Whoa! Total Chaos Erupts in Senate at Live Cross Exam

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0:38So I thought it would be fun if we made$15 bills. But it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. C terms. You're wasting everybody's time, Senator. You're a whack job. Senator, you are a wasting. I think we are. Yep.

1:09Ben Meiselas:So complete chaos broke loose at various Senate hearings yesterday. You saw right there, MAGA Republican Senator Kennedy cross-examining Richard Painter on a crypto bill. Painter is a ethics lawyer who used to work in the White House about 15 or 20 years ago or so. Painter wants to make sure there's transparency in crypto. I'll show you more of that in a moment. I want to show you what else went down in the Senate right here. You had a lot of ambassadors appointed by Donald Trump testifying, and they didn't know the most basic, basic facts about the country that they are an ambassador for. You would think that they would just do some minimal homework and just study some basic facts.

1:56Ben Meiselas:You'd think if you were about to testify before the Senate about your confirmation to be an ambassador. You'd learn about the country. Yeah, that's just me. So here, Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth called out Trump's ambassador to Singapore for being completely unprepared and clueless here. Watch this. What does holding the ASEAN chairmanship entail for Singapore? Can you name one thing? A role that they will have to play as ASEAN chair. What will? Well, you know that the ASEAN chair is not only one country, there are 10 countries. No, the ASEAN chair is one country. One country, but there are 10 countries involved as an ASEAN group.

2:39You're not answering my question. You're not answering my question, sir. Can you name one thing that will be of critical importance to Singapore as ASEAN chair? A role. There are many things. Can you name one thing? Defense, economics. Those are very broad. Name an issue. Trade. I don't think, no. Okay, let's do something. In what way does the United States Navy work with Singapore, and how do you envision strengthening the U.S. Navy's work with Singapore, and are there any facilities that come to mind that are central to our relationship with Singapore? Thank you for your question, but we have a naval presence in Singapore, And our military, they always do exercise with the Singapore.

3:27They come here, the Army of Singapore, they come here for the training as well. So we have close ties with the Singapore in defense. Can you name a specific thing? Please, I'm trying to help you here, but you've not even done your homework, sir. You want to be ambassador to Singapore. one of the most important alliance friends we have in the Indo-Pacific, a key place that we're going to be fighting against our greatest adversary in the region, the PRC. Singapore may feature incredible culture, but that should not be treated as a glamour posting. This nation is too important to the United States, to ASEAN, to the entire region.

4:04And frankly, I think the mission is important to U.S. interests and national security, and it should actually be a foreign service officer. But I have even larger concerns with the political pick, when that political pick is somebody as unqualified as you. I've opposed political picks for Singapore from Democrats. So this is not a partisan issue. I just feel that you are not taking this seriously. And you think this is a glamour posting that you're going to live a nice life in Singapore. But what we need is someone who's going to actually do the work. I am out of time. I have a couple of additional questions related to management that I'll submit for the record.

4:35But I want to reinforce again for you right now, you are not currently prepared for this posting, period. And you need to shape up and do some homework.

4:42Ben Meiselas:Okay, next you had Kimberly Guilfoyle. Yes, Don Jr.'s ex-fiancee or girlfriend who was shipped out to Greece after Don Jr. got a new girlfriend. And here she is in her opening statement. This is completely absurd. Let's play it. It is with great and profound sense of honor and deep humility that I appear before you today as President Trump's nominee to serve as the United States ambassador to Greece. I extend my sincerest gratitude to the president for his faith in my abilities and to Secretary Rubio and to Sergio Gore here present today, the head of PPO and his amazing team for their collective trust and confidence placed in me.

5:26I also thank this committee for the opportunity to be here and for your careful consideration of my nomination. All right.

5:33Ben Meiselas:Let me show you now the full context of that exchange between MAGA Republican Senator Kennedy and Richard Painter, the ethics lawyer over this crypto bill. Here, play this clip. Mr. Painter, do you think Senator Gillibrand is a crook? No, and I do not think all politicians are crooks. And why did you call her a crook? I did not call her a crook. Now, Senator, you need to focus on this bill. You're doing this again. You did it at the last hearing. You need to read the bill. Senator Gillibrand's role in stable corn regulation,$217 ,000 in crypto donations. You tweeted that. Yes, I do. And then you said the crypto industry is buying Congress and the White House.

