WATCH: Rep. Min on CNN: Pete Hegseth and Group Chat Members are “Trying to Avoid Scrutiny, Trying to Avoid Transparency, and Trying to Shirk and Avoid Federal Law”

Washington, D.C. — On CNN This Morning, Representative Dave Min (CA-47), a member of the House Oversight Committee, slammed House Republicans’ failure to investigate Pete Hegseth’s disclosure of war plans in an unclassified group chat, calling out the “sheer lawlessness of this administration across the board.” Watch the interview here. 

Rep. Min also discussed his BAD DOGE legislation to rein in Elon Musk and President Trump’s overreach through his new executive order on citizenship requirements for voting in federal elections. 

On Peter Hegsesth and the national security group chat: 

“I know people have talked about the incompetence of this administration across the board, the incompetence of having this person be part of this group, and that's what happens when you hire people based on a reality show set of criteria. The federal government is not a reality show [...] I'm a former law professor. I started my career prosecuting corporate fraud at the SEC, and what is egregious to me is this the sheer lawlessness of this administration across the board, whether it's shredding documents at USAID, whether it's Elon Musk illegally taking over our ID at Treasury and the IRS, whether it's this episode. 

Why were they on Signal in the first place, why were they not on a secure federal channel? And the obvious answer here is that they were trying to avoid scrutiny, trying to avoid transparency, and trying to shirk and avoid federal law, including the Freedom of Information Act [...] Why are they on this app which is not secure? Why is one of them in Russia? What information, besides this, is being shared right now over Signal on disappearing messages?”

On House Republicans’ failure to hold the Trump administration accountable: 

“We’re hearing nothing on Oversight, and this is something I continually point out in our Oversight Committees. We have focused on lab rats, we focused on sanctuary city policies, you just heard Marjorie Taylor Greene is going to be focusing on NPR. These are not things that my constituents are talking about. 

I've had tens of thousands of people reach out to my office. They're deeply concerned about the rule of law, they're deeply concerned about this egregious breach of national security that we are witnessing right now, but we're not hearing Oversight, our Oversight Republicans, actually commit to actually wanting to do any oversight.”

On Elon Musk and DOGE:

“My bill is the Bad DOGE Act, the Bolstering American Democracy and Demanding Oversight and Government Ethics Act, which would repeal DOGE. But here’s the problem. DOGE is not actually a government agency [...] So why are you ending entire departments and agencies? That's not efficient. It's not efficient to fire tons of Social Security personnel. Make it more difficult for seniors to get their social security benefits. What we’re seeing, though, the real question that Elon Musk needs to answer is what is his exact role and what are his conflicts of interest? Again topics that House Republicans refuse to address. He's been described as a Special Government Employee. If you look up that definition of what that is, it’s someone who is supposed to be a temporary consultant or advisor. Instead, Elon Musk is exerting powers that are greater than the president of the United States. He's frequently breaking the law, the Constitution.

House Republicans, instead of standing up as a co-equal branch of government, the congressional Republicans are attacking the judiciary, trying to impeach judges. We are not supposed to be lap dogs for the president of the United States.”

On Trump’s executive overreach: 

“What I'm saying is that this needs to be done by the legislature, not by the president, not by cities. It needs to be done by Congress. And if Congress wants to pass a voter ID requirement, we can talk about the pros and cons of that. But it shouldn't be based on false, baseless conspiracies of voter fraud that isn't happening. This is a solution in search of a problem that doesn't exist. And that is the problem right now. And, Donald Trump cannot pass these types of executive orders. Those powers belong with Congress. And that's the alarm bell that I've been ringing, that every time Donald Trump tries to do an executive order and pass legislation effectively, he is stealing Congress's authority. But Congress refuses to stand up for our rights. And my kids know this. We're taught in elementary school in California that only Congress has the power to make laws into appropriate money. And that's really the issue here, is that Donald Trump and Elon Musk keep trying to steal away those powers, and Congress is rolling over and letting them do that.”

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