Oversight clash: Robert Garcia demands Trump, Melania testify; Nancy Mace says victims ‘Exonerated the Trumps’

WASHINGTON, DC: Rep Robert Garcia on Friday, February 26, renewed his call for President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump to testify before the House Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Garcia, the panel's top Democrat, said Republicans set a precedent by calling in presidents and first ladies to testify and argued that Trump should now appear under oath.

Republican Rep Nancy Mace, a member of the committee, dismissed the proposal, saying neither Trump nor the first lady needs to be subpoenaed. 

Garcia says Trump, Melania should testify under oath

Speaking on CNN, Garcia said Democrats would seek testimony from Trump if they regain control of the House following the November midterms. 

“House Republicans have set a new precedent, and that new precedent now includes bringing in for depositions presidents, former presidents and first ladies, and then asking those first ladies, as they did yesterday, about how their husbands felt and about what their husbands were doing,” Garcia said.

“We now want President Trump to come in and to testify under oath in front of the Oversight Committee," he added. "We want the first lady, who we know had a relationship as well with Jeffrey Epstein, to come in under oath and testify to the Oversight Committee. That is the new precedent that Republicans wanted to set here."

Asked whether he would subpoena Melania Trump if Democrats take control of the chamber, Garcia did not rule it out.

“We're going to have a very long list of people -- anyone that we believe had a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein that, on day one, will have a subpoena from our committee,” he said. Garcia also repeated calls for Trump to address what he described as “a White House cover up.”

“So it’s time for the president to answer questions about why files are missing from the DOJ, why there’s been a White House cover up, and why we continue in that administration to call this investigation a hoax,” he said. Trump has denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein.

Mace says victims ‘Exonerated the Trumps,’ opposes subpoenas

Mace, who has advocated for the release of Epstein-related files, said she does not believe either Trump or Melania Trump should be called before the committee. "I don't believe so."

Mace said when asked if the first lady should be subpoenaed, "and I don't believe that President Trump should be called before the Oversight Committee. He has answered questions. And the victims that I have spoken to actually exonerated President Trump ... The victims I've spoken to, and their family members, have not exonerated people like former President Bill Clinton, who has denied being on the island."

"Every single person I've talked to have exonerated the Trumps," Mace added. "And if we believe that victims should be believed, like Virginia Giuffre Roberts, who can't say anything today because she's dead, she has named certain individuals and exonerated President Trump, for example."