Defending Democracy

Jared Kushner was accused of "corruption" by Representative Robert Garcia, a California Democrat, after news broke of Kushner's new foreign real estate deals. Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald Trump who was a senior White House official in the Trump administration and worked on policy for the Middle East, posted pictures of "early design images" for his new development projects in Albania and Serbia on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday. The proposed projects include luxury buildings off the coast of Albania and in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.

“Any ban on TikTok is not just banning the freedom of expression — you’re literally causing huge harm to our national economy,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), who voted against the measure, told a rally of opponents Tuesday. “Small-business owners across the country use TikTok to move our economy forward. Some of these creators and these business owners solely depend on TikTok for their revenue and their job. To rush a process forward that could ban their form of work, particularly young people in this country, is misguided.”

Congressman Robert Garcia joins Chris Jansing Reports to discuss his in opposition to the House TikTok bill.

The bill that could lead to TikTok getting blocked from app stores is meeting some resistance from Hill progressives, many of whom have embraced the social media platform to reach younger constituents. “I didn't support it before the classified briefing, and there was nothing that changed my mind,” said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), who predicted opposition to the bill was “actually growing.”

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) was among those speaking out this week about the investigative push from House Republicans that culminated Tuesday in a Judiciary Committee hearing with Robert Hur, who as Special Counsel led an investigation into the discovery of classified documents at locations associated with President Joe Biden. Hur declined to pursue any charges, though he produced a final report that many characterized as politically slanted.

On Thursday, Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Robert Garcia of California sent a letter to the chief operating officer of SpaceX, which owns Starlink, expressing concern over accusations from Ukrainian officials that its intelligence service had discovered Russians using the technology in the occupied region of Donetsk. One reason this could be a problem is because President Joe Biden signed an executive order in 2022 that prohibits Americans from making new business investments in Donetsk while its under Russian control. 

Democrats on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee pressed SpaceX on Wednesday over allegations that Russia is using the company’s Starlink terminals in its war against Ukraine, “potentially in violation of U.S. sanctions and export controls.” In a letter to SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell, Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) said they are alarmed by the possibility that Russia could be using Starlink technology to “coordinate attacks against Ukrainian troops in illegally occupied regions.”

Congressman Garcia joined to discuss President Biden's 2024 State of the Union address.