Congressman Yassimon Ansari (5:27)

is ongoing, abundantly clear that this is the most egregious cover up in American history. The recent reporting by the New York Times, NPR and other media outlets that have verified this, demonstrating that the Department of Justice, in addition to violating the law over and over again as they refuse to release the full and unredacted files, have withheld 50 pages of allegations against President Trump. This cover up needs to end immediately. I am glad that we are here today as part of this ongoing investigation because we will accept any information that anybody can give us about Jeffrey Epstein's vast child sex trafficking operation. I just want to say that young people in this country are watching right now. If the most powerful people in the United States of America, the elite and rich and powerful men and women, are able to, to get away with these heinous crimes, then we are sending a horrible message to young people in this country that powerful people will always protect themselves and the rule of law does not apply to everyone.

Podcast Host (6:38)

Now, I'll be interviewing her later this afternoon after she gets out of the deposition. Here is Congressman James Walkinshaw about what he heard or what he expects to hear inside the deposition today.

Congressman James Walkinshaw (6:47)

There's no indication, zero, zip, zilch, nada, that Secretary Clinton had any knowledge of Epstein's crimes. She submitted a sworn statement that she never met Jeffrey Epstein. And my fear is we're here today as part of a political exercise, part of a long running fever dream where Republicans want to lock up Secretary Clinton. We had the State of the Union this week, and President Trump spoke for two hours and refused to even acknowledge the courageous survivors of Epstein's crimes who were in the chamber.

Podcast Host (7:27)

Couldn't have said it better myself. So we'll see what happens. I spoke with Congresswoman Val Hoyle about the Epstein files and much more today. Make sure to like, comment, share and subscribe. Take a listen to my interview with the congresswoman. I am super excited today to be joined by Congresswoman Val Hoyle from Oregon. Now, Congresswoman, I really just want to jump right in. You boycotted the President's State of the Union address this week. Tell me why.

Congresswoman Val Hoyle (7:49)

I don't know that I boycotted it. I did. I didn't go because I didn't want to sit there and be insulted. I mean, this is not a president. I can handle differences with my Republican colleagues on policy, but fundamentally, this president has done more to let people know he only wants to support people who support him. And he insulted Democrats. And I'm not going to sit there and take abuse by someone that's supposed to represent the entire country. So I watched it, but from home, and it was quite a thing.

Podcast Host (8:27)

What'd you think?

Congresswoman Val Hoyle (8:31)

I do not understand how this man does not have more people in his party calling him out for what truly was fairly unhinged comments. I mean, it's one attacking immigrants and demonizing them so that, you know, DHS ICE is literally murdering people, and we've gotten the American people so used to it that there's not outrage. And then now he's attacking people who don't agree with them, from the Supreme Court down to duly elected Democrats who are here to represent the, you know, their people. It was, it was fine when he was reading, but as it got later into his speech, you could see that the threads were kind of escaping. I want to know where's the 247 coverage that we heard about Joe Biden sundowning now? Why are we not hearing that? You know, it's like, this is what happens in, in dictatorships. This is what happens in North Korea. Why are we, as Americans in the media, are afraid to call out what everybody can see plainly? I don't know.

Podcast Host (9:44)

Well, could you talk a little bit more about that? What are we seeing? Do you believe that this president is sundowning as we speak?

Congresswoman Val Hoyle (9:49)

I, you know, I don't know if it's sundowning. I can't make a medical diagnosis. What I know is that the erratic nature of how he's handling tariffs, how he's handling international policy, how he's handling, again, the, the insulting way he talks about Americans and the people that are here, that built the country. You know, anyone who, who dares speak out against him the way that he wants to name everything after himself, I mean, that is absolutely unhinged, right? Like there. There's no kind of more frontal lobe engagement that says maybe I shouldn't say these things. I mean, he doesn't have the restraint that we saw him have a year ago or two years ago. And again, why are we not that out? We heard about it about Joe Biden over and over and over again from Democrats and Republicans. But for this man who is making decisions that literally are killing people, we're not saying a thing. And, and again, I got to wonder, why are my Republican colleagues afraid to speak up or not willing to speak up? I mean, that's what happens in a cult. And I, I just. It is beyond me. So, no, I didn't go to the State of the Union.

Podcast Host (11:07)

I got to ask you talk about your Republican colleagues. You're on Capitol Hill. You're with them every day practically. Do you hear things differently behind the scenes versus what they're afraid to say publicly, at least behind the scenes, are they saying, yeah, this is a little too far for me.

Congresswoman Val Hoyle (11:21)

Yes, there are colleagues. I think the prayer breakfast was something that even some of my most conservative colleagues were so deeply offended. Where this is supposed to be bipartisan, and it is the prayer breakfast. And he ranted about the 2020 election, and it was deeply offensive. Said he never read the Bible. I mean, these are people of faith that go to the prayer breakfast. So I heard from a number of Republican colleagues. We have one colleague that said, you know, I'd like to vote with you, but I've got a wife and kids at home and I have to be concerned about their safety. And we have seen him weaponized, sort of his MAGA base targeting people, saying, this person voted against me. John Thune is feeling it now. You know, he wants to make people afraid to say no. We are a separate and equal branch of government. We took an oath to obey the Constitution. And somehow, specifically Mike Johnson and most of my Republican colleagues are afraid to do the job that they took an oath to do. And that's not. That's. That's not how we preserve our democracy.

