Katie Phang

0:00Every day the world gets a little weirder, and a lot more awesome. Cool Stuff Daily takes a look at everything from mining in space to the latest in the fight against cancer to how AI is basically changing everything. It's all the cool stuff you didn't know you needed to know. Join us for cool Stuff Daily as we take a quick look at science, tech, and the, wait, what? Stories that make you sound way smarter at dinner. Subscribe to cool Stuff Daily Now because the future is happening fast and it's way to fun to miss. Hi, this is Alex Cantrowitz. I'm the host of Big Technology podcast, a long time reporter and an on air contributor to CNBC. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech and outsiders trying to influence it, asking where this is all going. They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and plenty more.

1:01So if you want to be smart with your wallet, your career choices, and meetings with your colleagues and at dinner parties, listen to Big Technology podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Department of Justice Attorney General Pamela Joe, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik, Bill Gates, Leslie Groff, Leon Black, the names go on and on why because house oversight is pushing for truth, justice, transparency for the victims and survivors of Epstein Maxwell and others. Congressman Robert Garcia is back with an update, including, including what is going on with the Department of Justice sitting at about 47,000 files, some of whom reference Donald Trump directly with allegations of abuse. We wanted to make sure that you knew exactly what is the latest so tune in now and take a listen. Joining me now is Congressman Robert Garcia, who is always leading the charge for keeping people honest, frankly, on all issues, but I did want to start obviously with the breaking news from yesterday. The Department of Justice Attorney General Pam Bondi has been subpoenaed.

2:05Now there's no date yet, but she'll be appearing in front of your committee house oversight. I mean, Congressman, I got to ask you, you know, you know me, I keep all my receipts. I still have in my hands the subpoena that you guys gave to the Department of Justice. I was signed by James Comer, August 5th, 2025, and you all got nothing from the DOJ. I mean, you really expect Pam Bondi to come to you guys and give you even more information that she has not already not given. Well, the short answer is we're going to fight like hell to ensure we get answers, right? We're going to push you really, really hard. She's going to lie, she's going to have to flack, but getting somebody under oath on the record is really important, as you know. And so I think, look, she hasn't had to face the oversight committee yet. And I personally think that we've got the most talented group of not just litigators, but of folks that are working class people that bring a passion and fire to our agenda.

3:07The fact that we continuously get Republicans to join us on the subpoenas, because we don't have subpoena power. I think people, everyone that's coming in front of this committee that had a subpoena on, we've had to like fight and rough and tumble in the backyard, find the Republicans to get from the comeover, cutting deals, getting, you know, working with them. And the fact that we had a united democratic committee yesterday, and we were with a pool, a couple Republicans to join us. It's a big deal. This is the attorney general of Donald Trump's DOJ. And at the same time, we specifically made this subpoena focus on Epstein. So all of the questions, the entire conversation, well, there's a lot of the DOJ that is corrupt and that's happening. This is going to be about Epstein. So I don't want you to betray any conferences because you possibly share with our viewers kind of the thought process with the fact that this actually, and I will always give credit where credit is due, may not invite her to come to the table for dinner. But Nancy Mace was the one who really pushed this Bondi subpoena.

4:11And she had some harsh words for Pamela Joe, as I call her, any insight kind of behind the scenes on how this all came to pass? Yeah, I mean, with that, obviously, you know, giving away some, you know, some confidential conversations, I think I'll say that the Congressman Conner was a key player in this. And I were working together on ensuring that we could team up with Representative Mace. And there were certainly conversations that were happening. And I think that Congressman Mace did absolutely the right thing. I mean, I rarely agree with her on much, but she is strong on this issue. And she's been very clear about transparency. And so she, when she put this forward, she knew going into it that she had a unanimous vote of Democrats. And so that's, that was the key. And then we were able to push over a couple more Republicans. And we got, and we won the vote. And so we're, we're proud of a committee, as, and we're grateful to work with her. And look, there are, there are a few folks in that committee that we end up working with

5:13sometimes. I mean, whether it's Representative Aluna, who has worked with us on, for example, pushing subpoenas and actions against, for example, Acosta and others, whether it's been Nancy Mace on other issues, these are representatives that I think want to do the right thing on this issue. One of the votes that actually came from the Republicans to support this Bondi subpoena came from Lauren Bober, who created, frankly, a circus side show last week by taking photographs, a former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former president of the United States Bill Clinton. It was incredibly defiant, even after being busted by doing both of those photos and violation of the rules. You know, it gives me some cause for pause, though, Congressman, because this is underlying. Like, I had the privilege of spending time in speaking with Daniel Danny Benski yesterday, who was an Epstein victim survivor. You know, I felt like it was important to make sure that their story stay the center and the focus of what is happening here for the fight that you valiantly are leading to bring justice and accountability for her and others. But then when Bober pulls the stunts that she does, it really undermines it in some way.

