20221202 Mike Levin call

After no-showing for a staff meeting in Dana Point, CA, Congressman Mike Levin was on a call where he made baseless accusations about a combat veteran being disrespectful and asserted multiple false claims about his delayed effort to curb veteran employment discrimination.

AI Generated Transcript

hello this is Mike Levin hi Mike I can't see you is that what we're doing Zoom for or no no this is just a call my name is Logan Isaac

I'm waiting to meet with you

uh I don't know you're in control of the zoom

that we have inquired with the DOL about your concerns will be persistent in pursuing answers to the questions that have been raised and we actually did receive a response from DOL just before this call about 30 minutes ago and DOL provided most of the required data and they committed to include it in future reports they also noted that it does not have the mechanisms to track or collect the number of qualified covered veterans receiving priority and employment referrals but they committed to exploring the options to rectify that what we're doing is following up to ask why the available data was excluded for the fiscal year 21 report and what specific steps dul is taking to ensure to be included in the future we're also going to closely monitor their efforts to address the lack of priority employment referral data and we're going to continue to push them until we get what we deem to be an adequate response what do you mean we

you think what do you mean we

oh yeah I just want to make sure it doesn't include me because you haven't communicated with me and I still can't I can't even see your face even though I made it explicit that I was asking for a face-to-face meeting Logan I'm in Washington DC right now and when I requested the meeting you were on District work

the utmost faith and confidence in my team both in Washington DC and in the district offices oh okay let me let me stop you there let me stop you there okay because it's difficult for me to have faith and confidence in let's see Faith Jonathan Kyle keown uh and Kelsey and the reason for that is that I've been asking this question for 1200 days a three times my deployment I first contacted faith on May 14 2019 asking about this very question I followed up with her on May 20th about this question with the DOL then on July 6th you said on camera on C-Span that you would be willing to look into a hearing this is July 26 2019. I'm still waiting on that hearing in fact I followed up with faith on November 1st no reply of that same year I also asked about the David trone letter about hate crime just a second Mr Levin I haven't interrupted you until I saw something that wasn't working right now I do not appear to be familiar with it Mr Levin you do not appear to be familiar with it because you had your staff members close up your own office and run away like it was a crime scene when I was trying to get this material to them you're not even on video but you're not on video so I can't show you the material that I was trying to show them yesterday Nations that are incorrect and I don't know that I can prove it I

am my record

I'm gonna tell you what I don't appreciate that our team is doing the job let me tell you what I don't appreciate let me tell you what I don't appreciate it

labor three years later

I'm sorry yeah Affairs majority staff and they did not agree that it was worthy of a separate hearing and that's ultimately the call of the house Veterans Affairs committee's staff veterans employment discrimination is not worthy of a hearing veterans employment and discrimination is not worthy of a hearing

and there is no you and I both know we're switching we're switching control in January I would ask that you take a respectful Town Logan I I'm sorry you think that I'm being disrespectful beginning here the majority staff will determine scope and the nature of the majority staff of The Economic Opportunity subcommittee will handle our subcommittee's hearings as an example the new chairman of The Economic Opportunity subcommittee will be a gentleman named Barry Moore who represents the district in Alabama the chairman of the house Veterans Affairs committee will be a gentleman named Mike boss who from a district in Illinois we're happy to have these conversations with them but I'm providing you the feedback from the house Veterans Affairs committee I'm not trying to validate or invalidate the Merit of anything that you're discussing you you are we did inquire you said my tone is disrespectful and I've given you nothing but factual information I can verify through emails and documentation and you're you're assume just a second I couldn't interrupt you I interrupt you did I now pretty much you're right because I it's my assumption that as a constituent your responsibility is to me not the other way around is that correct you'll be a constituent after the first of the year no I'm a constituent because I voted for you a couple of weeks ago is that not correct I don't represent you yet I will after the first of the year as of right now I'm taking this call so you don't represent veterans in the district that you are assuming you're saying you don't represent me and so all this work you've done was not for a constituent it's for a veteran is that correct you live in Laguna Niguel correct yes when I'm sworn into the 118th Congress I will represent the City of Laguna Niguel as its representative so you might represent a veterans you'll only represent your own constituent which only will happen after you lose power in the house so I'll say again is you're supposed to connect with your own representative I believe

I believe and you're also the chair of the economic opportunities for the better part of three years no you didn't and I have a record of that correspondence yes we all don't want to have an adversial or relationship

no hear me out you need to have respect for our team they are worthy of your respect they are public servants trying to serve the country just as you serve the country and I owe them gratitude for their service just as I owe you gratitude for yours but you need to treat them with respect are we clear on that uh no I don't think so but I want to make sure I hear you finish

I ask again that to the extent you are interacting with my team that you afford them the same respect that we will try to afford you but if you disrespect them and you treat them without the courtesy that they are owed then that's a problem with me

fair enough no it's not fair but I'm happy to respond if you'll promise you won't interrupt right ahead so I would I if there's any incidents where you feel or your staff has felt disrespected you are free to let me know here's how I felt disrespected I brought this to your attention within four months of your term as the chair of the subcommittee on Economic Opportunity I consistently followed up with your staff and they consistently pushed me off my representative when he tried to get the FBI director and the an AG bar to ask about hate crunch preventions that were not being extended to service members who you would represent at Pendleton you didn't sign it and then as I asked you in front of on C-Span you said you would be able to you never told me that you spoke to anybody until five minutes ago I consider that disrespectful so if you consider my reaction to your inaction is disrespect that's your responsibility your feelings are your responsibility now I find it disrespectful that as a veteran there's 17 of us who are going to kill themselves today and suicide is driven in large part by employment difficulties I think that's a generally accepted fact you spent four years in power in the house subcommittee on Economic Opportunity and you did as far as I could tell I still don't have any documentation from what you claimed five minutes ago but from what I could tell you did nothing and I have the receipts I have the reports from the DOL that have been that have failed to comply with the federal statutes at the very least and you don't want to be face to face to me you don't want to receive the material you had your own staff abandon your own district office when we knew that I had a scheduled meeting I call that disrespectful if you don't like my tone then that's your responsibility I could have come up to you at St Margaret's when I first showed up

