House Democrats held a press briefing on Thursday announcing that President Trump must fire Elon Musk.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good morning, y'all.
00:18Can you guys hear me okay?
00:21All right.
00:23Good morning.
00:24I'm Greg Cassad.
00:26I'm proud to represent the heart of Texas in the United States Congress.
00:29And also to chair the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
00:33Here's the big news that people across the country haven't heard but need to know.
00:3950 days from today, Donald Trump must, by law, fire Elon Musk.
00:46Last night, 76 House Democrats sent a clear message to President Trump.
00:53The clock is ticking.
00:55Since the beginning of this administration, Trump and Musk have exploited Musk's designation as a so-called special government employee to allow Musk to receive over $8 million a day in federal government contracts and subsidies while ignoring our conflict of interest rules and while funneling more and more money to himself and to his companies.
01:21But the law is crystal clear.
01:25A special government employee like Musk must leave the federal government after 130 days.
01:32That means that Musk must leave office by May 30th.
01:36That means that 50 days from today, Donald Trump must fire Musk.
01:4150 days from today, Musk's reign of terror must end.
01:46And that day cannot come soon enough.
01:49We would be here for hours if I tried to recount every single one of Musk's illegal actions or abuses or attacks on working Americans.
01:57But let me give you just a few.
02:00In his 80 days in power, Elon Musk has fired more veterans from the federal government than anyone else in history.
02:09Elon Musk has fired independent watchdogs that were investigating his own companies for corruption and for breaking the law.
02:16Elon Musk called Social Security a Ponzi scheme, tried to shut down the phone lines that seniors used to get their checks.
02:23They degraded the system so much that we were being warned that it was on the verge of crashing and collapse.
02:29Elon Musk demanded access to Americans' most sensitive and private medical records and tax information.
02:36Elon Musk tried to steer billions of dollars of government contracts towards his own companies while already collecting $8 million a day from the federal government.
02:46Elon Musk fired nuclear safety workers, air traffic controllers, and people trying to combat ongoing disease outbreaks.
02:55This must end.
02:56If we're up to the American people, I think Elon Musk will be fired tomorrow.
03:01But a typical government employee would have been gone weeks and weeks ago.
03:06A typical government employee would have been held accountable for these crimes and for this corruption.
03:10But Musk relies on his so-called special government employee status.
03:14That gravy train runs out in 50 days.
03:19And when I say fire Elon Musk, I'm not talking about Trump and Musk hiding the ball and letting Musk continue to do what he's doing without his title.
03:27This is what I mean.
03:29Follow the law.
03:31No more going around cabinet secretaries to slash key programs starting in 50 days.
03:36No more privileged access to government information.
03:39No more directing government contracts to himself.
03:41No more running cabinet meetings.
03:44No more running the White House.
03:46That is our demand.
03:48And we are making it clear that we are putting every option on the table.
03:53Legislative, legal, and public pressure.
03:56And making it clear to the president that he's got 50 days.
03:59Thank you all very much for joining us.
04:01And next, I'm proud to hand over the microphone to Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, who is a ranking member and runs, truly runs, our DOGE subcommittee.
04:12All right.
04:13Well, good morning, everyone.
04:15I'm Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury.
04:16I'm deeply proud to represent New Mexico's first congressional district and to be serving in a leadership role in the fight against Elon Musk in the DOGE subcommittee of the Oversight and Accountability Committee.
04:29Now, let us be clear.
04:30Elon Musk has unleashed absolute chaos on the American people.
04:34He has fired tens of thousands of Americans.
04:37He has dismantled vital agencies that provide vital services to the American people and people across the world.
04:45He has fired firefighters, veterans, teachers.
04:48He has partially dismantled the Social Security system and made it so that our seniors are not able to get access to vital programs and benefits, which they work their entire lives to earn.
05:00He has dismantled vital programs that are life-saving at the Health and Human Services Department, Department of Education, at the VA system.
05:09He has been mining our data.
05:12I think it is vital to understand that just two weeks ago, Elon Musk announced a merger between his private AI company, Twitter, now X,
05:23and his departure of the federal government after he has spent days and days and weeks and weeks mining vital data of the American people.
05:34We're talking IRS data, Treasury data, Social Security data.
05:38What is he doing with this data?