6:18And it becomes a super politicized moment, especially when Bober starts asking questions about pizza gate to Hillary Clinton, your thoughts about how, how coma and others as chair can kind of make sure that the train doesn't go off the rails on stuff like this. I mean, there's a reason why House Oversight has really been pushing on this Epstein files issue. Look, I think he does have some pretty independent members on his side, as do we. I think that obviously Boberts and Representative Boberts actions and what she didn't say at the deposition were just obviously grossed and just below any sort of decorum and against the rules. And she has shown on occasion an ability to really fight for the Epstein investigation. And I think Mrs. Shea is one of those individuals that we have worked with. There are relationships that are bipartisan, particularly with folks like Representative Mace, Representative Bober.

7:18At the time, we began building one with Margetella Green. And certainly, when you think about folks like that and like Representative Luna, who I personally, well, have a completely different political relationship, I have a very good working relationship with Representative Luna. And I think that we're able to, when there is an issue that matters to the American public, we can come together. And I think that's something that Chairman Comer obviously probably prefer that we don't have those relationships, but they're there and we're going to get justice for these survivors. Another interesting twist in the last few days has been the fact that Howard Lutnik has now agreed voluntarily to appear without a subpoena. Please give some clarity to our viewers. The absence of a subpoena still creates an imposition on obligation, excuse me, on Secretary Lutnik to have to still tell the truth, even if he's not there under subpoena, right? That's right. And looking, he volunteered because we were, we had the votes of subpoena. I mean, the reality is is that we had the votes going into yesterday's meeting to issue that subpoena.

8:19And so we were going to force him to come in. And so of course, the day before he volunteers to do it, that's fine. We had, I began, I've been working with both Congressman Connor and Congressman Mace who had been talking about this and a bunch of other folks. We had it lined up. And so, look, I think, I think that we have some really, really talented folks in this committee on our side that are working really hard to get the truth. And I think the Republicans have realized that we're all in on this, even in the minority. And so we are getting some important steps forward to get information. And we've collecting that, not just in the committee hearing, but in interviews, whistleblowers of a variety of sources. So we're, I think we're building to something really important here. And we're not going to stop until all the files are released. And I don't serve you, so Katie, but the DOJ this morning announced that they're going to be releasing more files and post. That's right. Yeah. According to 47,635 Epstein files have been offline for review according to Bondi's DOJ,

9:23that they should be released maybe even later this week. I mean, it is already Thursday. So there's not a lot of time left in this week, but apparently they've been sitting on those, some of which includes some FBI documents that were relevant to Donald Trump, as allegations have pointed towards him. No, that's right. And I think it's interesting that they make this announcement the day after we secure this subpoena of Attorney General, Pam Bondi, the morning after. I mean, this DOJ has to be pressured into doing things. And it's unfortunate, but the pressure that the American public is putting on the Congress matters, and it works. And when you have 70% of Republicans that think that the Epstein files have been botched or being hidden by the DOJ and Trump, that's significant. So I think Republicans in Congress understand what they're based are demanding. And there's all people across this country, they want the files released, and they want justice here. They want prosecutions. They want the names of the co-conspirators, and I think that is all something that we're

10:23going to get to. Hey, I'm Josh Spiegel, host of the podcast, Lunatic in the Newsroom. If you enjoy journalism that drifts into my old panic, wild overthinking, and a guaranteed nervous breakdown, Lunatic in the newsroom is for you. It's news like you've never heard before. The only newsroom with a panic button, you'll laugh, you'll cry, and gasp and horror as the show spirals completely out of control. It's not just news. It's emotionally unstable. Lunatic in the newsroom. Listen today. Hi, this is Alex Cantrowitz. I'm the host of Big Technology podcast, a long time reporter and an on-air contributor to CNBC. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech and outsiders trying to influence it, asking where this is all going. They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and plenty more. So if you want to be smart with your wallet, your career choices, and meetings with your

11:24colleagues, and at dinner parties, listen to Big Technology podcast wherever you get your podcasts. There's also several letters that have been sent out to people, including Bill Gates, Leon Black, Catherine Rumler, and Leslie Groff. There's a few other names that I could add to that. The Leslie Groff and the Catherine Rumler obviously stood out, but Leslie Groff especially she was the personal assistant to Epstein, and she was the point of contact for so many people. Do you reasonably anticipate a lot of pushback from these people that are being the recipients of House Oversight letters to be able to have them come and sit down and speak with your committee? Well, they're maybe at the end of the day, Jeffrey Epstein is dead, going mass release in prison. And I think these folks that were around and in the orbit and some had very intimate knowledge about what Jeffrey Epstein was doing day and day out, I think should do the right thing. I think this is an opportunity. I've been famous. I've shared this also why we're so interested in talking to former Prince Andrew.

