Who?
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) — Armed Services & Intelligence Committees
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LISTEN: Laslo & Rounds (3-14-2025)
Ask a Pol asks:
Have you ever heard of this Secrets Task Force in the House?
Key Rounds:
“Nope,” Sen. Mike Rounds exclusively tells Ask a Pol. “
They're investigating UAPs, but also JFK, Epstein, 9-11 and COVID…
Rounds smiles.
“I haven't paid much attention to what they're doing over there, to be honest,” Rounds says. “But sounds like it keeps a few of them busy.”
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Senate eye roll:
“You want people busy,” Rounds says.
Do ya?
“Oh, yeah,” Rounds says of his fellow Republicans over in the House. “It's better than having them looking for things to get into.”
Caught our ear:
“We've been busy over here in the Senate,” Rounds tells us.
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), slightly edited for clarity.
TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Mike Rounds (3-14-2025)
SCENE: Sen. Mike Rounds and an aide are walking back to his office across the street from the US Capitol via an underground walkway that runs alongside the Senate tram when Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo catches up with him.
After their brief interview, Laslo’s trapped in-between underground tram ‘stations,’ so he keeps walking and chatting with the friendly South Dakotan and his nice, if quite, aide.
Matt Laslo: “This is random. Have you ever heard of this Secrets Task Force in the House?”
Mike Rounds: “Nope.”
ML: “They're investigating UAPs, but also JFK, Epstein, 9-11 and COVID…”
Rounds smiles.
MR: “I haven't paid much attention to what they're doing over there, to be honest, but sounds like it keeps a few of them busy.”
ML: “But on first blush, what do you make of a committee investigating Epstein, JFK, MLK…?”
MR: “Is it a secret committee?”
Laslo misses Rounds’ dry grandfatherly joke.
ML: “No, it's underneath [House] Oversight. It's a task force, so they have a six month window.”
MR: “So it's not a super secret, serious committee, it’s a…?”
ML: “You’re the one who said they're not serious.”
Laslo laughs.
MR: “(inaudible)…secrets, right?”
ML: “Yeah.”
Laslo laughs.
ML: “That's funny that you haven't even heard of it. Ummm…”
MR: “I just — we've been busy over here in the Senate.”
ML: “Yeah.”
MR: “A secret's committee, huh?”
ML: “Yeah.”
MR: “Okay.”
ML: “Well, it kinda morphed. It was the UAP Caucus. Like, I honestly think they got jammed by leadership — they didn't take the issue seriously, and they're like, 'Now deal with every conspiracy!'“
Rounds’ aide’s face lights up as she chuckles quietly.
MR: “Might keep a few of them out of some other mystery. You never know.”
Laslo laughs.
ML: “It actually does seem like [House Oversight Chair James] Comer wants to — him and Speaker Johnson — have a little more power over them.”
Rounds laughs.
ML: “Because it's a task force so their subpoena power is Comer's subpoena power.”
MR: “Well, you know, you want people busy.”
ML: “Do ya?”
MR: “Oh, yeah.”
Laslo and Rounds laugh.
MR: “It's better than having them looking for things to get into.”
Laslo puts his mic away as they near an open tram back to the Capitol.
ML: “Actually, I’m gonna take that back.”
Laslo hops the empty tram as Rounds and his aide keep walking to their office in the Senate Hart Office Building — the newest Senate Office Building (build time: 1975-1982), thus the furthest from the Capitol.
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