Gay Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) is set to become the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform when the Democrats take over the House in 2027 – and it seems he’s got some people on the right shaking in their boots.
Anti-LGBTQ+ Fox News host Jesse Watters panicked over a joke Garcia made about himself while appearing on a live Crooked Media podcast this week with host Jane Coaston. Garcia said he plans to pursue investigations into corrupt behavior by both current and former members of the Trump administration, explaining that those no longer in their roles are not immune from accountability.
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“We’re not going to forget,” he said. “We can’t forget about these folks that are causing harm. I think it’s like, maybe it’s because I’m gay, but you know, pettiness is a thing,” he joked. At that, the audience laughed and cheered.
“I’m mad!” he emphasized. “This is a moment in history where all the young people in our families, in our classrooms, they have to know that what’s happening right now is wrong, and to just move on does a disservice to the future of our country.”
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On Fox, Watters lamented, “A gay guy with a grudge is going to run the House Oversight Committee, and he’s going to use the gavel in the most petty and vindictive way possible. Trump doing the YMCA is not going to help.”
“And it also doesn’t help that Garcia is Spanish,” Watters said. “He has his eyes on [anti-immigration White House Chief of Staff Stephen] Miller.” Garcia is not Spanish. He immigrated to the United States from Lima, Peru, when he was five.
Garcia’s warning comes after he also published a statement on election night telling members of the administration to “lawyer up,” sending Republicans into a frenzy and accusing him of planning to weaponize the committee.
Donald Trump, for example, posted on Truth Social on November 7 that the threats from Democrats regarding investigations into GOP corruption are “extortion at the highest level,” and claimed the Democrats are threatening people just for being Republicans.
But Garcia has made it clear that, as he said on MS Now, “This is not about revenge; this is about real accountability and justice.”
What’s more, his goals align with what the American people want. A survey from CNBC published at the end of October found that voters were more concerned with government corruption than any other issue, including affordability. A poll from Fox News in October also found corruption to be voters’ number one concern, above inflation, gas prices, government leadership, and healthcare.
Nevertheless, Democratic Party members and commentators continue to discuss whether Congressional Democrats should focus on lowering costs and delivering economic relief to voters rather than on investigating Trump administration officials. But Garcia argued that the two are inseparable and that Democrats can do both.
“People are struggling because of Donald Trump’s corruption,” he toldPunchbowl. “And so if we’re really going to take on the affordability crisis, we’ve got to take on the corruption of the Trumps because they’re stealing people’s money, their labor.”
“We’re not starting from scratch here,” he added. “There’s an enormous amount of work that has happened that is public, and there’s an enormous amount of work that’s happened that we’ve been quietly working on for many months.”
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