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How Committee Procedure Became the Battlefield in the Fight Over the Epstein Investigation · The Vault: The Epstein Files

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Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
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Epstein Chronicles. When it comes to the Congressional committee that's
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being chaired by James Comer, one thing you can guarantee
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is that they're not going to get anything done and
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that the whole entire point of the committee is to
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protect Donald Trump and the administration. And this is something
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that I've been adamant about since the very beginning, and
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every time you turn around, there's more evidence backing that up,
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especially when you hear that James Comer allegedly has been
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using a workaround in Congress to get around these subpoenas,
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especially when it comes to high profile people. So instead
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of having a committee session where they call votes, what
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he's been doing is hosting roundtables instead. That way he
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can manage the whole entire situation to protect Trump. At
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my friends, that's part of the cover up. This whole
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entire thing stinks from the head down, and in my opinion,
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this is way bigger than Watergate ever was. I mean,
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just look at how expansive this Epstein cover up is.
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Look at how many people have been dragged into it,
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and look at how many powerful people are keeping it going.
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And then you hear stuff like this and it really
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makes you question what James Comer's really up to. And
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when you really start chopping it up, it doesn't look
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good for James Comer or the GOP. And if these
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allegations that are being made by the Democrats about them
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using these roundtables instead of having committee, it's a big problem.
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Today's article is from Politico and the headline this is
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how Democrats say oversight Republicans are trying to squash the
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Epstein investigation. This article was authored by Riley Rogerson and
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Haley Fuchs. Members of both parties have for months been
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hijacking House Oversight Committee business to call votes on subpoenas
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for high profile figures in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, and
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Democrats say Chair James Comer has quietly instituted a new
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strategy to contain the practice. Well, look, that's what these
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committees are for. And you open Pandora's box when you
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start talking about Jeffrey Epstein, especially on the grand stage.
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And now there's no going back. That camel has left
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the oasis, and people aren't going to just go back
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to thinking that everything's okay. They want answers. The Kentucky
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Republicans work around, they allege is the whole roundtables on
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various issues within the panel's jurisdiction, rather than hearings. Roundtables
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are more informal and don't permit members to offer motions
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to subpoenal witnesses during unrelated committee business, as is allowed
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during hearings. What are they so worried about? What is
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James Comer the Gomer so worried about when it comes
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to subpoenaing Jeffrey Epstein's friends, besides the fact that a
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lot of them are probably his, don't And you can't
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go after the piggy bank, can you? And if you
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think the Republicans are about accountability these days, you got
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another thing coming. These are not your granddaddy's Republicans, folks.
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You know, the people that actually tried to make pretend
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they were conservative. At least they at least had the
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whole front going on, had a little bit of humility
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in public. Not these people. Over the past year, some
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GOP members have joined with Democrats to take advantage of
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the panel subpoena rules. In July, they voted on a
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surprise motion to release the full Epstein files when top
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congressional Republicans were dragging their feed And that's what this
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all comes down to. Comer wants to control the blast radius.
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I've been telling you that for a long time, and
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the best way to do that is narrative control. It's
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a huge tool, and it's very effective because once they
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change the narrative, they can start painting people who object
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to their narrative as crazies. And then when you have
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the New York Times and Washington Post and all these
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legacy outlets running the nonsensical narrative, what do you think
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your grandma's gonna believe? Or your cousin Tommy, who might
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not be so hip on what's going on with Epstein
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and only has the legacy media to give him news,
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What do you think he's going to think? And that's
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why this whole thing is so nefarious, and that's why
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the legacy media needs to own their part in it.
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Because while they were calling people conspiracy theorists and crazy,
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Jeffrey Epstein's friends were cleaning up all the evidence. Lawmakers
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also compelled now former Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify
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and were prepared to haul in commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik
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two before he said he would appear before the committee voluntarily.
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So is Howard Lutnick gonna be in public? You know,
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like they want the survivors. I think Howard Ludnik should
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be public too, then, and in fact, I think that
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members of the public should be able to ask them questions.
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Since everything's public now, right, let's just get everything out there.
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Let's go with full transparency and no more behind the
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scenes depositions. How about that? Because if it's good for
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the goose, that shit better be good for the gander.
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This trend is outlined in a new memo prepared by
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oversight Democratic staff obtained by Politico, which claims that by
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moving to roundtables, Republicans are avoiding the only forum where
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Democrats can force votes, demand documents, and hold the majority accountable. Look,
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there's no accountability, there's never going to be. Everything is broken.