12:27These people have horrible things, horrific things. They now have an opportunity to begin to write those wrongs, and writing those wrongs means being honest and getting that closure and justice for these survivors and these victims. And so that's, I think, the case for folks that we're bringing in, they have an opportunity to tell the truth and to begin to write these wrongs. I'm so glad you brought up former Prince Andrew. I have focused a lot on my channel here, not only on former Prince Andrew, but people like Peter Mandelson. And everybody knows that they have not been arrested based upon sexual crimes or offenses, based upon the passing a lot of confidential government information while holding public office, which is a life offense in the United Kingdom. What methods are you guys actively trying to have the chance to speak to Prince Andrew, Peter Mandelson and others, even in France, they've now launched new criminal investigations

13:30into the Jean-Luc Bernel angle with Jeffrey Epstein. I mean, there's all of this activity that's going on in Europe and you and others at House Oversight. And again, valently trying so hard, I envision you guys some days like Sisyphus, the old Greek mythology guy who kept on rolling the boulder up the hill on the next day of the boulder reward back down, but then you guys would put the shoulder to it and keep on pushing it up. Is there a way to interface with these European investigations to obtain this information so it can facilitate the truth that you guys are pursuing here? There is some of that happening. And so we're trying to partner not just with our international partners, but also with some of the state agency partners that are now launching their own investigations. Like New Mexico, for example. New Mexico. There's some other efforts that are in the works right now. So all of that is part of the broader investigation. We have, I don't know, let's say this often because I don't get a chance to do, but I'll say that I'm really, really proud of the staff of the Oversight Committee. These are people that are working really, really hard.

14:32We have half the staff that the majority has. And these investigators and researchers and specialists and they're, they're, I am just grateful to their families for like the public service that they're doing to the country. And they're working really, really hard to get justice for these survivors. Well, I'm not surprised that you of all people would acknowledge the people that are working behind the scenes to make this all happen. So I do second that because we have been having so much information that's been provided by House Oversight from your committee that it's been incredibly valuable. I did want to kind of follow up with you about the New Mexico angle. I did have the chance to speak to the state representative Andrea Romero, who was the person who co-sponsored bipartisan legislation that was unanimously passed to create the Epstein Truth Commission in New Mexico to explore Zora Ranch, et cetera. You know, I told her this is such a good sign that you've got House Oversight pushing this federally. But then you also have places like New Mexico, like states that are doing it as well.

15:34But Florida, where I am, is really messed up always. Florida really is the epicenter of a lot of this though as well. Are you getting any cooperation at all from Florida in terms of maybe going back and kind of digging back up into things that would reveal more truth around this? So not a lot of direct support from the state. Not much more. Why we're going to Palm Beach and for one of our first real hearings on Epstein, and the reason why we're going to be there is because we're talking to folks on the ground. And we will have testimony, I believe, at that hearing that will be important that really brings us back. We need to go back to Mar-a-Lago and Palm Beach and the early relationship between Jeff Reapstein and Donald Trump and the trafficking that was going on, not just of young girls, but there was also a level of trafficking that was international. That was bringing in women from Europe, from Eastern Europe, a through Jeff Reapstein, through Galein Maxwell, connecting them with powerful and wealthy men.

16:36And there is a lot there that I think needs to be discussed. And all signs point back to the White House in Mar-a-Lago. Why is that? I mean, really? I think the American public deserve the truth. Congressman, I just before you and I part ways, because I'm always so grateful for your time, and I did want to remind people that are tuning in, you and House Oversight, you don't just do Epstein. I think sometimes we got a little myopic about it because it is kind of always kind of the top of the discourse, because there's always something new, or it's really kind of driving what people are talking about, but you guys are also making sure that you keep tabs on the waste and the fraud and the abuse and all the other stuff that's happening in this administration. That's right. Trump family corruption, taking on DHS, ICE, of course, and the terror they're causing. And obviously, it's beyond that. You look at the administration, whether it's RFK, Jr., and Health and Human Services. There's a lot of horrific things happening. So just know that we're out there watching.

17:38For us, this is about truth and justice for all people. And we're going to keep going until we win that majority. And then just stay tuned. We have a big agenda ahead of us. Well, Congressman Robert Garcia, it is always a privilege. And we're always so grateful that you are so gracious with your time. Thank you for being here with me. And it's good to see you. Thank you. Katie Fang here. We launched the Katie Fang news channel in partnership with the Midas Touch Network. So we could bring you the latest and legal and political news. Straight, no chaser. So if you're a fellow truth teller, hit that subscribe button and share the word about this channel. So we can build a high information America together. When they show you who they are, believe them. And most certainly when they write about who they are, believe them. We have some outrageous news here in Florida. I know. It is a cesspool of magas stupidity. But when I show you and I tell you, the latest reporting about young, Miami and South Floridian Republicans, you're probably going to say not surprised,

18:44and yet it's still fucking shocking. Because these are people that are holding positions of power and leadership positions within the Republican Party in the state of Florida. It's also alarming because they're young. They're young. And so in theory, this is the future of the Republican Party. But let's get into the specifics so you can understand why this is just so outrageous. I want to give applause to the Floridian. It's a local publication. And the guy who is the journalist on this, his name is Javier Manjarris. And he published yesterday in the Floridian, this article about how a group chat amongst Republicans showed that the N word was used over 200 times. And there's some other explicit, racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, and violent, violent messaging that was sent back and forth in this group chat.