05:40We don't know because neither he or any other member of DOGE have appeared before a public body to answer any questions under oath.
05:48And most egregious, which is what we warned of when he took office, is the self-dealing.
05:55We know that since he has been in office, he has inked deals to put his own StarLeak in place at the FAA.
06:02We know that he just inked a multibillion-dollar contract with the Department of Defense with his private rocket company.
06:10We know that he is trying to secure a contract with NOAA in order to take over that satellite program.
06:16And we know, or at least we suspect with very strong suspicion, that he is planning to take over AI contracts across the federal government.
06:26So, we are putting you on notice, Elon Musk.
06:29You are fired.
06:31The American people are firing you, and you must clear out and get out of this office.
06:36Today, myself and Senator Warren are introducing legislation to ensure that this kind of corrupt abuse and grift and scammer-ness coming into the federal government through a special government employee can never happen again.
06:50So, we must ensure that we have accountability.
06:54And with that, I say, Mr. Musk, you're fired.
06:57And Mark Takano, we'll share more.
07:02I thought you were going to say, Mark Takano, you're hired.
07:04Good afternoon, everyone.
07:10My name is Mark Takano.
07:11I am the ranking member of the Veterans Affairs Committee.
07:14Let me just start it off by saying that Elon Musk is not above the law.
07:18He is a billionaire, not a public servant, and certainly not elected by anyone in this country.
07:25In his brief stint in the federal government, it seems like he's gone out of his way to hurt the very people we are supposed to be helping.
07:33As the ranking member on the Veterans Affairs Committee, I'm especially angry at how he has treated our veterans.
07:41These men and women sacrifice for our country, but he sees them as disposable line items on a spreadsheet.
07:47For most people, disrespecting our veterans like that would get them fired.
07:54For Elon Musk, it just means bigger contracts.
07:58But we all know the truth.
08:00Elon donated $277 million to Trump's campaign, so the rules don't seem to apply to him.
08:08While the law is clear, Musk's 130 days are up on May 30th, and that is only 50 days from now.
08:17We are demanding that the White House makes a clear and public statement that they will follow the law.
08:24If the Trump administration refuses to fire him, it's not just unethical, it is illegal.
08:30Breaking the law is not new to the Trump administration, but I promise you that I and every single one of my colleagues on this stage will not stand for it.
08:41It's time to fire Elon Musk.
08:45And now I'd like to hand it over to my colleague, my fellow colleague from California, Luz Rivas.
08:51Thank you, Luz Rivas, Congresswoman from California's 29th District in Los Angeles.
09:00Our message today is very clear.
09:04Elon Musk needs to go.
09:07The law is also very clear.
09:09In 50 days, Elon Musk needs to be out of the office and for the good and well-being of our country.
09:17That date cannot come soon enough.
09:19For 80 days, this unelected, unconfirmed billionaire has held the keys to the Oval Office and for 80 days, his twisted perception of efficiency has done nothing but cause pain and harm to working families, veterans, senior citizens, and many more.
09:38My office has been bombarded with constituent calls, worried that their Medicaid and Social Security benefits will be cut.
09:46Over half of the people in my district rely on Medicaid, including 133,000 children and 45,000 seniors.
09:56My district has the ninth highest Medicaid enrollment in the whole country.
10:02Republicans just approved a proposal to cut millions of Americans' Medicaid benefits just so they can give Elon Musk and his billionaire friends another tax break.
10:12In service to himself, Elon has managed to only increase his company's monetary share of federal government procurement.
10:21I guess this is what he and Doge bros mean by efficiency.
10:26Elon Musk serves no one but himself and his fellow billionaires, and that's why I stand today with my colleagues to send the message that he needs to go.
10:38Thank you so much.
10:39Thank you, Congresswoman.
10:42I think next up we have comments from Robert Garcia.
10:49I think I want to thank first, of course, our chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Greg Kassar, for bringing us together and for helping really lead our efforts to hold Elon Musk accountable.
11:00Robert Garcia from Long Beach, California, you've heard today from a lot of our members about the damage that Elon Musk has done, whether it's been to air traffic controllers, to Social Security, to the Department of Education, attacking veterans.
11:14All of this has already disqualified Elon Musk from doing anything in serving our government, and he needs to go today.
