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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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Speaker 2: A heart wrenching day in Washington. Let's get another voice.

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Speaker 2: Republican Congressman Byron Donald of Florida, who's also running to

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Speaker 2: be the state's governor, joins the program. Thank you so

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Speaker 2: much for your time today. I'll start with a very

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Speaker 2: simple question. Given the events of the day, should Speaker

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Speaker 2: Mike Johnson bring that vote to the floor, how would

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Speaker 2: you vote?

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Speaker 3: Well, let's be clear about what's happening in Congress today.

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Speaker 3: First of all, I do support the release of the files.

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Speaker 3: There are actually two provisions that are moving through Congress.

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Speaker 3: One is the discharge petition by Representative Massey and Kanna.

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Speaker 3: The other is actually being brought by Chairman Comoor of

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Speaker 3: the Oversight Committee. And so what I do support is

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Speaker 3: an Oversight Committee's approach to making sure that that information

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Speaker 3: is gone through, that survivors are protected, and then those

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Speaker 3: files are released. And so there are some concerns on

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Speaker 3: the Hill about Representative Massey's approach that it would not

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Speaker 3: actually protect survivors who, by the way, some of which

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Speaker 3: have not come forward, some of which may choose not

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Speaker 3: to be known publicly. I think this has to be

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Speaker 3: a systematic process about how we released those files if

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Speaker 3: Congress is going to make that order, because to be

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Speaker 3: honest with you, we've never released the files from a

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Speaker 3: criminal investigation before, not to my knowledge in Congress, So

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Speaker 3: this is something that has to be done in a

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Speaker 3: systematic process in my view.

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Speaker 1: So yes on the oversight know on the discharge petition. Congressman.

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Speaker 1: We appreciate the straight answer as always, and it's good

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Speaker 1: to have you back. I wonder if you heard what

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Speaker 1: President Trump today had to say about this. He was

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Speaker 1: in the Oval Office and reporters were asking about a

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Speaker 1: lot of different stories. This was something that he was

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Speaker 1: specifically asked about because of the survivors who were speaking

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Speaker 1: today in Washington. I want to listen to what he said.

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Speaker 1: Have our audience here and we'll have you respond. Here's

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Speaker 1: the President.

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Speaker 4: I understand that we were subpeded to give files, and

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Speaker 4: I understand we've given thousands of pages of files, and

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Speaker 4: I know that no matter what you do, it's going

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Speaker 4: to keep going. We're having the most successful eight months

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Speaker 4: of any president ever, and that's what I want to

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Speaker 4: talk about. That's what we should be talking about, not

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Speaker 4: the Epstein hoax.

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Speaker 1: He also went on to say it's really a Democrat

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Speaker 1: hoax today, Congressman, is he right?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think what the President is speaking about is

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Speaker 3: that the Democrats have been failures when it comes to

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Speaker 3: public policy facing the American people. So Donald Trump now

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Speaker 3: comes back to Washington, DC as President of the United States,

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Speaker 3: commander in chief, and for the last eight months, he's

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Speaker 3: had the most successful presidential administration in the modern era.

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Speaker 3: And so the only thing that Democrats can hang on

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Speaker 3: to is Epstein. And I think that's what the President

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Speaker 3: is talking about, is that the Democrats are using the

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Speaker 3: Epstein hold on. Let's be clear, the Democrats are using

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Speaker 3: the Epstein files as a way to distract from the

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Speaker 3: success is that Donald Try is having. And any chief

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Speaker 3: executive would be frustrated with that. That is an honest

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Speaker 3: thing to be frustrated about. We know that Democrats don't

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Speaker 3: care about the Epstein files. When Joe Biden was president,

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Speaker 3: Nancy Pelosi was Speaker, they didn't move heaven and earth

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Speaker 3: to release those files. They actually wanted to hide what

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Speaker 3: was going on with the Epstein files unless it meant

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Speaker 3: trying to harm Donald Trump. And they know that they

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Speaker 3: could not do that. And so that's where the frustration

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Speaker 3: from the president is coming. I think that the president

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Speaker 3: on the way down, it's about yes being transparent with

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Speaker 3: the American people. Like I said in the Oversight Committee,

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Speaker 3: we have a resolution that's going to move forward in

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Speaker 3: a systematic process to release that information to the public.

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Speaker 3: But be clear that Democrats don't care about Epstein all.

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Speaker 3: They and they don't care about the survivors. Let's be

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Speaker 3: really clear about that. What they do care about is

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Speaker 3: creating a political circus to try to damage Donald Trump

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Speaker 3: and distract the successes of his administration.

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Speaker 1: Of Democrats when it comes to survivors. I obviously don't

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Speaker 1: know what their thoughts are there, and I realize you're

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Speaker 1: questioning their politics behind this, But you're not suggesting that

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Speaker 1: the crimes perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein are a hoax.

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Speaker 3: No, I'm not saying that at all. I'm not saying

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Speaker 3: that whatsoever. Remember Donald Trump, when he found out what

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Speaker 3: Epstein was doing around Mara a Lago, what did he do.

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Speaker 3: He kicked him out of Mara a Lago, revoked his membership,

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Speaker 3: and removed him. So let's not sit here and say

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Speaker 3: that the President was covering up for this guy. That

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Speaker 3: is not accurate, and the history actually demonstrates that. But

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Speaker 3: what President Trump is talking about is, look at all

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Speaker 3: the successes happening in our country today. Don't let the

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Speaker 3: Democrats try to steal a news cycle so that the

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Speaker 3: American people lose focus off of the positive things happening

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Speaker 3: in our country to focus on the Jeffrey Epstein files.

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Speaker 3: What Jeffrey Epstein did was a travesty. It was a

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Speaker 3: monstrosity to women who were victimized by him and by

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Speaker 3: Gesley Maxwell. But let's also make sure that we're keeping

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Speaker 3: focus on the great things that are happening in the

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Speaker 3: country today. And that's my point. The Democrats are using

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Speaker 3: this for politics. They don't care about the survivors.

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Speaker 2: Representative, Let's talk about the shutdown discussions or the fears

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Speaker 2: here that are plaguing Washington. We know you are looking

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Speaker 2: for you are a critical vote in those discussions. Very

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Speaker 2: quickly tell us what you're pushing for in those budget negotiations.

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Speaker 3: Well, look right now, what we need to find a

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Speaker 3: pathway to do is cut spending. And I've been consistent

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Speaker 3: about that with the White House House leadership my time

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Speaker 3: here on the Hill. Let's cut spending and be responsible

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Speaker 3: with the dollars of the American people. Let's spend their

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Speaker 3: money efficiently and appropriately, and so we'll see what House

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Speaker 3: leadership comes up with. There's some discussions around a continuing resolution.

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Speaker 3: I think it's important for the American people to know

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Speaker 3: a continuing resolution would actually be a spending decrease year

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Speaker 3: over year, So there are some positive elements to that.

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Speaker 1: We've only got ten seconds left, Congressman. Are we going

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Speaker 1: to avoid a shutdown?

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Speaker 3: Just to be clear, I think so. I think we will.

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Speaker 1: It's good to have you back. Byron Donalds of Florida.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for being with us on Bloomberg alongside Critie Gupta.

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Speaker 1: I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg.

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Speaker 3: Yeah,