WASHINGTON — Rep. Robert Garcia and his crew confronted a monumental process on Nov. 5: Sift by way of greater than 20,000 paperwork obtained from the property of Jeffrey Epstein in seek for one thing that will shed extra gentle into President Trump’s relationship with the now-deceased convicted intercourse offender.
After six tedious days combing by way of the information, Garcia, the highest Democrat on the Home Oversight and Authorities Reform Committee, and 4 employees members recognized three emails that will go on to ignite a political firestorm.
Within the emails, Epstein wrote that Trump had “spent hours” on the late financier’s home with one among his victims and that he “knew concerning the ladies,” suggesting the president knew extra about Epstein’s abuse than he had beforehand acknowledged. The property launched the emails to the committee after receiving a subpoena.
“We thought [the emails] actually raised questions concerning the relationship between the president and Jeffrey Epstein,” Garcia mentioned in an interview final week. “We knew we needed to get these out as quickly as attainable.”
Garcia’s plan to launch the emails shortly thrust the second-term Democrat into the nationwide highlight, elevating his profile as a chief antagonist of Trump on a concern that has dogged the president since his first time period. It additionally elevated the strain on the White Home to launch its investigative Epstein information.
The assertions in Epstein’s emails about Trump’s involvement or consciousness of Epstein’s illicit acts haven’t been corroborated and the White Home has denied the veracity of these accounts.
The White Home accused Democrats of “selectively” leaking emails to create a “faux narrative to smear President Trump,” including that Democrats redacted the identify of one of many victims, Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April and had beforehand mentioned she had not witnessed Trump collaborating in abuse at Epstein’s home.
The e-mail disclosures on Nov. 12 prompted Republicans on the committee to publish the full cache of information simply hours later. On the identical time, Democrats — joined by a handful of Republicans — have been on the verge of forcing a Home vote to compel the Justice Division to launch its Epstein information. Days later, Trump urged GOP lawmakers to again the invoice he had lengthy resisted, and he finally signed it into regulation.
“If we hadn’t launched the preliminary emails, Republicans would doubtless have launched nothing,” Garcia mentioned. “They by no means launch something till we push them and we carry strain from the general public.”
Garcia mentioned Democrats have been ready to publish the total set themselves — however incrementally over the course of the week, arguing that such a launch wanted to be achieved fastidiously to guard victims’ privateness.
Republicans on the committee have criticized the minority celebration’s strategy, arguing that it focuses on sensationalizing choose items of knowledge to wreck Trump and politicizing the Epstein investigation.
“Probably the most harmful place in D.C. is between Robert Garcia and a cable information digicam,” Republican strategist Matthew Gorman mentioned. “That is merely a ploy for him to attract extra consideration to himself, and he’s utilizing this concern to do it.”
‘Typically you gotta punch again tougher’
Garcia’s allies view the 47-year-old’s rise as each foreseeable and reflective of his previous.
Born in Peru, Garcia immigrated to the US as a younger youngster and have become a citizen in his early 20s. He later grew to become Lengthy Seaside’s first Latino and first brazenly homosexual mayor earlier than arriving in Washington — the place he’s now one of many youngest to ever function the rating member of the primary investigative panel within the Home.
5 months into the position, Garcia says he stays in disbelief that he’s within the place that has been held by folks like Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), whom he considers one among his “heroes.”
“To be in a spot the place I’m doing the job that he was in once I acquired to Congress a few years in the past is just not one thing that I anticipated,” Garcia mentioned. “I wish to contribute again as finest I can, and tackle this corruption, tackle what is occurring with the Jeffrey Epstein case and holding the administration accountable.”
The oversight committee is without doubt one of the Home’s most high-profile panels and its chair, Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, has broad subpoena energy. Comer, a staunch Trump ally, has been main a overview of the federal government’s investigation into Epstein and his longtime affiliate, Ghislaine Maxwell. Comer has subpoenaed each the Epstein property and the Justice Division.
Comer declined to be interviewed for this text, as did different Home Republicans. However Comer advised Politico final week that he was “achieved with Garcia” and that the Democrat had “burned his bridges with this.”
“He simply must do TikTok movies or one thing. … He’s not a severe investigator. He’s like a TikTok video sort of man,” Comer mentioned.
