Congress
Garcia vows not to be silenced amid U.S. Attorney’s inquiry into his criticism of Musk
Congressman received a letter from the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C.

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) is pushing back after President Donald Trump’s interim U.S. Attorney for D.C., Ed Martin, disclosed his office’s inquiry into whether the congressman’s remarks about Elon Musk earlier this month constituted a threat against a public official.
“This is completely ridiculous, to essentially threaten me with possible prosecution [and] investigations through the U.S. Department of Justice because I used a metaphor to criticize Elon Musk,” Garcia told The Bulwark’s Tim Miller during an interview on Thursday.
At issue is a Feb. 12 appearance on CNN during which, as Martin said in a letter to the congressman’s office on Monday, “When asked how Democrats can stop Elon Musk, you spoke clearly: ‘What the American public wants is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight. This is an actual fight for democracy.'”
He continued, “This sounds to some like a threat to Mr. Musk – an appointed representative of President Donald Trump who you call a ‘dick’ – and government staff who work for him. Their concerns have led to this inquiry.”
Garcia’s comments came just after he participated in the first House subcommittee hearing on Musk’s DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, which was established by an executive order issued on the first day Trump took office.
In a statement to the Washington Blade, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) said “Rep. Robert Garcia is a thoughtful, hardworking and law abiding legislator who serves his constituents and the nation with distinction. House Democrats will not be intimidated by far right extremists who are determined to weaponize the criminal justice system against Congress.”
Garcia serves on the powerful House Oversight Committee as well as in the Congressional Equality Caucus, as one of its 11 LGBTQ co-chairs. In November, he was elected the Democratic Caucus Leadership Representative.
“I’ve talked to a lot of folks, members of the House and others, who have been very supportive.” he said on Thursday. “I said, ‘Look, we can’t allow this singling out of me. It’s not really about me, right? This is about silencing critics and critics in Congress.'”
Later in the interview, he added “we’re talking to the appropriate folks, and of course, talking to folks in the Democratic leadership” who understand the broader stakes in terms of “our job” as House Democrats to “be the loyal opposition.”
U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly (Va.), the Oversight Committee’s top Democrat, also issued a statement condemning Martin’s letter on Wednesday:
“This is a shameful attempt to silence and stifle congressional oversight. Mr. Martin – an organizer, financier, and legal representative for the January 6th insurrection – is weaponizing the Justice Department to carry out the President’s retribution tour.
“This ‘Operation Whirlwind’ is a smokescreen meant to distract from the true intentions of the Trump Administration: silencing criticism and snuffing out any attempt to exercise oversight of their misdeeds and perversion of the law. I can assure you that Congressman Garcia and our fellow Oversight Democrats will not be deterred by these threats, and we will continue to fight to safeguard our democracy and protect the rights of the American people we serve.”
Martin on Wednesday announced “Operation Whirlwind,” a new initiative to prosecute threats against public officials at all levels of government, which some critics and legal experts believe is primarily intended as a means of silencing criticism.
In addition to Garcia, Martin has sent letters to the Senate’s Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) on Jan. 21, Feb. 3, and Feb. 11, indicating plans to review remarks he made in 2020 to see if they constituted unlawful threats against two of Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominees, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.
“I want to tell you, Gorsuch,” Schumer said, “I want to tell you, Kavanaugh — you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
The top Senate Democrat was speaking during a rally about the conservative jurists’ potential revocation of decades-old constitutional protections for abortion, which they ultimately did in 2022 with their 5-4 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
As detailed by aide to the senator in his response to Martin, “on March 5, 2020, the day after the comments referenced in your letter, Senator Schumer made the following remarks” from the Senate floor:
“Now, I should not have used the words I used yesterday. They didn’t come out the way I intended to. My point was that there would be political consequences–political consequences–for President Trump and Senate Republicans if the Supreme Court, with the newly confirmed Justices, stripped away a woman’s right to choose.
“Of course, I didn’t intend to suggest anything other than political and public opinion consequences for the Supreme Court, and it is a gross distortion to imply otherwise. I am from Brooklyn. We speak in strong language.
