Lawmakers to hold hearing in Palm Beach with Epstein survivors, focus on ‘sweetheart’ deal

[0:00] Joining me now, Democratic Congresswoman from New Mexico, Melanie Stansberry. [0:04] She, of course, a member of the House Oversight and Natural Resources Committees. [0:08] Welcome back to the show, Congresswoman. [0:09] So has the Trump administration's energy dominance agenda made the world more peaceful? [0:16] Well, I think that's very obvious if you are watching the news that not only is it not making the world more peaceful, [0:21] we are embroiled in multiple armed conflicts, including an illegal war in Iran that has already cost the lives of thousands of civilians, [0:29] 13 service members, and hundreds of our proud men and women in service who've been severely injured. [0:36] And oil and gas prices are sky high right now. [0:39] And it's interesting. I had not seen that clip that you just showed, but I knew that Secretary Burgum was in New Mexico. [0:45] And I want to just note that he must have made that video while on taxpayer dollars. [0:50] He was here in New Mexico this week, but he is not responsible for the oil and gas drilling that's happening in southern New Mexico. [0:56] If anything, what they are doing at the Department of Interior has reduced regulations and safety for the environment and for our communities. [1:04] And so, you know, it's his claims are laughable. [1:09] So what questions then do you have for the secretary when he appears before the Natural Resources Committee this week? [1:15] Well, you know, the Department of the Interior is one of our largest agencies. [1:19] And some people have called it over the years the Department of Everything because it includes all our public lands, our natural resource management agencies, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. [1:29] And here in New Mexico, we have 23 federally recognized tribes. [1:34] And this is arguably, in the modern 21st century, the worst managed Bureau of Indian Affairs we have ever seen. [1:41] I have tribes not only from New Mexico, but from across the West coming to visit me daily, talking about the failure of this administration to just do its basic duty and trust responsibilities to tribes. [1:54] And so, you know, when he was governor, he claimed and was very proud to be good on tribal issues. [2:00] But I would rate his administration as being an abject failure. [2:06] And truly, it is harming people across our tribal communities. [2:11] And so that's where we'll be focused. [2:13] Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik testified to the House Oversight Committee this week about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein [2:19] and misrepresentations that he has made, including saying he had not seen Epstein since 2005 when DOJ files showed he visited Epstein's private island in 2012. [2:30] So Lutnik has not involved in any of Epstein's wrongdoing. [2:34] You say Lutnik lied. [2:36] Now, you weren't in the room, but what about his testimony was not truthful? [2:41] Well, it's very clear that Mr. Lutnik lied in front of the American people. [2:45] He did it on a podcast. [2:46] He did it under oath while testifying in the Senate. [2:50] And while I was not in the room, we were fully briefed on what happened in the recorded interview. [2:56] And I think it's notable that he volunteered to come in, and that essentially insulated him from a deposition on the record under oath. [3:05] And what I know from my colleagues who were in the room is that he was just completely unhinged in his ability to explain how it was that for more than a decade, [3:16] even after he claimed he did not have contact with Mr. Epstein, he then took his entire family, including his children, to the very island where hundreds of women were potentially raped. [3:26] And he himself called it inexplicable. [3:29] I mean, this is not a serious lawmaker. [3:32] And I think that it is well past time for Mr. Lutnik to answer for his lies to the American people and to leave office. [3:39] He does not belong in a office of public trust at this point. [3:44] So the oversight committee holds an Epstein field hearing this week in Palm Beach. [3:50] What do you hope to get from it? [3:52] Yeah, we're going to be in West Palm Beach on Tuesday, and this is a field hearing that is focused on survivors. [4:00] And I want to just make clear that this is not a formal hearing, because up until this point, even though my colleagues across the aisle have claimed that they want to hear from survivors, [4:11] they have yet to call a real hearing on the Epstein case because they are trying to shield the president. [4:16] And so Democrats are leading this field hearing. [4:18] We've been working very closely with the Survivor Network, including Virginia Giuffre's family, World Without Exploitation, which helps to support survivors and is an important organization. [4:30] But for me personally, you know, New Mexico was one of the sites that Jeffrey Epstein used for his activities that he victimized children and women. [4:40] And we really want to expose and understand not just how he was able to abuse survivors, but how he abused the systems themselves. [4:50] And in some ways, West Palm Beach was the testing grounds. [4:54] That's where he built his crime system. [4:56] That is where he abused local authority systems by, you know, donating money to local political officials, giving money and donations to the police department and escaping justice. [5:09] And by the time he moved his operations to New Mexico, as we're learning through our Truth Commission, we know that it was a well-honed system. [5:18] And he was doing the same kinds of not only exploitation of women and girls here, but using our local political systems to escape justice. [5:27] And so we're really looking to understand what exactly happened in West Palm Beach, why he was able to escape effective prosecution, why he was allowed to continue to abuse women, and how this system of abuse, then he exported it and made New Mexico ultimately his next victim. [5:46] OK. [5:48] Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, thank you as always for your time. [5:50] Appreciate it. [5:51] Thank you.