The revelations surrounding Jeffrey Epstein's ties to Democrat figures and congressional activity remain serious, but the broader focus in Washington must stay on advancing President Donald Trump's agenda and addressing major policy priorities, Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., said Tuesday on Newsmax.
"Bottom line, we have too many important things to deal with in Washington," Harris told Tuesday's "Wake Up America," noting the Jan. 30 continuing resolution as a key deadline.
Members of Congress must get back to the work of moving Trump's America First agenda forward, while "focusing on affordability, focusing on the items that are important to the American people," he added.
Harris noted the most significant development in the reports about Epstein was that he exchanged texts with Rep. Stacey Plaskett, D-Virgin Islands, during a 2019 congressional hearing that appeared to influence her questions to Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney.
"Yes, that was a mind-blowing turn of events when it pointed out that Epstein was actually feeding questions in that hearing, and I think that that is probably the more serious story of everything that we're dealing with here today," Harris said.
The congressman added, while more than 50,000 pages of documents connected to Epstein have now been released, the outstanding issue is accountability.
"The question that I think we need to be asking is, Where are the prosecutions? We need to start prosecuting some of these individuals," he said.
Harris warned Congress must ensure the handling of the discharge petition regarding the Epstein Files Transparency Act does not jeopardize ongoing investigations.
"Are we setting some kind of judicial precedent here that's going to, in any way, jeopardize any of the investigations that are ongoing?" he said. "I hope not, but I think it's a concern that we've had all along."
Turning to the federal crackdown on criminal illegal immigrants in Charlotte, North Carolina, Harris said Democrats are showing misplaced priorities.
"It is a sad commentary on the Democrats where there seems to be lost on them that our Border Patrol agents, our ICE agents, they are law enforcement, and we need to treat them with the respect that we treat law enforcement," he said.
Harris said arrests in Charlotte have climbed to about 200 in two days, emphasizing the severity of the criminal activity involved.
"When you think of the people that are being taken off the streets, people that are wanted for murder, people wanted for aggravated assault, people that are wanted for all of these crimes, the criminal illegal aliens are being taken out," he said.
The administration does not pre-announce enforcement locations because of ongoing security risks.
"Let's be clear, we're at war from the invasion that came during the Biden administration," Harris said. "This administration is having to clean up this mess; this is all about making these cities and these streets safer."
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