Who?
Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) — House Intelligence Committee
LISTEN: Laslo & Gomez
Ask a Pol asks:
Last week the House Homeland Security Committee heard testimony from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice and Customs and Border Protection (among others) who all said, basically, ‘We don't know what this stuff is’ — were they lying? Does the Pentagon know what this stuff is?
Key Gomez:
“They're getting more and more information [by] the day,” Rep. Jimmy Gomez exclusively tells Ask a Pol. “I don't know. I didn't see that” hearing.
ICYMI — Homeland Security hearing Dec. 10, 2024
“A joint hearing by the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement & Intelligence and Subcommittee on Transportation & Maritime Security entitled, ‘Safeguarding the Homeland from Unmanned Aerial Systems,’” according to the committee.
Key testimony:
“We just don’t know, and that’s the concerning part,” Assistant Director of the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group Robert W. Wheeler Jr. testified in the US House of Representatives last week.
Ask a Pol woos:
As Gomez exits the SCIF — sensitive compartmented information facility — Ask a Pol woos the Congressman over to his colleagues with cameras.
“You don’t look freaked out,” Ask a Pol smiles to the Congressman.
Press Corps Asks:
“Did you get a sense that there was something that you were told in there that is not public information right now?” a made-for-TV reporter asks.*
Gomez:
“Off the top of my head, no,” Gomez replies. “There’s some information that I can’t discuss, but I think that the public needs to have faith that the federal government, as well as these agencies are on top of it. They have taken the steps, and I think they're taking additional steps, to ensure that their initial findings are backed up by additional data.”
*STUPIDEST QUESTION EVER!
Pro-Tip: Don’t ever PUBLICLY ask policymakers what classified information they were just told inside a classified briefing, because they’re legally obligated NOT to discuss classified information.
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Caught our ear:
“The public needs to have faith,” Gomez tells press corps.
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), slightly edited for clarity.
TRANSCRIPT: Rep. Jimmy Gomez
SCENE: Upon leaving the classified House Intelligence Committee briefing on Wednesday, Rep. Gomez stops and answers a few questions in front of the TV cameras set up outside the SCIF.
Once Gomez is done with the made-for-cable questions, Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo proceeds to interview him exclusively as they head up two flights of stairs before trekking though underground tunnels on the way back to the Congressman’s office.
Jimmy Gomez: “Thank you guys.”
Gomez says goodbye to the camera operators, producers and reporters outside the SCIF when Laslo starts walking and talking with the four-term Congressman.
Matt Laslo: “It kinda sounds like you're saying there's no need for that to even be in the SCIF or maybe that should have been public?”
JG: “Some stuff needs to be in the SCIF.”
ML: “Yeah?”
JG: “But it's like, I'm talking about like…”
Gomez catches himself from divulging classified information…
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