11:22We're also calling to make sure that he knows that he's on notice that he only has 50 days left if he wants to continue as a government employee.
11:30But I also want to make one thing really clear.
11:32It's been also Elon Musk that has been partnering with Donald Trump in weaponizing the Department of Justice.
11:39Now, the Department of Justice, the appointed U.S. attorney here at Martin, have gone after people and continue to attack individuals that are also speaking out using their First Amendment rights to protest against Elon Musk's illegal actions and unconstitutional actions across the country.
11:59Now, I know that personally, because I personally attacked Elon Musk, Donald Trump sent the Department of Justice against me to investigate me, to try to intimidate me and others, of which he was not successful in doing.
12:13But it also has been other members of the Progressive Caucus as well.
12:17Elon Musk sent and worked with Pam Bondi, our attorney general, to attack other members like Jasmine Crockett and others.
12:23And probably most chilling has been Elon Musk and his ability to get the DOJ, to get the attorney general to go after and intimidate protesters who are protesting 100 percent within their rights in front of Tesla dealerships or against his businesses.
12:44People out in the community in the country have a right to stand up and not support companies led by Elon Musk.
12:52Elon Musk, in turn, sends the Department of Justice against protesters, against organizers, and against members of Congress.
13:03That is not right.
13:05It is unethical.
13:07It is unconstitutional.
13:08And Elon Musk has no business serving the government, the president, and all he does is continue to damage himself and damage our country.
13:18Elon Musk must be fired today.
13:19And with that, I'm going to introduce our next speaker from Los Angeles, Brad Sherman.
13:28Hello, I'm Brad Sherman from California's best-named city, Sherman Oaks.
13:34Our Constitution is clear in Article II, Section 2, that the officers of the federal government need Senate confirmation.
13:43That's not just the cabinet officers, that's two or three steps below the cabinet officers.
13:49There's one exception, a man who's more powerful than any of the cabinet officers, Elon Musk.
13:55They have used this special government employee ruse.
13:59I think it's unconstitutional and illegal, but it ends on May 30th.
14:03My criticisms of Mr. Musk focus on my two committees.
14:08From Foreign Affairs, I've learned that 1.6 million people are going to die without American health and food aid.
14:16Half a million of those will die due to lack of vaccines.
14:19And when HIV infects someone on another continent, that's one more chance for the disease to mutate and come back here in a form we cannot deal with.
14:33But let's not talk about big numbers.
14:35Let's talk about Peter Donde, 10-year-old boy, infected with HIV from his mother at childbirth, an orphan.
14:43He was cut off from his antivirals, he died in February, and his blood is on the hands of Elon Musk, whose response is, oops, made a mistake.
15:00From a financial services standpoint, I'm concerned that a man who is under investigation from the SEC would arrange for the firing, dismissals,
15:09early retirement and buyouts of many hundreds of SEC investigators.
15:15But I particularly want to focus on something you may not have focused on.
15:19This man says he was serving without compensation, but he has actually received an undisclosed portion of $37 billion.
15:30Now, everybody else in government, not only us, but even our aides, have to file one of these financial disclosure statements.
15:40But what we don't have is one from Elon.
15:44So what happened?
15:46The day Trump was elected, Elon Musk knew he'd be heading this organization.
15:52Dogecoin was bid up $37 billion by those who knew that it would get this big boost from the unusual name in the one week between the election and the announcement of the name.
16:19Now, true, Bitcoin also went up at the same time, but Dogecoin went up six times as fast.
16:27And until we get a disclosure statement from Musk, we will not know what portion of that $37 billion went to him from buying Doge the day after the election and selling, and now it's gone down again, selling it the day of the announcement.
16:47So I can't imagine a worse person to have involved in making our national policy, except, of course, the president.
17:01Thank you, Congressman Sherman.
17:02It closes out, Congressman Gabe Amon.
17:04Thank you to my colleague, Representative Kassar, who has organized this free press conference to illuminate this important date and deadline.
17:17I'm Gabe Amon.
17:18I represent Rhode Island's 1st Congressional District.
17:21I've worked for two presidents and two presidencies at the White House.
17:25And I have worked with many special government employees, and I can say by far there's been no worse special government employee than Elon Musk.