“I shouldn’t have used the words I did, but in no way was I making a threat. I never—never— would do such a thing. Leader McConnell knows that, and Republicans who are busy manufacturing outrage over these comments know that too.”
The aide concluded, “As Senator Schumer’s statement on the Senate floor confirmed, the comments were not a threat to physically harm any person. I hope that this clarifying information is helpful.”
Shortly after Trump’s appointment of Martin, the conservative lawyer and activist dismissed pending cases against rioters who sacked the Capitol building on Jan. 6 2021, fired the prosecutors who were involved, and began investigations into those who brought obstruction charges that were ultimately invalidated by a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June.
Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor who teaches law at the University of Michigan and serves as a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, told the Washington Post she had “never seen anything like these letters from a U.S. attorney,” who would typically assign agents to lead such a probe while abiding the Justice Department’s policy of not confirming or denying the existence of any investigation.
“It seems like a fair inference that these letters are designed more to chill free speech than to seek clarification, as they purport to do,” McQuade added.
Garcia agreed, telling Miller on Thursday that the effort “could have a chilling effect on other folks that actually want to come out and criticize and oppose” Trump, Musk, the administration, or their allies.
Looking ahead, Martin has “given me, by the way, till Tuesday to respond to this letter,” Garcia noted. When asked about what he planned to do, the congressman said “we’re having some conversations about that” but “what we’re not going to do is is stay silent.”
“The lesson here is not to retreat,” he said. “The lesson here is to push harder and continue to let people know they are literally trying to limit free speech.”
Discussing his remarks about Musk during an appearance on CNN Thursday, Garcia said “what’s really critical at this moment, I think, for all of us to understand, is that we should be allowed to speak freely, and we certainly should be allowed to use figures of speech, and anyone that watches that can see that as a figure of speech or a metaphor in the way we’re describing this fight.”
The congressman added, “And it is a fight. This is a fight for democracy.”
Trump’s Department of Justice is targeting me for criticizing Elon Musk. Members of Congress have a right to speak freely and oppose the Administration – especially as they try to destroy our agencies and federal institutions. We won’t back down. pic.twitter.com/y3ykpOxzyE
— Congressman Robert Garcia (@RepRobertGarcia) February 20, 2025
Congress
Democratic lawmakers travel to El Salvador, demand information about gay Venezuelan asylum seeker
Congressman Robert Garcia led delegation

California Congressman Robert Garcia on Tuesday said the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador has agreed to ask the Salvadoran government about the well-being of a gay asylum seeker from Venezuela who remains incarcerated in the Central American country.
The Trump-Vance administration last month “forcibly removed” Andry Hernández Romero, a stylist who asked for asylum because of persecution he suffered because of his sexual orientation and political beliefs, and other Venezuelans from the U.S. and sent them to El Salvador.
The White House on Feb. 20 designated Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, as an “international terrorist organization.” President Donald Trump on March 15 invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which the Associated Press notes allows the U.S. to deport “noncitizens without any legal recourse.”
Garcia told the Washington Blade that he and three other lawmakers — U.S. Reps. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), and Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) — met with U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador William Duncan and embassy staffers in San Salvador, the Salvadoran capital.
“His lawyers haven’t heard from him since he was abducted during his asylum process,” said Garcia.
The gay California Democrat noted the embassy agreed to ask the Salvadoran government to “see how he (Hernández) is doing and to make sure he’s alive.”
“That’s important,” said Garcia. “They’ve agreed to that … we’re hopeful that we get some word, and that will be very comforting to his family and of course to his legal team.”

Garcia, Frost, Dexter, and Ansari traveled to El Salvador days after House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) denied their request to use committee funds for their trip.
“We went anyways,” said Garcia. “We’re not going to be intimidated by that.”
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on April 14 met with Trump at the White House. U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) three days later sat down with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who the Trump-Vance administration wrongfully deported to El Salvador on March 15.
Abrego was sent to the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum-security prison known by the Spanish acronym CECOT. The Trump-Vance administration continues to defy a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ordered it to “facilitate” Abrego’s return to the U.S.
Garcia, Frost, Dexter, and Ansari in a letter they sent a letter to Duncan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday demanded “access to” Hernández, who they note “may be imprisoned at” CECOT. The State Department has not responded to the Blade’s request for comment about the correspondence.
