Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: A heart wrenching day in Washington. Let's get another voice.
Speaker 2: Republican Congressman Byron Donald of Florida, who's also running to
Speaker 2: be the state's governor, joins the program. Thank you so
Speaker 2: much for your time today. I'll start with a very
Speaker 2: simple question. Given the events of the day, should Speaker
Speaker 2: Mike Johnson bring that vote to the floor, how would
Speaker 2: you vote?
Speaker 3: Well, let's be clear about what's happening in Congress today.
Speaker 3: First of all, I do support the release of the files.
Speaker 3: There are actually two provisions that are moving through Congress.
Speaker 3: One is the discharge petition by Representative Massey and Kanna.
Speaker 3: The other is actually being brought by Chairman Comoor of
Speaker 3: the Oversight Committee. And so what I do support is
Speaker 3: an Oversight Committee's approach to making sure that that information
Speaker 3: is gone through, that survivors are protected, and then those
Speaker 3: files are released. And so there are some concerns on
Speaker 3: the Hill about Representative Massey's approach that it would not
Speaker 3: actually protect survivors who, by the way, some of which
Speaker 3: have not come forward, some of which may choose not
Speaker 3: to be known publicly. I think this has to be
Speaker 3: a systematic process about how we released those files if
Speaker 3: Congress is going to make that order, because to be
Speaker 3: honest with you, we've never released the files from a
Speaker 3: criminal investigation before, not to my knowledge in Congress, So
Speaker 3: this is something that has to be done in a
Speaker 3: systematic process in my view.
Speaker 1: So yes on the oversight know on the discharge petition. Congressman.
Speaker 1: We appreciate the straight answer as always, and it's good
Speaker 1: to have you back. I wonder if you heard what
Speaker 1: President Trump today had to say about this. He was
Speaker 1: in the Oval Office and reporters were asking about a
Speaker 1: lot of different stories. This was something that he was
Speaker 1: specifically asked about because of the survivors who were speaking
Speaker 1: today in Washington. I want to listen to what he said.
Speaker 1: Have our audience here and we'll have you respond. Here's
Speaker 1: the President.
Speaker 4: I understand that we were subpeded to give files, and
Speaker 4: I understand we've given thousands of pages of files, and
Speaker 4: I know that no matter what you do, it's going
Speaker 4: to keep going. We're having the most successful eight months
Speaker 4: of any president ever, and that's what I want to
Speaker 4: talk about. That's what we should be talking about, not
Speaker 4: the Epstein hoax.
Speaker 1: He also went on to say it's really a Democrat
Speaker 1: hoax today, Congressman, is he right?
Speaker 3: Well, I think what the President is speaking about is
Speaker 3: that the Democrats have been failures when it comes to
Speaker 3: public policy facing the American people. So Donald Trump now
Speaker 3: comes back to Washington, DC as President of the United States,
Speaker 3: commander in chief, and for the last eight months, he's
Speaker 3: had the most successful presidential administration in the modern era.
Speaker 3: And so the only thing that Democrats can hang on
Speaker 3: to is Epstein. And I think that's what the President
Speaker 3: is talking about, is that the Democrats are using the
Speaker 3: Epstein hold on. Let's be clear, the Democrats are using
Speaker 3: the Epstein files as a way to distract from the
Speaker 3: success is that Donald Try is having. And any chief
Speaker 3: executive would be frustrated with that. That is an honest
Speaker 3: thing to be frustrated about. We know that Democrats don't
Speaker 3: care about the Epstein files. When Joe Biden was president,
Speaker 3: Nancy Pelosi was Speaker, they didn't move heaven and earth
Speaker 3: to release those files. They actually wanted to hide what
Speaker 3: was going on with the Epstein files unless it meant
Speaker 3: trying to harm Donald Trump. And they know that they
Speaker 3: could not do that. And so that's where the frustration
Speaker 3: from the president is coming. I think that the president
Speaker 3: on the way down, it's about yes being transparent with
Speaker 3: the American people. Like I said in the Oversight Committee,
Speaker 3: we have a resolution that's going to move forward in
Speaker 3: a systematic process to release that information to the public.
Speaker 3: But be clear that Democrats don't care about Epstein all.
Speaker 3: They and they don't care about the survivors. Let's be
Speaker 3: really clear about that. What they do care about is
Speaker 3: creating a political circus to try to damage Donald Trump
Speaker 3: and distract the successes of his administration.
Speaker 1: Of Democrats when it comes to survivors. I obviously don't
Speaker 1: know what their thoughts are there, and I realize you're
Speaker 1: questioning their politics behind this, But you're not suggesting that
Speaker 1: the crimes perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein are a hoax.
Speaker 3: No, I'm not saying that at all. I'm not saying
Speaker 3: that whatsoever. Remember Donald Trump, when he found out what
Speaker 3: Epstein was doing around Mara a Lago, what did he do.
Speaker 3: He kicked him out of Mara a Lago, revoked his membership,
Speaker 3: and removed him. So let's not sit here and say
Speaker 3: that the President was covering up for this guy. That
Speaker 3: is not accurate, and the history actually demonstrates that. But
Speaker 3: what President Trump is talking about is, look at all
Speaker 3: the successes happening in our country today. Don't let the
Speaker 3: Democrats try to steal a news cycle so that the
Speaker 3: American people lose focus off of the positive things happening
Speaker 3: in our country to focus on the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Speaker 3: What Jeffrey Epstein did was a travesty. It was a
Speaker 3: monstrosity to women who were victimized by him and by
Speaker 3: Gesley Maxwell. But let's also make sure that we're keeping
Speaker 3: focus on the great things that are happening in the
Speaker 3: country today. And that's my point. The Democrats are using
Speaker 3: this for politics. They don't care about the survivors.
Speaker 2: Representative, Let's talk about the shutdown discussions or the fears
Speaker 2: here that are plaguing Washington. We know you are looking
Speaker 2: for you are a critical vote in those discussions. Very
Speaker 2: quickly tell us what you're pushing for in those budget negotiations.
Speaker 3: Well, look right now, what we need to find a
Speaker 3: pathway to do is cut spending. And I've been consistent
Speaker 3: about that with the White House House leadership my time
Speaker 3: here on the Hill. Let's cut spending and be responsible
Speaker 3: with the dollars of the American people. Let's spend their
Speaker 3: money efficiently and appropriately, and so we'll see what House
Speaker 3: leadership comes up with. There's some discussions around a continuing resolution.
Speaker 3: I think it's important for the American people to know
Speaker 3: a continuing resolution would actually be a spending decrease year
Speaker 3: over year, So there are some positive elements to that.
Speaker 1: We've only got ten seconds left, Congressman. Are we going
Speaker 1: to avoid a shutdown?
Speaker 3: Just to be clear, I think so. I think we will.
Speaker 1: It's good to have you back. Byron Donalds of Florida.
Speaker 1: Thanks for being with us on Bloomberg alongside Critie Gupta.
Speaker 1: I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 3: Yeah,