Garcia leads Democrats’ strategy on Epstein probe, to GOP’s dismay

WASHINGTON— Rep. Robert Garcia and his team faced a monumental task on November 5: sift through more than 20,000 documents obtained from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate to find anything that would shed more light on President Trump’s relationship with the now-deceased convicted sex offender.

After six exhausting days combing through the records, Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and four staffers identified three emails that would ignite a political firestorm.

In the emails, Epstein wrote that Trump “spent hours” with one of his victims at the late financier’s home and “knew about the girls”; which suggested that the president knew more about Epstein’s abuse than he had previously admitted. The site released the emails to the committee after receiving a subpoena.

“We thought [the emails] “There were real questions about the relationship between the President and Jeffrey Epstein,” Garcia said in an interview last week. “We knew we had to get these out as soon as possible.”

Garcia’s plan to release the emails quickly thrust the second-term Democrat into the national spotlight and raised his profile as Trump’s chief opponent on an issue that has dogged the president since his first term. It also increased pressure on the White House to release the Epstein investigation files.

Allegations in Epstein’s emails that Trump was involved in or aware of Epstein’s illegal activities have not been verified, and the White House has denied the accuracy of those statements.

The White House accused Democrats of “selectively” leaking emails to create a “fake story to smear President Trump,” adding that Democrats had changed the name of one of the victims, Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April and had previously said she did not witness Trump participating in abuse at Epstein’s home.

Email disclosures on Nov. 12 led Republicans on the committee to release the report. full record cache just hours later. At the same time, Democrats, joined by a handful of Republicans, were on the verge of forcing a House vote to force the Justice Department to release the Epstein files. Days later, Trump urged GOP lawmakers to support the bill he had long resisted and eventually signed it into law.

“If we hadn’t released the initial emails, Republicans probably wouldn’t have released anything,” Garcia said. “They never release anything until we force them and bring public pressure.”

Garcia argued that Democrats were prepared to release the entire set themselves, but gradually over the course of the week, and that such a release would have to be done carefully to protect the privacy of victims.

Republicans on the committee criticized the minority party’s approach, arguing that it focused on sensationalizing selected information that would harm Trump and politicizing the Epstein investigation.

“The most dangerous place in D.C. is between Robert Garcia and the cable news camera,” said Republican strategist Matthew Gorman. “This is just a ploy for him to get more attention and he’s using this issue to do it.”

‘Sometimes you have to respond harder’

Garcia’s allies see the 47-year-old’s rise as both predictable and reflective of his past.

Born in Peru, Garcia immigrated to the United States as a young child and became a citizen in his early 20s. He later became Long Beach’s first Latino and first openly gay mayor before coming to Washington; is one of the youngest currently serving as the ranking member of the main investigative panel in the House of Representatives.

Five months into office, Garcia says he still doesn’t believe he’s in the position that people like Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), whom he considers one of his “heroes,” are in.

“When I came to Congress a few years ago, being in a place where I was doing the job he did was not something I expected,” Garcia said. “I want to contribute however I can, take on this corruption, address what’s going on in the Jeffrey Epstein case, and hold the administration accountable.”

The oversight committee is one of the House’s most high-profile panels, and its chairman, Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, has broad subpoena power. Comer, a staunch Trump ally, is leading a review of the government’s investigation into Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell. Comer has subpoenaed both the Epstein estate and the Department of Justice.

Comer, like other House Republicans, declined to be interviewed for this article. However Comer told Politico last week He said he was “done with Garcia” and that the Democrat was “burning his bridges with this.”

“He just needs to make TikTok videos or something. … He’s not a serious researcher. He’s like a TikTok video kind of guy,” Comer said.

Garcia responded to Comer’s comments by referencing the movie “Mean Girls.”

“Why is he so obsessed with me?” It’s an example of how Garcia often uses pop culture to communicate with a more general audience, he said in an Instagram post on Wednesday.

Garcia says his tactics stem from an allergy to bullies.

“I grew up as an immigrant kid. … I know what it’s like to be on the other side of the bully,” he said. “If the bully is going to punch or hurt you or those you care about, you have to hit back. Sometimes you have to punch harder.”

Democrats credit Garcia with pushing Comer to take action. In July, a Republican-led subcommittee passed a Democratic-led motion to subpoena the Justice Department’s Epstein documents; this move ultimately prompted Comer to issue the subpoenas.

Rep. Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat, said the vote “started to topple the dominoes,” which eventually led to the public seeing a copy of Epstein’s “50th birthday book,” which included Trump’s name as well as three emails linking Trump to Epstein.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), a member of the oversight committee, praised Garcia for securing bipartisan support to secure the documents and distribute the records to the public. Khanna, who led the push for a vote on the House floor to demand that the Justice Department release the Epstein files, also wrote a letter with Garcia to Epstein’s estate demanding an unredacted copy of the birthday book.

Real estate lawyers said they would cooperate, but They requested a subpoena. to post materials due to privacy concerns. Khanna said he believes the letter galvanized the pressure that led Comer to subpoena the estate.

“I think it was effective in the way he worked with Comer to ensure that much of the investigation was bipartisan,” Khanna said in an interview.

A ‘dynamic’ approach to auditing

Garcia, who is known to use social media and pop culture to get his message out, has incorporated those communication tactics into his role on the oversight committee.

On the day the emails were released, Garcia promoted them in social media posts and videos and gave numerous interviews. The congresswoman, who describes herself as a Bravo fan, is scheduled to appear on the cable channel’s “What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” this week.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) told The Times that Garcia’s “dynamic” leadership approach has created new ways to communicate with the younger generation about the work Congress is doing.

“He seems to be successful in this regard, and it’s pleasing to see that,” the former speaker said. “He is young, but he has brought the members and the public along to understand what the challenge is.”

Rep. Robert Garcia speaks with Mayor Karen Bass at a congressional field hearing at the Metropolitan Water District on Monday.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

Republicans on the committee accused Garcia and Democrats of deliberately using the Epstein investigation to create a false narrative against Trump; Democrats think Garcia is willing to “fight fire with fire.”

Sen. Adam Schiff, who serves on the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, said Garcia’s effort to seek records “outside traditional channels,” including from the Epstein estate, helped create a “groundbreaking public narrative.”

“Under such a lawless and corrupt administration, we need talented and creative leaders to do oversight work, publicly expose abuses, and break new ground in a fragmented media landscape, and Congressman Garcia has proven to be adept at all three,” Schiff said.

Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and former Trump administration appointee, said Garcia’s strategy could backfire if all information about the Epstein investigation is revealed.

“I believe they’ve filled Pandora’s box with a bunch of conspiracy theories, fake memes, and news that the left has fully embraced that may not actually be true,” he said.

While more records from Epstein’s estate are expected to come to light in the coming weeks, Garcia said he is committed to exposing wrongdoing by everyone, regardless of party. Documents already It cited Epstein’s connections to prominent Democrats.

Records also show connections to major banks; Garcia said he believes Epstein could have played a central role in understanding the plea deal, which was negotiated by a prosecutor who served in Trump’s first term in his Cabinet.

“I’m not interested in protecting anyone,” he said. “I am interested in justice for survivors.”