This episode covers the investigations Democrats have begun ahead of gaining subpoena power in January, including letters to more than 60 companies and agencies, probes into climate science contracts, and questions about RFK Jr.'s 2019 Samoa trip. Host Aaron Parnas also reports on a federal prosecutor's letter threatening Senator Richard Blumenthal, Trump's reported move to sideline JD Vance from Iran talks, and lawmakers' questions about Jensen Huang.
The main interview features incoming Texas Congressman Johnny Garcia, who discusses his victory in the 35th District, immigration, affordability, and accountability.
In this episode Aaron Parnas, Johnny Garcia
This episode's transcript on Trump investigations and Johnny Garcia's interview was made with the technology behind HappyScribe's note taker for online meetings.
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It's official, it's investigation time. The investigations are here, they have begun, and the Trump administration is already threatening to prosecute the people leading them. In just the last 48 hours, Democrats have put more than 60 companies, individuals, and agencies on notice. They've opened up a probe into whether RFK Jr. lied to Congress, and they're going after Donald Trump's top fundraiser over $800 million in corporate donations. The response from the Justice Department? Quote, "A federal prosecutor is threatening a sitting senator with significant legal consequences."
A significant development right now, at this hour. If you can, as always, subscribe to support this work. I know I ask a lot, but your subscriptions fuel it, and we are providing a roadmap for members of Congress on how and where to look. Right now? They're following the money. Like, comment, share, get the word out. And it all comes as the President of the United States has spent the past several hours on Truth Social, starting at 4 in the morning, lashing out at everyone from Democrats to JD Vance. So let's talk about the investigations, because they are here, and they are big.
Democrats don't get subpoena power until January, but they are not waiting. According to The New York Times, two House committees have sent letters to more than 60 companies, individuals, and agencies, telling them to preserve every document that could be relevant to oversight next year. The House Science Committee is looking at three things. First, the administration's attempt to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which Budget Director Russell Vought called "one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country." Second, a Secret Energy Department report written to undermine climate science, which a federal judge later ruled illegal.
And third, a deal in which the government agreed to invest $1.6 billion in Rare Earths Company, that then raised private money through Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm now run by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's sons, previously run by Howard Lutnick, who, by the way, may soon be on the outs. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, who's expected to chair the committee, put it bluntly, quote, "This administration has engaged in an assault on the science enterprise in this country." But that's not all. Over at the Natural Resources Committee, Congressman Jared Huffman sent letters to companies that cashed in on Trump's deals.
They include SoftBank, a $50 million donor to Trump's presidential library that's getting help from the administration, to fast-track the world's largest data center development. He also sent one to the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit Democrats say the administration tried to use to hide who donated to Trump's ballroom. And it doesn't stop there. Senator Ron Wyden, the incoming chair of the Senate Finance Committee, is not only investigating the ties related to Jeffrey Epstein that many of these big banks have, he's also opened an investigation into whether Health Secretary RFK Jr.
lied to Congress, lied under oath. At his confirmation hearings, Kennedy said his 2019 trip to Samoa had nothing to do with vaccines. But a letter he wrote before the trip, that was later obtained by The Guardian and the Associated Press, said he wanted to study the MMR vaccine using the words "vaccine" or "vaccination" eight separate times. Months after his visit, a measles outbreak killed 83 people in Samoa, most of them young children. And then there's Donald Trump's top fundraiser, Meredith O'Rourke, whom he has reportedly named the "princess of darkness."
Senator Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal, and Congressman Robert Garcia, are all demanding records of more than $800 million in corporate donations to Trump's projects. Their letter says the operation reeks of potential corruption that Trump calls "absurd." Democrats want the documents to decide for themselves. If you want to know how the administration is fighting back, this is how: by threatening a sitting United States Senator, Richard Blumenthal, with possible prosecution. Aaron Wright, a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Texas, sent Senator Blumenthal a letter threatening significant legal consequences over his investigation into Trump's ballroom donors, citing two federal statutes, including one related to the conspiracy to violate constitutional rights.
Blumenthal's response? "I will not be intimidated." But if you put it all together, the message is clear: investigate us, and you could be next. Now, in a stunning reversal today, this happened. Donald Trump pulled JD Vance off of negotiations with Iran, saying, "We don't need a deal with Iran. Those days have long passed." According to The New York Times, Vance had just sent a letter through Qatari mediators proposing renewed negotiations that would be led by him. Trump quickly shut it down, told Vance to focus on corruption instead, and has spent literally all day posting on Truth Social.
Everything from calling for the prosecution of Democratic lawmakers to melting down over the fact that his name wasn't on the ballot and that's why they lost, and so much more. All while members of Congress are asking questions about Donald Trump's relationship with the now former CEO of Nvidia, Jensen Huang.
Acknowledge that we're in the midst of an AI, a technology arms race with China, and the life and safety of the American people are at stake. Our cybersecurity safety is at stake. And the engines of that race are advanced chips. And President Trump made a decision to sell those advanced chips to China. He made that decision in part based on arguments that Jensen Huang made. We now know that Jensen Huang perhaps was making those arguments because he was influenced by a Chinese spy, a Chinese spy that President Trump knew about.
So a fundamental question here is: why did President Trump take no action after he was warned that Jensen Huang had this relationship with a Chinese spy? Congress has to get to the bottom of that.
