Video: Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11) Says “Ted Waitt was in a serious romantic relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell while she engaged in crimes with Epstein”

Good stuff from Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11), talking about Speaker Mike Johnson’s “dodge” on the War Powers Act 60-day deadline; the fact that Republicans finally “had to cave and go along with what we laid out from the beginning” on FEMA, etc. funding; that “Ted Waitt and Ghislaine Maxwell had a romantic relationship for a long period of time, including a time in which Ghislaine Maxwell was with Jeffrey Epstein, violating the law”; etc. See below for highlights and video. Oh, and as I’ve said numerous times, Rep. Walkinshaw is basically a younger version of his mentor and former boss, Gerry Connolly – feisty, tenacious, a fighter, smart, media savvy, etc. Let’s makes sure we reelect this guy!

• Rep. Walkinshaw:  “It’s a dodge from Speaker Johnson [to say we’re not at war now]….after the 60-day mark we begin 30 days in which the law is very  clear – the president has to withdraw US forces absent a congressional authorization. Being in the region not engaged actively in kinetic force or kinetic action isn’t what the law says.  After 60 days he has 30 days to withdraw. So absent congressional action the law says the president has to bring those troops home. The only way for that to happen, for the War Powers Act to be a reality, is for Congress to have the will to enforce it. It seems that Speaker Johnson doesn’t.”
• Rep. Walkinshaw: “I think the logical conclusion from his argument is that if kinetic action, as he described it, were to resume, then the president would be in violation of the War Powers Act. Would Speaker Johnson then take action? I suspect the answer is no. So, I think it’s a clever dodge. Look, in terms of the negotiations that are ongoing, the unfortunate, tragic reality is that the war President Trump engaged in by choice hasn’t strengthened our negotiating position. We’re in precisely the same position, negotiating around the same issues that we were before the war started with the exception of the Strait being closed. We’re in a worse position than we were. So, we need to end this. Bring our troops home. Get the best possible deal we can get right now. It’s unauthorized. It’s reckless. And it’s doing damage.”
• Rep. Walkinshaw: “I think you’ll see Democrats continue to put War Powers Resolution votes on the floor when we return from Speaker Johnson’s recess. But Congress’s enforcement mechanism for the War Powers Act really is funding. And unfortunately, our Republican colleagues seem willing to write huge checks or ask the taxpayers to write huge checks to fund this war that is in violation of the War Powers Act. They’re actively diminishing the power of the very body in which they serve.”
• Rep. Walkinshaw:  “Look, Democrats didn’t start the shutdown. We didn’t want the shutdown. We started this conversation months ago saying very simply, if you want our votes for an appropriations bill to give more money to ICE and CBP on top of the $140 billion they have, then you got to come along with us and support the commonsense reforms that the American people want to end the brutality. We weren’t able to get any progress on that because of Stephen Miller. So we then compromised and said, ‘alright, look, let’s separate out ICE and CBP from the rest of DHS, fund FEMA, fund our cyber agencies, fund civilians at the Coast Guard, all the people truly protecting the United States of America.’ That deal was on the table months ago and the Republicans rejected and until today, they ultimately had to cave and go along with what we laid out from the beginning. We’re going to continue to fight and push for reforms on ICE and CBP to protect the American people and uphold the rule of law. We might have to take that debate to the ballot box in November because Stephen Miller and the White House seems unwilling to compromise.”
• Rep. Walkinshaw:  “They they agreed to implement some of those forms, but there was never a tangible agreement to put especially the critical reforms around masking, around judicial warrants in the statute. And look, forgive me if I’m not someone who’s willing to take a handshake deal from Donald Trump or anyone who works for Donald Trump. He’s made a career out of reneging on agreements he makes. It’s got to be in the statute for it to be real, to truly protect the American people. They weren’t willing to do that.”
• Rep. Walkinshaw: “Ted Waitt and Ghislaine Maxwell had a romantic relationship for a long period of time, including a time in which Ghislaine Maxwell was with Jeffrey Epstein, violating the law. He claimed today to have no knowledge of that. We asked some detailed questions about assertions that have been made that he had been the subject of blackmail because of his relationship with Maxwell. He used the phrase ‘I don’t recall’ many, many times. So, we’re going to go back and look at the transcript, match that up with what’s in the files and in the record to see if there’s any more that we need to run down from the interview… I’m glad that there will be an audit. I’m disappointed that there will be an audit rather than a full investigation. And the IG has the legal authority to conduct a full investigation. Without getting too technical, an audit is a relatively limited review of the paperwork basically. But we need here a full investigation to understand, for example, who made the decisions to redact files that the law didn’t allow to be redacted. I’m not confident that just an audit will get us the answers to those questions, but I’m certainly keen to see what comes out of the audit and what more needs to be followed up on from that audit.”

UPDATED 1:25 pm: Rep. Walkinshaw responds to a question about “the New York Times’…new reporting out this morning in part that a suicide note purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein in a Manhattan jail has been kept secret for nearly seven years locked up in a New York courthouse.” Rep. Walkinshaw says the House Oversight Committee was NOT aware of this; “it’s a shocking revelation and and development and I think it highlights the haphazard way that the investigation into Epstein took place over many years…I think this revelation is going to lead to us wanting to talk to to more folks at the prison to get a better much more clear understanding of exactly what evidence exists and what took place.”