Robert Garcia named top Dem on Task Force on Declassification of Federal Secrets

Who?Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) — Ranking Member, Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets**Ask a Pol’s pretty sure after our late morning interview with Garcia, his staff alerted Oversight Committee Ranking Member Gerry Connolly — who Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo already texted this question to last week… — of our questions on whether Dems were planning to boycott the Task Force, hence the announcement dropped shortly after this interview… LISTEN: Laslo & GarciaTask Force on Declassification of Federal SecretsAsk a Pol asked:When it comes to this new Secrets Task Force, are Democrats going to put members on there?*Key Garcia:“They are,” Rep. Robert Garcia exclusively told Ask a Pol — *a few hours before the Democratic members of the Secrets Task Force were announced. psst: ask a pol’s free. Support us upending Washington merely by signing up for free (and hopefully clicking on our exclusive map alerts…)Caught our ear:“I’m not going to comment until the announcement’s out,” Garcia told us.**all politicians lie, but this time we caught Garcia telling the truth… Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), slightly edited for clarity.TRANSCRIPT: Rep. Robert GarciaSCENE: After voting on the House floor, Rep. Robert Garcia and two aides are quickly walking back to his office via the tunnel underneath the Capitol when Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo catches the congressman for a brief — and brisk — chat. Matt Laslo: “When it comes to this new ‘conspiracy theory’ Task Force or whatever… Robert Garcia: “A-huh?” ML: “…are Dems going to put members on there?” RG: “They are. I think that’s — of course that’s, right now, Oversight Committee and Ranking Member [Gerry] Connolly (D-VA) are — that’s all being worked out, and I think we’ll have an announcement on who those folks are…”Garcia turns to staffer. RG: “...I think soon, right Andrew? To what we understand?” Andrew: “Yeah.” ML: “Yeah? Would you want to be on that or…?” RG: “I’m not going to comment until the announcement’s out.”ML: “Ahhh — you’re wise!” Garcia laughs (aides exhale relief). ML: “Have a good one, y’all!” Nicolae Viorel Butler contributed to this report.Ask a Pol VIP subscriptions available!**Student? Lost your gig? Hard times? Been there. Got you. No questions asked. Just ping us.Content posted at AskaPoluaps.com is copyrighted. Use our original content to move the story forward. And, please, link to us. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.askapoluaps.com/subscribe