Jamie Raskin announces MAJOR investigation into Trump's FBI Director

I'm joined now by Congressman Jamie Raskin. Congressman, thanks for your

Raskin. Congressman, thanks for your time.

>> I'm delighted to be with you, Brian.

>> So, it looks like Cash Patel's luck might have run out a little bit. Can you

explain the new investigation that you and your committee have just launched into him?

>> Well, um you know, it's the oldest story in the book. He's just looting public funds for private use. So, um, he's been

using a government jet for personal flights and lavish vacations. He's been

taking his girlfriend on overnight dates on a $60 million government jet that's supposed to be used for government purposes. He's done a Scottish golfing

purposes. He's done a Scottish golfing excursion with his buddies again on a government jet. He's taken a trip to a

government jet. He's taken a trip to a luxury hunting retreat called Unbelievably Boondoggle Ranch, which I think of as the name of the whole

scandal. I mean, basically the guy who

scandal. I mean, basically the guy who was the least qualified FBI director in history um and has utterly politicized

the department and turned it into a weapon against Trump's political enemies is just abusing all of the the privileges of the office for personal

use. Now, in terms of the investigation

use. Now, in terms of the investigation itself, obviously Democrats are in the minority and so and so to what extent can you investigate this without buyin

from Republicans? And I guess as a as a

from Republicans? And I guess as a as a a correlary to that, are there any Republicans who are who are joining in on this effort to uh to investigate Cash Patel?

>> Well, we just got back after the little Thanksgiving recess, Brian. Um, and so I've not had an opportunity yet to talk to the Republicans, but when we hit the

floor this evening, I will definitely be approaching colleagues on the judiciary committee, people from the oversight committee to see whether they would join us because it's just a scandalous

situation. And I think we need to raise

situation. And I think we need to raise the stakes for this kind of misconduct.

Uh Trump obviously sets a dreadful example for his administration by treating public property like private property and just uh bulldozing the

White House and then deciding to you know build out his his big ballroom and taking a $400 million jet airplane from the Qataris and so on. So they get the

rest of the administration gets the message. It's just like Marty Gro let's

message. It's just like Marty Gro let's say like bon rule whatever you can get away with it and even though the Supreme Court which is under Trump's spell has

given him certain kinds of immunities those immunities don't extend to everybody else in the government and we have to try to uphold the rule of law at every turn.

>> Best case scenario what do you hope that this investigation will lead to?

Well, we want him to release all of the relevant information and all of the relevant documents. We want him to stop

relevant documents. We want him to stop ripping off the taxpayers, but he's already shown himself basically to be unrepentant.

And um so, you know, Trump may end up getting rid of him. Um, but that's not sufficient for us if other members of

the administration continue to abuse their public offices for private gain.

And again, that goes all the way up to the top. I mean that starts with Donald

the top. I mean that starts with Donald Trump, but it certainly filtered down to a lot of the other uh members of his cabinet just as well, including uh

Secretary Gnome uh at Homeland Security and a bunch of the other ones are engaged in the same kind of misconduct and exploitation of office. I'm not sure if if you've had the opportunity to read

this, but there's a new report out from active duty and retired FBI agents, and it kind of shows that that what you're investigating Cash Patel for is a small part of a larger hole. There was an instance where Cash Patel, it was the

day after Charlie Kirk had been shot and killed, went out to Provo um to begin the investigation, and wouldn't uh leave the plane until he got an FBI jacket.

And then even still, once he got an FBI jacket from a female member of the FBI, wouldn't leave the plane until he was able to borrow some patches from other FBI agents that wouldn't leave him

patchless where there were where there were spaces on his jacket to to put those patches on. And so it really goes to show that that that what he's using

the office for is not to lead first as a law enforcement agent, but rather to to get himself Instagrammable moments and to make sure that he's the center of attention. I don't know whether he wants

attention. I don't know whether he wants to use this to to launch himself into some, you know, big glossy social media career in the aftermath of this. Um, but

in any case, what was your reaction to hearing a little bit about that report that came from active duty and retired FBI agents? It's it's all spectacle,

FBI agents? It's it's all spectacle, performance, entertainment for them.