17:36And we've seen this function deployed to help in humanitarian crises like the operations allies welcome, or help reboot healthcare.gov, or do lifesaving work in public health emergencies.
17:52What we've seen is Elon Musk creating emergencies, emergencies for American families who will face devastation if our colleagues, our Republican colleagues, go forward with horrific cuts to Medicaid.
18:09We've seen an emergency created with the erosion of Social Security, being able to do its basic functions, long wait times, closures of offices.
18:19We've seen an emergency created for our environment with their cutting of NOAA, the privatization of the National Weather Service as an aspiration, only so Elon Musk can make more money, more billions for the richest man in the world.
18:39So, look, I think the proper HR function would be immediate termination.
18:44But we've got May 30th.
18:46We've got 50 days.
18:48This special government employee has been special in all the wrong ways, killing our economy, partnering with Donald Trump to do the worst to the people who need our help the most.
19:02And so, I look forward to that day, and if for some reason, and you know there are lots of reasons, that number in the billions, we don't see action from the Trump administration to terminate Elon, when his tenure is up, we will act.
19:20We will act.
19:21We will put on public pressure.
19:22We will act in every form possible because he has got to go.
19:27He has been bad for America while only being good for himself, his bank account, and his billionaire buddies.
19:34So, I am hopeful that with this team, with Democrats in the House, that we will make our voices heard to ensure that February 30th is the day where he is walking out with a box in his hand to leave the Eisenhower executive office building to never, ever return.
19:53And with that, I'll turn it back to Greg.
19:57In case anyone in the press thinks that we can't do hard things, you just saw a press conference of seven members of Congress in 15 minutes.
20:05So, I don't know if you all have seen that before.
20:07But the message is very succinct and very clear.
20:10We don't expect that Trump and Musk will follow the law because they want to.
20:14We have to make sure that they follow the law.
20:17So, we are putting Trump and Musk on notice.
20:20If you break the law and try to stay in power, we will support every legal, political, and public pressure tactic available to us to enforce the law.
20:30And Americans are already fed up with Elon Musk.
20:32He's got 50 days.
20:34And we're ready to take your questions.
20:36I think I have to take CNN first because I think they're sponsoring the room.
20:40Are they here?
20:40Is that you?
20:41No.
20:41Okay.
20:41If not, go ahead.
20:42Okay.
20:43So, there's another side of you on last and of course that, like my name is, the name is in the election.
20:49Last week we all saw on this, I don't know if that was, that he spent $20 million and the candidates he supported cannot win.
21:00What are your takeaways from the influence and the powers we love about when it comes electorally from that race or just generally?
21:09Well, they think they can win elections with unlimited money, but in Wisconsin we showed that organized people can beat big money.
21:18And in fact, we have turned what Elon Musk thought was his greatest strength, having unlimited cash, into his greatest weakness.
21:27Every dollar that Elon Musk started spending in that election started bringing him down because the American people, whether you are an independent, conservative, progressive, whatever you are, don't think that the richest man on earth should be able to buy politicians for himself in order to funnel money to himself and to other billionaires.
21:46And I think that that is the kind of message that the Democratic Party needs in order to win back the trust of working class voters, not just to win back the House, but actually to be the kind of party that this country needs in this moment.
21:58So, go ahead, and I'm happy to pass it along to others here as well.
22:03I was just going to follow up.
22:04Was, is there a level of reassurance post-Wisconsin compared to like previous Wisconsin that perhaps, like what you said, that it might not be as effective?
22:16Yeah, I mean, there were articles leading up to the Wisconsin race of pundits out there saying, well, maybe going after the richest man on earth isn't a good idea.
22:28But I think the people beat the pundits in that argument, where I think the overwhelming number of people said, no, we don't want the richest man on earth controlling our government, making us work longer hours for less pay and taking our taxpayer money for himself.
22:41That's, oh, you know, attacking the richest man on earth, attacking the American people and trying to take over our government is deeply wrong.
22:52People know that in their gut, and this is exactly the kind of fight that I think Democrats need to pick.
22:57Any, yeah, Mark and I.
22:59Yeah, so it, it, it was an important test that was passed that, that, that, that the people prevailed over a billionaire's obscene attempt to buy an election, literally buy an election, literally buy votes.
