Getting personal with Robert Garcia, who’s been leading the Democrats' release of the Epstein files

Between television appearances, committee hearings, meetings, and a nearly constant stream of reporters seeking comment, out California U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia rarely has a moment to spare nowadays. That made his Friday afternoon interview with The Advocate stand out as an opportunity to hear him speak at length about power, accountability, LGBTQ+ rights, and the political conversations he helps shape.

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Now going on three years as a member of Congress, Garcia has become one of the Democrats’ most vocal counterweights to the Trump administration and a Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Elected in 2022, he was chosen by his peers to serve as president of the Democratic freshman class for the 118th Congress. Two years later, members elevated him to Democratic Caucus Leadership Representative, giving newer lawmakers a voice at the leadership table.

Then, on June 24, House Democrats elected Garcia the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee — making him the first Democratic sophomore in more than a century to hold such a post. He stepped down from his caucus leadership position to focus entirely on Oversight.

That focus has now placed him at the center of one of the most politically charged investigations in Washington: the fight to obtain the unreleased Jeffrey Epstein files.

Related: Jefrey Epstein’s brother says the ‘Bubba’ mentioned in Trump oral sex email is not Bill Clinton

Unearthing the Epstein files

Garcia’s interview with The Advocate unfolded as newly released emails from the late convicted pedophile’s estate, obtained through an Oversight subpoena, dominated the national conversation.

In a 2019 message, referring to President Donald Trump, Epstein wrote that “of course he knew about the girls.” In a 2018 email, his brother Mark Epstein asked whether “Putin has the photos of Trump blowing Bubba.” That one went viral across news channels and social media beginning Thursday night. A White House spokesperson told The Advocate, “These emails prove literally nothing.”

Trump responded Friday by directing U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue investigations into Democrats referenced in the emails, including former President Bill Clinton and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, even as he publicly insisted the Epstein matter was a “hoax.” On Saturday night, Mark Epstein clarified that “Bubba” was not Clinton in a statement to The Advocate, which was published on Sunday.

Related: Bizarre Epstein files reference to Trump, Putin, and oral sex with ‘Bubba’ draws scrutiny in Congress

Garcia declined to speculate on the meaning of the email. “We’re not sure what that’s in reference to,” he said. “Is it a joke? Is it not? Who’s he talking about? We don’t know.” That ambiguity, he added, underscores the importance of the documents the Department of Justice has refused to turn over. “There’s a massive cover-up at the White House and DOJ right now,” he said. “Those documents are key to the investigation.”

As ranking member, Garcia has already helped secure records that allegedly tie Trump, Elon Musk, former Prince Andrew, Peter Thiel, and Steve Bannon to Epstein; obtained the “Birthday Book” that Trump publicly denied existed; and released private correspondence in which Epstein wrote that Trump “spent hours at my house” with a trafficking victim. The committee has also interviewed former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta about the leniency he extended to Epstein as a prosecutor years before his death.

“There are so many girls and women wondering if the government is going to help them,” Garcia said. “We have a responsibility to prove that we are.” Survivors of abuse, he added, are watching closely.

A warning he gave before Trump returned

Garcia’s comments echoed a warning he gave The Advocate on November 14, 2022, days after his election to Congress, when he said extreme Republicans were intent on transforming the country “into some Trump authoritarian place that is not welcoming for most of the people of the country.”

Related: Superman, Batman, and Robert Garcia: A gay Democrat’s stand against his political villains

At the time, Trump was no longer in office. Now, with Trump back in power, those remarks read as a clear prediction.

Rep. Robert Garcia shaking supporters' hands.Courtesy Rep. Robert Garcia

“I meant what I said,” Garcia told The Advocate Friday. “Part of being in Congress for me is pushing back against people trying to harm vulnerable communities and the Constitution.”

He was among the first to call for the expulsion of then-Rep. George Santos, the gay Republican who lied about his entire backstory and was ultimately kicked out of Congress, was charged with and convicted of fraud and identity theft and went to federal prison to serve 87 months on July 25. But Trump commuted his sentence October 17.

On Oversight, he has helped lead Democrats into a more coordinated and aggressive posture, despite being in the minority. His confrontations with Republicans stem from his upbringing, he says.

“My mom raised me right,” he said. “I have a good sense of what’s right and wrong and what our Constitution really means.” He looks at politics as a moral distinction: “Are you helping people, or are you hurting them?”