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The people that are supposed to watch, the watchers are
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busy stealing handover fist And it really reminds me of
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the late stages of Rome, when all the senators and
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congressmen were picking the bones clean, not caring about anything else.
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I feel like that's where we're at and all of
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this stuff that we see as far as these committees
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and acting like they care about Epstein, all of that
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stuff is just political theater. That way, in four years,
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when another vote rolls around, they can say they cared
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about you again. We've heard from committee members, both Republican
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and Democrat, that they're frustrated. Representative Robert Garcia, the top
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Democrat on the committee, said in an interview on Monday,
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we have important investigative work and they want to do
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this right as we are in the middle of this
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single largest government cover up in the modern history of Congress,
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and they want to neuter the Oversight Committee. Give me
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a break because it was never supposed to have power.
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This is what I've told you because breaking news. These
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people are deceitful and they do not care about you.
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A spokesman for Oversight Republicans, when reached for comment, did
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not address a question about whether the uptake and roundtables
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was intended to prevent subpoena votes. The spokesperson said the
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panel continues to hold many hearings and will host a
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markup on fraud prevention legislation next week. Oh cool, they
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can bring in Nick Shirley to regurgitate a bunch of
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different fraud allegations that we already knew, and then they
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can lift them up on their shoulders and carry them
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around like the Naria. What an absolute joke. Oh, we
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got a mark up on fraud prevention. Well, why don't
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you guys start with Congress, because you're all frauds, every
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last one of you. Roundtables provide opportunities to have more
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substantative and direct conversations with ordinary Americans about issues facing
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communities across the US. The spokesperson said, you're the oversight committee,
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you dumb fox. How about some oversight of the DOJ.
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Every single person on this committee should not be reelected. Sorry,
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And I remain strong in my opinions about incumbents. My advice,
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and I don't give it very often. Don't vote for incumbents.
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Does anyone like the way the country's going, the direction
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we're headed in? If the answers no, why are you
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voting for X, Y or Z again when they've proven
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that they can't do the job, not to the point
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where it's going to be effective and help the American people. Oh,
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they'll help themselves, that's a guarantee. But helping me and
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you forget about it. But the member subpoena free for
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all over the past nine months has undoubtedly created a
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complicated political dynamic for comer. Always about politics, never about
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the survivors, never about the fact that you and I
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were stolen from, never about the fact that we were
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absolutely shit on by the DOJ and I to He
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has become the de facto leader of the Congressional Epstein Probe,
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forcing him to balance calls for transparency with the political
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fallout of Trump's one time relationship with the late convicted
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sex offender. In other words, his job is to protect
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Donald Trump, just like I told you. That's what the
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goal has always been with this committee, and that's why
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I came out against it so heavily when they first
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announced it. If they were serious, the first people they
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would have had up there before the committee was all
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the survivors who wished to talk, every last one of them.
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Give them their time, let them tell their story, don't
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try and force names out of them, let them tell
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their story and then go from there. But we didn't
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see that, did we, of course not. It was just
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a bunch of political rhetoric right off the bat. Oh,
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this one, that one. Meanwhile, they're missing the whole point
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and people like Comer don't even want to go and
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speak to Waxner, so please stop it. Republicans have noticed
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the connection between the spike and subpoenas and the subsequent
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increase in roundtables in lieu of hearings. Representative Glenn Grothman,
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during a March subcommittee roundtable on mental health issues, at
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one point said, it's no secret why we're not doing
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a formal hearing today. We'd like this hearing to be
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solely focused on the issue before you. And there's some
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concern that both parties are guilty of this, that they
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make motions in the middle of the hearing and try
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to bring up on related topics. Well, here's an idea.
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Why don't you address one topic before you move on
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to the other, mister Grothman. Republicans have also gone on
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subpoenas breeze of their own, most notably by forcing the
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February deposition of Bill and Hillary Clinton. That they absolutely
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fumbled all those years trying to get Hillary Clinton and
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Bill Clinton in that chair, and when they finally get there,
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they send out Anna Paulina Luna as the interrogator, YO
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talk about the B team. It's like the Savannah Bananas
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going up against the Yankees. Representative or as I like
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to call her, influencer, Anna Paulina Luna suggested that she
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wasn't happy about the new status quo, while stopping short
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of criticizing roundtables directly, She said in an interview, I'm
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a fan of committees that like to do the motions
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to subpoena. I wonder if she's going to send a
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subpoena to those interdimensional beings she likes to talk about.