23:17And, and, and, but I, I, I, it's going to take vigilance from growing, growing engagement of the, of more and more people.
23:29I think people are beginning to tune in.
23:31But we're facing, you know, executive orders from Donald Trump to, you know, suppress votes and to require, you know, ridiculous ID requirements.
23:42And, and, and, and so, look, the, the battle against the billionaire is just the beginning.
23:49But it's reassuring to know that we can beat a billionaire.
23:53But we've got all sorts of other things that we've got to confront.
23:56And the people, I'm encouraged, are going to wake up and pay more attention.
24:03There's a lot of lessons to take from Wisconsin.
24:06But I think one of the primary lessons is that not only is Elon Musk's agenda deeply unpopular, and he's one of the most unpopular political figures in modern history, he's toxic to the Republican brand.
24:19And I think that's what was revealed by the Wisconsin race and that American democracy is not for sale.
24:25And you've seen in the days after the Wisconsin race that Republicans themselves, whether they're members of Congress, people who are in Trump's inner circle, and people who are in the constellation of the GOP world, have been saying,
24:38Musk has got to go because he is toxic to the president and to the GOP brand.
24:43Why is he toxic?
24:44Because of all of the things that we've laid out, the ways in which he's disrupted the economy, the ways in which he's carelessly and recklessly fired thousands of people,
24:52the ways in which he has inflicted harm on people across the world, and the ways in which he has literally tried to buy elections.
24:59And the American people are fed up with it, and that's why they want him to go as well.
25:07My whole life, I've been working to try to get Democrats to turn out to vote, particularly in special elections.
25:14I want to thank Elon Musk.
25:16He did a better job at it than I ever did.
25:18People were always suspicious.
25:22The billionaires were running the government behind the curtain, but now Elon Musk is out there bragging about it in public, and I think that's been really devastating to the brain.
25:30Brian?
25:31Can you speak a little bit more to what he referenced, mutual legislative activities are, and you all have to pursue on May 30th and months until then?
25:42I think you'll be hearing about those as we get closer to the day.
25:45But we are asking the president to make clear by May Day, by May 1st, whether he's going to follow the law or try to buck the law.
25:52But there are many options at our disposal.
25:55Well, I'll make clear again.
26:22Again, there are many options in the courts available to fire Elon Musk.
26:27There are legislative options available for us to fire Elon Musk, and most importantly, I think public pressure will do the trick to make sure we fire Elon Musk.
26:38He has 50 days to resign under the law, or else even more of those legal and legislative options would be on the table.
26:46I do want to push back a little bit on the narrative that we've been unsuccessful in the courts.
26:54There are now over 170 court cases that have been filed against the administration for egregious breaches of the law.
27:01And in almost nearly every case that has ruled on the merits of the case itself, we have won the American people, and the Constitution has won.
27:12In a number of cases, there have been outcomes, including some of the recent Supreme Court decisions, that questioned jurisdictional questions, but not the merits of the case itself.
27:21It is very clear that Donald Trump and Elon Musk are breaking the law, and the law is very clear on the service of an SGE.
27:31And if he tries to stay beyond his allocated time, their courts will be involved.
27:37And so we will pursue legal avenues, absolutely.
27:40I'll just say in addition to the ending of his tenure, I'll be announcing at a Tesla dealership in my district legislation to require him to file the financial disclosures.
27:56We need to know what he was doing.
27:58We know that he owns a lot of Tesla stock and SpaceX stock.
28:02We need to know what else he was doing, particularly in the crypto world.
28:06I want to hand it over to those who haven't gotten a chance to speak up yet.
28:33But Republican members of Congress know that what they're doing is deeply unpopular.
28:40They know that it is deeply unpopular for them to continue supporting a billionaire who is calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme.
28:47Republican members of Congress know it's deeply unpopular for them to support a billionaire who's trying to take away working-class Americans' health care in order to pay for billionaire tax cuts.
28:57So these Republican members of Congress now have to decide whether they want to continue to continue to act as Trump-Musk employees or as members of Congress.
29:07Otherwise, they're going to lose their elections.
29:09The budget that just passed today, where the House and Senate agree that they're coming after your health care, the Republicans are coming after your health care,
29:17or they're coming after veterans' benefits in order to pay for billionaire tax cuts, that passed by one vote.
