Trump Witness Quickly Collapses under Cross-Exam by Dems

0:00Drama. Romance. Competition. Chaos. Welcome to Reality TV with Hulu on Disney +, featuring the hottest reality TV every day. Turn on larger-than-life docu-soaps, like Season 4 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and the hit new series Love Thy Nader, featuring superstar model Brooks Nader and her sisters. Obsess over the seasons of iconic dating shows like Love Island UK and Farmer Wants a Wife. Get hooked on irresistible food competitions like MasterChef, dive into hit game shows like Celebrity Family Feud, and revel in show-stopping fashion competitions, including the one and only Project Runway.

0:40It's the very best of reality TV. Every single day, all in one place. Every tear, every triumph, every jaw-dropping twist. This is where reality lives. This is where Hulu gets real. Stream now on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply. Drama. Romance. Competition. Chaos. Welcome to Reality TV with Hulu on Disney Plus, featuring the hottest reality TV every day. Turn on larger-than-life docu-soaps, like Season 4 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, and the hit new series Love Thy Nader, featuring superstar model Brooks Nader and her sisters. Obsess over the seasons of iconic dating shows like Love Island UK and Farmer Wants a Wife Get hooked on irresistible food competitions like MasterChef Dive into hit game shows like Celebrity Family Feud And revel in show-stopping fashion competitions, including the one and only Project Runway It's the very best of reality TV Every single day, all in one place Every tear, every triumph, every jaw-dropping twist This is where reality lives.

1:54This is where Hulu gets real. Stream now on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply. Drama. Romance. Competition. Chaos. Welcome to Reality TV with Hulu on Disney Plus, featuring the hottest reality TV every day. Turn on larger-than-life docu-soaps, like Season 4 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and the hit new series Love Thy Nader, featuring superstar model Brooks Nader and her sisters. Obsess over the seasons of iconic dating shows like Love Island UK and Farmer Wants a Wife. Get hooked on irresistible food competitions like MasterChef. Dive into hit game shows like Celebrity Family Feud.

2:37And revel in show-stopping fashion competitions, including the one and only Project Runway. It's the very best of reality tv every single day all in one place every tear every triumph every jaw-dropping twist this is where reality lives this is where hulu gets real stream now on hulu and hulu on disney plus for bundle subscribers terms apply drama romance competition chaos welcome to reality tv with Hulu on Disney +, featuring the hottest reality TV every day. Turn on larger-than-life docu-soaps, like Season 4 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, and the hit new series Love Thy Nader, featuring superstar model Brooks Nader and her sisters.

3:26Obsess over the seasons of iconic dating shows like Love Island UK and Farmer Wants a Wife. Get hooked on irresistible food competitions like MasterChef. Dive into hit game shows like Celebrity Family Feud, and revel in show-stopping fashion competitions, including the one and only Project Runway. It's the very best of reality TV. Every single day, all in one place. Every tear, every triumph, every jaw-dropping twist. This is where reality lives. This is where Hulu gets real. Stream now on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply. Drama, romance, competition, chaos. Welcome to Reality TV with Hulu on Disney +, featuring the hottest reality TV every day.

4:16Turn on larger-than-life docu-soaps, like season 4 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and the hit new series Love Thy Nader, featuring superstar model Brooks Nader and her sisters. Obsess over the seasons of iconic dating shows like Love Island UK and Farmer Wants a Wife, get hooked on irresistible food competitions like MasterChef, dive into hit game shows like Celebrity Family Feud, and revel in show-stopping fashion competitions, including the one and only Project Runway. It's the very best of reality TV, every single day, all in one place. Every tear, every triumph, every jaw-dropping twist.

4:56This is where reality lives. This is where Hulu gets real. Stream now on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.

5:06Ben Meiselas:A top Trump official was stunned into silence during a congressional hearing earlier. Democratic Congresswoman AOC was cross-examining EPA head Lee Zeldin, and she exposed that he was having private meetings with Bayer and other companies in order to promote glyphosate. And he walked right into the trap that AOC set. Watch as she exposed how his EPA, how Trump's EPA was engaged in this collusive relationship with big corporations in order to promote glyphosate. Let's play this clip. Administrator Zeldin, have you ever participated in a meeting with Bayer where you discussed the legal or litigation issues that the company was facing?

5:55No, I never did. Okay. I have, um, my meeting with them was very brief and that topic did not come up. All right. I do. Uh, are you aware of any outreach that they would have in your agency about this? I, I, I could say that I, I directly had a brief meeting, but it was a brief meet and greet and that topic did not come up. Thank you. Mr. Chair, I'd like to submit EPA visitor logs from July 7th, 2025 to the committee.