Congress has to get to the bottom of it. I spoke with one incoming member of Congress, Johnny Garcia, in Texas, Texas 35th Congressional District. But before I show you our conversation, if you can, please consider subscribing to support my work. Because when an administration goes after Congress like this, independent journalists like me are next. I don't have a network or a billionaire behind me. I have you. So like, comment, share my conversation with Congressman-elect Johnny Garcia.
Excited to be here today with Congressman-elect Johnny Garcia from Texas 35th Congressional District. How does it feel to have broken through the Republican gerrymander in the state of Texas?
It feels liberating. And I can't even imagine what it feels like for the people. When we declared victory on November 3, which seems like just a couple of days ago, we were seeing people cry. You know, because we got to see a monumental shift in Texas that hadn't happened in over 30 years. I'm 39 years old. I still remember the twilight days of what it was like to have Governor Ann Richards lead the state of Texas. The days after winning that election, I also got to speak to former President Bill Clinton and just talk about just what it was like to have power, to have blue areas of Texas now being represented once again by Democrats.
And it feels great to be up here, but I'm just focused on getting the job done, making sure that we're moving our nation in the right track.
Right now, in your state, you have one statewide elected Republican for the first time in a very long time, Ted Cruz.
That's right.
When people say Texas is a red state, still, do you agree?
I agree that we're common-sense people in Texas. And I think when you put common-sense individuals on the ballot, you get to see what we saw in Texas. When we're putting people on the ballot that talk about the issues that mean the most to Texans, we get to see what we got to see a couple of days ago. And that's the focus heading into this 120th session, is talking about the issues that mean the most, delivering on the issues that mean the most to folks, especially working-class families that are getting hit the hardest by tariffs, the largest uninsured state in the union, Texas having affordable health care, and making sure that we're addressing this broken immigration system that is broken, and we're going to have to fix a lot of the damage that's been caused.
The President recently said, regarding immigration, that he'd be open to some type of amnesty program. Would you be open to working with the President on that?
I'm willing to work with anybody that is going to fix this broken system. On the campaign trail, I said that we need a construction worker to go to Washington, D.C., to rebuild this broken system that isn't working for working-class families, let alone this immigration system that has been broken well before I got here. It's going to be incumbent upon all of us, Republicans and Democrats, to fix it so we can move our nation forward.
You talk a lot about affordability and what you're going to do. Do you believe that this new Congress should focus on priority affordability or accountability?
It's going to be both, right? We're going to have to walk and chew gum at the same time, let alone we're going to have to run and chew gum at the same time. We're going to have to make accomplishments early on in this session to make sure that we're addressing the needs that we're fighting to lower costs that the vast majority of families are facing in the grocery aisles, right? We can't be talking about stocks going up because the everyday family isn't worried about that. They're focused on costs when they're going to the grocery store, when they're going to the gas pumps, and ultimately, it's making sure that they're going to also be able to keep the lights on for their family and health care.
There's so many things that we have to address and tackle. Definitely, accountability is at the forefront of my agenda as well. As a sheriff's deputy, SWAT hostage negotiator, spokesperson for the sheriff's office, I told folks that we have to communicate equally when you get things right and when you get things wrong. And that's how we rebuild trust in our nation. And we've gotten to see that erode over this cycle, and now we're trying to rebuild on that and bring that accountability and affordability back to the everyday Texan.
On that accountability front, this week, an impeachment effort against Pete Hegseth failed in this current Congress. Would you support your incoming Congress bringing up articles of impeachment against Hegseth?
I mean, we got to see this administration bypass the checks and balances that Congress should be holding, and administration too, when you're talking about sending off our troops to a war, putting them in harm's way, and bypassing that system. Now that we have the majority, we're going to be able to hold folks accountable. We're going to be able to bring back the discussions that need to be had at the table. And when we're talking about what the evidence details for us, I'm a sheriff's deputy.
We have to look at the evidence and ultimately push what it leads us to, whether that is impeachment or what it isn't. I do know that we were talking at a meeting this morning with Whip Clark, and we were talking about folks that just don't show up for work. That's unacceptable. And the American people elected us, Texans elected me, to show up every single day for work. And that's what I'm going to be doing.
Looking ahead to 2028, a lot of these seats that Democrats flipped this time around are going to be up for reelection in two years, and a lot of them are in Trump-plus-10, plus-15 areas. What's your recommendation to those Democrats on how to keep those seats blue?
I mean, everybody has their race to run, as do I. My focus is making sure that I'm delivering for District 35 and making sure that we lower costs, we make health care more affordable, we have a strong border, and we keep our community safe. And that's going to be my focus. And also, look, I'm definitely going to be making sure that we're working with everybody in order to accomplish these goals.
Congressman, thank you for the time.
Thank you so much.
Surging right now, and thanks to you. Thank you for watching this video. Thank you for sharing our content. Make sure to hit that Subscribe button. We're on the road to a million subscribers. Like, comment, share, get the word out. Thank you so much again.
Aaron Parnas reports on breaking news of investigations into Trump and admin officially starting today as Trump makes a desperate move to avoid jail, including an exclusive interview with Rep. Johnny Garcia to discuss his major victory, plans now that he is in office, and much more!
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