[0:06]Thank you.
[0:07]I'm ranking member Robert Garcia for Oversight Democrats.
[0:09]I'm going to make some brief statements, as will my colleagues, and then perhaps a
[0:15]question or two, and then we're going to get back to the deposition.
[0:17]As a reminder, this deposition has now gone on for about two hours – two hours
[0:22]plus, two and a half hours – and so that will – it will continue throughout the day.
[0:25]And so I'm going to be also respectful of not being specific, but I do have – we
[0:30]do have some overall statements to make.
[0:33]And a lot of this obviously ties into what the Secretary has already put out herself
[0:36]in her opening statement.
[0:37]I just want to begin by just clarifying and putting emphasis on something that's very
[0:43]important and it's something the Secretary herself has said.
[0:47]Secretary Clinton never met Jeffrey Epstein.
[0:50]She never visited the island.
[0:53]She never flew on his plane.
[0:55]She also had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's horrific crimes.
[1:00]So zero knowledge of any wrongdoing, and you've also all heard that directly from
[1:07]her.
[1:10]Secretary Clinton is also completely cooperating with the deposition and the committee and
[1:16]is answering questions in full faith and in good faith.
[1:22]What is not acceptable is Oversight Republicans breaking their own committee rules that they
[1:29]established with the Secretary and her team, which you all reported you've seen by releasing
[1:36]photos, not acceptable, and it was gracious of the Secretary and her team to continue
[1:42]the deposition.
[1:45]What we also want to say at this very moment is it's becoming more clear every
[1:48]single day is the questions continue to build around this DOJ and the White House
[1:56]and the focus of the majority.
[1:59]We want to understand right now where the missing FBI files are.
[2:06]These are files that accuse the President of the United States about serious, serious
[2:14]accusations around sexual abuse.
[2:17]And the fact that they're not in the files that have been apparently either removed
[2:23]or discarded is incredibly concerning.
[2:27]And so we're calling on Attorney General Pan Bondi to immediately release those files.
[2:33]And lastly, I want to also add that this committee has now set a new precedent about
[2:40]talking to presidents and former presidents.
[2:43]And we're demanding immediately that we ask President Trump to testify in front of
[2:50]our committee and be deposed in front of oversight Republicans and Democrats.
[2:54]And that should happen immediately.
[2:55]He is the person that appears almost more than anyone else in the committee, and it
[3:00]needs to happen right now.
[3:01]Mr. Chancellor, do you distinguish it all between a president and a former president
[3:06]in the sitting front?
[3:07]I mean, is there something in there?
[3:08]Because they will say, wait a minute, we know what the court ruled on his immunity.
[3:13]We should depose the person that is mentioned in the FCU files almost more than
[3:19]any other person next to Colleen Maxwell, and that's Donald Trump.
[3:22]Mr. Reign, you have a really good point, though.
[3:25]I'm going to answer a couple questions.
[3:28]House Republicans need to get serious about this investigation.
[3:34]I understand now fully why Secretary Clinton wanted to make this deposition and her
[3:39]hearing public, because the reality is we are talking to the wrong person today.
[3:44]Who we should be talking to instead are people who are actually mentioned in the
[3:48]files.
[3:49]People who have made misleading statements about their relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
[3:53]Earlier today, Chairman Comer mentioned being open to talking to Secretary
[3:57]Lutnick.
[3:58]Well, let's get him in.
[3:59]Let's talk to Secretary Lutnick instead.
[4:01]Let's talk to someone who is neighbors with Jeffrey Epstein, who actually associated
[4:05]with Jeffrey Epstein, not someone who had never ever met Jeffrey Epstein to
[4:09]their knowledge.
[4:10]And so let's try to talk about people who will help us with our investigation
[4:13]and let's release the two and a half million files so we can know who else to
[4:17]talk to and so we can do right by the victims and actually bring justice.
[4:21]Thank you.
[4:23]Thank you. I'm Congresswoman Yasemin Ansari, representing Arizona's third
[4:27]district. I am extremely, extremely appalled by the Republican chairman's
[4:34]behavior today and by the behavior of the entire committee and how
[4:38]unserious they are about this investigation.
[4:43]Let's remind the country about what we are actually talking about.
[4:47]Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and a list of many rich and powerful people
[4:54]from around the United States and around the world abused and raped more
[4:59]than a thousand people who were children, many of whom were children at the
[5:05]time.
[5:06]And today we are sitting through an incredibly unserious clown show of a
[5:11]deposition where members of Congress and the Republican Party are more
[5:16]concerned about getting their photo off of Secretary Clinton than actually
[5:21]getting to the truth and holding anyone accountable.