6:21This won't end well. Why do you think the crypto industry is buying Senator Gillibrand? I said, look at the campaign contributions from this industry. You think they've bought her? I said, look at the campaign contributions. You said they bought her. Do you think they bought her? Senator, you need to focus on this bill instead of trying to distort my Twitter. You called one of my colleagues a crook. What a Marxist in Chicago said about me. And what evidence do you have that he's a crook? I said there is a massive amount of campaign contributions coming into this Congress from the crypto industry.

6:55Do you want to apologize, Senator Gillibrand? I do not want you to have to apologize for passing legislation that destroys our economy. You are distorting what I said, just like you did in the last hearing. You're wasting everybody's time, Senator. You're a whack job. Senator, you are wasting everyone's next level whack job. Is this middle school, Senator? Senators and witness, thank you both for your part. I think you should apologize, Senator. I think, Senator, you're wasting our time. This is not middle school.

7:27Ben Meiselas:Now, just to give you a little bit of background about where Richard Painter was coming from, if you're just confused, what happened in that clip I just showed you? Painter said the day before this clip, At the hearing tomorrow on the Clarity Act, I will urge federal regulation aimed at safe and transparent trading in crypto markets enacted and implemented by federal officials free of financial conflicts of interest. And that includes the president. And he shows, for example, how the Trump meme coin was worth$45.47 on January 19th, 2025. And then yesterday it was$8.73. So who made money on this meme coin?

8:07Ben Meiselas:He says, well, we know Trump made money on the meme coin. We know the insiders make money on the meme coin. We know Trump earns transaction fees on the meme coin. So that's who makes money on the meme coin right there. But I wanted to give you context just what that exchange was about, because you have a lot of senators. And by the way, there are some Democratic senators and Democratic Congress members who take a lot of money from crypto. Also, it's not just purely the MAGA Republicans, although there's more MAGA Republicans. And look, my own view of it is, is that there is a place for crypto and Bitcoin and we should modernize and we should embrace crypto and Bitcoin.

8:42Ben Meiselas:But we've got to do it in a very transparent way. And we can't have politicians abusing their power. I think we have to treat crypto as though it is a security so that it could be regulated like stocks. There has to be a regulation scheme so people aren't scamming other people. And we see too often, especially with Trump meme coins and Melania meme coins and a lot of these MAGA meme coins that they are scams. All right, going back to Democratic Senator Duckworth, who's just ripping to shreds this ambassador to Singapore. He doesn't know the most basic things here. He doesn't even know what the amount of the trade surplus is between the United States and Singapore.

9:24Ben Meiselas:Here, watch this. I have my doubts. So my questions are going to be to allow you to assuage my doubts and win my vote. Dr. Sinha, I need to know that you understand some basic facts about Singapore and its critical relationship with the United States. For example, in 2024, did the United States have a trade deficit with Singapore? Yes or no? It did not. How large was the U.S.'s trade surplus with Singapore in 2024? $80 billion. $18 billion. 2.8. You're off by a huge factor. The United States had a 2.8 billion trade surplus with Singapore in 2024. If confirmed, how would you explain our friendship in Singapore to the president?

10:08How would you explain to our friends in Singapore the president's threats to slap tariffs as high as 25 % on their country, given that the United States has nearly 3 billion trade surplus with Singapore? Thank you for your question, Senator. We are not walking away for any dialogue between the two countries and two leaders. If confirmed, I will make a personal relation with the government of Singapore and I will make sure the dialogue continues and we settle the issues of trade together. Do you support increasing a tariff on Singapore, seeing as how we don't have, they buy more of our stuff than we buy of theirs?

10:49So, Senator. Do you want to put a tariff on them? Thank you for your question, Senator. You know that we have, the president has only done 10 % of trade increase with Singapore, and he's open to dialogue even for that. Do you agree with that 10 % increase with Singapore? It seems how they don't have a surplus with us? Yes or no? Do you support the president's plan to put a 10 % tariff on Singapore, goods produced in Singapore? I mean, Senator, thank you for your question. But I believe in President's decision of a free trade with any nations in the world. And he's resetting the trade numbers with each country and he's open for discussion and dialogue with each country.