That framework shapes his response to attacks on marginalized people, like immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and especially transgender Americans. “A lot of these folks I take on are hurting people,” he said. Garcia, who has a love for comic books and superheroes, previously told The Advocate that the dynamic of good versus evil energizes him.

“Mijo, be careful!”

Garcia’s mother and stepfather died of COVID-19 shortly before he entered Congress, when he was the mayor of Long Beach. The loss remains a defining force in his life.

Related: Gay U.S. Rep Robert Garcia elected top Democrat on powerful House Oversight Committee

“They would be very happy,” Garcia said when asked what they might think of his trajectory. “My mom would call me, being like, ‘Mijo, be careful!’ She was always very nervous about what I would say and people being upset at me.” His mother, an immigrant who worked multiple jobs and campaigned in all his races, shaped his understanding of fairness and duty. “My sense of justice comes from her,” he said.

Co-parenting Tommy with his ex-husband

Garcia is unusually open about how personal life shifts under the weight of public service. He described a support network that is both intimate and pragmatic. “I have a great network of support, which I’m super grateful for,” he said.

That includes his ex-husband, Matt. “We separated right around when I came to Congress, and we divorced officially about a year ago or so,” Garcia said. “We’re still really good friends, and so he’s actually important.” A four-legged feline son, Tommy, that the couple adopted as a kitten solidifies their bond.

Rep .Robert Garcia and his 12-year-old cat, Tommy.Courtesy Rep. Robert Garcia

“We have a shared cat, so we’re co-parenting a cat,” he said. "Matt’s support of our cat is very important to me. We talk all the time about him and just about our friendship and our shared family that, of course, we’ll always have as friends.”

Outside that long-standing partnership, Garcia maintains close ties to people who have known him since before he entered politics. “People that I’ve known since college that I’m still friends with today; some of my closest friends are my friends that I went to college with. We were in my fraternity, and they’re really important.”

And on Capitol Hill, he has built a smaller circle within the institution’s grind. “There’s a handful of members of Congress that I’ve become very close to as friends,” he said. “Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky, Greg Casar of Texas, I would say they are two of my closest friends now.”

Still, the demands of Congress shape everything. “Congress is hard,” he said. “It’s very demanding on your time, and it’s demanding on your family and your friendships, and certainly on relationships. I found that out really quickly when I got to Congress.”

To him, personal sacrifice is inseparable from the work.

“You have to be prepared that it’s a different lifestyle, and you have to be all in,” he said. “At this moment in history, if we’re not all in, we’ve got to create space for people that are, because the fight requires constant engagement on taking on the administration and Donald Trump.”

Cultural literacy as political grounding

Garcia has long used pop culture, particularly queer culture, not as a gimmick but as a kind of political literacy. His affection for drag is well known; it was clear even before he held office, and he has spoken openly about the art form on the House floor.

During the interview, he laughed when asked whether he had recovered from the “mild panic attack” he once tweeted about after RuPaul retweeted him. The attention ultimately connected him to the broader Drag Race universe. “Since then, I have made some relationships in the RuPaul dragverse,” he said. “There have been some communications with folks within that sphere … and many, many drag queens.”

He has now met several of his favorites. “Bianca Del Rio and Sasha Colby, those two, specifically, are two of my favorite drag queens,” he said. “I loved Sasha even before she was on Drag Race.” He recalled speaking with them, building relationships, and learning from them.

He is also unabashed in his fandom. “I was on Delta Work’s show. My favorite show of any of the queens is Delta,” he said. “Her show is the best. To have been a guest on that show was amazing.”

Rep. Robert Garcia speaking to attendees of an event.Courtesy Rep. Robert Garcia

And he made sure his message to the producers of RuPaul’s Drag Race was unmistakable. “If you want to ask what my dream job is, I would die to be a judge one day on RuPaul’s Drag Race,” he said. “A guest judge would be an amazing opportunity. So Ru, or if someone on the show is reading this, please — I’ll come and do whatever it takes.”

Performing, however, is off the table. “I would be a terrible drag queen,” he said. “I have no interest in that.”

The fandom is playful, but the politics beneath it are not. Garcia is acutely aware of how the right has distorted drag.

“It’s horrific,” he said. “We should be very clear about what drag actually is. Drag has existed for a long time. Drag was being performed at USO performances on military bases. Drag is an art form. It’s a form of theater, a form of art, a form of comedy. That’s what it is. And it’s nothing more.”

