00:00Now, this guy got a $1.7 million contract to install a nanobubble filtration system,
00:06which has been a total and complete disaster, as the president would say.
00:11It is a shame.
00:14It is disgusting that Donald Trump is enriching donors and friends by using America's monuments.
00:21Now, Mr. Gollinger, we know the White House claims they weren't involved in the contract.
00:26I mean, shocking that he would, of course, get the contract.
00:30I'll begin the question just real briefly.
00:31I do want to thank our ranking member, Huffman, who's here, our partners at Natural Resources,
00:36obviously, are doing incredible work protecting America's monuments and treasures.
00:39So thank you for being here.
00:41Also, just want to also add to Representative Beatty, truly heroic work that you've done at the Kennedy Center.
00:49So just want to personally, on behalf of Oversight Democrats, thank you again for being here and for your incredible
00:54work.
00:55And also, we recognize we have Councilmember Robert White, who is here.
00:59And, of course, our shadow senator, Ankit Jain, who is also here.
01:03So thank you both for being here and for your representation.
01:11We obviously have a lot to discuss today.
01:13And, again, it's outrageous for a president to put monuments ahead of himself – I'm sorry, to put monuments to
01:21himself ahead of the American people and, of course, the affordability crisis.
01:25Now, we want to take a look at each of these projects because they tell us so much about Donald
01:30Trump and his vanity and narcissism.
01:32And, of course, it tells us a lot about corruption.
01:35Now, we've seen, of course, the images already of the reflecting pool, just the horrific shoddy job that's happened.
01:40But it's important to talk about who actually is doing some of this work.
01:44Now, this is J.J. Carrafaro, of course, a neighbor, a neighbor of President Trump's, who actually resides just right
01:52next to Mar-a-Lago.
01:53Now, President Trump called J.J. a fantastic man.
01:59He's a major Trump donor, by the way.
02:01He gave President Trump a quarter of a million dollars in 2020.
02:05And he previously pled guilty to corruption and campaign finance violations.
02:11This guy right here.
02:12Now, this guy got a $1.7 million contract to install a nanobubble filtration system, which has been a total
02:20and complete disaster, as the president would say.
02:24It is a shame.
02:27It is disgusting that Donald Trump is enriching donors and friends by using America's monuments.
02:34Now, Mr. Gollinger, we know the White House claims they weren't involved in the contract.
02:39I mean, shocking that he would, of course, get the contract.
02:42But the facts look pretty obvious.
02:44Would you say this is an example of potential corruption that we should be investigating in the Senate and the
02:49House?
02:49I would say if it were my case, I would be opening an inquiry into this potential corruption in a
02:58hot minute.
02:58And oversight Democrats have.
03:00We've asked Mr. Gollinger and his company a series of questions, and that will continue.
03:04Now, we're taking on Trump's corruption at the monuments and the corruption happening in the private sector here as well.
03:10Who were these donors?
03:12Why did they finance these projects?
03:14Why did they finance the ballroom?
03:16Why are they involved in the arts?
03:17The list goes on and on, and we're going to get those answers.
03:20But there's other important issues here.
03:22President Trump's vanity projects in D.C. show also his dishonesty and all of the lies in the administration.
03:29Now, the contractors President Trump used to renovate the pool were clearly incompetent.
03:34We've all seen the images, the lining at the bottom of the pool, and then the embarrassment of the lies
03:40of the president himself,
03:42essentially saying that vandalism, it would cause all the problems.
03:46Now, we've seen, of course, one of the president's really unhinged true social posts that he likes to do in
03:51the middle of the morning or the middle of the night.
03:54Now, this is, of course, a pretty long, unhinged rant.
03:57So I'm not going to read the whole thing, but to summarize it, the president of the United States especially
04:01spends his time claiming that someone gutted the surface of the pool with a knife.
04:07He claims somehow that knife and somehow some chemicals that got poured into the pool is what caused this massive
04:14destruction of the pool,
04:16which they've had to, of course, now try to rebuild on multiple occasions.
04:20I mean, this is just blatant lies and an embarrassment to our country.
04:24Mr. Gollinger, has the administration actually produced any evidence of the president's claims?
04:30Not that I've seen.
04:31Not a single one.
04:32Not at all.
04:33These lies are ridiculous.
04:34And now we have the U.S. DOJ, our Department of Justice, trying to prosecute innocent people who are looking
04:42at the pool,
04:43who, of course, are being arrested, who are being moved away, children, families, athletes,
04:51all because of the president's incompetence.
04:54Once again, the person that calls himself the best builder in history can't actually fix a pool here in the
05:01district.
05:02I also just want to say, Mr. Fultz, thank you for your testimony.
05:06We, of course, our institution at the Kennedy Center is so important.
05:10Now, President Trump's allies claim that they took over the Kennedy Center to stop woke propaganda.
05:15Is that true?
05:20He said it was woke and broke, which rhymes, and that's nice.
05:27No, I'm not really sure what that means, but, I mean, our job at the Kennedy Center was to make
05:32sure
05:33every kid, especially, that went there saw themselves represented on stage.
05:39That it's, that's the, the Kennedy Center is the people's art institution.
05:45So, if that's what woke is, then, yeah, yeah, sure, I don't know what that means.
05:50Exactly.
05:51And, having been to the Kennedy Center to see some performances,
05:53they also claim that nobody was going to the Kennedy Center.
05:56That it wasn't connecting with audiences.
05:58Is that true?
06:00Oh, absolutely not.
06:01As I was saying in my testimony, I mean, we had straight sold-out shows on our programs,
06:05and as, as far as I knew, at least a few years came up in, in the black there,
06:12meaning that they, they ran a surplus, which is really, really impressive.
06:17And, and so, no, I, I think the, the Kennedy Center was going through some golden years, in my opinion.
06:22And finally, Congresswoman, I just want to thank you for being here again.
06:25And I know that, you know, President Trump kept saying that the board was rigged at the Kennedy Center,
06:31literally silenced you from speaking during, during the vote, if I, if I'm not, if I'm not correct.
06:37And in response, of course, you led the lawsuit to fight and save the Kennedy Center.
06:41I want to close this, to close my questioning here.
06:44Just what, what went through your mind seeing this destruction?
06:47And after, of course, you won the suit with others on behalf of the Kennedy Center.
06:53It was, it was devastating.
06:55As I was sitting there, it was the first that I'm sitting there as a board member,
06:59as a U.S. member of Congress, and to be silenced.
07:03And so that was the first part of our journey in working with Norm and Nathaniel for the lawsuit.
07:10I also thought about all the performers, the artists, the people who work in the boxes,
07:16the people who sell tickets, and it's about jobs.
07:20And at this critical time in our country, when we're talking about affordability,
07:24when we're talking about putting food on the table,
07:27I thought about all of those folks, and they love their jobs.
07:31If you've ever been to the Kennedy Center, they do it with such grace and pride.
07:36So the fight wasn't about me.
07:39It was about it being unlawful.
07:41So I've always said consistently, it was about the rule of law.
07:45We cannot let individuals like Donald Trump get it twisted,
07:51that he can do any and everything he wants without pushback.
07:55And it was about the arts.
07:57And being a board member, serving with Joe Kennedy when I first went on the board,
08:02it's the love of art for me, love of that institution.
08:06But it was really about the American people.
08:09It was much bigger than the Kennedy Center.
08:12While it was all about it, it was about jobs.
08:16It was about making people feel that there is still hope in this country
08:22and that people will still stand up and fight.
08:25And when we fight, we win.
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