Garcia said the majority of those in CECOT who the White House deported to El Salvador do not have criminal records.
“They can say what they want, but if they’re not presenting evidence, if a judge isn’t sending people, and these people have their due process, I just don’t understand how we have a country without due process,” he told the Blade. “It’s just the bedrock of our democracy.”

Garcia said he and Frost, Dexter, and Ansari spoke with embassy staff, Salvadoran journalists and human rights activists and “anyone else who would listen” about Hernández. The California Democrat noted he and his colleagues also highlighted Abrego’s case.
“He (Hernández) was accepted for his asylum claim,” said Garcia. “He (Hernández) signed up for the asylum process on an app that we created for this very purpose, and then you get snatched up and taken to a foreign prison. It is unacceptable and inhumane and cruel and so it’s important that we elevate his story and his case.”
The Blade asked Garcia why the Trump-Vance administration is deporting people to El Salvador without due process.
“I honestly believe that he (Trump) is a master of dehumanizing people, and he wants to continue his horrendous campaign to dehumanize migrants and scare the American public and lie to the American public,” said Garcia.
Congress
Goodlander endorses Pappas’s Senate bid
Announcement puts gay congressman on the path to securing his party’s nomination

U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.) on Thursday announced she will not run to represent her state in the U.S. Senate, endorsing gay U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas’s (D-N.H.) bid for the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, putting him on the path to secure the Democratic nomination.
“We are in the fight of our lifetimes right now, of a moment of real crisis and challenge,” she said. “I feel humbled and grateful to so many people across our state who have encouraged me to take a look at the U.S. Senate, and after a lot of thought and conversations with people I love and people I respect and people who I had never met before, who I work for in this role right now, I’ve decided that I’m running for re election in the House of Representatives.”
When asked by a reporter from the ABC affiliate station in New Hampshire whether she would endorse Pappas, Goodlander said, “Yes. Chris Pappas has been amazing partner to me in this work and for many years. And I really admire him. I have a lot of confidence in him.”
She continued, “He and I come to this work, I think with a similar set of values, we also have really similar family stories. Our families both came to New Hampshire over 100 years ago from the very same part of northern Greece. And the values that he brings to this work are ones that that I really, really admire. So I’m proud to support him, and I’m really excited to be working with him right now because we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Today in Salem @MaggieG603 tells @WMUR9 she is not running for U.S. Senate & endorses @ChrisPappasNH #NHPolitics #NHSen #NH02 #WMUR pic.twitter.com/W2CMrhRuIC
— Adam Sexton (@AdamSextonWMUR) April 17, 2025
“Maggie Goodlander has dedicated her career to service, and we can always count on her to stand up to powerful interests and put people first,” Pappas said in a post on X. “I’m so grateful to call her my friend and teammate, and I’m proud to support her re-election and stand with her in the fights ahead.”
Earlier this month, former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, announced he would not enter the Senate race, strengthening the odds that Democrats will retain control of Shaheen’s seat.
Congress
EXCLUSIVE: Garcia demands answers on deportation of gay Venezuelan asylum seeker
Congressman’s correspondence was shared exclusively with the Blade

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) is demanding answers from the Trump-Vance administration on its deportation of Andry Hernández Romero, a gay Venezuelan makeup artist who was sent to a prison in El Salvador in violation of a federal court order and in the absence of credible evidence supporting the government’s claims about his affiliation with a criminal gang.
Copies of letters the congressman issued on Thursday to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and CoreCivic, a private prison contractor, were shared exclusively with the Washington Blade.
Garcia noted that Hernández, who sought asylum from persecution in Venezuela over his sexual orientation and political beliefs, had entered the U.S. legally, passed a preliminary screening, and had no criminal record.
Pro-bono lawyers representing Hernández during his detention in the U.S. pending an outcome in his asylum case were informed that their client had been removed to El Salvador a week after he failed to show for a hearing on March 13.
Hernández’s family now fears for his safety while he remains in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), which has a well documented record of human rights abuses, Garcia said.
