Transcript of House Oversight to Investigate Trump’s $17 Trillion Missing Funds?!!

Did Donald Trump steal $17 trillion? And I'm not exaggerating. Donald Trump said that he received $17 trillion from tariffs and from other countries. But as far as I know, the Treasury Department doesn't have this money. We know from the budget committees and the appropriation committees and the finance committees in the House and the Senate that they don't have $17 trillion. Now, we're in a government shutdown caused by Donald Trump and these MAGA Republicans. So folks, if there's $17 trillion dollars out there, not only does it solve everything, but it improves everything. It makes everybody's life so much better. Look, we would really be in a golden age if there's $17 trillion. It would help the farmers, it would help health care for everybody. It would help education for everybody. Remember when Donald Trump talked about those DOGE rebate checks for $5,000 or the tariff rebate checks? Heck, maybe we give extra dividends. If there's 17 trillion dollars out there, let's give it to the people, right? I mean, this is what the talking point is from Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans and J. V. V. Vance. They keep on saying that they've been so great that they have $17 trillion, and they're somehow connecting that to the shutdown, which is counterintuitive to me because if they've got 17 trillion, that's the solve.

Here, this is what just to show you, this is Donald Trump saying it again. He says it every day, but here, play this clip.

We have over 17 trillion dollars, Albert. Do you believe these numbers? Biden had less than a trillion for four years. We have over 17 trillion for essentially eight months. Pretty amazing.

Wow, 17 trillion dollars in eight months. Look, that's great. But where is it? Where's the money? Is it in his own bank accounts? I don't know. I'm going to call in the Democratic ranking member of the House Oversight Committee who's just been crushing it there, Congress member Robert Garcia. I want to talk about your other work, bringing out some additional Epstein file batches. I want you doing great work. That social media account you're running is amazing. But this is, I think, a serious oversight issue. $17 trillion is apparently missing right now, and we're in a government shutdown. Trump keeps saying he's got $17 trillion. Where did it go?

Who the hell knows? I mean, first of all, Donald Trump is living in a fantasy land. And if there is $17 trillion somewhere, the government doesn't know about it. No, none of our committees have access to it. Treasury has no idea what the hell he's talking about. And so you're absolutely right. We're in a government shutdown right now. Donald Trump could actually reopen the government back up, extend health care subsidies, fix America's public schools, provide some subsidies that should lower the cost of goods across this country. But we know that Donald Trump is a liar. He's either a liar or he stashed away some money somewhere in some magical way, and there's even more corruption happening. And so look, the media needs to also get on the game here. Donald Trump is claiming there's $17 trillion somewhere. Why is he being asked the question of where that money is every single minute of the day? And so this man is the most corrupt person to obviously ever be President. He lies, he steals, he cheats. Now there's apparently $17 trillion somewhere that nobody knows about. And so we've got to ask the questions. And I think that at this moment during the shutdown.

The fact that Donald Trump wants to claim that things are getting better for the American public is a joke. Costs are going up. Health care costs are going up. The grocery bill is going up. So that's why we're in this fight, because we are saying, L no to more tax cuts for billionaires, and let's actually lower the cost of health care, which if we stay strong as Democrats, we can actually hopefully negotiate and get done.

I mean, one of the arguments, if you try to understand what the heck the MAGA Republicans are even saying when you actually address honestly and not with their spin and their propaganda, the issue of the Affordable Care Act tax credits, they ultimately say the issue is that it's too expensive. I mean, they make up a bunch of stuff about transgender. I'm not going down that route because why repeat their stupid lies? But let's just accept the argument that they make when you put all that other crap aside, it's that the tax credits are too expensive and that the government shouldn't be helping people get health care. We could help the billionaires, but we can't help them. That's their argument. So if there's $17 trillion, though, you now have the money. What I saw was that we ran a $2 trillion deficit the last fiscal year, and last month we ran a $345,000. $5 billion deficit. But actually, we're in a surplus situation, and all of this gets the farmers, construction work, manufa... Everybody. And this could be a great opportunity. So I'm shocked that James or your buddy who chairs the House Obersight Committee, doesn't he want to know where the $17 trillion is?

Because it solves everything. What else would Obersight be doing other than oversight of 65 % of our GDP?

Look, I mean, yeah. And it looks like if this keeps going, we're going to have to investigate where the hell these $17 trillion are. No question, because this is ridiculous that Republicans are the hypocrisy, right? I mean, Republicans are saying, on one hand, oh, there's not enough money for health care subsidies. And then on the other hand, they are stashing away money, giving it to their billionaire friends, doing all these tax breaks, the increasing exponentially the national debt. So they could really care less about working people. What they really are focused on is giving their billionaire buddies and donors more of hardworking Americans money. All the labor, all the money that folks are trying to save, they make at work, it's being given away to a large corporations of billionaires. And Donald Trump is out here, of course, talking about money that's coming in, which we know was just a farce. If there's actually that much money, $17 trillion somewhere, show it to us. Let's actually spend it to actually lower health care costs for the American public. But Donald Trump is a liar, and Donald Trump is corrupt. And so what he wants to do right now is do everything he can to put out guards across the country, to send the military to cities, to cut benefits for people, which is why Democrats in this moment have to be in this fight and not give an inch and stop doing what some of these Senate Democrats are doing, which is caving in to leader Thun over there and to Donald Trump.