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The last full committee hearing convened by House Oversight. It
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was in March on fraud Minnesota. At that hearing, Republican
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Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina forced a vote to
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subpoena Bondi for her handling of the federal Epstein investigation.
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Five Republicans joined all Democrats present in voting for the
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subpoena motion, and Bondie's recent ouster is in Quellen calls
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for her to appear before the panel under oath. Well
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she should. I mean, I'm not going to keep beating
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this dead horse, but come on, since that time, first
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Lady Milania Trump delivered a public statement denying she was
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ever victimized by Epstein and urging Congress to hold hearings
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with true victims, an entreaty that could resonate with Mace
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and others who were bought into the subpoena exercise, though
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Comer has indicated he plans on having such hearings because
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he has to. Do you think James Comer really cares
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about the Epstein's revivers? Come on, seriously, do you really
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think so? And that goes for a lot of these people.
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Robert Garcia as well. I never heard him say a
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thing about Epstein throughout the years. Now he's some kind
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of crusader for the cause. Miss me with all of it.
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In the meantime, Oversight subcommittees have held five roundtables this
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year alone on topics such as AI and Internal Revenue Service.
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The Full Committee's scheduled to convene a six roundtable Tuesday morning,
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law Fair against American Agriculture, whatever that means. That's compared
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to two subcommittee round tables listed for all of twenty
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twenty five. Comer hosted no Full Committee roundtables since becoming
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chair in twenty twenty three. The panel's website shows several
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oversight Republicans set in interviews, they appreciate the opportunity to
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examine policy areas without the partisan mudslinging and subpoena distractions
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that oversight has become known for. This term, Oh well,
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isn't that cute? Can't take a little bit of downrange
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political fire from your colleagues. Maybe you're too soft to
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be in that position when you're really trying to get
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to the bottom of something. It's much more conducive way
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of doing it, said Representative Eric Burlinson. Of course, another
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Republican representative, Clay Higgins, who voted against the Epstein Transparency Act,
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by the way, argue during a recent committee hearing on
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the misuse of federal funds in Minnesota that the subpoena
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happy approach has taken by his colleagues is undermining the
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seriousness of the panel's work. Buddy, you're the only one
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undermining anything serious. Another fool, another moron, another guy who
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thinks he's smarter than he is. How much money have
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you made since you've been in office, mister Higgins? How
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much of that money have you parked in offshore accounts?
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What exactly have you done for your constituents, mister Higgins,
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Have the people of Louisiana experienced this incredible rise in
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lifestyle that nobody knows about while you've been in office?
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Because what exactly is it that you're doing for your people?
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Because I can tell you what you're doing on the
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public stage, the national stage, is nothing but protecting the president.
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Imagine going down in history as the one dude to
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vote against the Epstein Transparency Act. In the year twenty
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seventy five, Hey, little Johnny, in the year twenty twenty
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five and twenty twenty six, there was a vote about
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the worst predator in the history of America. His name
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was Jeffrey Epstein, and only one person voted against him.
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Who was it? Little Johnny raises his hand again, Oh
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pick me. It was that moron Hillbilly Clay Higgins, That's
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who it was. I mean, is this guy for real?
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What does he think he's going to go down to
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some hero that people are going to look back on
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Clay Higgins as the moral standard for Congress. Listen to
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your uncle, Clay, America. You don't just normally start out
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with a subpoena introduced as a vote by a member
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Higgins said, I object to this process. That is false
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and not reflective of the serious investigative work that the
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Oversight Committee performs day in and day out. Very well,
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said Comer, replied, well, I don't know how Comer replied
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with that, considering he had all of Clay deep down
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his throat at that time. I'm shocked he was able
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to get any words out. But folks, let's be real.
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The whole point of this whole committee and James Comer
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is to protect Donald Trump. And there is no length
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that James Comer is not willing to go. And I
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think that we have plenty of evidence at this point
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that proves that. So, like usual, we'll keep on keeping
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on and we'll see what kind of nonsense that the
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GOP Committee comes up with next. But if they think
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that they're just gonna get away with it and everybody's
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just gonna NodD along, they got a whole lass other
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thing coming. All the information that goes with this episode
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can be found in the description box.