WASHINGTON — On November 5, Rep. Robert Garcia and his team faced a monumental task: sifting through more than 20,000 documents obtained from Jeffrey Epstein's estate in search of anything that might shed more light on President Trump's relationship with the now-deceased convicted sex offender.
After six tedious days combing through records, Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and four staffers discovered three emails that were subsequently sent to stir up a political storm.
In the emails, Epstein wrote that Trump “spent hours” at the late financier's home with one of his victims and that he “knew about the girls,” suggesting the president knew more about Epstein's abuses than he previously admitted. The estate turned over the emails to the committee after receiving the subpoena.
“We thought [the emails] “really raised questions about the relationship between the president and Jeffrey Epstein,” Garcia said in an interview last week. “We knew we needed to bring these issues to light as quickly as possible.”
Garcia's plan to release the emails quickly thrust the second-term Democrat into national attention and raised his profile as Trump's chief antagonist 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.
Claims in Epstein's emails about Trump's involvement or knowledge of Epstein's illegal activities have not been substantiated, and the White House has denied the veracity of the messages.
The White House accused Democrats of “selectively” leaking emails to create a “false story to smear President Trump,” adding that Democrats redacted the name of one of the victims, Virginia Giuffre, who committed suicide in April and had previously said she did not witness Trump's involvement in the abuse at Epstein's home.
The Nov. 12 email disclosure prompted Republicans on the committee to release full cache of entries just a few hours later. At the same time, Democrats, joined by a handful of Republicans, were on the verge of forcing the House to vote to force the Justice Department to release Epstein's files. Days later, Trump urged GOP lawmakers to support the bill, which he had long resisted, and ultimately signed it into law.
“If we had not released the original emails, Republicans likely would not have released anything,” Garcia said. “They never publish anything unless we push them and apply public pressure.”
Garcia said Democrats are willing to release the full kit themselves, but gradually over the course of a week, arguing such a release must be done carefully to protect victims' privacy.
Republicans on the committee criticized the minority party's approach, arguing it is focused on sensationalizing isolated pieces of information to damage Trump and politicizing the Epstein investigation.
“The most dangerous place in D.C. is between Robert Garcia and the cable TV camera,” said Republican strategist Matthew Gorman. “It's just a ploy of his to get more attention and he's using this issue to do it.”
“Sometimes you have to hit back harder.”
Garcia's allies view the 47-year-old politician's rise as predictable and reflective of his past.
Born in Peru, Garcia immigrated to the United States as a child and became a citizen in his early 20s. He later became the first Latino and first openly gay mayor of Long Beach before coming to Washington, where he is now one of the youngest ever to serve as the ranking member of the House investigative panel.
Five months after taking office, Garcia says he still doesn't believe he's in the same position as people like Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), whom he considers one of his “heroes.”
“To be in a place where I'm doing the kind of work that he was doing when I got to Congress a couple of years ago, I didn't expect,” Garcia said. “I want to do my part as much as I can and take on this corruption, take on what's going on with the Jeffrey Epstein case and hold the administration accountable.”
The Oversight Committee is one of the House's most powerful committees, and its chairman, Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, has broad subpoena powers. Comer, a staunch Trump ally, is leading a review of the government's investigation into Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell. Comer subpoenaed both Epstein's heirs and the Justice Department.
Comer declined to be interviewed for this article, as did other House Republicans. But Comer told Politico last week that he was “done with Garcia” and that the Democrat “burned bridges with it.”
“He just needs to make TikTok videos or something… He's not a serious investigator. He's like a guy who makes TikTok videos,” Comer said.
Garcia responded to Comer's comments with a reference to the movie Mean Girls.
“Why is he so obsessed with me?” he said in an Instagram post Wednesday — an example of how Garcia often uses pop culture to connect with a broader audience.
Garcia says his tactics are motivated by an allergy to bullies.
“I grew up as an immigrant child… I know what it’s like to be on the other side of a bully,” he said. “If a bully is going to hit or hurt you or other people you care about, you have to fight back. Sometimes you have to hit back harder.”
Democrats credit Garcia for pushing Comer to act. In July, a Republican-led subcommittee passed a Democratic-led motion to subpoena Epstein's Justice Department documents, a move that ultimately prompted Comer to subpoena him.
Rep. Robert Garcia speaks at a swearing-in ceremony in Long Beach in August to mark his new role as ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.
(Jonathan Alcorn/For The Times)
Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, said the vote “started to topple dominoes” that eventually led to the public seeing a copy of “Epstein's 50th anniversary book” that includes 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 for securing documents and releasing records. Khanna, who led the campaign to force a House vote demanding the Justice Department release Epstein's files, also co-wrote a letter with Garcia to Epstein's estate asking unedited copy of the greeting book.
The estate's lawyers said they would cooperate, but they needed a subpoena publish materials for privacy reasons. Hanna said he believes the letter started the push that ultimately led Comer to subpoena the estate.
“I think the way he worked with Comer to ensure that much of the investigation was bipartisan was effective,” Hanna said in an interview.
“Dynamic” approach to supervision
Garcia, who is known to use social media and pop culture to amplify his message, has incorporated these communications tactics into his role on the oversight committee.
On the day the emails were published, Garcia promoted them in social media posts and videos and gave several interviews. The congressman — a self-proclaimed Bravo fan — is scheduled to appear this week on the cable channel's “What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.”
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) told The Times that Garcia's “dynamic” approach to leadership is creating new ways to educate younger generations about the work of Congress.
“He seems to be succeeding at it, which is a joy,” the former speaker said. “He’s young, but he’s managed to get the members and the public to understand what the problem is.”
Rep. Robert Garcia speaks with Mayor Karen Bass at a congressional retreat at the Capital 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, a criticism that Democrats see as Garcia's willingness to “fight fire with fire.”
Sen. Adam Schiff, who served on the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, said Garcia's commitment to seeking records “outside traditional channels,” including Epstein's estate, helped create “a public narrative that broke through.”
“With an administration this lawless and corrupt, we need talented and creative leaders who can do the job of oversight, expose malfeasance to the public, and break through in a fractured media environment, and Congressman Garcia has proven he can do all three,” Schiff said.
Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and former Trump administration appointee, said Garcia's strategy could backfire if or when all the information about the Epstein investigation comes to light.
“I think they've opened a Pandora's box of a whole bunch of conspiracy theories, fake memes and news stories that are completely supported by the left and that may not actually be real,” he said.
With more records expected to emerge about Epstein's estate in the coming weeks, Garcia says he is committed to exposing wrongdoing by anyone, regardless of party. The documents are already there revealed Epstein's connections to prominent Democrats.
The records also reveal ties to big banks, a topic Garcia said he believes could be critical to understanding Epstein's plea deal negotiated by a prosecutor who served in Trump's cabinet during his first term.
“I’m not interested in protecting anyone,” he said. “I'm interested in justice for survivors.”
