The following is the transcript of the interview with Rep. Robert Garcia, Democrat of California, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Feb. 15, 2026.
ED O'KEEFE: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We turn now to the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, California Congressman Robert Garcia, who joins us this morning from Long Beach, where he used to be the mayor. Congressman, good to see you. Thank you for being with us.
REP. ROBERT GARCIA: Sure thing, thank you.
ED O'KEEFE: I want to start real quick because you are on the committee that essentially has oversight of the entire government. You're Democrats. You don't have control of the panel. You've held some unofficial hearings on ICE operations nationwide. I'm curious if you're talking to the Republicans at all about doing anything to investigate allegations of wrongdoing of ICE and the Border Patrol as they continue to carry on immigration enforcement operations.
REP. GARCIA: Look, I think it's just been very recently we actually see more and more Republicans actually speak out and begin to show some level of courage. ICE, CBP, DHS is completely out of control. We have heard, not just in hearings, but certainly in looking at what's happening across this country and folks talking and telling their stories. We're talking about U.S, citizens that are being shot. We're talking about U.S. veterans that are being detained for no reason. Children that are being deported as young as four or five years old, sending to detention in other cases, as we've seen. And so I think you're beginning to see some Republicans actually show concern. But, right now, DHS is causing terror across this country, and Donald Trump has turned not just DHS, but ICE specifically, which we now know is larger than it's ever been, into his own personal police force.
ED O'KEEFE: But you know of no Republican committee chairman currently planning to investigate all these allegations, right? Is that what you're saying?
REP. GARCIA: Oh, there's no chairmen out there that have come out publicly. Now, you begin to hear some Republicans show some concern, but they need to show more courage. I mean, Mike Johnson, at the end of the day, does whatever Donald Trump wants him to do--
ED O'KEEFE: --Yeah--
REP. GARCIA: --and Republicans need to go out there and start speaking the truth of what's happening on the street.
ED O'KEEFE: So the big reason I wanted to speak with you this morning is, of course, you're now trying to conduct a pretty aggressive review of the Epstein documents, as they've now been released by the Justice Department. There have been about three and a half million documents released, and based on a CBS News review, so far there doesn't appear to be enough evidence to criminally charge anyone else. Saturday night, the Department of Justice released this legally required list of all government officials and politically exposed persons in the Epstein files. More than 300 names on the list which they acknowledge are people who are here listed in a wide variety of contexts. DOJ says they're doing this ask because it was part of the law. It lists everyone from Beyonce to Joe Biden, George W. Bush, Princess Diana, Michael Jackson, Barack Obama, Mike Pence, the Trumps, Mark Zuckerberg, among others, because they came up in one way or another in the documents. A few questions, why was this asked for? And are you aware yet of any names being not on this list that should be on the list?
REP. GARCIA: We're reviewing that list, of course, but let's, let's be really clear, this is a massive cover up being led by the White House and the DOJ. The fact that 50%, half of the Epstein files have not been released to the public and to the Congress, and of those that have been released, the actual files that have been out in the public or that we've seen, they're overly redacted. Many of the survivors and victims, their names are actually appearing with where there's no protection for the survivors. Yet, the names of billionaires, the names of folks that could be co-conspirators that helped fund Jeffrey Epstein, that could have actually been involved in the terror and rape, as we know, abuse of women and children, some of those names continue to be redacted and protected. Why won't the DOJ actually follow the law? Not just of what was passed by Congress but the subpoena that was put in place by the Oversight Committee during the summer. And so this continues to be a cover up, and the American public understands that they continue to hide and protect and deflect. Why does Donald Trump, the president continue to, in our opinion, to protect these powerful men? We're not going to stop until we get justice for the survivors.
ED O'KEEFE: The Justice Department says they released everything they can, and the rest are protected by attorney privilege, contain victim information or contain child sexual assault material. I know there's been a back and forth in recent days about a handful of names that were redacted, should have been unredacted. Turns out, they didn't have anything to do with it. They just happened to be in an event or in a photo with Jeffrey Epstein, basically. But I want to ask you about your investigation, a congressional investigation. You told the attorney general on Friday, it would take more than seven years for members to check the redactions on those three million pages, which sounds unrealistic, but is it your intent to review all of those documents to see what other information is there? What other names are either mentioned or missing?
REP. GARCIA: Absolutely. Look, we have a great team on the committee that's reviewing, right now, every single document, going through all the files that are available to the public, looking at redactions, trying to understand and piecing together an investigation. And it's not just the documents. We're interviewing survivors. We're talking to key witnesses.
ED O'KEEFE: Right.