Podcast Host (12:29)

Now, Congresswoman, I do want to ask you about something else. Right now, we're in a partial government shutdown. Department of Homeland Security isn't receiving funding. It's been almost two weeks. Do you see this ending anytime soon? And what are your kind of non negotiables in this negotiation?

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (12:45)

Look, I don't know why we're negotiating against ourselves. I mean, I think the only outcome, and Representative Rosa DeLauro has a bill for this, is to separate. Separate out FEMA and TSA and, you know, the Coast Guard, you know, cybersecurity. Separate them out, fund them, and then ICE and CBP have plenty of money to go through. I don't think under this administration, under, you know, with Steve Miller's influence, with Kristi Noem, that you can reform ICE and CBP as it is. You cannot. They are being weaponized. This is, you know, they are building

Congresswoman Val Hoyle (13:30)

up an army to use against not

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (13:32)

only immigrants, but American citizens. So coming up to the election. So I think that the only answer is to separate those things out. I fly a lot. I'm door to door. I have an 11 hour commute. There's no direct flights from where I'm at. So I talk to My TSA agents, they are dedicated, they are low paid, they do a lot of work for a little and you know, they can't go without their wages. So I'm not going to vote to fund DHS and ICE and give them more, I mean, ICE and CBP and give them more money. And I think, I don't understand. This is what Democrats do. When Republicans have control, they, they have a one vote majority. They vote like they, they act like they have a mandate. And when Democrats have control, we nibble around the edges. I mean, I just think we have to have a clear line, fund the things that we can all agree on funding. And again, Rosa DeLauro has a bill, maybe we'll bring it up through a discharge petition and then leave ICE and CBP for hopefully when we have the majority and we can actually have some real negotiations.

Podcast Host (14:40)

Well, I guess my question is, what do you say to people who push back on that and say, you know what, it's going to. Republicans aren't going to agree to any of that. They're not going to agree to Congresswoman DeLauro's bill and two months time from now you're going to have TSA agents and coast Guard and all these folks who Americans need. They're not, they're going to start walking off the job, right. And then our air traffic control system is not going to work. What do you say to that?

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (15:02)

So fundamentally, there are Republicans that do want to fund these things. There are Republicans that are seeing a 12 to 15 point swing in their districts that they're going to have to run in. They have to see their TSA agents, they have to deal with fema. They know that they have to step forward and make government run. And so hopefully we can get enough Republicans to sign a discharge petition to get it over to the Senate where I think, you know, we could potentially have more reasonable discussions. The, the fact is Republicans are in charge. They're supposed to be running government. And if they want the votes from Democrats, then they actually have to come to the table because what does giving in do for us? It does nothing, absolutely nothing. And again, I feel for, I represent two thirds of the Oregon coast, right? So the Coast Guard is absolutely critical. Again, dedicated, dedicated federal employees. And this administration has attacked federal workers, attacked their professionalism, has tormented them so that they can leave and, you know, privatize government. And fundamentally, at some point you have to have a backbone and stand up for what's right. And I'm hoping my Republican colleagues will

Podcast Host (16:23)

come to the table now before I let you go. One final question I want to ask you about the Epstein files. You voted to release the Epstein files. Dozen Epstein survivors were at the State of the Union address. Obviously, the release of the files has simply not been sufficient and in compliance with the law, a lot of people are saying, what can be done, right? I mean, like, what's next? So what's your answer to that?

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (16:44)

So, I mean, the. The DOJ is doing everything they can to obfuscate, to make it difficult to find anything, any information. But we are working together. There is, there's a plan. Robert Garcia as head, as ranking member on oversight and Jamie Raskin as ranking member and judiciary have really focused to make sure that when we go in, in the limited time we're allowed to have, as we have to hand transcribe these notes, they're giving us directions so that we can use every single one of us to make sure that we see all those files and then we get that information out to the public. These women deserve justice. And it has been a long time coming. I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican. We should want justice for those women and to hold people accountable who raped children. Ghislaine Maxwell being put in a nicer prison after she did what she did. I mean, I've said it before and I'll say it again, that woman should rot in hell. There should be no grace given her. And yet why do we have anyone supporting an administration who wants to go easy on pedophiles who raped children? I don't understand. But I do know I represent some very conservative areas. I represent some very progressive areas. And across the board there is agreement that there needs to be transparency. So they're going to make it difficult for us to find these records. But you've been doing fantastic work on going through and just like as the information comes out, getting it to the American people. And I know that that's really making a difference.

Podcast Host (18:24)

Well, thank you for that. And Congresswoman, thank you for taking a few minutes this morning.

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (18:28)

Sure. Thanks so much.

Podcast Host (18:30)

Hey folks, thanks so much for watching. Feel free to add this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you watch for the latest breaking news and daily hits throughout the day. Make sure to follow subscribe. See you soon for more.

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