[5:24]I also want to talk about the reporting from this week and the fact
[5:28]that we now know that the Department of Justice in their ongoing cover up,
[5:34]the most egregious cover up in American history, intentionally seem to
[5:38]have redacted or withheld more than 50 pages of allegations from a
[5:43]minor against President Trump.
[5:46]Do not forget that Cash Patel went in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee
[5:51]and said under oath that the FBI had no credible allegations of any other
[5:58]people being involved in this child sex trafficking operation.
[6:02]These documents that the Department of Justice intentionally has withheld from
[6:07]the American public in regard to the allegations against President Trump came
[6:11]from the FBI.
[6:12]The FBI had interviewed this witness four times.
[6:17]You do not do that if it is not serious.
[6:20]So Cash Patel needs to be immediately brought back before the Oversight
[6:24]Committee. He needs to answer these questions again.
[6:27]And we need answers immediately.
[6:28]Again, America is watching young people in this country are watching to
[6:32]see if powerful people will continue to protect other powerful people and
[6:37]whether or not Congress will actually hold these perpetrators
[6:40]accountable. Thank you.
[6:44]Wesley Bell, Missouri's first congressional district and as a former
[6:49]prosecutor, I've been involved in leading investigation in serious
[6:54]offenses. And this ain't it.
[6:58]What we're seeing is political theater. What we're seeing is folks
[7:03]that are looking for headlines and tweets as opposed to doing the
[7:07]business of going about getting justice for the victims in this case
[7:13]and survivors in this case, I should say as well.
[7:17]And I think that that's what I think some of our friends on the other
[7:20]side are losing sight of is that we are here to make certain that
[7:25]justice is served and and it's important for us and as oversight
[7:31]members to do our job to ensure that all the evidence, any information
[7:38]and that any victims, any survivors, voices are heard as well.
[7:44]And that's what we're supposed to be doing.
[7:46]And so what we're seeing today is a we have not learned one new thing.
[7:52]The secretary is here.
[7:54]She is more than happy to have all of you come in there and into
[7:58]this deposition and hear her out.
[8:01]But there are those on the other side of the eye who do not want
[8:04]that for whatever reason.
[8:06]And so we're going to continue to push for justice.
[8:08]We're going to continue to work to make certain that the victims
[8:11]and survivors are given their due and their voices are heard
[8:15]and that justice is ultimately served.
[8:20]Thank you.
[8:20]James Walkinshaw from Virginia's 11th District.
[8:23]The Trump administration's treatment of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's
[8:29]crimes has been a callous disregard.
[8:33]We've seen that in his refusal to release the files.
[8:36]We saw that this week at the State of the Union with his refusal
[8:40]to acknowledge the survivors who were in the chamber.
[8:45]One of the things that's been confirmed today is that in
[8:48]addition to having no relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,
[8:52]Secretary Clinton had, has no relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell.
[8:59]But there are important questions we should be asking the
[9:01]Trump administration about Ghislaine Maxwell.
[9:05]And I hope that our Republican colleagues will join us in asking these questions.
[9:10]Why is it that Donald Trump has refused to rule out the pardon,
[9:16]the clemency that Ghislaine Maxwell is campaigning for?
[9:21]We held a deposition in this committee with Ghislaine Maxwell.
[9:23]She used that deposition as an opportunity to campaign for a pardon.
[9:28]Chairman Comer then walked out before many of you
[9:31]and gave her talking points as to why she should get a pardon.
[9:36]Donald Trump needs to direct Attorney General Bondi to release all the files,
[9:41]to unredact the illegal redactions, and he needs to unequivocally rule out
[9:48]a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, who is a monster convicted of child sex trafficking.
[9:56]Why has he not ruled out pardoning her?
[9:59]Why did the Deputy Attorney General spend hours with her,
[10:03]and then why was she transferred to a cushy, lower security prison?
[10:08]Those are important questions we should be asking about Ghislaine Maxwell.
[10:12]We no longer have to ask whether there's any relationship
[10:15]between Secretary Clinton and Ghislaine Maxwell.
[10:18]There was not.
[10:19]I'm going to answer your question.
[10:23]One second.
[10:23]One statement, one question.
[10:24]Last thing I'm going to say, and I'm going to begin with a question,
[10:27]is we want to make a very clear demand right now,
[10:31]which is that the full transcript, unedited, of the Secretary's questions
[10:37]and the answers need to be released by the majority in the next 24 hours.
[10:42]We need the public and the American people having right to know
[10:47]exactly what she said, what questions were asked of her, and how she responded.
