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OUTRAGEOUS Rep. Ro Khanna on DOJ stonewalling with Epstein files · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: The House Oversight Committee is escalating its tactics in the
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  Speaker 1: Epstein investigation. On Friday, the panel issued to subpoenas to
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  Speaker 1: Leon Black. That's the billionaire who once knew and employed
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  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein. This comes after Black abruptly ended the interview
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  Speaker 1: behind closed doors after he refused to answer questions regarding
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  Speaker 1: non disclosure agreements he potentially signed with women, some of
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  Speaker 1: whom have been linked to Epstein. The top Republican and
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  Speaker 1: Democrat on the committee say they believe the NDAs are
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  Speaker 1: vital and central to this investigation. We must note, though,
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  Speaker 1: that Black has denied any knowledge of Epstein's criminal activity.
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  Speaker 1: Democratic Congressman Rocanna joins us. Now he sits, of course,
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  Speaker 1: on the House Oversight and Armed Services Committees. Congressman, it's
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  Speaker 1: good to have you on the show tonight. So let's
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  Speaker 1: just begin with what the heck happened in that closed
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  Speaker 1: door hearing set the scene for us.
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  Speaker 2: Leon Black get outrageously he was hiding behind NDAs he
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  Speaker 2: had signed with women involved in the entire Epstein saga.
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  Speaker 2: The Republican chairman Comer said, well, tell us about these NDAs.
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  Speaker 2: He refused to do that. The Republican chair said, well,
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  Speaker 2: we will subpoena that that you need to produce that
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  Speaker 2: and need to tell us about it. And he refused
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  Speaker 2: to do that and he walked out. But here is
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  Speaker 2: the biggest issue. Why is it that the Congress is
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  Speaker 2: doing this? And why has Black not been investigated by
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  Speaker 2: the Justice Department the survivors I talked to the survivors
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  Speaker 2: lawyers I talked to. The first name they mentioned is
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  Speaker 2: Leon Black, and it is outrageous that this Justice Department,
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  Speaker 2: after all that is out there, has failed to investigate him.
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  Speaker 3: So Congressman, tell us about why Leon Black was brought
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  Speaker 3: in here in the first place. What is it that
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  Speaker 3: you felt? And other members of Congress felt that leam
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  Speaker 3: Block knows that might be important enough for the investigation.
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  Speaker 3: Why you believe the DOJ should be investigating him or
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  Speaker 3: trying to get answers to what he might know about Epstein.
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  Speaker 2: Well, he allegedly gave over one hundred and seventy million
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  Speaker 2: dollars to Epstein. So at the basic level, why was
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  Speaker 2: he providing so much financial support for Epstein or payment
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  Speaker 2: to Epstein. Moreover, a lot of the survivor's survivors lawyers
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  Speaker 2: have made serious allegations about his behavior towards women, and
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  Speaker 2: that would we know more about it through the NDAs,
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  Speaker 2: but we would know more about it through an investigation.
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  Speaker 2: The problem is that the Justice Department has refused to
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  Speaker 2: meet with a lot of the survivors or the survivors lawyers,
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  Speaker 2: something that Thomas Massey and I have requested repeatedly.
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  Speaker 4: Congressman, I want to ask you about some of the
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  Speaker 4: commentary around the divide within the Democratic Party right now
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  Speaker 4: and the I don't know if they're surprising, but the
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  Speaker 4: recent election election results here in New York in which
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  Speaker 4: some DSA candidates dislodged some incumbent Democrats. Tom Malinows, who
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  Speaker 4: himself recently lost in a primary, but he's your colleague
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  Speaker 4: in Congress, had a series of tweets in which he
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  Speaker 4: was critical, actually of the leadership of the progressive wing
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  Speaker 4: of the Democratic Party. I'll read you from some of that.
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  Speaker 4: He's talking about some of the unwillingness to criticize, for example,
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  Speaker 4: Daria Lisa Chevalier, who won one of these primaries. He
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  Speaker 4: says young Dems voted for a Vila Chevalier not because
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  Speaker 4: they knew her, they didn't, but because leaders like Mom,
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  Speaker 4: Donnie and Sanders embraced her. Those leaders could have chosen
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  Speaker 4: a serious progressive with non insane views, they chose this.