Here's another house oversight issue. I'm just going to let it all off my chest right now. All that stupid gold in the White House, the 24 carat this, gold this, gold that, he posts and brags, I've got gold everywhere. And then the golden ballroom, which is purportedly, he claims being funded by companies or corporations, although who's paid for the architectural plans? Who's paid for the cutting of these trees? And to me, it's a symbol of all of his corruption right there that they want to build a structure three times as big as the White House itself. So to me, are foreign companies putting there investing? Does Qatar get their name? Is it the Qatari Ballroom now? What is actually happening with this thing? Because I know the American people People are like, We're out here wondering if we're going to be able to pay rent, and this guy's freaking building 90,000 square foot ballrooms. What's up with that?

Well, stay tuned because we're asking those same questions. And so look, this idea, one, that even if there were donations being made to build some of this, and of course, Donald Trump likes to claim, Oh, no, I'm paying for a lot of this, and there's going to be no public money. The fact that he's going to sell off parts of the people's house, he's going to put the names of donors or companies or who God knows who, on the wall of the ballroom, that monstrosity shouldn't be there in the first place. It's going to completely damage, of course, not just the lawn of the White House, but that entire campus. You are already seen what he's done to the Rose Garden, into that damn patio that he's built out there and cemented the whole thing. What he's doing to the White House is disgraceful. But what underneath that is corruption. There is no question that this ballroom and what's happening there We have questions. We need to know who's involved, are foreign governments paying for any of this? And so Obersight is already working on asking the right questions and an investigation into what's happening at the White House as it relates to this construction because it is outrageous and a disgrace that that's happening right now.

I know you got to go soon, but last question, you've been getting your hands on a lot more of these Epstein files. You released the third batch. It was last week, and we've learned a lot more of Elon Musk's name was mentioned about potentially going to the island, at least that was on the Epstein side of it.

Did he go? We should know.

Exactly. Banon's name was on it. We know Banon said that he was terrified of the stuff that Epstein may have known about Trump during the first administration. So where is this going? And obviously, it does seem like they don't want to swear in a Congresswoman-elect, Rehalva, despite all of the precedent of swearing in people because of the discharge Which petition that she would lend the last signature needed. So where are we right now from the oversight perspective?

So we are obviously continuing to build a case, right? And we're gathering information, talking to whistleblowers, interviewing people from across They've been involved in this Epstein case, talking to survivors. And what's next, and what's critical for us moving forward, is the bank and financial records. And so that's something that we've known from day one that we need to get. So for us, it's getting all of the files from the DOJ, which are under subpoena, which right now we have no idea why the hell Pam Bonnie just doesn't do her job and release him. Well, she's protecting Trump. That's probably what she's trying to do. But she needs to get that information to us. And legally, she's required to do so. The second He says, We're working with all the financial institutions. We need to get all the financial records. Who paid Jeffrey Epstein? How did that money move? Who was actually part of this broader scheme in 6 Trafficking Rings? So all of these questions are out there. And for us to move our investigation forward, Donald Trump's got to live up this campaign promise. He said he'd release the files, and now he's not.

And that's because clearly, this is a White House cover-up, and he's hiding something. And oversight is going to push every single day So we get the truth.

Congressmen Garcia, let me just say on behalf of a lot of Americans, it is refreshing to see people fighting and you're fighting in your position as the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. It's like, yes, this is what we wanted. Anyway, I know you got to go. It's a busy day for Democrats, but what? The Republicans aren't showing up today, though. It's just the Democrats.

Oh, yeah. Republicans aren't anywhere to be found. We're working, we're meeting, we're talking to federal workers. At the end of the day, Republicans need to be here. They should have been here over the last few days. And it's shameful that they're going to allow health care premiums to go up. People are going to start getting letters saying that their health care costs are going to go up in the next few weeks because Republicans could care less about them and only want to focus on their billionaire friends.

That's wild. They're not there, right? They're gone. They're not through it. Just I want it to be clear to the American people because I don't think any people really know this. Republicans, Congress members are not on Capitol Hill today.

That's right. And they haven't been for the last... I mean, we should have been here all week working on this. Nowhere to be found.

Anyway, thanks for joining us, Congress member Garcia, ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. We appreciate you.

Thank you.

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