19:46It was started in the administrator of this group chat is a guy by the name of Abel, Alexander Carvajal. He is the Miami GOP secretary. Abel, Alexander Carvajal began this group chat. September 22, 2025, he created the group chat. He was the administrator. The name of the group chat changed over time to different things. But when it was begun in September, it was called Uber retards yapping ink. Now Carvajal, as I told you, is the secretary of the Miami Dade GOP, a county that carried DeSantis and Trump. Dariel Gonzales is the FIU college Republicans membership director. So he's like the recruiting guy, right? He was a part of this chat. He participated a guy named Ian Valdez, the FIU, the Florida International University Turning Point chapter president.

20:48No shocker there. Turning Point is involved in this. And then there's another person, William Bejarrano. He tried to start a pro-life group at Miami Dade college. He was the primary user of the N word in this group chat. And at one point, he posted a block of text. And I can't even reprint it for you and show it to you on your screen, because the amount of reductions I'd have to do would basically redact this entire thing. It called for acts of extreme violence against black people. He only referred to them using the N word. And it included crucifying, beheading, and dissecting people. Mainly black people who we referred to with the N word now. When contacted by the Miami Herald, because the Miami Herald also picked up on this group chat, Bejarrano hung up the phone. I saw, I guess, William Bejarrano.

21:51Hey, I'm Josh Speagle, host of the podcast, Lunatic in the newsroom. If you enjoy journalism that drifts into mild panic, wild overthinking, and a guaranteed nervous breakdown, Lunatic in the newsroom is for you. It's news like you've never heard before. The only newsroom with a panic button. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and gasp and horror as the show spirals completely out of control. It's not just news. It's emotionally unstable. Lunatic in the newsroom. Listen today. Pro-life for that you are. Miami-Dade College pro-life for that you are. I guess you didn't want to talk to the Herald. And I guess you're not pro-life when it comes to black people and other minorities. But let's move on. Carva Hall not only was the administrator in the creator of this group chat, but according to reporting from the Floridian, he actually has been actively recruiting people to serve in the Miami-Dade GOP as committee men and committee women.

22:57So here's a few more examples of the type of stuff that was going on in this group chat. Dariel Gonzalez who has now applied to be a GOP committee man and you know the guy who was the FIU College Republicans membership director. Dariel Gonzalez writes total and word death. And they use this racist sentiment to be able to force a female African American student to leave the college Republicans at FIU. She left after being subjected repeatedly to racial slurs. One participant in the chat says, well, what happened to her? To which Dariel Gonzalez responds, William called her a N word. So she left. William being William Beherano. Okay. On several occasions, Carva Hall himself uses the terms migris, miglet and migger, which are variations of the N word.

23:59It's just, it makes my skin crawl to even use this journalistically to explain to you, but he used it repeatedly as well in the group chat. Now, undergirding all of this racism and horrificness is obviously what? Just a hatred of minorities. There's a lot of antisemitism here. I'm going to get into in a second, but it also shows that these Hispanics, by the way, these Hispanic young men and women. I don't want you to think women were not a part of this group chat because they were. But you have Hispanics that are sitting there being racist against other minorities. So they're also raging antisemites. Let's get into that. Well, give me one second. I'm sorry because this is important before I get into the antisemitism.

25:02Dariel Gonzalez again wrote at some point in the group chat, you, you had colored professors. I reuse, refuse, he missed, he missed, to be indoctrinated by the colors. I was told we can't say black anymore, and that's the reason why he used the word colored. And a couple of days later in the group chat, he said, avoid the colors like the played. Okay. Now, let's talk about the antisemitism because it's a lot in this group chat. In October of 2025, Ian Valdez, president of the FIU Turning Point Chapter, renamed this group chat, quote, gooning in agartha. Now, gooning is a slang word for male masturbation. Agartha is a mythical white civilization promoted by the Nazi Heinrich Himmler. And has recently been repopularized by the young online right, the far right youth online.

26:12Agartha not only was believed by Himmler and other Nazis to be this hidden homeland of the Aryan race, but like I said, neo-Nazis and other white nationalists have really kind of been pushing this idea of agartha, this mythical civilization online a lot. The group chat, when talking about the prospect of marrying a Jewish woman, Dariel Gonzalez says, if one had sex with a Jewish woman, one would run the risk of having a little k word running around. FIU Turning Point president Ian Valdez writes, I would death not marry a Jew LMAO to which Dariel responds, chances are you would have a little k word running around, keep your cock away from them. Dariel Gonzalez called agartha heaven inside the earth, somebody responds reverse Zionism and Dariel responds pretty much. Valdez, the Turning Point chapter president says, agartha is esoteric Nazism essentially.