What troubles him, he said, is not a misunderstanding but a deliberate campaign to harm vulnerable people. “Maybe for some folks on the far right, they’re scared of things they don’t know,” he said. “These people are performers. They’re artists.” Then he widened the frame: “As it relates to trans people, again — why are we bullying people who are a small percentage of the population? They just want to live their lives.”

That includes defending LGBTQ+ rights, now under direct assault. “This administration is trying every day to strip the rights of gay Americans and the broader gay and lesbian community,” he said, pointing to efforts to undermine marriage equality, adoption access, and even Pride symbolism. “They’re obsessed,” he added, describing battles over things as minor as rainbow crosswalks. “And you have to wonder, why are they so obsessed with us?”

Fighting for Andry Hernández Romero

Garcia’s advocacy extends internationally. Earlier this year, he traveled to El Salvador to advocate for Andry Hernández Romero, a gay man wrongfully incarcerated in the country’s notorious CECOT prison after being sent there in March by the Trump administration, which has drawn widespread condemnation from human rights organizations. Romero was freed and returned to Venezuela in July.

“I was the first person to speak to him with the ambassador,” Garcia said. They remain in touch. Ahead of Romero’s release, Garcia also participated in a Crooked Media “Free Andry” event in D.C. this spring that raised funds for the nonprofit law firm, Immigrant Defenders, that was working on Romero’s case. When Garcia asked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to at least seek a sign of life to convey to Romero’s mother, she declined to do so.

“Andry went through enormous trauma,” he said. “What happened to him shouldn’t happen to anybody. Uplifting his story was really important, and I’m glad that he’s free.”

What he’s learned and what comes next

Garcia said he was surprised at how open his caucus was to elevating newer members. He became the first sophomore in a century to win a contested race for ranking member.

If Democrats retake the House, Garcia is poised to chair the Oversight Committee. His agenda is expansive. He is leading an investigation into U.S. citizens wrongly detained by federal immigration authorities. He recently introduced legislation to restructure Homeland Security Investigations as an independent agency, arguing it is essential to preventing abuses. He reintroduced the SHIELD Act to expand access to legal representation for immigrants. He is preparing oversight scrutiny of vaccine programs, misinformation within the Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and declining federal HIV and AIDS funding. He also intends to pursue investigations into corporate misconduct.

“We’re going to take on anyone harming the American public,” he said.

Robert Garcia sworn in by former Vice President Kamala Harris. Courtesy Rep. Robert Garcia

Anti-trans messaging remains central in Republican campaigns. Garcia rejects the tactic outright. “We’re focusing on such a small percentage of people who just want to live their lives,” he said.

But he also stressed the importance of economic issues. A trans friend recently told him, “Talk about affordability.”

“She’s right,” Garcia said. “Trans people have to pay rent and buy groceries too.”

Garcia is proud of the two government efficiency bills he passed in the last Congress. The two bipartisan laws, the Eliminate Useless Reports Act and the GAO Inspector General Parity Act, were both signed by President Joe Biden. He helped found the bipartisan Congressional Yes In My Back Yard Caucus, focused on expanding the housing supply, and he cochairs the PORTS Caucus and the Peru Caucus. He sits on both the Oversight Committee and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. He’s also proud of his election as president of the first-year class. However, Garcia said the cruelty he has witnessed remains the most difficult part of the job.

“The way Sarah McBride has been treated, the way others get treated on immigration, it’s really cruel,” he said. Republicans have misgendered and banned the Delaware congresswoman, the first trans member of Congress, from using women's bathrooms.

Garcia said he is especially troubled by Republicans turning their backs on abuse survivors in the Epstein matter. “People need to think about what that means for these women who were children at the time,” he said.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, across the dais

Garcia serves on the same committees as Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has been one of MAGA’s loudest cheerleaders. That dynamic has gained new relevance as Trumpworld’s relationship with Greene has shifted in recent months. While Greene is distancing herself from Trump politically, particularly over the handling of the Epstein files, Garcia said Democrats should not lose sight of the harm Greene has inflicted. On Friday evening, Trump withdrew his endorsement of Greene and stated that he’d support a 2026 midterm challenger.

“We shouldn’t forget or absolve someone who has been harmful to our community and our democracy,” he said. But he also acknowledged that she has recently taken positions he did not expect. “Some things she’s said have been surprising and at times courageous,” he said. “People can become better.”

He emphasized that accountability and hope can coexist.

“We hold people accountable. But we can still hope they become better citizens.”