Bondi 'has a responsibility to respond' to Epstein subpoena: Rep. Garcia

 

Bondi 'has a responsibility to respond' to Epstein subpoena: Rep. Garcia

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Apr 22, 2026 #PamBondi #EpsteinFiles #DOJ

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is testifying on Capitol Hill today and was pressed on his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Also, some lawmakers are still calling on former Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify in the Epstein files investigation. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee, joins Ana Cabrera to share the latest. MS NOW: My Source for News, Opinion, and the World. » Subscribe to MS NOW:    / @msnow   » Subscribe to MS NOW’s We the People Newsletter for exclusive content from your favorite MS NOW anchors. Sign up now for free at https://ms.now/joinus MS NOW is the go-to destination for domestic and international breaking news, and best-in-class opinion journalism. For more context and news coverage of the most important stories of our day click here: https://www.ms.now/ #PamBondi #EpsteinFiles #DOJ

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Joining us now, Democratic Congressman bert Garcia from California.

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He's the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.

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And Congressman, as we just heard from the secretary there,

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big day in a few weeks from now where he will be meeting with your committee to discuss Jeffrey Epstein as he kind of brushed aside any Epstein questions today.

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What are you watching for today? And should he eventually answer some questions?

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How might it shape your committee and what you ask HE IS IN A PUBLIC HEARING RIGHT NOW UNDER OATH,

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AND IF HE HAS ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE EPSON INVESTIGATION, WHICH HE SHOULD BE, HE SHOULD ANSWER THOSE.

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BUT WE KNOW THAT I THINK THAT SECRETARY LUTNIK HAS CONSISTENTLY BEEN ALL OVER THE PLACE WHEN IT COMES TO HIS STORIES AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH JEFFREY EPSTEIN.

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WE SHOULD REMEMBER HE MADE IT VERY CLEAR IN AN INTERVIEW that he did not have a relationship with Epstein post-2005,

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that he barely knew Jeffrey Epstein. And later, through the release of the files, through other information that we got,

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we now know that he possibly went into business with him, he visited his island, he traveled with Epstein, his wife communicated directly with him.

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And so he actually had a very significant relationship with Epstein and actually lied to the public.

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And so we have a lot of questions that have not been answered. So he will be in front of us in two weeks.

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We are going to get our answers and he has to explain to us why he has continued to lie and be part of this massive White House cover up.

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We'll continue to monitor that hearing happening right now with Lutnik on Capitol Hill.

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In the meantime, where do things stand with former Attorney General Pam Bondi?

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You said you were planning to file contempt charges against her for not appearing before your committee. So where does that stand?

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Well, stay tuned because we have been getting those charges ready.

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In fact, we've been giving her additional time for her to actually work with our committee to schedule the actual subpoena date. We have heard absolutely nothing,

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nothing from her, nothing from any of her legal representatives, nothing from the DOJ. So she has left us no choice.

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She didn't show up to her scheduled deposition, which we have under law for her to actually come. The Republicans also agreed to that subpoena.

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They released it with Chairman Comer. And we've heard absolutely nothing from the AG.

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But what we do know is that half of the files have not been released. Survivors have been, of course, as you know,

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redoxed and put in danger because their names and information have been put actually in the files. We're supposed to be redacted. And so there has been absolutely,

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in this case,

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a massive cover-up that's been directed by the AG and she has not answered her question.

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So she must come under oath and stay tuned because imminently, that contempt charge is going to be filed,

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and we expect that process to go through and for her to show up in front of our committee. It was a bipartisan subpoena, as you pointed out,

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but now Republican Congressman Scott Perry, who backed that subpoena, told the Hillary.

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recently that he wants to see how talks shake out with her personal attorney and,

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quote, I don't know what the point of the whole exercise is at this point. She's a private citizen now.

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Congressman, are you losing momentum to hear from Bondi?

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Look, I think maybe some Republicans want to continue covering up for her, but absolutely not.

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She has a responsibility to respond to that subpoena.

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And perhaps Donald Trump and Mike Johnson and James Comer think and want to continue to tell the American public that this is a hoax.

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The real truth here is that the survivors deserve justice,

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and we're not going to stop fighting on this issue,

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on this investigation around Jeffrey Epstein until we get justice for the survivors. Pam Bondi led a massive cover-up. Todd Blanchard now is involved in a cover-up.

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The American public just want transparency.

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Why can't they release the other 50 % of the files to the Congress and to the public? And so they want to slow us down.

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They want to tire out the American public, but that absolutely is not going to happen. We're going to fight until we get the truth out. Let's look at the balance of power in the House.

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Voters in Virginia just approved a new map that could give Democrats four more House seats in the midterms. Your home state, California,

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approved a similar measure back in November. What is the significance of this? Look, first, let's be very clear. Democrats have always supported fair maps.

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We don't support gerrymandering.

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We've gone all on record to actually oppose gerrymandering at the national level.

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But Republicans decided to start this war and redistricting challenge with Texas. When they moved ahead in Texas,

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our state in California responded.

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And then we kept responding in state after state after Republicans continue to try, of course, to add seats to them,

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to gerrymander states or in their favor. So Virginians did absolutely the right thing.

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We're going to continue to fight Republicans every time they continue to try to gerrymander other states.

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And this could have been left completely alone had Texas not moved forward.

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But they, of course, and Donald Trump made that order. So we're going to respond.

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We're not going to sit back and allow Donald Trump and Republicans to rig maps across this country. And I want to give a lot of credit to our leader,

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Hakeem Jeffries, for leading this fight. He raised the money in Virginia.

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He partnered with the Virginia delegation and we got it done. You think he's going to be Speaker Jeffries?

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Hakeem Jeffries will be our speaker and I'm proud to support him. We're excited for his leadership.

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And he's absolutely doing the right thing right now in this redistricting fight.

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Before I let you go, I want to ask about another story making headlines Oversight Chair James Comer says that your committee will be investigating

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the deaths and disappearances of 10 American scientists who had connections to sensitive research in recent years. What can you tell us about this?

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Look, it's just something that I think actually has to be investigated.

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I think, obviously, we don't want to focus on conspiracies and we want to get to the truth.

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But the fact there have been so many missing scientists, I think, does cause some questions. And I think that we agree. I think, in a bipartisan manner,

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we should inquire about what happened.

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Why are some of these have not been essentially ━ the cases have not been closed or solved. It is a real investigation.

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And I think when it relates to at the highest levels of our nation around what these folks are working on, highly classified information,

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we've got to investigate. So we support this investigation, and we're going to be involved very closely. Congressman Robert Garcia, appreciate it. As always, thanks for taking the time.

 

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