We’re just days away from the end of President Trump’s first hundred days of his already tumultuous second term. Today, we have some fascinating insight into a federal government adjusting to—and largely doing combat with—the Trump agenda. Republican Congressman James Comer heads up the powerful House Oversight Committee. He talks about his fight to unearth who’s blocked release of formerly secret documents. And how what he calls The Deep State is actively fighting those trying to dismantle it.

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

Sharyl: It’s not a popular thing when you have to go out and raise money as a member of Congress to be reelected every couple of years, to make cuts.

Rep. James Comer: Yeah.

Sharyl: So is there pushback behind closed doors from other Republicans who don’t want do some of this?

Comer: Oh yeah. I mean, we’ve got, we’ve got some guys that’ll never be in a book called “Profiles of Courage,” if you know what I mean. I mean, you’ve got members of Congress that their number one priority, in my opinion, is self-preservation.

Republican James Comer of Kentucky heads up the House Oversight Committee—the investigative powerhouse of Congress.

It famously exposed the IRS targeting of conservative groups, which sparked national outrage.

Lois Lerner (May 22, 2013): Good morning Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Lois Lerner and I am the Director of Exempt Organizations at the Internal Revenue Service.

The committee also uncovered billions in misspent taxpayer funds for Covid relief.

Comer makes it clear that top Trump officials are locked in fierce, epic battles against what they call the Washington, D.C. “swamp.”

Comer: So all of these cabinet secretaries, whether it’s Brooke Rollins at Ag or Pam Bondi at Department of Justice, they’re having to fight a lot of internal battles that, that really haven’t made it into the mainstream media yet.

Sharyl: And you know this because you’ve talked with them? They’re already facing that problem?

Comer: Mmmm [affirmative]. I’ve talked to some of the cabinet secretaries.

A freshly launched Oversight Committee task force, led by Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, is assigned to unmasking holdouts who defied Trump’s first-term directives and blocked release of thousands of JFK documents.

Comer: So our task force is, you know, trying to reach out and question the bureaucrats, figure out which bureaucrat didn’t comply with the orders. Same thing happened with the Epstein files when Pam Bondi thought she was releasing the Epstein files. It really wasn’t the Epstein files, obviously.

Attorney General Pam Bondi (March 3, Fox News): You are looking at these documents going ‘these aren’t all the Epstein files’. You know there were flight logs, there were names, victims names and we are going ‘where is the rest of the stuff.’

Comer: So that task force is kind of working on very hard behind the scenes to identify which bureaucracies and which bureaucrats are not complying with the President’s orders. I heard that 10,000 times over the past two years: ‘Well, we can’t turn that over. There’s an ongoing investigation.’ We’re hearing that with the Epstein files now in this administration.

Sharyl: Who’s telling you that?

Comer: Well, that’s what they, that I mean, that, that’s the, when we request information, if they don’t provide it, that’s what they say. ‘There’s an ongoing investigation.’

Sharyl: Some liaison to Congress tells you that? Or is that message

Comer: Well, whoever, whoever replies to our letter or subpoena, that’s what they say. ‘There’s an ongoing investigation.’

Sharyl: So even now, they’re citing that for Epstein?

Comer: We, well, we haven’t, we’ve been real careful to try to let, you know, some of these cabinet officials get established and things like that. The task force has asked for, you know, the Epstein list and things like, and that’s been the, the reply thus far. But they still say, ‘we’re gonna release it. We’re in the process of releasing it. We’ve just gotta make sure nothing is released that compromises the ongoing investigation.’

Sharyl: Do you think we now have all the JFK files or they’re in the process of being posted and so on?

Comer: Well, I would say that we’ve probably gotten pretty much what we’re going to get. You know, the question I have is: Were there documents that have disappeared over the last four decades? And that’s probably a possibility. You know, I find it hard to believe that if the government was involved in, in some type of role in the Kennedy assassination, that they would say, ‘Okay, let’s keep this file and this safe here.’ And, you know, I would think that file would disappear very quickly.

Sharyl: Well, I’ve said much the same about the Epstein files. Certainly if there are bad actors, they weren’t holding the documents under a glass dome waiting for Trump to be reelected so that they could be released.

Comer: You know, the thing that worries me about the Epstein files, and I’ve read a lot about it, like most Americans have, is: Was our government involved in this? Were they potentially blackmailing some of the most influential people in the United States or in the world, if you go into, you know, Britain and, and other countries where we know there were very high profile people that were going to the Epstein Island or whatever you wanna call it. And if that was the case, I find it hard to believe that any type of evidence of that would still be in existence.

Sharyl: Including videos?

Comer: Including videos.

Sharyl: We know there were videos.

Comer: You know, I think at the very least, there are two questions most Americans have: Who was on the list? And did the government, our government, play any role in evaluating that or spying on that or were they involved in any type of you know, blackmail attempts or anything to get information? Enough time has passed, but we’re still battling that battle.

Beyond just prying open classified files, Comer has the sprawling Deep State in his sights, accusing it of casting a shadow over government operations and throwing up roadblocks.

Comer: We have a deep state list that we believe these employees need to be deposed at the very least to see, you know, to answer basic questions. ‘Why did you cover up this? Why did you provide this statement? Why did you sign the letter saying that laptop was Russian disinformation when you knew darn well it was not Russian disinformation?’ We’ll have public hearings, we’ll do whatever, but, but we need to work with the Department of Justice.

Sharyl: Are you waiting for the green light from them, or do you, are you working to schedule hearings on these types of things?

Comer: We’re waiting for the green light.

Sharyl: And why haven’t you gotten it yet?

Comer: Well, I don’t know. You know, I mean, there’s a lot to do. And Pam Bondi is walking into an agency that’s hostile towards her. There’s no question about it. So, she’s having a battle within and hopefully she’ll win that battle. And we can see some accountability.

Sharyl (on-camera): Comer applauded recent promotions of two IRS whistleblowers interviewed here on Full Measure almost a year ago. Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler had been retaliated against after they publicly testified the IRS and Justice Department under President Biden largely derailed investigations into the Bidens. Recently, President Trump promoted Shapley again, temporarily making him acting IRS commissioner while his nominee awaits confirmation. But within days, Shapley was reported to be removed from that spot. News reports said it was a power tug of war involving the Treasury Secretary who oversees the IRS and wanted to install his own acting commissioner while Trump’s permanent pick awaits conformation.

Watch video here.