exactly word for word what I told you during that meeting that we had at the American Enterprise Institute where I said I would look into it and that's exactly what I did our team inquired with the house Veterans Affairs majority regarding a hearing and house Veterans Affairs committee majority staff did not deem it appropriate for a separate hearing so does that market the importance of the not so important not to invalidate the importance of the topic but because we only get so many hearings with so many topics

but to say that we did nothing after I have the record of the correspondence and I just told you that we got an affirmative response that DOL is going to provide the information that you requested and you say we did nothing and the way with which you treated my staff because I I hear from them the nature and the tone of the conversations and the correspondence I I just want to level with you Logan I I don't care

and I'm excited

I'm also going to defend my staff because they're incredibly hard-working decent people defend them from what I haven't heard anything they are serving their country just as you serve the country defend them from one if you can't understand

yeah I we have not had a positive relationship when you say that you did something you did not forward me that information and you still haven't it's been three years so I don't understand under what rubric you think that that is somehow respectful of me

secondly again I will read it right right [Music] yes that is absolutely correct so why did your staff continue to ignore my emails I have so many emails back and forth from you and my team uh including some where you have uh apparently been satisfied uh with their correspondence that for you to say that there's been nothing in three years I I'm just very sorry to hear that it's clearly not true it is true until you can prove it well look this conversation doesn't seem to be going anywhere I'm I'm sorry uh that you feel this way but I'll continue to defend the hard work and the Integrity of my team I'll continue to stand for Veterans as best I can in our community and that includes you I just said my team with respect

no I guess you don't have to respect me until January is that correct not true you're not myself until January the way it works so I'm trying to explain it now for the second or third time explain it to me the way it works is your member of Congress is the One You're supposed to be corresponding with about a concern and so back in 2019 when you contacted our office David Trump was your member of Congress today as represented as a resident of Laguna Niguel Michelle Steele is your member of Congress she will be until the beginning of the year and I will be I'll be happy to speak with you as a constituent we're not hiding from anybody I mean hell we have a town hall meeting every month we have House parties all over the district I pride myself on being one of the most accessible and transparent members of Congress in this entire Institution except that your faith isn't appearing for you to tell me something that is patently untrue and repeated and to disrespect my staff doesn't sit well with me I want to be friends I want to I want to make amends as best we can but let's level with one another sure I would love to would you like me to level with you

go ahead I mean if you're going to be disrespectful I hope you're not going to be yeah they call King disrespectful for coming to Montgomery so again disrespect is subjective if you feel undisrespectful I'll say it a third time I'd be happy to hear in what ways I've been disrespectful until you or your staff forwards me any kind of documentation that you did anything since May 14th I would be happy to publicly retract any and every weird thing that you think I've said about you but you haven't you didn't inform me until 10 minutes ago that anything happened so for three years I've been sitting here wait wait wait for three years it has been true it has been true that I have not seen anything so when I contacted you and I'll say this again I thought I said it earlier I know that trone was my member back in May of 19 but it's also true that you're serving as the chair of the house subcommittee on Economic Opportunity for veterans which receives the DOL vets reports which are out of compliance with 38 U.S code 4212. so that's why I asked you in fact I think I put it in the email as the chairman of this subcommittee should you care this information seems to be missing and what really got under my skin the last several weeks is when the 2021 report came out it had redacted all information that it was required statutorily to include and that is while you were I I would I can only assume these subcommittee responsible for receiving and interpreting those reports in on the house side so why did you allow or report be sent to your committee that has false information in it

you're going to get an answer whether you like the answer or not I'll leave that to you but I hope that you get the information that you've requested and I hope you recognize that we have been trying behind the scenes to get the information diligently and uh I hope that as a result of your getting the information perhaps you'll uh you said retract uh what you were saying or writing before that's totally up to you it's free country you can share write whatever you want now if it's disrespectful in someone's eyes I guess right you know we actually you're trying to do some good around here I I yeah I asked a specific question you received as subcommittee chair a report from the Department of Labor that is false you're accepting false reports from the DOL why is that listen to me I don't want to hang up on you but your town towards me uh if we're going to have a positive working relationship moving forward I hope that you would give me just and as scintilla of respect and in turn I will try to respect you I hear that you're not answering questions and I hear that you are afraid of being disrespectful your accusatory tone is counterproductive I'm sorry you feel that way that's your responsibility I think make it best at this well you keep saying it's my responsibility if somebody is accusatory and belittling it is not your sense of disrespect is something you can deal with not to be feckful I don't believe I have been we have a difference of opinion that's why I said well you you had you had several things said on this call that are patently I'm happy to prove it okay and and I have the evidence just like you that you haven't shared it and you did not want me to share it with your staff yesterday all right I we're talking in circles now we'll get you the information from the Department of Labor and we'll go from there and I'm sorry that you're so upset uh depends you do not get to commentate on my internal disposition no do not tell me how I'm feeling and I won't it's inappropriate and disrespectful to tell me how you think I'm feeling I didn't tell you that it was in the conversation

issue nothing but the best and you will be getting the information from my staff three years later thing I truly wish you nothing but the best I hope you know that wishes are like the thing you wipe after you poop everybody's got them but I want documentation I should have gotten it three years ago all right thank you Logan have a nice rest of your day