Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / 'It needs to be called out' Lawmakers demand answers on Epstein file redactions

Transcript

'It needs to be called out' Lawmakers demand answers on Epstein file redactions · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: And Democratic Congressman from California, Robert Garcia, he's the ranking
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: member on the Oversight Committee. Congressman, what do you make
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: of what the DOJ is released so far?
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  Speaker 2: Well, let's just start by being very clear, the DJ
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  Speaker 2: and the Trump administration completely missed the legal requirement to
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  Speaker 2: actually get all of the documents out to the American public,
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  Speaker 2: and so right now they are defying the law.
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  Speaker 3: They are defying Congress. They have not met.
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  Speaker 2: Which is with a very simple standard laid out in
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  Speaker 2: the law that was bipartisans So they are illegally right
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  Speaker 2: now trying to catch up to a Congress mandated for
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  Speaker 2: them to do so.
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  Speaker 3: It's unacceptable. It needs to be called out.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, we've been planning and looking at legal options
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  Speaker 2: to continue to push for that release, and that continues.
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  Speaker 2: And as far as what they have put out, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: it's laughable that this is an administration that claims somehow
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  Speaker 2: that they're being transparent when most of what they put
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  Speaker 2: out with either a already public record, so much of
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  Speaker 2: the documents could be as much as half of them
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  Speaker 2: were already in the public record, and what the other
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  Speaker 2: pieces that they released were highly redacted and in some cases,
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  Speaker 2: entire documents, not one word was actually left on there
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  Speaker 2: for the public to see. So this idea that somehow
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  Speaker 2: they are being honest with the public, what clearly is
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  Speaker 2: happening is a white House cover up.
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  Speaker 3: They are now trying to cover up the truth.
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  Speaker 2: So it's incredibly important that Congress and the American public
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  Speaker 2: and the survivors who are really leading this effort stand
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  Speaker 2: strong and continue.
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  Speaker 3: To push for the release of all of the e
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  Speaker 3: Fstein files.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things that stood out to us was
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  Speaker 1: that the dj released some photos, then pulled them, then
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  Speaker 1: put them back after people started asking questions about it.
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  Speaker 1: One included an image of Donald Trump, and then at
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  Speaker 1: one point there were hundreds of pages almost completely redacted,
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  Speaker 1: as you point out, But then after criticism and pressure,
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  Speaker 1: the DOJ reposted some of those documents with fewer redactions.
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  Speaker 1: The DOJ says they're just trying to protect the victims
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  Speaker 1: or survivors and it has nothing to do with President Trump.
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  Speaker 1: Do you buy that explanation?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely not.
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  Speaker 2: Look the OVERSEEC Committee early on pointed out we had
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  Speaker 2: done when the first files and the first dump could
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  Speaker 2: come out, the very little information and photos that were new.
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  Speaker 2: We of course documented those immediately, and we noticed pretty
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  Speaker 2: quickly that within hours they began removing some of the
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  Speaker 2: documentation and particularly the one photo that included pictures of
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  Speaker 2: Donald Trump.
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  Speaker 3: And so we called that out instantly and made.
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  Speaker 2: It very clear as to why was the DOJ posting
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  Speaker 2: photos of Donald Trump and then removing them pretty quickly
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  Speaker 2: after And this idea that we're now supposed to believe
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  Speaker 2: what the DOJ and Pam Bondi say. Pam Bondi is
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  Speaker 2: the person that said that the files were on her
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  Speaker 2: desk months ago. The Trump administration has been saying that
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  Speaker 2: they wanted to release the files from day one, and
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  Speaker 2: then they went all in to try to stop the release.
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  Speaker 2: They have not complied with our oversight subpoena. They tried
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  Speaker 2: to stop the law in front of the Congress, and
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  Speaker 2: now we're supposed to just take them out their word
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  Speaker 2: that they're trying to do right by the survivors. The
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  Speaker 2: survivors have asked the President and the White House for
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  Speaker 2: a meeting to communicate them, to sit down and listen
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  Speaker 2: to their concerns, and so that's what the White House
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  Speaker 2: should be doing if they want to actually protect and
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  Speaker 2: support those survivors and those have been brutalized and abused
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  Speaker 2: by Jeffrey Epstin.
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  Speaker 3: So what I hope at this moment the American.
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  Speaker 2: Public knows is clearly Donald Trump and the administration are
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  Speaker 2: leading a White.
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  Speaker 3: House cover up.
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  Speaker 1: Well, the Justice Department says they have two hundred plus
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  Speaker 1: lawyers working around the clock reviewing each individual file for release.
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  Speaker 1: They say it's an arduous process and that some court
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  Speaker 1: orders can slow it down. We know Congressman Rocanna is
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  Speaker 1: expecting more Epstein files to be released this afternoon. Have
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  Speaker 1: you gotten any heads up on what could be coming
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  Speaker 1: and then the next trove of documents or files that
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  Speaker 1: are released, and do you have any sense of how
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  Speaker 1: much more exists out there that will eventually need to
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  Speaker 1: be released.