6:25Ben Meiselas:Without objection, so ordered. And you're certain they didn't bring up anything regarding your work? I'm telling you, 100 percent, absolutely. Maybe there was some brainstorming that was done beforehand of potential topics. Are you aware of any? That topic was not brought up. Are you aware of anything brought up to any members of your staff or your team? I am not aware of that, no. Okay. I would like to submit to the record some internal emails from the EPA that I have acquired via a Freedom of Information Act submission. Without objection, sir. We have documentation here. emails from your senior advisor for agricultural rule affairs saying that you were meeting with the Bayer CEO last year.

7:19He said in these emails that they will be bringing up some legal slash judicial issues. More specifically, in this internal email in your EPA, it says that Bayer was specifically seeking and discussing Supreme Court action. It will want an update on EPA's regulatory review. And that, interestingly, Bayer will provide a small thanks for updating the glyphosate webpage from the EPA and work on Maha. Do you have any idea what they might have been referring to in this email? Well, first off, as I mentioned a few minutes ago, it's possible that the team was doing brainstorming of potential topics. Okay.

8:02Ben Meiselas:Wow. Powerful indeed. Next, I want to share with you Democratic Congress member Menendez cross-examining Zeldin here and saying, you know, Donald Trump asked the oil and gas industry for a billion dollars in exchange for rollbacks from the EPA. So you're just delivering on that. You're just doing the favors to the big gas and oil companies, right? Play this clip. Because you've said other crazy stuff today. OK, that the Biden administration, that the Biden administration. I mean, are you going to do anything at some point? I mean, how many instances you ask a question? Give me an opportunity to answer.

8:42Ben Meiselas:Because I moved on and you've done this numerous times. So listen, I just want to ask you a question. You've said that the Biden administration with the IRA had more funds than the EPA knew how to spend. And there was waste fraud and abuse. Right. And this was going out to people that were in the Biden orbit. You had said that earlier. Yet I'm curious if you have any issue with the fact that during the 2024 campaign, the president asked the oil and gas industry for a billion dollars in exchange for supporting these rollbacks that the EPA is administering now. Is that all an issue for you that the president said to the oil and gas industry, give me a billion dollars and I will do your work?

9:16Ben Meiselas:Is that not the work that the EPA is doing? I don't know. Are you actually asking questions? I am asking a question. Are you going to give an answer? I'm going to start an answer and then you're going to cut me off. Is that how this works? All right, well, if that's going to be the case, I have another thing for you. What do you think about the$220 million ad campaign that Secretary Noem had with the DHS that went directly to Trump? I'm talking that went to Trump operative. Did you speak out against that as a member of the administration? Did you speak out against that as a member of the administration?

9:44The former Obama and Biden officials. How about the conflicts of interest during the Biden EPA that you don't want to up? All right, what about in the Trump administration?

9:52Ben Meiselas:If you want to talk about the Biden administration, talk about the Trump administration. You're a part of the administration. Say that Secretary Noem was wrong. Say that Secretary Noem was wrong. You're not going to. You don't want to work with the agency. Mr. Zeldin. Thank you. Mr. Zeldin is here to talk about the EPA, not other matters. At the same time, if it's related to the EPA, and you certainly can ask. But he also has a right to answer the question. So let's try to be a little more civil on all parts. Gentlemen. Next, you had Congress Member Lansman cross-examining Lee Zeldin. Let's play this clip.

10:38Ben Meiselas:EPA budget. Just in sort of pulling back a little bit over the course of the last 14 months. there's you all pushed for a massive spending bill four and a half trillion dollars uh most of it went to tax cuts that overwhelmingly favored this the super wealthy you added trillions of dollars to the debt cut health care by nearly a trillion dollars and now you are going to cut the epa by 50 percent you remember congress would you have supported all of this as a member of Congress? The work of families tax cut, I absolutely would have voted yes. And as I'm hearing from Americans across the country, they're really happy to get a lot more back in their tax return.

11:28And I would say that on behalf of all those Americans who have shared that, while I can share that feedback with President Trump, I'd also say to the Republicans on this committee who voted for it, thank you for doing your part, understanding the economic concerns of Americans across this country. You don't spend a lot of time to have a greater tax return. Mr.

