Congressman Open Investigation of Why Justice is Witholding Picture Trump With Little Girl

Congressman Robert Garcia believes Ghislaine Maxwell met with Trump DOJ seeking pardon - ABC7 San Francisco

Washington, D.C. — Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released the following statement after it was exposed that the Department of Justice withheld and removed some Epstein files related to allegations that President Donald Trump sexually abused a minor, a violation of both the Oversight Committee’s subpoena and the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

“For the last few weeks, Oversight Democrats have been investigating the FBI’s handling of allegations from 2019 of sexual assault on a minor made against President Donald Trump by a survivor.

“Yesterday, I reviewed unredacted evidence logs at the Department of Justice. Oversight Democrats can confirm that the DOJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with this survivor who accused President Trump of heinous crimes. Oversight Democrats will open a parallel investigation into this.

Under the Oversight Committee’s subpoena and the Epstein Files Transparency Act, these records must immediately be shared with Congress and the American public. Covering up direct evidence of a potential assault by the President of the United States is the most serious possible crime in this White House cover up,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia

Politico

On any given day, there is no shortage of things for Rep. Robert Garcia and his staff to investigate. As the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Garcia has tangled with the Trump administration on everything from the release of the so-called Epstein files to the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents on the streets of Minneapolis.

And surprisingly for a member of the House minority, he’s gotten results. Well before Congress passed a law requiring the release of documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Garcia maneuvered within the Oversight Committee to slap a subpoena on the Justice Department, and he kept up the pressure on the Trump administration as material was released, including from the Epstein estate. The documents have proven to be a headache for President Donald Trump, as well as a host of others who have found their personal connections to Epstein aired in public.

 

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If Democrats retake the House in November, Garcia is poised to play an even larger role for the party as the likely chair of the House Oversight Committee — historically one of the most important perches for the party out of power in the White House. In the majority, he would have full subpoena power at his disposal, though getting the administration to comply is another matter.

But first, Democrats have to win.

In an interview with POLITICO Magazine about his priorities now and going forward, Garcia said Democrats were likely to make oversight of the administration a major part of their midterm campaign and previewed the line of attack for the party.

“This is the most corrupt president to ever serve in the history of our country, and it’s the most corrupt administration to ever exist in the history of our country,” he said. “There’s no scenario where this shouldn’t be at the center of our [work] moving forward.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Guardian

Lawmaker says DoJ appears to have withheld interviews with survivor who accused Trump of  

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Democrats on the House oversight and government reform committee announced on Tuesday the launch of an investigation to determine whether the US Department of Justice (DoJ) purposely withheld materials that pertain to allegations against Donald Trump in the government’s release of the Epstein files.

The lawmakers pledged to look into a report that Trump had been accused by a woman of sexually abusing her decades ago when she was a minor, and that material relating to the allegation in the Epstein files has not been released to the public.

The latest report refers to documents allegedly within the official records known as the Epstein files, where more than 3 million documents have been released relating to the late sex offender and disgraced New York financier, Jeffrey Epstein.

Lawmaker says DoJ appears to have withheld interviews with survivor who accused Trump of ‘heinous crimes’

Sara Braun in New York 

Democrats on the House oversight and government reform committee announced on Tuesday the launch of an investigation to determine whether the US Department of Justice (DoJ) purposely withheld materials that pertain to allegations against Donald Trump in the government’s release of the Epstein files.

The lawmakers pledged to look into a report that Trump had been accused by a woman of sexually abusing her decades ago when she was a minor, and that material relating to the allegation in the Epstein files has not been released to the public.

The latest report refers to documents allegedly within the official records known as the Epstein files, where more than 3 million documents have been released relating to the late sex offender and disgraced New York financier, Jeffrey Epstein. 

Congressman Robert Garcia of California, a Democrat and the ranking member of the committee, said in a statement that he reviewed unredacted evidence logs at the justice department and that “Oversight Democrats can confirm that the DoJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with this survivor who accused President Trump of heinous crimes”.

“Under the oversight committee’s subpoena and the Epstein Files Transparency Act, these records must immediately be shared with Congress and the American public,” said Garcia. “Covering up direct evidence of a potential assault by the president of the United States is the most serious possible crime in this White House cover-up.”

The oversight committee’s announcement coincided with the publication of an investigative report by NPR on Tuesday, which asserted that the DoJ withheld “what appears to be more than 50 pages of FBI interviews, and notes from conversations with a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago when she was a minor”.

The report also says that the justice department “removed some documents from the public database where accusations against Jeffrey Epstein also mention Trump”.

NPR’s investigation said that one lead involving Trump was sent to the FBI’s Washington office with the intent to set up an interview with the woman accusing him. The lead was included in an internal slide deck detailing “prominent names” in the sex-trafficking investigations into Epstein and his convicted associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, last year.

The accuser directly named Trump in her allegation made in 2019, according to NPR, reportedly saying Epstein introduced her to him in about 1983, when she was 13 and Trump was a New York businessman and would have been in his mid-30s, and that there was an attempt at sexual contact.

When asked for comment, the White House did not respond to the reported allegation specifically but referred to a recent X post, which denies any wrongdoing in the way the files are being handled. “[The Justice Department] has repeatedly said publicly AND directly to [NPR] prior to deadline – NOTHING has been deleted. If files are temporarily pulled for victim redactions or to redact Personally Identifiable Information, then those documents are promptly restored online and are publicly available,” the statement said.

“ALL responsive documents have been produced unless a document falls within one of the following categories: duplicates, privileged, or part of an ongoing federal investigation,” the White House said.

The statement also said that Democrats on the House oversight committee should “stop misleading the public while manufacturing outrage from their radical anti-Trump base”.

Trump has previously denied any wrongdoing in relation to the activities of Epstein and the federal case that was upended when Epstein killed himself in jail while awaiting trial in New York in 2019.