Meanwhile, he's been doing everything in his power to cover up Jeffrey Epstein's crimes and the crimes that took place as part of that massive international

billion dollar global sex trafficking ring um and child abuse ring. So he said he wanted all the documents released when they were running and then he got

in and he's doing everything he can to sweep all of it under the rug and to call it a Democrat hoax along with Donald Trump. Meanwhile, they're taking

Donald Trump. Meanwhile, they're taking the taxpayers for a ride in every way.

You know, using the jet planes for their romantic dates, for their buddy golf weekends, for all of their boondoggle ranch outings.

uh and um uh they're not uh serving the American people. It's just a a complete

American people. It's just a a complete performance. The good news, Brian, is

performance. The good news, Brian, is that uh Trump is sinking like a stone in the polls. Um and so he'll probably end

the polls. Um and so he'll probably end up purging a bunch of these people who are basically just imitating him because they're crimes are so glaring and so

obvious. In the meantime, he's in league

obvious. In the meantime, he's in league with every, you know, corrupt uh mobstate leader around the world and is

um in the process of pardoning uh Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former president of Hondur who's a convicted cocaine

trafficker who was bringing cocaine into America. 400 tons of cocaine, 800,000

America. 400 tons of cocaine, 800,000 pounds of cocaine he was bringing in.

and Trump is gonna uh pardon him because he's another uh right-wing uh dictator, right?

>> Who has all the right friends in the Trump circles while they're just blowing up boats um you know in Latin America at

the high seas saying these people are nar narot traffickers without bringing any charges without any due process at all without any declaration of war. So

it doesn't make sense either as a legitimate act of war or as a legitimate act of police enforcement. So it's just an utterly lawless careening sequence of

events that we're witnessing.

>> On that point really quick, um there was concern over the weekend that Pete Hexath was the one who ordered that second strike. And of course, the second

second strike. And of course, the second strike would be the one that would be constituted as a war crime because, you know, within within the manual that that our own military adheres to, it gives

the example of if someone is shipwrecked for some uh for some reason, that's a legitimate justification to not attack them or to not kill them. And that's

exactly what happened. It seemed this afternoon that that blame had been diffused off of Pete Hegth and onto somebody below him. And so what was your

reaction to seeing what very much looks like an effort to protect Pete Hegsth?

>> Right. Well, even if the original attacks on these so-called drug boats were legitimate acts of war, which I think clearly they were not, but even

assuming they were, the so-called second tap attacking the people who now were hanging on for dear life to the wreckage

of the boat. um

uh was a war crime. It is a war crime to attack people who are survivors uh who are defenseless

um and have no military recourse. It's

just like killing prisoners of war. It's

killing people who no longer are a threat. So, even if you assume, I think

threat. So, even if you assume, I think against all the evidence that the original tap was a lawful effort just to destroy um a drug boat that we were at war with,

even though Congress hasn't declared any war and there no military hostilities, the attack on the desperate survivors who are trying to hang on to the flatsom

and jetsum and wreckage of the boat is clearly a war crime. It's either a war crime if you're using a military paradigm or it's murder if you're

thinking of it as uh law enforcement.

Yeah. Because um these people again were constituting no threat to anyone.

>> Do you think that this administration had covered up for Hegathth so that they could preserve him while still throwing somebody below him under the bus?

>> Well, we're waiting to see. We're trying

to find that out. Um

I mean, scandalously, the administration has been defending these um, you know, non- international law hostilities.

Hostilities. I mean, they're coming up with the most tortured neologistic syntaxes, >> right? It's just mur it's just murder at

>> right? It's just mur it's just murder at the high seas. That's that's basically what it is.

>> Yeah. I mean, it's um it's not an act of war. Congress hasn't declared war. were

war. Congress hasn't declared war. were

not in active military hostilities. They

say, "We think that's a drug boat. We

don't know who's on it, but we think everybody who's on it is guilty, and we're just going to blow up the drug boat." And then when two people survived

boat." And then when two people survived the wreckage, kill all of them.

>> Um is punitively, allegedly, one of the orders that came down. So, we've got to get to the bottom of this because of

course, um the logic of these attacks is unlimited. In other words, if this is

unlimited. In other words, if this is allowed at the high seas, why is it not just allowed on the highways of America?

>> Right. Right. Um, and if they can go without a declaration of war from Congress, without any military provocation, and without any proof that

these are uh drug dealers, why can't they just blow up trucks that are driving down a highway?