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  Speaker 4: The result is the mirror image of MAGA. It doesn't
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  Speaker 4: matter if candidates are qualified or what their beliefs are.
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  Speaker 4: All that matters is that they're on the team backed
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  Speaker 4: by its leader. Anyone who questions that is slated for
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  Speaker 4: the next political destruction. Nothing wrong with leaders on the
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  Speaker 4: left wanting to push the party leftward. But true courage
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  Speaker 4: in this moment on the left and right is not
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  Speaker 4: taking on the establishment. That's easy. It's setting limits for
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  Speaker 4: your side and telling your followers what they don't want
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  Speaker 4: to hear. So I'm curious if you agree with that
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  Speaker 4: assessment that it has been difficult at times right now
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  Speaker 4: to say things that are at odds with one's own
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  Speaker 4: faction within the Democratic Party. Are there things that you
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  Speaker 4: agree with Malinowski that progressives may not want to hear
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  Speaker 4: that they should hear if they want to win elections?
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  Speaker 2: For example, Catherine, First of all, the Democratic primary voters
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  Speaker 2: are much more unified than the media narrative. They're unified
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  Speaker 2: that we want single pair healthcare and that the current
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  Speaker 2: healthcare system is broken. They're unified that we have an
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  Speaker 2: unfair and lopsided economy and that we actually need to
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  Speaker 2: have a wealth tax on billionaires. They're unified that we
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  Speaker 2: should never have had these foreign wars in Iraq Iran,
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  Speaker 2: and that we should never have allowed for the bombing
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  Speaker 2: and genocide in Gaza, and that it is outrageous that
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  Speaker 2: we gave so much aid to Israel while our own
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  Speaker 2: commune unities are suffering and aren't having economic development. Those
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  Speaker 2: are the issues that are motivating Democratic primary voters around
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  Speaker 2: the country. And I would say that it's far more
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  Speaker 2: difficult to stand up to an establishment that basically has
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  Speaker 2: presided over the decline of the American dream than it
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  Speaker 2: is to do anything else. I mean, that's standing up
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  Speaker 2: to economic power, to corporate power, to special interest, to PACs,
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  Speaker 2: and that's what you see these candidates doing. Now, do
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  Speaker 2: I agree with every one of the tweets and past
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  Speaker 2: statements of these candidates. Of course not. You know, I've
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  Speaker 2: always supported secure borders. I have, of course support law
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  Speaker 2: enforcement and the enforcement of the law, and I will
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  Speaker 2: make my positions clear. But it is awfully hypocritical for
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  Speaker 2: Republicans who have given such a pass to all their
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  Speaker 2: members to go cherry pick the random statements ofidate. It's
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  Speaker 2: as opposed to focusing on their central message.
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  Speaker 4: Being clear, this was not a Republican, this was Tom Mallanowski.
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  Speaker 4: Who's your Democratic colleague in the House.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think that time's missing the bigger picture, which
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  Speaker 2: is that these candidates aren't winning because of idiosyancratic views
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  Speaker 2: that I would disagree with. They're winning because they're standing
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  Speaker 2: up for Medicare for all. They're standing up and calling
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  Speaker 2: out the genocide in Gaza. They're standing up and saying
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  Speaker 2: no AI to Israel. They're standing up and saying we're
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  Speaker 2: going to tax billionaires. They're standing up and saying that
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  Speaker 2: the American Dream isn't working for young Americans, and people
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  Speaker 2: see them willing to fight for that and not count
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  Speaker 2: out to an establishment that has lost to Donald Trump
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  Speaker 2: twice and that has presided over the decline of the
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  Speaker 2: American Dream. Look, the generation in charge is not the
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  Speaker 2: greatest generation. It's a failed generation of political leadership. By definition.
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  Speaker 2: To give us two Trump terms, that eighty percent of
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  Speaker 2: Americans think the American Dream is dead. And what these
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  Speaker 2: candidates are showing is that the party wants a new
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  Speaker 2: direction now, I would be happy to answer any specific
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  Speaker 2: questions of where I stand on any error tweet that
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  Speaker 2: a candidate has put out. And I think it's incumbent
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  Speaker 2: on all of us to be very clear where we stand.