29:23If one Republican member of Congress had voted with their district instead of with Trump-Musk, they could have stopped this.
29:30And so now it's on every single Republican member of Congress.
29:33If you have a Republican member of Congress, they can make the difference if they come out and say,
29:37we're going to go with Musk and Trump and take away your health care, or whether they're going to go with their constituents.
29:42So it's got them very nervous.
29:45And if we succeed in getting Musk out in the next 50 days, it'll be the greatest victory by Democrats so far of the Trump administration.
29:57Well, a lot of the whispers from our Republican colleagues have gotten louder.
30:02You know, I'll speak from my positions on both the Foreign Affairs and the Science-Based and Technology Committee.
30:08You know, the work there is about American leadership in the world.
30:12And, you know, say what you will about our differences in policies, you know,
30:16there's no way that we are America first when you cut at the bone of America's leadership with regard to USAID,
30:24with American leadership, if you start to be anti-science.
30:27And we can't have the same pipeline of talented people working on issues that are sort of non-controversial,
30:37protecting our coastlines.
30:40You know, if you're on the Science Committee, that's something that you should care about.
30:44And so I would say that what I've heard, and directly from a lot of our colleagues,
30:49is they're afraid about American leadership in the world.
30:52Well, this week's panic over tariffs illustrates that we are seeing a policy that is putting America last,
31:00that is putting Putin first.
31:02This is something that I call on my Republican colleagues to stand up.
31:07You'll have friends on the other side of the aisle if you demonstrate some courage.
31:10But if you are silent, you are complicit, and you are letting Elon Musk do whatever he wants to hurt your constituents as well as ours.
31:19And so I am hoping that, you know, when folks spend the next two weeks at home, that they hear a little something-something.
31:26And I'm certain they are going to hear from their constituents, Elon Musk has got to go.
31:33I want to add on to that.
31:37We've all, as members, heard whispers from Republican colleagues that pull us aside and say,
31:43oh, I don't agree with these cuts, or I don't agree with those cuts.
31:46But why are they all silent?
31:48Why aren't they going public?
31:50I focused my comments earlier on the cuts to Medicaid because of the high enrollment of Medicaid in my district.
31:57But the highest congressional district in the country with Medicaid constituents is David Valdeo in Bakersfield, California.
32:0867% of his district are on Medicaid, rely on Medicaid for health care.
32:17Over two-thirds.
32:18I can't imagine him winning his re-election if there are cuts to Medicaid where his constituents will be directly affected.
32:27And that's a Republican district.
32:29He needs to speak up, and others, too, not just Democrats.
32:37And I'll just add a little more color.
32:39It's not just whispers.
32:41In the first few days that Elon Musk started doing what he was doing, I work a lot on bipartisan issues.
32:48I have a lot of friends across the aisle.
32:50And when you spend time with folks, they tell you stories.
32:53In fact, I will say, one chairman, one Republican chairman, told me that his best friend from graduate school was a nuclear engineer who got fired by an NSA in that first round of probationary firings.
33:09When I talked to another Republican chairman who I work with on issues that are really important in my district,
33:14I was told that one of the cabinet secretaries had promised him they wouldn't touch those programs, but Elon Musk had gone in and fired people.
33:22So they know what's going on.
33:24But the problem is that they are cowed by the reality that Elon Musk has unlimited amount of money to spend on these elections.
33:31And I think that's why Wisconsin is such a profound moment for the Republican Party, because if he's a liability and not an asset, bye-bye.
33:41Right?
33:41They want nothing to do with him because he's created so much chaos and toxicity for the party.
33:47So I don't think that the vast majority of our Republican friends are going to miss Mr. Musk.
33:52I think we can take one more question.
33:53Yes, a culture of corruption has infected the Republican Party.
34:15Elon Musk, the tax cuts, the Medicaid cuts, the tariffs, it's all part of one story.
34:20So everything the Trump administration has done is to make Trump, Musk, their billionaire friends or their buddies on the Republican side of the aisle richer.
34:30And every time it's meant that working families get screwed.
34:33So we need an investigation into insider trading by people like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
34:40We need an investigation into whether any K Street lobbyists or other big firms were tipped off by Donald Trump's actions.
