The DOJ is trying to silence members of congress who disagree with Trump. Pre-order our new book, join our Patreon Cult, and more by clicking here: https://linktr.ee/ivehaditpodcast.
Chapter 1: Why is the DOJ targeting Congressman Robert Garcia?
Last week, Congressman Robert Garcia called Elon Musk a dick because, actually, I think he is a dick. And this week, the Department of Justice is a petty Justice Department, and now they are going after Congressman Robert Garcia. And lucky for you guys, we have with us today Congressman Robert Garcia. How are you?
I'm doing okay. Thanks. Thanks for having me on.
Chapter 2: What actions did the DOJ take against Robert Garcia?
Yes. So it's our understanding after the CNN interview, you received a call from the Washington Post asking you about this letter that you had not received from the U.S. DOJ and the United States attorney is Edward R. Martin.
Absolutely right. I mean, this is really just incredibly disturbing. Should be disturbing for any American. Obviously, we as members of Congress should have the right to oppose an administration that we disagree with. Earlier that day, I had been in the very first Doge subcommittee meeting with calling it like it is. It's important for folks to be able to know that Democrats need to be in a fight.
This is a fight that we are in for a very democracy. And the fact that the Trump Department's DOJ now wants to silence members of Congress because we actually are willing to take on Elon Musk is quite dangerous.
And I think that's something that we're really, really concerned about that the Department of Justice now has essentially said that we cannot use metaphors, that we cannot use figures of speech, that we cannot talk about actually fighting the policies of the Trump administration. And if we do so, we're going to face prosecution. So incredibly disturbing. But we're not going to be silenced.
We've got to push back. This is a moment for us to, I think, be really tough and aggressive.
Okay, this U.S. attorney, Edward R. Martin Jr., I did a little light Google search on him, and I was very not surprised to find out that he was one of the lead organizers of the Stop the Steal January 6th movement. He posted just earlier this week that he wants to open an investigation into Jack Smith and
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Chapter 3: How is Edward R. Martin Jr. involved in these actions?
um he was a defense attorney for a january 6 defendant and then he gets appointed to this position and he signs a motion to dismiss and the judge said you can't you're conflicted and also Ed Martin appears to be an Elon Musk sycophant. He wrote a letter to Elon basically offering the DOJ's office to be his personal attorney.
And the press described it as a very fawning message, very inappropriate for a U.S. attorney. So this is the guy that's writing you a letter that supports breaking the rule of law. by releasing violent criminals. One of the guy's names was Jose Padilla. These are cop beaters. And he writes basically love letters to Elon Musk.
And what's so jarring about this, Congressman, is this is the United States of America. And within 30 days, we are a laughingstock. And I feel like Elon Musk is setting up a shadow government right now. And they just prop Papa Trump out from time to time to ramble about Hannibal Lecter. And I feel like a lot more nefarious things are going on. And I wanted to get your take on that.
Chapter 4: What are the broader implications for democracy?
I think you're absolutely correct. I mean, let's be crystal clear about this moment. What we essentially have is the Department of Justice threatening members of Congress to essentially be prosecuted for being in opposition to what the administration is trying to do.
And what I think is really important is we know that right now, Elon Musk is working to dismantle what we know as the social safety net, social security. Medicare, the Department of Education that provides so much support for families, climate policies. And at this moment, Democrats need to be in this fight for democracy.
We actually need to be aggressive in the way we take on this dismantling of our federal institutions. And now what Donald Trump and Elon Musk are saying is actually, Democrats, you shouldn't say anything. And in fact, you should police your language. And in fact, you can't even use figures of speech to actually say things like we should be fighting with everything that we've got.
And so I think that this is all incredibly concerning, but I wanna also be clear we're not going to stand down. We've got to continue to push back and to move forward. And I think that it's really, I think what you said is really quite shameful that this person who has defended January Sixers, he has defended the insurrection, is now targeting members of Congress.
What my biggest concern is right now, I mean, there are several. I mean, J.D. Vance spouting Putin talking points on the world stage, that's a big one. But here at home, I am so concerned that Elon Musk is single-handedly just demolishing agencies, cutting... waste, which is really not waste, with zero transparency.
The numbers he has given us that he's cut all of this money have been immediately found to be fabricated. There's zero transparency. There seems to be no accountability. Where do we move from here on getting transparency from this person that is just dismantling the U.S. government?
I think first, it's completely crazy what is happening right now. And I think what's really important is Democrats in Congress, we need to match the energy that's on the ground, right? We need to match the anger that people feel out across this country. And we are starting to see that. The protests that we're seeing that people are out there saying, hell no.
The actions that are being taking place in front of our federal agencies trying to stop folks from coming in and disrupt and stop our programs. These are actually having an impact. The court cases, we're now winning more cases in court in stopping some of these federal funding freezes. All of this matters.
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Chapter 5: How is Elon Musk perceived in this political scenario?
What also matters is that members of Congress speak out forcefully in committees, on the floor, in hearings, at rallies. And the efforts that are happening right now is simply trying to silence that. And so we've got to double down on being tough, on being aggressive, and on matching the energy on the ground. And remember, Republicans traditionally, especially in the Trump era,
They fight with everything that they've got. They're aggressive and they're tough. We've got to match that toughness to ensure that we don't destroy what we love so much about this country.