>> Yep.

>> Right. And so, you can see how there's an infinitely elastic logic to what they're doing. And when it merges with

they're doing. And when it merges with the deployment of military against Los Angeles and Portland and Chicago and DC, it's a very dangerous situation.

>> Yeah, I completely agree. And and we'll finish off with this. You had mentioned before the extent to which Cash Patel and of course by association Donald Trump are involved in this cover up of the Epstein files. you have pushed

forward a measure or introduced a measure um that would that's intended to put a a bunch of Republicans on record here as it relates to the prospective pardon of Epstein's uh accomplice Gain

Maxwell. Can you speak a little bit

Maxwell. Can you speak a little bit about that?

>> Yeah. Well, look, Donald Trump um pardoned 1,600 convicted January 6ers um which included hundreds of people who violently assaulted police officers. He

did it on the first day of his administration. So the new Congress had

administration. So the new Congress had no opportunity to say anything. Um they

are clearly involved in very elaborate relationship and seduction of Galileain Maxwell. Um all

she has to do is utter the right words and then she gets transferred out of a higher security, tougher prison to a prison camp in Texas with a very gentle

environment. And even there she gets

environment. And even there she gets treated to some extraordinary perks and differential treatment. She gets room

differential treatment. She gets room service in herself. She gets to work out and have exercise privileges when she wants to. She can have visitors come in

wants to. She can have visitors come in who get to use computers unlike all the other visitors. And she appears to be

other visitors. And she appears to be involved in a commutation application.

So, she's setting up um her pardon, commutation, clemency action from the Trump administration. We know about it.

Trump administration. We know about it.

We in Congress have got to act now. And

so that is the purpose of this resolution putting Congress on record as opposing any clemency for the convicted child sex trafficker and offender Gain

Maxwell who was sentenced in Judge Alli Nathan's courtroom to 20 years in prison for recruiting and grooming uh and

prostituting children across state state lines participating in the trafficking and the abuse of the children. Um, if

anybody is unqualified for a pardon, it's got to be Gain Maxwell, who refused to testify at her trial, refused to own up to her

crimes, um, has been completely unrepentant, >> has been completely unreorseful, continues to lie about the girls and the

women who were abused, continues to denigrate the victims and disparage the victims. of her crimes and Jeffrey Epstein's

crimes and she continues to deny that Epstein engaged in any um in any sexual offenses against children. Why should

she be pardoned? So that strikes me as an elementary moral and legal proposition and we should all put our names to it. And if you voted to release all of Dapstein files, certainly you

should be voting also to say there should be no pardon for Gain Maxwell.

>> In terms of getting this resolution on the floor, which is obviously important, getting these members of Congress on record in terms of where they stand on this issue, um do do you have to rely on Mike Johnson to bring it to the floor?

Is there some other avenue that can force this resolution to be voted on?

>> Well, remember this is what we did with the discharge petition. Um, I would hope that we would immediately get all the Democrats on it. Yeah. And we would get all of at least all of the Republicans

who um co-sponsored the discharge petition, but really all of them who want to take a stand against this because, you know, the rumors are that Donald Trump could decide to issue a

Christmas pardon for Gain Maxwell. this

would be some act of charity that would obviously cement her determination to testify that she know she saw no wrong

from Jeffrey Epstein and no wrong from Donald Trump and anybody else that the Trump administration's trying to protect. Remember, Trump had dispatched

protect. Remember, Trump had dispatched the number two at the Department of Justice, uh, the Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanch, to go and meet

with her the day after she was subpoenaed to come testify before Congress and the oversight committee.

And he went there not to get names from her about who the abusers and perpetrators were, not to figure out the full scope and dimension of this massive child sex trafficking conspiracy, but

rather to make sure that she would not say anything unoured about Donald Trump.

>> It's pretty amazing that Republicans have been claiming to be battling this war on Christmas for the last 20 years and finally they win. They've got full control of government, House, Senate,

White House. It's uh it's their moment

White House. It's uh it's their moment to really bathe in the sacra sanctity of the holiday season. And what might Trump be considering doing? Releasing a

pedophile's accomplice from prison.

Really uh really puts everything on full display there. With that said,

display there. With that said, Congressman, appreciate uh appreciate all the work that you're doing here and for your time today.

>> Great being with you, Brian. Hang tough.