27:21According to Heidi Byrick, who researches extremism and co-founded the group the global project against hate and extremism, quote, it was something as an agartha, with something Himmler was obsessed about and it's basically a mythical white homeland in the center of the earth. If you're using the term agartha, you have spent some time reading about white supremacy and Nazis. There's just no way around it. You're embedded in the culture. Valdez writing at one point, we need to have a moratorium on immigration temporarily unless it's someone from a first world country. He then clarified, yeah, I obviously mean whites. I don't have to tell you, Valdez is not a white name. Okay. I mean, this is some outrageous shit. It really is. So you all know that I am obsessed with my one skin OS one face moisturizer. It is my go-to on the daily now. I combine it. I layer it. It goes seamlessly with my other products. It has become the thing that goes with me everywhere I go when I travel for work and when I'm at home.

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29:26Make sure you use that code and ask you, purchased. I'm going to ask you, where did you hear about them? So please support the Katie Fang News Channel and tell them that we sent you. Then to show how subversive this all is, right? Somebody says to the current party chair, excuse me, somebody says to Daryl Gonzalez, your new purpose is to fire the current chair of the Miami GOP to which the Miami GOP Secretary Able Carva Hall says we might get there soon, soon, buddy, soon. So look, they're definitely trying to change the leadership structure in the Miami GOP, but you already have a guy who's the secretary of the Miami GOP who's doing this. And it's, again, pretty outrageous. You want to know something? Carva Hall, let's talk about this guy a little bit, right? To the Floridian, Carva Hall said, yeah, it's my chat, but he denied having any knowledge of the comments made in the chat. He's now since

30:26taking it down. He writes to the Floridian, I had I known and seen the messages I would have called the police when asked, will you resign your position with the local Republican GOP? He said, no, of course not, of course not, for you know, for a chat where the messages that were stated were not mine. Keep that in mind, because that's what he told the Floridian, right? But then listen to what the Harold got from Carva Hall. Carva Hall is a third year law student at FIU. This guy wants to be a lawyer in the state of Florida and beyond, by the way, but this guy is a third year law student. He said that he had not seen much of the content until he was contacted by the Harold about the logs last week. He was shocked by the gruesome calls for violence against black people, claimed it's been five months since this was sent. And this is the first time I've seen this message. I guess to an extent, I bear some responsibility because I created a chat, but if I'd seen this at the moment, I would have removed. But here's the funny thing. He deleted 14 other messages sent by other participants and 42 of his own messages before the Miami Herald got a

31:27copy of the chat log. So he claims he was deleting messages because they were just stickers and decluttering the chat. Mama begs a different here. Carva Hall saying he created this group after Charlie Kirk was killed and the campus's turning point USA chat was limited to administrators only. So the solution is to create an anti-Semitic racist Nazi group chat. That's the solution. FIU's turning point chapter, according to the Harold, has a history of being problematic. In 2018, in chat logs obtained by the Miami New Times, the group was called TPUSA, turning point USA FIU fund. That was the name of the chat group, included messages joking about rape, fairy on brand for Republicans. And it was liking cartoon pornography featuring drawings of underage girls. And it reminded members to not be racist and anti-Semitic.

32:31Right. Okay. At the time, 75 members of the faculty signed a letter to ask FIU to revoke the organizational status of that chapter on FIU's campus. Of course, FIU still has an active turning point USA chapter. At one point in these group chats last fall in 2025 and the ones that we're talking about, various members debated how to describe a woman using terms like half breed and mongrel to which Valdez, the turning point chapter president, FIU said, if this chat gets leaked, we're so cooked LMAO laughing my ass off. This isn't even my worst one, Dariel Gonzalez responded to which Valdez says, I'm in a few on Telegram that are definitely worse. I mean, I told you it was bad folks, right? And you would think these dumb asses would figure out not to put it in writing. I mean, if you're going to be this way, don't be so stupid as to put

33:31it in writing. And yet, how grateful can we be that they were stupid enough to put this in writing? And how dumb do they think we are that people like Carva Hall are saying, no, no, I didn't know, and I didn't participate. Okay. But maybe if I did, I took it down. I mean, come on. Really? I'll remind you, Politico had that bombshell reporting. Let's pull it up right here, back in October of 2025, of a trove of Telegram chats. And remember, that's what Valdez said at the end of that heredirical, right? Like, quote, I'm in a few on Telegram that are definitely worse. Well, this is the case. Okay. So there's a trove of Telegram chats obtained by Politico that spanned more than seven months of messaging among young Republican leaders in New York, Arkansas, Kansas, and Vermont. And when they were chatting, as you recall from this article, not only did they refer to black people with the N word, but they also said stuff like, can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don't fit the Hitler aesthetic. That was Joe Maligno, who was the general counsel for New York State young Republicans. I mean, this article was also outrageous. And when you saw