And I think you're hitting on something that is there's a void right now. And in our message boards and our comments section and on social media, people want to know that the Democrats give a damn, that they see what we're seeing, that they see J.D. Vance with a full eyeliner on the stage of Munich.
basically giving a pro Putin speech and our allies are now meeting behind our back and who can blame them? And they are saying, why are Americans not in the streets? So I want to ask you, what can we do? Because there are millions of Americans watching this. And after Trump won the first time, we all put on our pink hats and marched. And he didn't know what the hell he was doing.
And he still had some, you know, government there that kept it going. And we were able to have some guardrails. Well, he learned. And then he surrounded himself with far more dangerous people. And the people that he surrounds himself with are on the record saying they want to dismantle democracy. They are not fans of democracy. Donald Trump, I think he just wants to play golf and avoid prison.
But I feel like we need this very direct instruction from you guys how to best support you. Like, do you think it's a good idea for you guys to even consider funding any of the budget that they want to? Or should it just be across the board? No, we're not giving an inch. You guys are handing the country over to Putin.
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Chapter 6: What steps are being taken to resist these actions?
Yeah, I mean, look, I think Project 2025 is here, right? Everything they said that they wanted to do, that Project 2025 said they wanted to do, we thought it was so extreme and so crazy. They are doing it. They are implementing that handbook to essentially turn us away from being an actual democracy. Now, look, there's going to be a lot of debate about the right approach.
I'll tell you what I think is the right approach. I think there's a growing consensus that this is a way to move forward. I think one is we cannot assume or expect this to be an era of bipartisanship. We're going to hold hands with Republicans and work to make the country better.
that is not going to work that they will steamroll over us every single chance they can what we have to do in every single opportunity and moment that we have is to fight like hell and push back on these terrible policies we've got to call it out in congress we call it call out in the media we've got to be in all sorts
of different online spaces and let folks know that what they're trying to do is going to harm their families. It's going to redistribute working class, middle class wealth back to the richest people in this country, billionaires and large corporations. Then we've got to, besides just being opposing the bills that are in Congress, we also have to take action. I'll give you one example.
when the federal funding freeze proposal came in to basically fund grants across the country what happened people rose up there were millions of people in this country that flooded the congressional air airwaves that went on a media program that talked about the impacts of those non-profits and what happens the trump administration then has to essentially they revoke their decision
And they said, okay, fine, we're not gonna do this at this moment because they heard actual public pressure. And that public pressure came also to Republican senators and Republican members of Congress. And so the public has actually stopped some really horrific things from happening, but they've gotta be vocal out there and engage with members of Congress and representatives.
And I also think that peaceful demonstrations, protests, when people are out there, marches, that actually does make an impact. The actual demonstrations, the actions that have taken place in Washington, DC in front of federal agencies have literally stopped meetings of the Doge Committee that were going to happen inside some of these federal agencies.
And so those things matter and they're gonna continue to grow. And I'll say right now, our biggest tool is also through the courts. What's happening in the courts and what democratic attorney generals are doing is making a huge impact. We're winning more cases right now than we're actually losing. And so that is actually stopping some of the chaos that is happening.
And finally, I'll say this, the single most important thing that we as a collective country that we need to do is to fight fire with fire, and that Republicans are going to try everything they can as aggressively as they can to ram, rot, and basically destroy institutions. Members of Congress, governors, the
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Chapter 7: How can the public support democratic efforts?
I mean, unfortunately, I don't have a high level of confidence. Democrats voted unanimously to bring Elon Musk in front of our oversight committee. The Republicans voted unanimously to oppose it. They have the majority. And so Elon Musk, he has no desire to come and answer questions. He has no desire to actually be accountable for what he's doing. We have the richest man on the planet.
who's only getting richer by the day, who's only gotten more wealthy since Donald Trump got elected, essentially serving as co-president alongside Donald Trump. And I agree that he's creating and trying to reform and change our government in his image, the way he wants it to be, so that he can continue to get big tax cuts and tax breaks and win more contracts for himself
and for his companies and so elon musk and his and his doge team are not accountable to the public because the house majority has no interest in actually taking him on or taking on donald trump and so that's why we've got to continue to be loud and do what we can we we have a reality we face we don't have the white house we don't control the senate we don't control the house of representatives that's just the facts but we do have his governorships we have courageous members of congress
And we're organizing on the ground that's happening to try to take some of these issues on. We've got to continue to be loud.
Okay, one final question. How wild is it that growing up our whole lives, Republicans were like, we're all about national security. We are so, you know, rah, rah, sis, boom, bah, national security. To see them be so weak to a very weakly positioned Vladimir Putin and to see how compromised they are or what shapeshifters they are and how terrifying it is.
And I just have this feeling, a really bad feeling that it came out during the Biden administration that Elon Musk was having private conversations with Vladimir Putin. JD Vance is BFFs with Peter Thiel. All of these people are on the permanent record saying they want to dismantle democracy. The person who benefits from that most is Vladimir Putin. And do you remember the stage five?
I mean, stage five hysterical meltdown that they had when Kamala Harris did an interview with Tim Walz. Oh, she has to have a babysitter. Yak, yak, blah, blah. I think that Elon Musk is Donald Trump's full-time nanny. He is a full-time babysitter. That Oval Office thing where he brought his kid in. Could you imagine if a woman brought her kid into an office? The meltdown that Fox News would have.
I feel like we're all sitting here watching this. And we can talk about these little things that are going on and these little breakings that are happening in our institutions.
But I really am terrified of this larger thing and why these Republicans, these national security Republicans and dipshits like this Edward R. Martin that wrote you this letter trying to scare you, why are they all so compromised of Vladimir Putin?
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