Garcia responded to Comer’s feedback with a reference to the film “Imply Ladies.”
“Why’s he so obsessive about me?” he mentioned Wednesday in an Instagram put up — an instance of how Garcia usually makes use of popular culture to speak to a extra normal viewers.
Garcia says his techniques are motivated by an allergy to bullies.
“I grew up as an immigrant child. … I do know what it’s prefer to be on the opposite facet of the bully,” he mentioned. “If the bully goes to punch or trigger hurt to you or others that you just care about, it’s important to punch again. Typically you gotta punch again tougher.”
Democrats credit score Garcia for pushing Comer to behave. In July, a Republican-led subcommittee handed a Democrat-led movement to subpoena the Justice Division’s Epstein paperwork — a transfer that finally prompted Comer to concern his subpoenas.
Rep. Robert Garcia speaks at a ceremonial swearing-in occasion in Lengthy Seaside in August to commemorate his new position as rating member of the Home oversight committee.
(Jonathan Alcorn / For The Instances)
Rep. Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat, mentioned the vote “started knocking over the dominoes” that finally led to the general public seeing a replica of Epstein’s “fiftieth birthday guide,” which incorporates Trump’s identify, in addition to the three emails linking Trump to Epstein.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), a member of the oversight committee, praised Garcia for securing bipartisan help to safe paperwork and pushing information out to the general public. Khanna, who led the push to drive a vote on the Home flooring to demand the Justice Division launch the Epstein information, additionally co-wrote a letter with Garcia to Epstein’s property requesting an unredacted copy of the birthday guide.
Attorneys for the property mentioned that they’d cooperate, however that they required a subpoena to launch supplies on account of privateness issues. Khanna mentioned he believes the letter set in movement the push that finally led Comer to subpoena the property.
“I believe the way in which he has labored with Comer to verify quite a lot of the investigation has been bipartisan, has been efficient,” Khanna mentioned in an interview.
A ‘dynamic’ strategy to oversight
Garcia — who is understood to make use of social media and popular culture to amplify his message — has folded these communication techniques into his position on the oversight committee.
The day the emails have been launched, Garcia promoted them in social media posts and movies and gave a number of interviews. The congressman — a self-described Bravo fan — is scheduled to seem this week on the cable channel’s “What Occurs Dwell with Andy Cohen.”
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) advised The Instances that Garcia’s “dynamic” management strategy is creating new methods to speak to a youthful technology concerning the work Congress is doing.
“He appears to thrive on it, and that’s a pleasure to behold,” the previous speaker mentioned. “He’s younger, however has introduced members alongside and the general public alongside as to what the problem is.”
Rep. Robert Garcia speaks with Mayor Karen Bass at a congressional subject listening to on the Metropolitan Water District on Monday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Instances)
Republicans on the committee have accused Garcia and Democrats of deliberately utilizing the Epstein investigation to generate a false narrative towards Trump — criticism that Democrats see as Garcia being keen to “combat fireplace with fireplace.”
Sen. Adam Schiff, who served on the Home Choose Committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, mentioned Garcia’s push to hunt information “outdoors of conventional channels,” together with the Epstein property, helped drive a “public narrative that broke by way of.”
“Beneath such a lawless and corrupt administration, we want gifted and inventive leaders to do oversight work, expose the malfeasance to the general public and break by way of in a fractured media setting, and Congressman Garcia has confirmed adept in any respect three,” Schiff mentioned.
Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and former Trump administration appointee, mentioned Garcia’s technique may backfire if or when all the knowledge on the Epstein investigation comes out.
“I imagine that they’ve sprung Pandora’s field with a complete bunch of conspiracy theories, faux memes and information that the left is absolutely embracing and that won’t really be actual,” he mentioned.
As extra information from Epstein’s property are anticipated to return to gentle within the coming weeks, Garcia says he’s dedicated to exposing wrongdoing from anybody, no matter celebration. The paperwork have already proven Epstein’s hyperlinks to distinguished Democrats.
The information have additionally proven hyperlinks to main banks, a thread Garcia says he believes could possibly be central in understanding Epstein’s plea deal negotiated by a prosecutor who served in Trump’s Cupboard throughout his first time period.
“I’m not focused on defending anyone,” he mentioned. “I’m focused on justice for the survivors.”