REP. GARCIA: We're going to be holding hearings in the future as well. So all of that is part of this, but at the end of the day, they have not given us all the documents. So until we actually get the full set of files, this is not going to be a complete investigation, and the cover up that's being led by the White House and Pam Bondi is continuing, and the American public sees this, and so they need to release all of the files.
ED O'KEEFE: All right. Well, working with what you've got so far, what are you looking for specifically? Are there names? Are there events? Are there situations to clarify that they've been released or that they're out there? What is it you're looking for?
REP. GARCIA: Look, there's a variety of things. Number one is we want to ensure that all the names of the men that either were co-conspirators, those that themselves terrorized and brutalized women and children, those people need to be exposed. That work has begun. An additional piece of this is who is financing Jeffrey Epstein? So, for example, this upcoming week, we'll be interviewing Les Wexner, who is likely have been the single largest benefactor in providing financial support to Jeffrey Epstein. Where did he get all of his money and for what? And where was that money going? That is another critical part of this investigation. We've subpoenaed also the bank records, so we're going through all those and that information is critical to our investigation. And then, of course, is who was involved in the trafficking of girls and women? It wasn't just Ghislaine Maxwell. Why were there so many women being attacked in places across the country, whether it was New York, but also Palm Beach. You look at Mar-a-Lago, why was Mar-a-Lago a location where women continue to be trafficked from? So these are questions that we need to ask. We have questions for, for President Trump. And the broader- I think the broader issue here is why wasn't this investigated when these, when these, when these accusations and these stories actually were heard by the FBI years ago? Where was the investigation? Where was the DOJ? And this, by the way, is an issue not just in Republican administrations but also ones led by Democrats. We have to get answers.
ED O'KEEFE: Yeah. You mentioned Wexner, who you're interviewing this coming week. Have you heard back yet from the man formerly known as Prince Andrew?
REP. GARCIA: We have not, but we absolutely have sent letters. We want to actually talk to Prince Andrew And it's not just Prince And- former Prince Andrew.
ED O'KEEFE: Right.
REP. GARCIA: I mean, what's happening right now across- over in the UK is pretty stunning, and it's actually a show of what is- what happens when the government listens to the public.
ED O'KEEFE: Sure.
REP. GARCIA: There are actually things happening to those have been involved. That example, that's happening over there and in other parts of the world, needs to happen in our country, and the fact that the White House continues to cover up for these files and for these men, I think, is shameful. Release all the files today, and last thing, they keep claiming that, oh, well, there is a, you know, there's attorney-client privilege or there's interagency communication we can't put out to the public. That might be true in the Epstein Transparency Act, but it's not true in the subpoena that asked for the exact same documents that was passed last July and August. And so there is no reason why Congress shouldn't have all of the documents in front of us right now.
ED O'KEEFE: Let me ask you about a few more specific names. I've heard about the cover up that you're alleging by the White House. Let's work through some of these names. Peter Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the U.S. You heard back from him yet?
REP. GARCIA: We have not, but we absolutely want to talk to him.
(CROSSTALK)
ED O'KEEFE: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. He had said in an interview last year he hadn't seen Howard Lutnick in years. Turns out, he went to see his island off the U.S. Virgin Islands with his family back in 2012, and he had business interests with him in 2014. Are you working with Republican Chairman Jim Comer to bring Howard Lutnick in for questioning?
REP. GARCIA: We have asked Jamie Comer to bring in Howard Lutnick, and we have yet no, had no response. Not only did he visit the island, he had tons of communication with Jeffrey Epstein after it was already known that Jeffrey Epstein was essentially convicted for preying on children. So it is, it is shameful that he's actually in our government. He should not be the Commerce Secretary. He should come talk to the Oversight Committee.
ED O'KEEFE: The Oversight Committee also voted last month to hold Bill and Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for failing to show up for similar testimony. They're now scheduled to appear later this month for closed door testimony. What's the point of having them come in?
REP. GARCIA: Look, we've said from day one that we're willing to talk to anybody, whether they're Republicans or Democrats, whoever they are, whatever, how powerful they are. If you have information about Jeffrey Epstein, we want to talk to you. We've been saying that about, about President Clinton for a while. I'm glad that he's coming in. Look, the one thing I'll say, I think both President Clinton and Secretary Clinton have also added that they would like those hearings to be public.
ED O'KEEFE: Right.
REP. GARCIA: That's something that we absolutely support. We have questions for, for President Clinton. We'll be asking those in New York in the weeks ahead, as you know, but there's a lot of people that we need to speak with, and the more that we can have these conversations in public, I think it's better for the American people. It's what they want to see, and they want to understand what was the truth about Epstein, who he knew, where he got his money from and why has there been a constant focus on covering up his crimes by so many in government?
ED O'KEEFE: Congressman Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, thank you for spending part of Sunday with us. We appreciate it, and we'll be right back.
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