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  Speaker 2: Well, to be clear, vast majority of the Epstein files
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  Speaker 2: have not been released, and we know this just from
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  Speaker 2: reporting and information that the dj has put out in
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  Speaker 2: the pasts about the amount of data that they actually have,
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  Speaker 2: And so if you kind of make a comparison, it's
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  Speaker 2: clear that there's an enormous amount of vast majority of
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  Speaker 2: the files have not yet been released. We've also heard
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  Speaker 2: that possibly there might be more coming later this afternoon,
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  Speaker 2: whether that actually bears out.
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  Speaker 3: We'll wait to see.
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  Speaker 2: But what the public wants and what the survivors deserve
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  Speaker 2: is information about their cases. They deserve justice around the
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  Speaker 2: powerful men who abused and raped women.
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  Speaker 3: If the White House thinks that they're going to continue
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  Speaker 3: to release information.
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  Speaker 2: But redacted in a way that protects pedophiles, that protects
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  Speaker 2: the powerful and rich and wealthy men that abuse these women,
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  Speaker 2: they have not seen the theory of the American public and
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  Speaker 2: certainly they don't understand that the Oversight Committee and others
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  Speaker 2: are not going to stop until we get justice for them.
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  Speaker 3: So what are you going to do?
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  Speaker 1: Be done to hold the administration accountable on that front.
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  Speaker 2: Variety of things are happening. So we've actually been planning.
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  Speaker 2: We expected that they might take this route, and so
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  Speaker 2: there are legal opportunities for us that some of which
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  Speaker 2: you'll be hearing about in the next few days.
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  Speaker 3: The Senate's already taking action today.
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  Speaker 2: We've been working with all of our partners at Judiciary,
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  Speaker 2: of course, Drunkom and Conduct, Congress and MASSY. There's also
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  Speaker 2: ways of holding Pambondi accountable directly, and so all of
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  Speaker 2: those avenues right now are being explored, including with some
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  Speaker 2: of the best constitutional attorneys in this country. And so
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  Speaker 2: that is moving forward, and so you'll be hearing about
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  Speaker 2: that hopefully in the days and weeks ahead.
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  Speaker 3: But what's most important is.
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  Speaker 2: That Donald Trump has the ability right now to do
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  Speaker 2: the right thing, and that is to release all the
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  Speaker 2: files and bring actually justice for these survivors and then
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  Speaker 2: allow us to hold the men that rape and abuse
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  Speaker 2: children and girls accountable.
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  Speaker 1: This is interesting. We just got some new reporting in
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  Speaker 1: that Florida based lawyer for several aptis Stein survivors tells
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  Speaker 1: ms NOW he heard from the DOJ, but only roughly
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  Speaker 1: thirty six hours before that December nineteenth deadline to produce
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  Speaker 1: all the materials in compliance with the Epstein Transparency Act.
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  Speaker 1: And this is what the DOJ told him. That Congress
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  Speaker 1: has directed the Department of Justice to start releasing the
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  Speaker 1: files relating to Epstein and Maxwell, and he says, we've
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  Speaker 1: been compiling a list of names for redaction. If you
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  Speaker 1: represent a client who would like to be included on
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  Speaker 1: that list for redaction, please provide your client's name as
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  Speaker 1: soon as possible today. What's your reaction to that communication
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  Speaker 1: happening literally hours before the deadline.
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  Speaker 2: I think the DJ should be working directly with the
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  Speaker 2: survivors and certainly the representatives and the lawyers for the survivors.
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  Speaker 3: I know all of our committees, whether it's been oversight
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  Speaker 3: or judiciary.
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  Speaker 2: We have of course longstanding communication and relationships with the
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  Speaker 2: representatives of the survivors.
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  Speaker 3: I myself talked to many of them directly.
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  Speaker 2: But it's very important that the DOJ engage with the
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  Speaker 2: survivors directly and with the representatives. There is an enormous
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  Speaker 2: amount of pain and trauma that people are going through
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  Speaker 2: and that they need to be heard and their stories
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  Speaker 2: need to be shared. And I will say this, and
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  Speaker 2: I think this is what's really important at this moment.
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  Speaker 2: What the survivors want is if they want justice, they
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  Speaker 2: want to know that what's going to be released by
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  Speaker 2: the DOJ is going to bring justice to the men
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  Speaker 2: that harm them. And what they also want, and I've
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  Speaker 2: heard this more and more in the last few days,
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  Speaker 2: they want to be able to share to the American
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  Speaker 2: public in the world that all the girls and women
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  Speaker 2: that are watching this right now will know that their government,
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  Speaker 2: when confronted with pedophiles and men that are harming women,
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  Speaker 2: are actually going to step up and do the.
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  Speaker 3: Right thing and hold them accountable.
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  Speaker 2: That's what this is about, and that's why so much
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  Speaker 2: of the American public is so interested in this, because
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  Speaker 2: they want to know is the government actually going to
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  Speaker 2: hold these powerful people accountable for sex trafficking and the
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  Speaker 2: abuse of women.
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  Speaker 1: Congressman Robert Garcia, thank you for joining us.