34:36this, people were like, oh, you know, they were so young. Remember JD Vance? I don't know if they really should be judged for saying something when they're so young, whatever. People, it's the feature, not the bug, the racism, the antisemitism, the misogyny, the violence, the liking of the underage cartoon pornography, the jokes about rape, all of the stuff is totally on brand for Republicans. But what we're seeing is it's not given a pass because they're young. In fact, all of these people should be outed. I don't care how old they are. They should be outed, and they should be identified for their roles in these types of group chats. Because I don't really think they're fit. They're not fit for an education, and they're certainly not fit for employment. But they should be outed because they are the future of the Republican Party. I cannot imagine anybody saying that the future of the Republican Party is bright. If this is the type

35:38of direct and shit that we see coming out of the young Republicans. Spread this episode far and wide. Let people know what the young Republicans are all about, young Republicans in their own backyards, like mine, here in South Florida. Subscribe, like, let people know that this is the type of work that we are covering here at the Katie Fang News Channel. Be mad, be outraged, be accountability, folks. It is March 5th, 2026. Let's go around some cages. Katie Fang here. We launched the Katie Fang news channel in partnership with the Midas Touch Network. So we could bring you the latest and legal and political news straight, no chaser. So if you're a fellow truth teller, hit that subscribe button and share the word about this channel so we can build a high information America together. So there are some Republicans that are trying to gaslight Americans into thinking that we are not at war with Iran. And the United States Senate yesterday failed to have the courage to check the power, the unconstitutional and illegal power that is being exercised by convicted felon Donald

36:42Trump. And then there's a vote today in the House of Representatives on that same war powers resolution, which we know how it's going to end up. But Congressman Jim Himes, he joined me today because I wanted to get to the root of what is happening. I wanted to get to the truth. I wanted you to know what is being told or not being told to members of Congress. And as always, he is here to tell us the truth. Joining me now is Congressman Jim Himes. Congressman, you and I seem to have this habit now of getting together on my channel, wherein I'm always going to start with asking you two critical questions. One, is this legal? What's happening right now? Did you guys get any heads up on this? And two, what the hell is going on? Because the last time we were together, we were talking about the vessel strikes that we're going on. And now we're here together talking about war in Iran with no congressional authorization and no declaration of war. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, a lot of

37:44questions in that question. So number one, no, it's not legal. It's not legal by any stretch of the definition. It's very clearly illegal under international law. You just got to read the UN Charter. And it's not legal under US law, right? And we're having this big old argument again. And a lot of my Republican colleagues are saying, oh, this is not a war. It's not a war. By the way, Pete Hanks, Ethan Donald Trump, and Marco Rubio are all saying it's a war, but the guys in Congress who the Constitution says are supposed to debate and consider and ultimately approve war. Really? No, no, no, it's not a war. Well, look, Americans aren't stupid, right? You know, when you've got a good chunk of your military engage, when you've taken six casualties, as we already have, you know, when you're using torpedoes to sink ships and dropping bombs and using missiles, guess what? It's a war. And, you know, we're going to vote later on today on a war power's resolution that would require the president to stop this, this, this activity until he got congressional approval, which is what the Constitution demands. And just because you're, you know, calling a duck not a duck doesn't relieve you of your constitutional obligations.

38:44But Katie, even if this passed the House and passed the Senate, do we really think Donald Trump is going to not veto this, you know, the war power's resolution is largely an academic conversation. What is not academic, and this is something that people need to really watch, is that gasoline prices are now 22 cents higher, 22 cents higher, almost a quarter, than they were a week ago. And, you know, Americans might not have a ton of patience for the Federalist papers and the difference between Article 1 and Article 2 of the Constitution, but when they're paying an extra quarter per gallon at the tank, when they're looking at the photographs of six service members who were going back to their families and their children and their spouses, and now are not going to go back to their families and their children and their spouses. Now this becomes very personal for the American people. And we're going to start to see the dynamic. And I warned Marco Rubio about this. We're going to start to see the dynamic that getting involved in wars in the Middle East is a really quick and easy way to end your presidency. On March 2nd, which was Monday, you sent a letter to Pete Hexeth, John Ratcliffe,

39:48Marco Rubio, and Dan Kane. You, along with others. And your letter was very clear. You were going to getting a classified briefing the next day as a member of Congress. And you identified five specific areas that I felt, or six, excuse me, that I felt like kind of covered the waterfront, one dealt with the Street of Harmues, which you just brought up right now, which is dealing with our price of our gas, et cetera, among other critical things with that particular street. I spent some time on Monday speaking to an expert in nuclear armament. I have serious concerns about what's happening with enriched uranium and nuclear munitions in Iran, which was ostensibly one of the reasons why we took proactive action, which again is not legal. It's not like we were under attack in any way. But you know, there's all of these questions that you posed, including the imminent threat justification, strategic objectives and victory, regime change, nuclear security, Street of Harmues, maritime security, and the cost and impacts on munitions inventories. Because this is costing us not only money, but literal munitions to be able to fight

