#robert garcia

If I were to draft his response, I would just say,

"In these United States of America, as a citizen and as an elected member of the House of Representatives, I enjoy, as do all Americans, the freedom of speech. As a result, I take your letter as a threat to my freedom under the First Amendment of the US Constitution."

Oliver Willis at Daily Kos:

Democratic lawmakers are preparing to travel to El Salvador with the goal of securing the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland father who was abducted by the Trump administration and mistakenly sent to a brutal maximum security prison in the Central American nation. On Sunday, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen sent a letter to Milena Mayorga, El Salvador’s ambassador to the United States, requesting a meeting with President Nayib Bukele to discuss the matter. “If Kilmar is not home by midweek – I plan to travel to El Salvador this week to check on his condition and discuss his release,” Van Hollen said in a statement. Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida offered to join Van Hollen on his trip. “We must all stand as a united front against the kidnapping and illegal detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador,” Frost said in a post on Bluesky. Recently elected Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona said she hoped to join the delegation, as has Rep. Robert Garcia of California. While Democrats are the minority in the House and Senate, these members are using the power of their elected offices to draw attention to Garcia’s wrongful detention and possibly secure his release. Democrats have been under fire from their base for not doing enough to oppose Trump’s lawless actions since he took office in January. On Monday, at a White House appearance alongside Bukele, Trump pretended to be powerless to secure Garcia’s release. His administration has admitted in court that Garcia was wrongly deported to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador. Bukele also claimed he was unable to release the man and referred to him as a “terrorist threat.” Despite the Supreme Court ruling that Garcia, who is a Salvadoran citizen and legal U.S. resident, should be returned, Trump called reporters “sick people” for asking about the issue.

Democrats ask Bondi for Epstein files after Musk’s Trump allegation

Two senior House Democrats are asking Attorney General Pam Bondi for the timeline of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) declassification and release of the convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein’s files after tech billionaire Elon Musk accused President Trump of being named in the documents. 

Now, Democratic Reps. Stephen Lynch (Mass.), the acting ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Robert Garcia (Calif.), the top Democrat on the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, asked Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel in a Thursday night letter to “immediately clarify whether this allegation is true and respond to this letter with the requested information and documentation.”