The Week in Review 

Happy Friday!

I hope you had a wonderful week. I am grateful to serve you all in the 118th Congress. Read below to see what I’ve been working on this week.

Holding U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland  in Contempt of Congress

On Wednesday, the House voted to hold U.S. AG Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for his refusal to comply with lawful subpoenas requiring him to provide House Committees with the audio tapes of Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur.

Congress cannot carry out our constitutional duty to check the power of the presidency if the executive branch is free to defy lawful and legitimately issued subpoenas. The Department of Justice’s adamant denial to provide the audio tapes establishes a clear pattern of obstruction by this Administration to run cover for Joe Biden.

Why Congress needs the audio tapes of Robert Hur's interview of President Biden:

1. The audio recording is the best evidence of what was said during the interview.  Transcripts do not and cannot capture emphasis, inflection, intonation, nuance, pace, pauses, pitch, rhythm, tone, and other cues and idiosyncrasies that convey meaning.

2. We cannot completely assess Special Counsel Hur’s recommendations and conclusions unless we have access to the audio recordings of the interview. In particular, review of the audio recordings is necessary to evaluate Special Counsel Hur’s conclusion not to recommend charges against President Biden in part because he presents “as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

3. Special Counsel Hur himself admitted that he based his decision on more than what’s in the cold transcript of his interview with the President.  He told the Judiciary Committee that he “did take into account not just the words from the cold record of the transcript, but the entire manner in living color, in real-time, of how the President presented himself.”

4. President Biden himself has disputed the validity of Hur’s findings.  He’s done so publicly—and after deciding not to assert privilege over the report itself or even the interview transcripts.  The president has put the findings into dispute, and the Committee is reviewing those same findings.  This factual dispute only adds to the Committee’s need to hear the audio recordings itself.

5. The House's oversight of the activities of special counsels and independent counsels is not new. Congress has legislated on the use of independent counsels numerous times and has considered other legislative changes to special counsels in recent years.

6. DOJ's claims that law enforcement interests are at risk are especially weak here because the investigation is closed.

7. It is up to Congress, not the Executive Branch, to determine what materials it needs to conduct its own investigations.

8. Any claim of executive privilege was waived when the Executive Branch released the transcript of the interview to the press.

I spoke on the House Floor in favor of holding AG Garland in contempt of Congress and explained how DOJ’s obstruction impedes our congressional investigations. Click the image below to watch some of my remarks:

Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of D-Day

Earlier today, I voted in favor of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA, which sets the policies, priorities, and spending levels for the military, ultimately passed the House 217-199.

This year’s NDAA:

• Gives a 19.5%  pay raise to military servicemembers
• Extends military recruitment bonuses and increases funds for JROTC programs
• Grants funding for barracks projects and other infrastructure
• Prohibits taxpayer-funded reimbursements for DOD abortion travel
• Blocks implementation of Biden Administration climate change executive orders
• Strips out woke DEI and CRT initiatives

Click the image below to hear more:

Three of my amendments to this year’s NDAA were adopted unanimously. My amendments require the DOD to perform an annual audit, reaffirm our support for our ally Israel, and require the Secretary of State, Defense, and USAID to submit to Congress a report on agreements made by the United States with the Taliban.

My amendment requiring an audit of the Pentagon is a bipartisan effort and is crucial for accountability within the executive branch. In addition to requiring an audit, my amendment reduces the funding of the DOD by 0.5% when it is unable to produce a clean audit. Last year, the Pentagon failed its sixth consecutive audit, failing to properly account for 61% of its $3.1 trillion in assets. Despite the fact that the Pentagon has never produced a clean audit, Congress continues to fund its fiscal irresponsibility. I applaud the House’s passage of my amendment and encourage my friends in the Senate to ensure its position in the final text.

The NDAA will now be transmitted to the Democrat-run Senate for negotiations. I’ll keep you posted.

Celebrating President Trump’s Birthday

Today, we celebrate the birthday of one of the greatest presidents in American history.

Thank you, Mr. President, for always putting America First.

Commemorating Flag Day

247 years ago, the Second Continental Congress adopted Betsy Ross's Stars & Stripes as the flag of the United States.

Happy Flag Day!

Celebrating the 249th Birthday of the United States Army

Happy Birthday to the United States Army!

Thank you for defending our great country for 249 years.