40:54this war in Iran. Did you get satisfactory answers during that classified briefing on Tuesday? No, we did not. I mean, there were a lot of really important questions in there that, again, in a constitutional world would have been asked in the context of a congressional debate. Because everything you listed there, how well do we know that enriched uranium, which is still there, and maybe a little harder to get to after the 12-day war, but it's still there. How well do we know that it's been kept in one place or that it's not going to proliferate around the region? What are the effects going to be on gasoline? Because I think a quarter of a gallon may just be the start. And, you know, Iran doesn't need to work too hard to make that happen. All they need to do is, you know, fire a couple of rockets at fully loaded tankers, industries or in the Persian Gulf to have a dramatic effect on the price of gasoline. So, all of these things are exactly why you have Congress consider in debate and ultimately authorize. Because if we're talking about the lives of Americans, if we're talking about the

41:54livelihoods and the well-being of Americans, call me crazy, but the Constitution says what it does for a reason, which is that the representatives of the people should have a say. And no, it's not good enough to call the gang of eight. By the way, I'm happy because it didn't happen within Israel. We're making a little bit of progress. Prior to Venezuela, which I read about in the, you know, in the newspaper on a Saturday morning, you know, the Secretary of State did reach out to the gang of eight. But the Constitution does not say you reach out to the gang of eight. It says that Congress declares war. And again, you don't even need to get into the constitutional arguments. The stakes are so high in blood and treasure that the representatives of the people should be involved, debate, and then go on record as to whether or not they think this is a good idea or not. None of that has happened. So the war powers resolution vote went up to the Senate yesterday. 53 to 47 failed. You had Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican chair of the Armed Services Committee say the following quote. President Trump understands the weight of war, saying that Trump's decision to be in strikes was profound, deliberate, and correct. You know,

42:59I want to kind of clarify something. Nobody is saying that the Ayatollah was this amazing person and that there should not have been significant substantive changes to how things were going on in that country. But I don't know if people are not paying attention. But the replacement for community was these three people that were basically hand picked by him that are still a part of that original regime and are not embracing oppositional change. So what is the latest excuse that's being provided by the United States government or specifically the Trump administration to justify the loss of six active service members lives plus just countless civilians as well in the Middle East? Yeah, yeah, it's sort of hard to get over Senator Wicker's quote, right? You know, you need to watch President Trump for about 10 minutes to reflect on whether he is deliberative, cautious, and weighing the cost of war. Look, the administration settled on a rationale.

43:59And I heard Marco Rubio say it three times and he said it to the cameras and then speaker Mike Johnson reiterated it after a briefing that we had a couple of days ago. The rationale is, and it's like, when you think about it, it's a really pretty appalling rationale. Here's what Marco Rubio said. You can play the clip if you want. He said we were sure that Israel was going to attack Iran. We were sure that when Israel attacked Iran, Iran would attack U.S. spaces in the region and we were going to suffer casualties and therefore we had to attack with Israel. And if you unpack that a little bit, basically you're saying two things. Number one, we're not the greatest superpower that has ever so destroyed the globe in all of human history. We're like Luxembourg. We are reactive and passive to the decisions that are made in Jerusalem in Tehran. There's a whole other universe that I think we live in where if you think that the Israelis are going, you say, hey, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Now remember, we've got a little bit of leverage with the Israelis, right? And you say, hey, wait a minute. You know, we could get attacked if you guys go in. So let's think this through. That conversation never happened.

45:01If you have that conversation and it doesn't end well, you go to the Iranians and you say, hey, look, I want you to understand here that we are not belligerents. And if you attack us, it's the apocalypse. Again, a conversation which never happened. So I think eventually, when people started thinking about what Marco Rubio articulated, they realized that it was malpractice. And so what do you have today? You have the President of the United States saying, if we hadn't done this, the Iranians were two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon, which is, by the way, completely untrue. The Iranians had never been two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon, but they're grasping its straws because they realized how poorly thought out the rationale here was. Well, and then, but then we continue to have Pete Hagseth yesterday, say the following, he said, there will be death and destruction from the sky all day long. Iranian leaders will see only us in Israeli air power every minute, every day until we decide it's over. And Iran will be able to do nothing about it. Is the bright line,

46:04I guess, no pun intended in the sand, is it going to be literal American boots on the ground? Now, where Republicans are going to say, now we're really at a quote war, and so now we have to give congressional authorization for this. Yeah, look, I mean, what Hagseth says is both obvious and meaningless, right? I mean, we do have the most powerful military, the most capable military in the world. And yes, we can reign death and destruction down, and we can continue to sink their ships, and that sort of thing. The problem is, remember, we've left Afghanistan when we were effectively beaten by a bunch of guys in sandals with AK-47s, right? So, you know, Hagseth does not have enough death and destruction or testosterone, which is his sort of currency and trade, to stop them from flying a couple of drones across the Strait of Hormuz and shutting that down to 20% of global oil supplies, right? He doesn't have the ability to stop them from getting lucky when they activate 10 terrorist cells in the region or in Europe. Again,