[10:52]That's transparency.
[10:53]She herself requested that the press and the public be allowed into the deposition.
[10:59]That was denied.
[11:01]And so at a very minimum, we need to immediately release the full transcript,
[11:05]and we're hopeful that tomorrow, for the former president,
[11:08]that the press would be allowed in and the public as well.
[11:10]That's been the request.
[11:11]Thank you, Mr. Ranking Member.
[11:12]How did that leaked photo get out,
[11:13]and do you believe there should be any repercussions?
[11:16]Well, the repercussions should come from the majority and from Chairman Comer.
[11:19]I mean, it was very clear that that leaked photo was sent out by a member.
[11:23]I think it's not hard to figure out what member that was by looking at the photo.
[11:27]And the fact it was not just one photo, it was one photo,
[11:30]and then a second post that also included a photo as well.
[11:34]And so that was completely against the rules.
[11:37]I think we're grateful that the Secretary continued the deposition,
[11:40]but not acceptable.
[11:41]You said that this is a very unserious question.
[11:44]The Secretary's been clear that she has no relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
[11:47]She's never met Jeffrey Epstein.
[11:48]She's said a few times.
[11:49]She's clarified what those meetings were like.
[11:55]Did she talk about Billy Maxwell attending her daughter's wedding?
[11:58]Did you get...
[12:01]I think obviously we can't get into specifics about the answers,
[12:04]but we will get all those as soon as the video is released.
[12:07]And so we have to be very careful about giving specifics
[12:11]on what was actually said in the deposition per committee rules,
[12:14]which is why we're demanding right now
[12:16]that James Comer and the Republicans release the full transcript
[12:19]where all the questions that were asked
[12:21]will be fully answered by Secretary Clinton.
[12:22]What I can say is that she, again, never met Jeffrey Epstein,
[12:26]never went to the island, never went to the plane,
[12:28]and had no knowledge of any of his crimes.
[12:29]This is completely unacceptable.
[12:31]When it comes to Howard Lutnick, when Comer went in,
[12:34]he said it's a possibility when I asked him if Lutnick would be subpoenaed.
[12:37]Mace then said she had an email printed out
[12:39]that she wanted to ask Clinton about.
[12:40]What was that line of questioning like in the room?
[12:43]And was there any discussion about moving forward on a request
[12:46]or a subpoena for Lutnick?
[12:48]We've made the request of Howard Lutnick.
[12:49]It is unacceptable that we have the Commerce Secretary
[12:53]who has lied and lied and lied about his relationships
[12:57]with Jeffrey Epstein, the fact that he went to the island,
[12:59]he went on the plane, he went into business with Jeffrey Epstein,
[13:02]and yet sat there in a chair with a reporter
[13:05]and lied to the American people.
[13:07]He should resign today, he should be removed from office,
[13:10]and at minimum should come before the committee.
[13:12]Everyone's been clear that we need to hear from Howard Lutnick.
[13:13]But what was the line in the room, the questioning in the room?
[13:17]I want all of the Secretary's responses to be released immediately,
[13:22]or I want the press to be allowed in to get details.
[13:24]Can you give us a sense of what it was like in the room?
[13:26]Is this a very tense deposition?
[13:28]And also, can you give a little bit more color
[13:30]of what exactly happened when this moment on social media is shared?
[13:34]Was there back and forth about letting the press inside the room?
[13:38]So what I can say is, obviously, everybody was very taken aback
[13:42]by the committee rules being essentially not enforced
[13:46]and certainly just broken immediately.
[13:47]That is not acceptable, especially when the Secretary said from day one
[13:51]that she wanted the press in the room.
[13:54]When the incident happened, I think this is something that can be reported,
[13:57]the Secretary's team continued to demand, even after the incident,
[14:01]to let the press into the room because what was important for her
[14:05]is that her answers to the questions not be edited,
[14:08]that the video not be edited.
[14:10]And so we understand that and we're committed
[14:13]to getting this video transcript out immediately.
[14:15]And to be clear, she's answering every question.
[14:16]To be clear, she's answering all the questions.
[14:18]Is she taking the fifth at all?
[14:20]To be clear, she's answering all the questions.
[14:22]I think I can safely say that she's not taking the fifth.
[14:24]Mr. Garcia.
[14:25]Last question.
[14:26]In terms of her understanding of her husband's relationship
[14:30]with Jeffrey Epstein, is that something that she's been asked about?
[14:33]I want the full transcripts to be released immediately,
[14:35]and I think everything that she said in her testimony will be clear.
[14:38]Thank you all very much.