House Oversight & Accountability Committee Activity

The Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs held a hearing titled “Addressing Oversight and Safety Concerns in the Department of Defense’s V-22 Osprey Program.” My colleagues and I are conducting oversight into the V-22 Osprey program, following recent training accidents that involved the deaths of U.S. servicemembers. The officials refused to commit to providing Congress with full access to the investigations once they are completed. DOD must provide closure to families who lost loved ones in Osprey crashes and take steps to prevent any future issues in the program through preventative maintenance or training. Click the image below to watch my line of questioning.

The Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce held a hearing titled “What We Have Here...Is a Failure to Collaborate: Review of GAO’s Annual Duplication Report.” My colleagues and I examined the effectiveness of federal agencies’ efforts to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse through findings from the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) annual duplication report. 

In the 13 years since the GAO began conducting its annual duplication report, they have made over 2,000 recommendations to Congress and federal agencies to save taxpayers $667.5 billion. I am grateful to GAO Comptroller General Gene Dodaro for his agency’s dedication to identifying opportunities for Congress and the Executive Branch to reduce federal spending, but the work is far from over. We must continue working with GAO to implement their recommendations. Click the image below to watch some of my remarks:

House Judiciary Committee Activity

The House Judiciary Committee held a “Hearing on the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.” My colleagues and I examined Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s political prosecution of President Trump. DA Bragg’s unprecedented politicized indictment of President Trump has opened the door for politically motivated prosecutions of federal officials by state and local prosecutors.

The political prosecution of President Trump was a calculated operation set into motion years ago that escalated after President Trump declared his candidacy. Alvin Bragg ran on campaign promises to prosecute President Trump. A prosecutorial agency actively searched for wrongdoings based solely on who President Trump is as a person. This entire operation is antithetical to the notion of due process. Click the image below to watch some of my remarks:

Legislation and Letters

National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Amendments Sponsored:

• Amendment No. 10 – Expresses a sense of Congress about the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship and the need to continue offering security assistance and related support
• Amendment No. 142 – Requires the Department of Defense to perform an audit. If it fails to, the discretionary budget authority available for the Department of Defense, the military department, or the Defense Agency shall be reduced by .5 percent
• Amendment No. 144 – Requires the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and United States Agency for International Development to submit to Congress a report on agreements made by the United States with the Taliban
• Amendment No. 967 – Exempts defense related activities from the Endangered Species Act 
• Amendment No. 972 – Prohibits the use of funds for any project or activity related to NATO until the Secretary of Defense certifies that each NATO member country has spent 2 percent of their GDP on defense expenditures 

Bills Cosponsored:

• H.R. 8693 – No American Land for Communist China Act (Rep. Newhouse) 
• H.R. 8334 – Grant Integrity and Border Security Act (Rep. Foxx) 
• H.R. 8706 – Dismantle DEI Act (Rep. Cloud) 
• H.J.Res. 167 – Disapproving the rule submitted by the Department of Agriculture relating to "Use of Electronic Identification Eartags as Official Identification in Cattle and Bison" (Rep. Hageman)

Alien Invasion Border Documentary

Check out my border documentary titled Alien Invasion. The 30-minute documentary features footage from private ranches along the border, the Darien Gap in Panama, and interviews with members of Congress, Border Patrol, local and state law enforcement, and much more. It addresses how President Biden’s border crisis began, its consequences, and solutions to address the crisis.  

The border documentary may be watched here.

The Congressional App Challenge is Back!

Applications are now open for the 2024 Congressional App Challenge! I encourage all interested Arizona students to participate for the chance to have your app featured in the U.S. Capitol and on the House of Representatives’ website. 

Visit the Congressional App Challenge website to register before October 24th:

Op-Ed of the Week

I was recently asked whether I thought that Juan Merchan, the tainted judge who presided over the kangaroo court in New York City against President Donald Trump, might put President Trump in jail.

Let’s contextualize this whole thing. There is not a Democrat in Congress, a leftist in the media or education, or in the Biden administration who can speak a sentence without saying the name, “Trump.” President Trump lives in their heads. He owns them.

The Swamp, D.C. Cartel, Establishment — or whatever you call it — corruptly controlled the government before Donald Trump became candidate Trump, and after he became President Trump. It is real. President Trump, nee candidate Trump, promised to drain, eradicate, attack and defeat the Swamp.