Additionally, the congressman wrote, while experts say Tren de Aragua does not use tattoos as identifiers, the “primary evidence” supporting Hernández’s deportation based on his supposed links to the transnational Venezuelan gang “appears to have been two crown tattoos labeled ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad,’ which are common cultural symbols in his hometown.”
The determination about his links to or membership in the organization was made by a CoreCivic employee whose criminal record and misconduct as a law enforcement officer led to his termination from the Milwaukee Police Department, Garcia wrote in his letter to the company.
Requesting a response by May 1, the congressman asked CoreCivic President Damon T. Hininger to address the following questions:
- What qualifications and training does CoreCivic require for employees tasked with making determinations about detainees’ affiliations?
- What protocols are in place to ensure that determinations of gang affiliation are based on credible and corroborated evidence?
- How does CoreCivic oversee and review the decisions made by its employees in such critical matters?
- What mechanisms exist to prevent and address potential misconduct?
- What is the nature of CoreCivic’s collaboration with ICE in making determinations that affect deportation decisions? Are there joint review processes?
- What background checks and ongoing assessments are conducted for employees involved in detainee evaluations, particularly those with prior law enforcement experience?
- What guidelines does CoreCivic follow regarding the use of tattoos as indicators of gang affiliation, and how does the company ensure that cultural or personal tattoos are not misinterpreted?
In his letter to Tae D. Johnson, acting director of ICE, Garcia requested answers to the following questions by May 1:
- Did ICE personnel independently review and approve the determination made by CoreCivic employee Charles Cross Jr. identifying Mr. Hernández Romero as a member of the Tren de Aragua gang?
- What evidence, beyond Mr. Hernández Romero’s tattoos, was used to substantiate the claim of gang affiliation?
- Under what legal authority are private contractors like CoreCivic permitted to make determinations that directly impact deportation decisions?
- What vetting processes and background checks are in place for contractors involved in such determinations? Are there oversight mechanisms to ensure their credibility and adherence to due process?
- What guidelines does ICE follow regarding the use of tattoos as indicators of gang affiliation, and how does the company ensure that cultural or personal tattoos are not misinterpreted?
Together with U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Garcia wrote to U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) on Tuesday requesting permission to bring a congressional delegation to CECOT for purposes of conducting a welfare check on detainees, expressing specific concern for Hernández’s wellbeing. The congressmen said they would “gladly include any Republican Members of the committee who wish to participate.”
Hernández’s case has drawn fierce criticism of the Trump-Vance administration along with calls for his return to the U.S.
Influential podcaster and Trump ally Joe Rogan spoke out in late March, calling the deportation “horrific” and “a horrible mistake.”
Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) sent a letter to Kristi Noem, secretary of the U.S. Homeland Security, which manages ICE, demanding Hernández’s immediate return and raising concerns with the right to due process amid the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Hernández “was denied the opportunity to defend himself against unsubstantiated allegations of gang involvement or to present his asylum claim,” the governor wrote. “We are not a nation that sends people to be tortured and victimized in a foreign prison for public relations victories.”
Immigrant Defenders Law Center President Lindsay Toczylowski, who is representing Hernández, has not been able to reach her client since his removal from the U.S., she told NBC News San Diego in a report published April 11.
“Under the Constitution, every single person has a right to due process, and that means they have a right to notification of any allegations the government is making against them and a right to go into court and prove that those allegations are wrong if that’s the case,” she said. “In Andry’s case, the government never gave us that opportunity. In fact, they didn’t even bring him to court, and they have forcefully sent him to El Salvador without ever giving us any notice or without telling us the way that we could appeal their decision.”
“CECOT, this prison where no one has ever left, where people are held incommunicado, is a very dangerous place for someone like Andry,” Toczylowski said.
In March, a DHS spokesperson posted on X that Hernández’s “own social media indicates he is a member of Tren de Aragua,” though they did not point to any specific posts and NBC reported that reviews of his known social media accounts turned up no evidence of gang activity.
During a visit to CECOT in March, Time Magazine photographer Philip Holsinger photographed Romero and reported that the detainee plead his innocence — “I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a stylist.” — crying for his mother as he was slapped and his head was shaved.
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