CNN Newsroom: Interview with Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA)

Interview

"We have records of a $110 billion arms deal between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia that was inflated at the direction of Jared Kushner. The grift from this family is breathtaking. It's breathtaking. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Kushner walked out of the White House and months later get $2 billion from the Saudis.

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I mean, look, this impeachment inquiry is a total sham. The truth is is that Kevin McCarthy has completely lost control of his caucus.

He has essentially given leadership in his caucus to folks like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and George Santos. That's what controls now the Republican caucus. And so they are driving the agenda. There's been numerous members within his caucus that have said there's no evidence to link the two.

We know that Hunter Biden did not work in the White House. Hunter Biden had no direct business relationship with his father when his father was the vice president. There's been zero evidence, as has been noted by multiple people, multiple witnesses, folks that have been deposed, that have linked the president to Hunter Biden. But the hypocrisy is what's really crazy.

We have at the same time the Kushners and Jared Kushner who actually received $2 billion for his investment firm from the Saudis when he was the head of -- essentially Middle Eastern affairs for the White House, when he was there with his father-in-law. So that's what we should be investigating. And really that right now is the big American scandal.

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Yes. Both privately and publicly. Look, James Comer, the head of the Oversight Committee, even said publicly I believe on your network that he thought that this Kushner mess probably passed the ethical line. And he said that. It's a public record. Yet at the same time, he does not want to launch or really work on getting any sort of subpoena or investigation going.

Let's also remember that Jared Kushner from day one was incredibly problematic as it relates to foreign policy. He helped get rid of the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, he immediately begins doing deals with the Saudis. Makes sure that President Trump makes his first visit to Saudi Arabia, builds this relationship and then now is benefiting in enormous amounts of money. And so the link, the information that we're seeking is really, really important.

The Oversight Committee has a job to do, and let's remember that Jared Kushner and Ivanka were in the White House. They actually were employees of the White House. They worked for government. And so this is a really important investigation that we think needs to be launched. And Jim Comer should stick by what he said publicly, and that he agrees with us there's an ethical issue here, we should investigate them.

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Well, we are going to investigate Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. I mean, we are going to ideally win back the House. That is the goal. We're committed to that. We've got the right ideas to do so. And the Oversight Committee, I think our ranking member, Jamie Raskin, has been very clear this has been a priority. This is a huge scandal that deserves serious investigation.

The abuse of power and possible criminal activity here is immense. And so I think we have a responsibility to the American public to find out why Jared Kushner received $2 billion two months after leaving the White House. And that's a serious issue, and it's one that I think we're committed to on the Oversight Committee.

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Well, look, I think what's really important is that we let the justice system and the process play out. You know, no one is shying to shield Hunter Biden for whatever mistakes he's made and whatever the justice system ends up deciding. I think that's really important. I think everyone including the White House has been pretty clear about that. So we should let that process play out. I do not think it's going to impact the president or it's impacting the president at all.

Hunter Biden is a private citizen. Obviously President Biden is a loving father, and this whole situation is very different considering Hunter Biden never worked in the White House. There's no link there. And there's been zero evidence, as we know, linking the two. As far as what Hunter says to the public, that's really up to him, you know, and his process. I just hope that the legal process plays out. And just all that interest that folks have in Hunter Biden quite

frankly Republicans should not be hypocritical and have that level of interest if not more on what the Kushners were doing in the White House.

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Well, first -- I mean, trust our leader in the House. Hakeem Jeffries, he's done a great job of being a spokesperson for the House.

I think, at the end of the day, I think everyone understands that this impeachment inquiry is essentially a political stunt to help get Donald Trump elected.

Marjorie Taylor Greene has said as much. She is linking essentially this just insane possibility of a government shutdown, which would hurt so many people across this country, to impeaching President Biden.

So this has been a political stunt from day one. They telegraphed that already to the public.

They're out there linking not just Marjorie Taylor Greene, folks like Matt Gaetz, linking Kevin McCarthy acting on impeachment to the government shutdown.

And so it's -- it's both laughable and sad that this is where the modern-day Republican Party in the House is at this point.

And it's because Kevin McCarthy, unfortunately, has no control over his caucus. So that is what we're now seeing, essentially the Marjorie Taylor Greene Republican caucus in Congress.

But Democrats are prepared. We'll continue to put out the truth. And we need to push back and we need to, most importantly, focus on actually delivering results and stopping this insane government shutdown.

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