After fighting the D.C. phonies for two years President Trump acknowledged that the Swamp was deeper and wider than even he thought. Turns out that when the D.C. Cartel’s power and wealth is jeopardized, they fight back.

The total picture is like this: Leftists like Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi seem ok with putting President Trump’s person, his family and followers into physical jeopardy.

Consider his bill to take away President Trump’s security detail. How insane is that? Do you think for a second that someone who wants to expose Trump to physical danger would not be pleased to see President Trump in jail or prison

Crazy Biden administration Lefties and their accomplices in the media and judiciary have engaged in an unprecedented exercise of lawfare to try and bankrupt President Trump.

First is the claim of sexual assault by the demented woman who can’t remember when or where or how the assault took place. In another bizarro trial in Manhattan a jury awarded her tens of millions of dollars in an effort to bankrupt Trump.

Letitia James, sought to seize Trump assets and close his family’s business operations in New York City because she campaigned on that malevolent platform.

The multitude of lawsuits have also cost President Trump millions of dollars to defend himself against spurious and specious legal claims.

Do you think that those who want to take away all of the president’s and his family’s possessions would not want to see him go to jail or prison?

And consider a judge who donates, no matter how small, to President Joe Biden, or who has made statements against President Trump on social media, or has a daughter who has raised millions for the Socialist Democrats who politically attack Trump, or who raises money on the trial of Trump — showing pictures of Trump behind bars to entice donors — and raises money on the conviction of Trump for her client Adam Schiff, would have any qualms about putting Trump in jail or prison?

This is a judge who destroyed the concept of unanimity in a criminal verdict and whose jury instructions were a congeries of confusion designed to convict.

You know he has a personal animus and political antipathy toward Trump.

Or what about the prosecutor himself, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who ran on the platform of prosecuting Trump, and who could not then or now describe what criminal offenses President Trump committed. This Alvin Bragg who, along with other federal agencies, refused to prosecute Trump until the former number three at the Department of Justice came to Bragg’s office at the insistence of President Biden in order to inspire Bragg to bring the bogus criminal charges.

Do you think Bragg has any hesitation in putting Trump in jail or prison?

I answered the question of whether Trump might face jail or prison with an immediate yes.

The media is corrupt. The judge is corrupt. The prosecutor is corrupt. Deranged Members of Congress want to expose him to radical Trump-haters. And the Left wants to destroy Trump, his family and his supporters.

Congress must use the purse strings to bring this out-of-control weaponized government under control, ASAP.

The Speaker should bring the ALVIN Act to the floor for a vote, which would remove federal funds from the woeful Alvin Bragg office.

The Daily Caller published my op-ed here.

Top Media Appearances of the Week

I joined Steve Bannon’s War Room to discuss Congress’s duty to defund the Biden regime’s two-tiered justice system. Click the image below to watch some of the segment:

I joined Newsmax with Jon Glasgow to discuss the lies told by Hunter and James Biden to hide Joe Biden’s involvement in their corrupt business dealings. Click the image below to listen to some of the segment:

I joined OAN’s Dan Ball to discuss legislation I’m taking over to strip the security clearances from the 51 intelligence officials who lied about the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s laptop. Click the image below to watch some of the segment:

Tweet of the Week 

Constituent Services 

Flags
Would you like to purchase a flag that has been flown over the U.S. Capitol? Flags flown over the Capitol include a certificate, which may be personalized for a particular person, event, or organization. Click here to learn more about purchasing a flag.

Internships
If you or someone you know is interested in completing an internship in either my Mesa or Washington, D.C. office, they can apply directly on my website. 

Help With a Federal Agency 
If you can’t get an answer from a federal agency in a timely fashion, or if you feel you have been treated unfairly, my office may be able to help resolve a problem or get you the information you need. For example, my office routinely helps constituents with issues involving the Veterans Administration, the IRS, the Social Security Administration, the State Department, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.  You can learn more by visiting my website.

Click here to find out more information about my office’s services. 

Tours and Tickets

Interested in touring the White House or U.S. Capitol? As constituents of the Fifth Congressional District, you may request tickets and tours for various Washington D.C. destinations from my office. 

All tickets are provided to constituents on a first-come, first-served basis, so request tickets early.

Click here for more information.