who did that?We still don't know.Well, I bet you she does.And so she's going to be asked that question.

Why are 50 percent of the files still not presented?She needs to answer those questions.That's what we expect to happen out of the deposition.

Is there a world where she could just plead the fifth?I mean, I know this isn't a criminal proceeding, but does she have to answer questions that are posed to her?

Look, I mean, anyone that's answering questions could try to plead the fifth on different matters, but she really has no standing to do so.And she's really not in the executive branch anymore.And so we expect her to testify and try to answer these questions.We also expect that we're going to have a lot of outreach from survivors and survivorsthat are representing a lot of these women that are going to also have questions.And they're already asking publicly.

I know many of them wanted her to actually come in to be deposed, and I'm glad we're able to do so.

But does she have the legal right to assert her freedom?

Every person has the legal right to try to plead the fifth, but you have to be backed up by some type of reasoning.I'm not sure that she has a lot of that, that she can actually legally plead the fifth for.

Okay.And in terms of the broader goal here, which is to get accountability for those who've participated in these heinous crimes that were being perpetuated at the top by Epstein and Maxwell.I mean, is there anything to compel, even though Pam Bondi's gone to compel Todd Blanche to comply with the rest of with the rest of this law.I mean, I had spoken with with Ro Khanna a few weeks back, and he mentioned that between him and Thomas Massey, there is talk of amending the Epstein Files Transparency Act to actually put forward something with teeth to compel the release of some of these files, given the fact that, you know, Right now, there's really nothing compelling its release.And so I'm just curious, as this process continues to play out, at least while we have a Republican DOJ, I presume we're not going to see much movement.But is there anything to compel the release of these files?

What's been incredibly effective in the past has been public pressure, has been pressure by the Congress, has been Republicans joining us in bipartisan efforts.And so we're going to continue to push Todd Blanch, we're going to continue to try to get the rest of those files.There are now multiple investigations from the inspector general and the other offices within the government looking at the way they have actually released the files.And so we are going to get those files.They should do the right thing and release them now.But we are in this investigation.

They have to understand the truth is going to come out.And we expect the DOJ to do their job and actually criminally prosecute the men that actually were involved in the abuse of these women and girls.

If we get to a point where this DOJ simply won't do it, but we're lucky enough to be in a situation in twenty twenty nine where Democrats take over the White House and they have access to this stuff.Is there a world where any DOJ officials who are complicit in in this the suppression of these files and in violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act could be held accountable for their for their actions here.

I mean, absolutely.We're in the majority have an immense amount.of power and ability to hold people accountable and to investigate and to get more documents and subpoena power and compel folks to testify.So I think, look, I tell people all the time, if you think we're able to do a lot in the minority, just wait till we get into the majority.It's going to be a real game changer.

And finally, last thing I want to talk about here, a different topic.We've all seen the voting rights decision handed down by the Supreme Court.In light of the fact, and I don't know if many people know this, but when California redrew its maps, I know it's very difficult to get members of Congress or any elected officials to basically give up their own voters in these districts.And that's exactly what you did.Your district went from an extraordinarily blue district to a redder district because you were willing to give up some voters in your district to make a map that would counteract what Republicans were doing in Texas even possible.And so in light of what we're seeing right now, where we could see, you know, a wave of 12 to even 20 seats flip as the result of the Calais decision.

What would be your message to other Democrats in other states where we've not exercised our ability to fight back?I'm talking New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Washington, in light of the fact that, you know, not only are Republicansgerrymandering their maps mid -cycle anyway, but we're also going to see, because of the Calais decision, a bunch of redrawn maps where they eliminate these black opportunity districts.And so what would your message be from someone who has been willing to cede a lot of Democratic voters to other states and other legislators, whoever it may be, to try to, again, fight fire with fire?

Every state is going to have to be willing to fight harder.I think what California did was the right thing.The VRA decision is incredibly disappointing.It's disheartening representation, especially for communities that have historically been able to elect Black members, Latino members to Congress.I think it's really a shame when you look at what representation means for this country.I believe in the VRA.

And so if they're going to take this step with allies on the court, we're going to have to double down on states that we can now unlock more Democrats and more voters and really fight fire with fire.If we didn't in California, we may have to do more.And other states are going to have to do more as well.So I think it's all going to be a part of our conversations over the next few weeks and months.We'll leave it there.Congressman, as always, thanks for the time.