11:46Ben Meiselas:Zon, you don't spend a lot of time with people right there. That really isn't true. No one's really saying thank you for cutting their health care, for adding trillions of dollars. That shows how out of touch you are, that you believe that Americans are not happy to get more back in their tax return. No, you don't talk to folks. There's no, like, I've visited all 50 states in my first nine months. And people come up to you and they say thank you. Name one administrator ever. They say thank you so much for spending trillions of dollars on the super wealthy and cutting our health care. That's what they tell you?

12:13Ben Meiselas:No. They don't repeat your soundbites. And they're just desperately asking you to shift all this money. We appreciate having more money in our wall. We appreciate being able to afford to heat our home and fill up our guest tank. It's so absurd. Have our groceries in our refrigerator. It's so absurd. Stop. That's what they say. So that's what they say. They don't repeat your talk. They don't. They don't say that. They absolutely don't. They're all members of Congress. They don't say that they're grateful for having more back in their tax return. That's their position. That shows how out of the future you are.

12:38A million dollars.

12:38Ben Meiselas:And you're shifting money to the states. So this is Russ Vogt, right? He's the head of OMB. He sets the policy for all of you. He came to you and said, I got to cut your budget by 50 percent. The EPA, it's there to protect the environment and Americans. And you just say, OK, is that how it works? Because this is Russ Vogt, who was the architect, one of the key architects of Project 2025, which was we're going to decimate the federal government, shift the cost burden back to states, and we'll free up all this money for tax cuts for the super wealthy. And you were like, OK, that's fine. No, that is not what happened.

13:14So Russ Vogt doesn't make this call? The budget that I'm here before Congress is a budget that I support, that I take responsibility for crafting. Well, I suspect he is glad to hear you say that. I'm sure he's happy with the budget that he crafted. But that's not true. It is true. Okay, well, you're entitled to your own version of...

13:37Ben Meiselas:And then you have Congress member Auchincloss from Massachusetts saying, how are we going to get rid of the PFAS in municipal water supplies with 90 % fewer dollars? How are you going to get rid of all of these agents in the water, these pollutants in the water, these things that are causing lots of sickness if you've just gutted the entire investment in order to make the supply better. Here, play this clip. You're proposing to cut, again, this cycle, 90%. I've now talked to your top staffers. I've talked to the top technologists. The technology isn't there. So how do we get rid of PFAS in municipal water supplies?

14:18Ben Meiselas:Do you agree it's a problem? I agree it's a problem. It affects your state. It affects my state with 90 % fewer dollars. So it's your position that there's no PFAS destruction technologies that merit any conversation here? There's tons. What I am saying is at the point of production, yes, for dredge at landfills, yes. I'm talking about municipal water supplies to get to four to eight parts per trillion. I mean, it was your staff and the top technologists. They were in my office. They were talking about this. It isn't there. So if you are a town in New York right now, one of the towns that you championed when you were a congressman for PFAS dollars, what are they going to do with 90 % fewer dollars to get rid of PFAS?

15:02Well, first off, as I referenced earlier, what we don't do in our proposed budget is factor in how much you are going to want to raid the SRF for earmarks. That's a decision for you to decide to make. Now, I'm not weighing in on the merits, and I'm going to opine on what you choose to advocate for your district on. But at the same time, the president's FY27 budget proposal is not going to propose your earmarks for you. We're also not going to factor your EPA plan for clean water is to hope that members of Congress. I'm not hoping that members of Congress are going to rate it. I know that members of Congress are going to rate it and they've been doing it for a long time.

15:41There's a reason why the revolving fund is not revolving is because there are members who take money out of the revolving fund and they give it as earmarks to members of their district. And by the way, there are a lot of fantastic examples of how members, I'm sure, of this committee have secured these earmarks for their district. The problem is, is it not a revolving fund anymore? For clean water. If you want it to revolve, you can make sure it's properly funded by getting rid of the congressionally directed spending. If Congress chooses not to, you're going to continue to have this problem. You're in charge of the EPA budget.

16:18You're not in charge of earmarks, and hope is not a strategy.

16:21Ben Meiselas:Next, you have Democratic Senator Mark Kelly. Watch as He just tries to ask a very simple question, and Zeldin has no answer at all. Play this clip. Here's the thing, though. Your agency created a website specifically to invite companies to fast-track waiver requests. And a FOIA request shows that the company spoke with your staff to coordinate this request. This wasn't just like something that the president did. Your EPA may not be granting the exemptions, but you went through great lengths to make sure that that was facilitated. So, I mean, this is a mile away from a school. This thing is spewing out 12 tons of lead every single year.