47:04only one of them needs to get lucky and create havoc in London or Paris or Riyadh, right? And so, you know, again, everything P-Texeth does is about push-ups and testosterone and death and glory and stuff, but, you know, there is no more complicated human endeavor than trying to successfully prosecute a war in the Middle East. Katie, you can't name for me a war that the United States fought but from Libya to Afghanistan where anybody would say, yeah, let's do that again, right? And P-Texeth thinks this is about testosterone and missiles and fire and death when it's about some really complicated things. So, where are the adults in the room? Because we have this vote yesterday and the Senate. I think we could probably predict where it's going to go today in the House. And we have at least six lives lost and counting, right? There is total chaos in the region. This has not just been a kind of a bipartisan moment, right? I think this has been Iran now going

48:06to different countries and different areas, different other nation states, and doing stuff there, and it is just stunning to me. I almost feel like we're being gaslit as Americans that we see it and we're being told once again by this administration not to believe our own eyes. Yeah, well, you know, this is in some sense the tragedy of, you know, you has to wear the adults where this is the tragedy of giving this kind of power to, you know, to children who don't think things through in any way, shape or form. Because I think I know how this ends and I'll take a little bit of a risk here, but, you know, it's beginning to dawn on the White House, what a catastrophe this is. And again, they'll focus on gas prices because that's the one thing that Americans feel every single day. So the way I think this ends and it's not going to be good in the long run is that two, three, four weeks from now, you know, when the market is further down, oil prices are high and Americans are feeling the pinch at the pump and hopefully not, but maybe we will have lost a number of additional service members. Trump's just going to declare victory. He's going to say,

49:07hey, took out their navy, took out their missile launchers, yay, we won, we're going home. And the problem with that is that if you leave the regime in place, the way they did in Venezuela, these are very, very bad people with a lot of very bad weaponry and a lot of very bad intent. And so what's the lesson going to be to the regime if it's left in place? It's going to be number one, this must never happen again. And the only way to guarantee that this never happens again is to actually develop a nuclear weapon. There you go. And number two, we're going to get retribution from the Qataris, from Dubai and that region of the world, which is so important economically. You can't fly anywhere in the world these days without going through Dubai, right? You know, I mean, it's a, we see all those Americans that are stranded right now. No exit plan by the Secretary of State or anybody else. Right. And so when Donald Trump finally decides to declare victory three, four, five weeks from now and washes his hands of this thing, what we will have learned is that we had a hornet's nest. Let's make no mistake. The Iranian regime is in a polling place. But what we did is we went and kicked that hornet's nest four or five

50:09times. And that just, that doesn't end well. Before you and I, part ways, I'd be remiss to not ask you, do you have anything to share with us about Ecuador and Cuba? I mean, I cannot believe I even have to bring up other countries with you right now. But it seems to me that that's kind of flying below the radar right now. No pun intended. Our conduct and what we're doing in operations in Ecuador and our assistance in Ecuador. And the fact that Cuba seems to be kind of the next on the list of the entrees of things that are on the menu for this administration. Yeah. Yeah. I think I probably have a political answer to that question, which is that you know, MAGA is broken in half right now by this attack on Iran. They were skeptical of Venezuela. And let's face it, the president got very lucky because our superb military executed that fairly straightforward mission. Very difficult, but straightforward mission perfectly. Um, and the bombing of the nuclear sites in the 12-day war went off without a hitch. But now they've got a problem. They've taken on a much larger whale here. Um, and so MAGA is split, right?

51:14And, you know, therefore you have people, you know, Donald Trump saying, well, wait a minute, I am MAGA. Well, you know, no, that's not going to work, right? And so, um, my guess is that the politics of a president who won election saying that I will not get us into a war, getting us into more wars than his, you know, last five predecessors got an into that that's going to cause a real problem inside his coalition. It's going to break the Republican party. The results will show up in November. And, you know, I think that the appetite to use military force in a place like Cuba is going to be a hell of a lot less than it was before this adventure in Iran. I got to say, um, I find it to be heartbreaking that for the families that have lost their loved ones as a result of this decision by Donald Trump, that the quibble on their side will be over the word war and the death of it, right? I mean, that's never going to bring their fan. They're never going to bring their loved ones home. And whether it's a, you know, Anna Paulina

52:16Luna definition of war or somebody else's definition of war, this is most certainly something that was done illegally and unconstitutionally. Congressman Jim Himes, as always, you're so gracious with your time. It's always a privilege to be with you and thank you for bringing us kind of pulling behind the curtains and letting us see what's going on because this is incredibly important for us. So thank you. Thanks for having me, Katie. Katie Fang here. We launched the Katie Fang news channel in partnership with the Midas Touch Network. So we could bring you the latest and legal and political news straight, no chaser. So if you're a fellow truth teller, hit that subscribe button and share the word about this channel so we can build a high information America together.