34:48We need to look into the way that the president's son basically went and told foreign leaders, come and bribe me, come and make a deal, come and cut us a check.
35:00So Trump's tariffs aren't about helping workers.
35:03They're about making working families pay more so that Trump can get bribes from companies for exemptions,
35:08so that Trump and his buddies can tip people off and skew the stock market for themselves.
35:14So basically, while your retirement funds get screwed over, Donald Trump can make his friends rich.
35:20And we need to root out this culture of corruption.
35:23That's why I believe we need to ban congressional stock trading.
35:26We need to get big money out of politics and make sure the Democratic Party's message very clearly is that we are against corruption.
35:33We're against these corrupt billionaires and for the everyday working person.
35:37And we're against having powerful people not fill out personal financial disclosures.
35:45Your question focuses on kind of the macro level of was the market going to go up and do people know it?
35:53There's also the individual company level.
35:55He's announced that he's going to exempt certain companies.
35:59So you may have one importer who pays the tariff and another one who doesn't on the exact same goods.
36:06And I just wonder on what basis he's going to decide the winners and the losers and which companies survive and which don't.
36:15I think we know what happens.
36:17Congressman Garcia is going to close this out.
36:20Thanks.
36:21Just two things.
36:22Let me go back to one piece of the last question, and then I'll close out.
36:24Let me just first say that it's very clear Republicans are cowards, and we should be very clear that a lot of Republicans, everyone here, has actually heard stories, whispers, things that Republicans are saying to us, to others, but they refuse to actually call them out publicly because they're cowards.
36:44They're scared of Donald Trump.
36:45They're scared of Elon Musk's fortune.
36:47They're scared about a primary challenge.
36:49And so that should be very clear.
36:51At the same time, they also saw what happened in Wisconsin and what happened immediately after that.
36:56You saw Peter Navarro, trade representative of Donald Trump's, publicly start calling out Elon Musk.
37:03You're seeing other Republicans being a little bit more comfortable in criticizing Elon Musk.
37:09I believe there was a cabinet meeting, I think maybe today.
37:12Who was not there?
37:13Elon Musk.
37:14And so there's no question that since Wisconsin, Elon Musk himself knows that he is becoming a more toxic brand.
37:23I mean, the man can't even go and play video games anymore because the people that he's playing with are all harassing him online.
37:30And so he is himself feeling more and more isolated.
37:34He's posting less on X.
37:37He's distancing himself a little bit more from the administration.
37:39And I think that he understands that he's the most unlikable person in this country.
37:45So we've got to continue that pressure.
37:47As far as the second part, every reporter in D.C. should be hounding Marjorie Taylor Greene right now and asking her about her stock trades.
37:57Some of us were actually at the Doge Committee just yesterday, where before the tariff announcement happened, where she was talking up the stock market.
38:09And what I want to know, we want to know is what did Marjorie Taylor Greene know before that announcement happened?
38:18And what stocks did she and her family trade leading up to that announcement?
38:22And so I think that what she has likely done is going to be a scandal and incredibly important for the not just us as Congress to investigate, but for the press to demand and ask those questions.
38:36And it goes beyond just Marjorie Taylor Greene.
38:40I think I think we all know instinctively that Donald Trump, his cronies and his billionaire friends have used this tariff crisis to enrich themselves.
38:50And so it's up to us to investigate that with everything that we can through the Oversight Committee, but also Republicans have a responsibility to the public to do to do the same, because we have proof of what Donald Trump does.
39:02He sells his brand name.
39:05He enriches his son in law to take billions from the Saudis.
39:08He breaks the emollients clause of the Constitution.
39:12These these folks are grifters.
39:14Donald Trump's a grifter.
39:15Elon Musk is a grifter.
39:17And all they care about is enriching themselves.
39:18And the biggest grift that they've ever tried to do is what they're doing right now, which is taking all of the wealth and all the hard earned money and benefits that the American worker has worked for and created, taking all that money and then providing themselves a massive tax break to themselves and their companies that we all know is coming down the pipeline that we're all going to try to fight.
39:42So the biggest Elon Musk grift and Donald Trump grift is on its way, and we've got to do everything we can to stop it.
39:48And with that, I will close this out.
39:49Thank you all so much.