17:11Ben Meiselas:The bag costs$60 million. Mr. Zeldin, can I get a commitment from you to fix this? can you go to the president and say, hey, we made a mistake. I mean, this was not, companies have responsibilities in these communities. Can I get a commitment from you to work with my office, work with the president to undo this? Just for my own background, because this is the first time we're talking about it, do you know if anyone from your team has raised this to ours before now? Or is this the first time that we're engaging on this topic? Well, it's the first time we are engaged. And we've engaged in other topics.

17:50Ben Meiselas:Plenty of topics. This is a serious issue for the community in Miami. I hope that at this point, after all of the many other topics that you've engaged us with, that we've been able to very successfully work together on. I'll just tell you, my role has been on these exemptions to receive and transmit pursuant to the statute. If there's something specific beyond that, it merits a follow-up conversation, but it's not familiar that. I'm not aware of you guys. From what we know, it wasn't just receive. The website was set up. There was coordination with your staff. You provide no recommendation to the White House on this at all?

18:28Ben Meiselas:I transmit and submit. I receive and transmit. But your job is to look out for the health of the American people. Just follow the statute. But how about the kids that go to that school and people that go to that church? I mean, I would love to have an opportunity to try to solve this problem. It's$60 million to a company that made$2.7 billion. I'm not saying you specifically. I'm saying this administration, the White House, put the profits of that company over the health of those children. The only issue is, as I sit here, I would like to have the information about the company and the technology and the emissions that you're talking about.

19:07We will get it to you. Because as I sit here, it's the first time that anyone has raised it. We will get you all the

19:14Ben Meiselas:information. Thank you. And next you have Democratic Senator Whitehouse, who just absolutely fillets Lee Zeldin, Donald Trump's EPA administrator. Let's play it. But the big winners getting to pollute for free are your fossil fuel polluters, Trump's big donors. Is EPA looking at all at Florida's climate-driven insurance crisis? So to be clear, everything about the nine cents, All you want to ask me is whether$0.09 is less than$0.18. No, just so that I'm understanding. Okay, if you don't want to ask my question, I'll move on to the next one. If I'm tracking right, all you want to know is$0.09 is less than$0.18.

19:51You don't want to actually talk about the issue.

19:53Ben Meiselas:You already answered that. Now you're just wasting my time. Your attack on fuel efficiency standards will drive up the cost of Americans' gasoline budgets. Your own regulatory impact analysis put the net loss to consumers at$180 billion, but with a minimum, minimum$580 billion bonus for big oil at the pump. All those billions go to your fossil fuel polluters, Trump's big donors. Those are your numbers, Mr. Zeldin. You also made it easier to pollute with soot. Soot. which will cost Americans tens of billions in added health care costs, all to save about$600 million in compliance costs for your fossil fuel polluters, Trump's big donors.

20:43Ben Meiselas:You stopped EPA even counting health harms in your cost-benefit analysis, didn't you? I'm still stuck on the fact that all you're asking me so far about any of your numbers is that 9 is less than 18. You attacked the greenhouse gas reduction fund. Do you want to talk about what an LCOE is? I get the time here. I get to ask the questions. You attacked the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, potentially costing consumers$52 billion in lost energy savings, let alone the health benefits of cleaner air. But that$52 billion consumers lose will flow where? To your fossil fuel polluters, Trump's big donors.

21:19Ben Meiselas:Ditto the solar for all funding that you attack, trying to strip Americans of$350 million per year in expected energy savings. Billions over time. Those lost savings go where? To your fossil fuel polluters, Trump's big donors. You even set up a special polluter email address that gave polluters a drive up window for exemptions from the Clean Air Act, helping them keep 70 polluting coal plants online. One estimate is that just six of those plants have already cost ratepayers an extra$230 million in costs in less than one year. And indeed, one plant in Michigan has already cost Michiganders$600 million in excess health costs.

22:07Ben Meiselas:That is money out of consumers' pockets and into the pockets of your fossil fuel polluters, Trump's big donors. Can we talk about your math yet? Are you even tracking the consumer cost of those coal plants? We're going to get to talk about math. Are you even tracking the consumer costs of those coal plants? Oh, this is great. So I don't even know where to start with all the mess of math. Are you even tracking the consumer costs of those coal plants? And costs are going down across the country when you look at EPA's impacts. Where are you tracking the consumer costs of those coal plants? Are you kidding me?

22:44Coal plants even staying open? You think that the math is it's better for West Virginia if you close down their coal plants and put these people out of work and tell them to learn a code. According to you, in your mind, that's saving West Virginia? Is it saving them on energy access? We know it's raising costs.