Ranking Member Raskin’s Opening Statement at Subcommittee Hearing on Republicans’ Finger-Pointing at Nonprofits They Disagree With
Washington, D.C. (July 15, 2025)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, delivered opening remarks at the Subcommittee on Oversight hearing on how Republicans are demonizing nonprofit organizations for political gain while abandoning their oversight obligations over the Trump Administration.
Below are Ranking Member Raskin’s remarks at today’s hearing.
WATCH Ranking Member Raskin’s opening statement.
Ranking Member Jamie Raskin
Subcommittee on Oversight
Hearing on “How Leftist Nonprofit Networks Exploit Federal Tax Dollars to Advance a Radical Agenda”
July 15, 2025
Thank you, Chairman Van Drew.
“Pointing fingers is for losers.” I’m quoting our colleague Rep. Chip Roy from last week. And this has become a mantra for our colleagues in the wake of the devastating flooding in Texas, which has already cost at least 132 lives, with still 160 people missing. It is now an article of faith among our colleagues that, in the age of accelerating climate change disasters, like Hurricane Helene, which cost 200 lives in North Carolina or deadly tornadoes in the Midwest, and in the age of out-of-control gun violence, whether in Uvalde or Buffalo or Charleston or Parkland, we should never engage in finger-pointing or casting blame at individuals (although Donald Trump finger-points and casts blame at Democratic leaders, as he did recently with Governor Newsom and the wildfires in California).
In any event, the point is that we should be addressing the underlying systemic problems like climate change, effective emergency response and planning or mass gun violence and reducing access to military-style assault weapons rather than vilifying individuals and casting blame on a partisan basis.
So let’s adopt that rule, “finger-pointing is for losers.” No to finger-pointing, yes to problem-solving.
But this entire hearing is nothing but absurd political finger-pointing, and it is not even finger-pointing at people who actually run our government or occupy public office. It’s finger-pointing at nonprofit groups like Church World Service, HIAS, Lutheran Community Services, and the reviled philanthropist George Soros, who has given away hundreds of millions of dollars to make the world a better place.
I don’t like everything that every right-wing not-for-profit group does in America or around the world, but I don’t think it merits a full-blown congressional hearing. We didn’t even have a hearing on the richest billionaire in the world, Elon Musk, who actually had a government job running DOGE, destroying large parts of our government, firing tens of thousands of our federal workers. The Republicans didn’t even call in Elon Musk for a hearing or have a hearing about what he was doing, but they want to have a hearing in 2025 about George Soros, all of the old, tired, exhausted, absurd conspiracy theories again.
And I don’t see any—and these witnesses can correct me if I’m wrong—I perused all their statements, I didn’t see a single one of them allege a single crime, anything illegal going on. They just don’t like the things that he invests in. They don’t like what certain not-for-profit groups do. Well, I don’t love everything that the right wing not-for-profits do. Why are we hearing about this? What an absurd waste of time.
This hearing, if our motto is going to be “finger-pointing for losers,” this hearing is for losers. Because all it is is finger-pointing at somebody who doesn’t even have political power.
This is an oversight hearing before the Oversight Subcommittee that’s not doing any oversight on the government. Indeed, the Judiciary Committee has not yet conducted a single oversight meeting this Congress with a single government witness, not one. They’ve not called Attorney General Bondi. They’ve not called FBI Director Patel. They haven’t even called anybody to talk about George Soros from the government. They won’t subject any of their government officials to any cross-examination by this panel.
Now, I think this is an absurd waste of our time. Why are we not addressing urgent policy problems like the pervasive nationwide violation of due process and First Amendment rights by ICE and other federal agents, who arrive now in unmarked cars in plain clothes without badges or arrest warrants and then snatch people off the streets and send them to a torturer’s prison in El Salvador? Do you think the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee should have an interest in defending due process? So my colleagues say, you’re not for due process for guilty people, are you? Well, yeah, because we don’t know if they’re guilty until they’ve gotten due process. That’s why “due process” are the two most beautiful words in the English language, that’s what separates our rights and our freedoms from arbitrary state power.
Why are we not addressing the threats to the security and safety of judges who are working to uphold the rule of law, and now are subject—not just to slander and defamation and signs all over Congress saying impeach this judge or that judge for standing up for the Constitution—now violent threats, not just to them but to their family members?
Why are we not addressing the mass firing of dozens of experienced crime-fighting federal prosecutors at the Department of Justice who’ve been fired en masse for the sole reason that they did their job and prosecuted police-beaters, violent insurrectionists and other rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, in order to overthrow a presidential election in the United States of America and attack our Constitution? Why are we not having a hearing about that?
We could actually have a hearing—here’s something we could agree on, Mr. Chairman, on a bipartisan basis—why don’t we have a hearing on what the whole country’s talking about right now, if you turn on the TV and go on the internet, why don’t we have a hearing about the continuing suppression and cover up of the information in the Epstein files, about a child sex ring run by powerful people? The whole country, not just Republicans and MAGA, but liberal Democrats, are in an uproar because President Trump, Attorney General Bondi, and their allies in the DOJ and FBI repeatedly claimed in public that the Epstein files have the names of power elite actors involved in human trafficking and sexual abuse of minors, with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and they promised to release all the information in the name of maximum transparency. You remember that? They said this would be the “most transparent administration in the history of the United States,” but now they’re shouting nothing to see here, sweeping it all under the rug, steadfastly refusing to release the files despite broad bipartisan demand to release the Epstein files after everything they’ve said publicly.
The Democratic Members of this Committee sent a letter today at 2:00 p.m. demanding that the President keep his word and release the fast to American people and that Chairman Jordan call a bipartisan hearing where we can work together to get to the bottom of this. How about a hearing on that? Do any of my colleagues want to talk about that or does everybody want to talk about George Soros? I’m curious to know which of my colleagues support our call for a bipartisan hearing on the Epstein files.
So here we are at this utterly pointless hearing, spinning absurd, discredited conspiracy theories again about George Soros, and again, I don’t see a single claim of any criminality or illegality taking place. They don’t like the guy’s politics. I can find you 50 right-wing billionaires whose politics I don’t like, so what? What an utter, absurd waste of time this is. And it’s an attempt to change the subject, obviously, from what America wants to talk about now, which is why after promising for all of these years to release the Epstein files will President Trump not release them?
We know they were friends, and we know they hung out. And we know there are all these pictures together. We know that Michael Wolff, Trump’s biographer, said he saw a photographs of Donald Trump and Epstein with minor age girls. Well, where does that leave us? That doesn’t look good if they then cover up all the information. Come clean and release the information as the Republicans have repeatedly promised to do.
So I look forward to hearing if there’s any allegations of criminality or illegality, they should be turned over immediately to the Department of Justice today. Otherwise this hearing—I’m afraid, Mr. Chairman—is for losers. It’s about finger-pointing at people who don’t have any governmental power at all. It’s old, recycled allegations and we’re not advancing the ball on anything.
At the very least, the Judiciary Committee should be demanding that the Epstein files be made public. That is a bipartisan agenda, at least I thought it was, and if something has changed, please let me know, but I thought that we were all for that together and we should move on that today.
Thank you and I yield back.