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  Speaker 2: But people who are looking at those err tweets are
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  Speaker 2: missing the organizing and why they won.
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  Speaker 5: Congressman, I'm glad you brought up specifics, because let's do
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  Speaker 5: specifics with Graham Plattner. You have answered some questions about it,
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  Speaker 5: and you have said that the allegations are upsetting and disturbing,
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  Speaker 5: but it's not enough for you to disavow endorsing him.
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  Speaker 5: When is it enough when it comes to a woman
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  Speaker 5: who says that she has been a victim of abuse
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  Speaker 5: reported by a credible newspaper, what's the line with you?
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  Speaker 5: I'm just curious because in the years since the Justice
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  Speaker 5: bread Kavanaugh's hearing, the line seem to have really moved
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  Speaker 5: for Democrats.
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  Speaker 2: Well, of course, I take sexual abuse and sexual assault
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  Speaker 2: very seriously. I mean, I led with Thomas Massey the
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  Speaker 2: entire Epstein files, and I think if you talk to
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  Speaker 2: survivors who were crying in my office, they would say
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  Speaker 2: that I have really taken that issue very personally and
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  Speaker 2: fought at great risk to my own career for that issue.
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  Speaker 2: I had called immediately for the resignation of Eric Swallwell
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  Speaker 2: and supported him withdrawing from the race. I believe any
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  Speaker 2: form of sexual assault, sexual violence, domestic violence is something
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  Speaker 2: that is not forgivable for a political candidate, And like
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  Speaker 2: Elizabeth Warren, like Bernie Sanders, like others, I've said, if
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  Speaker 2: that actually, if there's reporting about that and that happened,
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  Speaker 2: then I would would draw an endorsement. But what we
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  Speaker 2: have seen, as Senator Warren and others have said, are
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  Speaker 2: toxic relationships where there was misogyny and that's unacceptable. But
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  Speaker 2: that Platner has taken a responsibility for that, and we
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  Speaker 2: will see. Of course, I believe his message is resonating
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  Speaker 2: in Maine. But if there was some credible accusation or
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  Speaker 2: allegation of sexual assault domestic violence, right would draw my endorsement.
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  Speaker 3: Congressman, let me get your final thoughts if I can.
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  Speaker 3: On some reporting from the intercept, I talked about how
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  Speaker 3: I believe the Congress is looking to permanently integrate US
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  Speaker 3: and Israeli defense technology and AI and autonomous systems. You
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  Speaker 3: have been outspoken against this proposal. Tell us why, if
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  Speaker 3: you can briefly, you think Congress should not pass this
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  Speaker 3: and why this would be detrimental.
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  Speaker 2: Look, there are two things that are unifying Democrats and
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  Speaker 2: Republicans right now. One is taking one the Epstein files
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  Speaker 2: and corruption in many cases, and the other is getting
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  Speaker 2: out of these foreign wars. And part of getting out
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  Speaker 2: of those foreign wars is to stop supporting Israel that
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  Speaker 2: is committed a genocide with billions of dollars that should
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  Speaker 2: be spent on America. You have young voters under fifty
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  Speaker 2: who will overwhelmingly believe that many of them voted for
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  Speaker 2: Thomas Massey and many of them voting on our side.
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  Speaker 2: This provision would basically seed our sovereignty. We don't have
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  Speaker 2: this with any other country, and integrate at US and
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  Speaker 2: Israeli militaries. It is nothing to do even with what
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  Speaker 2: you think about Israel. It's do you believe that the
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  Speaker 2: American president should call the shots? I mean, Israel is
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  Speaker 2: a country with less than one percent of global GDP.
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  Speaker 2: They need to defer to America, not to treat themselves
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  Speaker 2: as coequals. And Massey, by the way, has an amendment
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  Speaker 2: that's coming up to zero out funding for Israel. Every
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  Speaker 2: Democrats should support it. The establishment is out of touch
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  Speaker 2: of where the Democratic primary voting base is on the
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  Speaker 2: issue of Israel's genocide and support and they'll see that
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  Speaker 2: in the twenty six and twenty eight elections.
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  Speaker 1: Congressman Roe Conna, thanks so much, thank for joining us tonight.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you