11:47So you would like to have free trade with Singapore. That's what you would push for as ambassador? Well, we always had free trade with the Singapore since 2004. So do you support the 10 % tariff increase? The dialogue is not closed. The door is not closed. Let's go on to the next thing. You ever realize how ridiculous your old wallet was after you finally upgrade? I used to carry around this bulky, beat-up leather brick that barely fit in my pocket, cards falling out, cash crumbled up. I generally think it hurt my back. Then I found Ridge and I've been obsessed ever since. I love my Ridge wallet.

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13:22Ben Meiselas:Now, here's the thing with these MAGA Republicans. They always come unprepared. And as I like to say, you know, to me, we shouldn't view this in just political terms, like Democrat, Republican, Independent, whatever. Like, we should just want smart people, competence, right? And so when you see the Department of Homeland Security Secretary yesterday, Kristi Noem, and she held this conference, and there are some real serious questions that need to be asked about what happened in Texas. In addition to the fact that there were six major vacancies at the National Weather Service, including a key vacancy for the meteorologist coordinator.

14:04Ben Meiselas:Local officials say they didn't get the warnings that they needed, and they were pointing fingers at the feds and the forecast from the National Weather Service. The National Weather Service, we did give the warnings. But 72 hours went by from the floods before Kristi Noem actually activated some of the emergency equipment to save people's lives. That's completely unacceptable. And so questions need to be asked. Why did you do that? Why did it take you 72 hours? But instead, she wants to attack former President Biden and she somehow accuses him of the fires in Hawaii, which FEMA was there right away.

14:44Ben Meiselas:But she goes, she tries to imply that as a result of FEMA, one in six women were basically sexually assaulted in order to get aid. I think that's what she's saying here. Play this clip. And then after the wildfires in Maui, residents voiced concerns that every FEMA employee that they spoke with had different answers. None of them had conversations that resulted in getting assistance that was helpful or any clarity in their situations. The situation in Lahaina was so bad that one in six survivors were forced to trade sexual favors, other favors for just basic supplies. And so it's always an attack on, but focus on what's happening right now in Texas, 120 deaths, 160 people still missing, most of the dead children.

15:35Ben Meiselas:I understand it's a one and, you know, it's an unprecedented event, but you can't keep saying unprecedented, unprecedented, and nothing we could do. Yes, there is things you can do. Stop it. Cut it out. Of course, there's things that you can do. And here she is saying, you know what? At the end of the day, we must respect states' rights. States' rights matter the most. They should be handling this, not the feds. Here, play this clip. State and local leaders know that their communities, they know what they need better than the government ever could. They know their exact needs and they know how best to prepare.

16:08People forget that the states are older than the Constitution and that they created the Constitution, that federalism matters and states' rights need to be respected. We need to focus more on helping, not hindering, and state and local authorities need to be empowered. We don't take charge of them. We give them the opportunity to lead the way.

16:28Ben Meiselas:Really? Because y 'all federalized the National Guard right away in Los Angeles to attack the citizens of Los Angeles, but you had to wait 72 hours before taking any action when it came to the floods in terms of bringing some of the critical emergency equipment. What the hell is wrong with these people? And speaking of what the hell is wrong with this people, here's the mayor of Kerrville. And here's this guy. He's being asked basic questions. And he's like, guess what? I'm not going to answer you. You're going to do it my way or the highway. Okay. Here, play this clip. To you is that morning.

17:03Ben Meiselas:I'm sorry. I do not know. Listen, people are yelling and I didn't really want to. If you offer only three questions, then you're going to have to. Guess what? You're in Kerrville and we're going to do it my way. I understand that. Morgan Chesky, please. That's how you're answering. I'm the mayor. You're in Kerrville. All right. Well, you clearly don't even know how to handle emergency management in your own city. So you probably shouldn't be the mayor of Kerrville. You know, it's all this good old boy, you know, that would do it. Why would we ever do that? Why is the government? These are not competent human beings.

17:35Ben Meiselas:OK, they're not competent human beings. They're just not doing their jobs. And then when something happens, nothing we can do about it. Just got to pray. Just got to pray. Nothing we can do about it. Just, you know, it is what it is. No, that's not true. That's not freaking true. Stop gaslighting us with this crap. Here, the Kerrville mayor is asked an important question about flood warnings. Shouldn't you have flood warnings? Ah, I don't want to talk about that. Here, play this clip. The concept of flood warnings have been discussed at least two dozen times by the county. What's the biggest reason that these systems have not gone into place at this point?

18:10You know, Morgan, you and I grew up here. And I wasn't in office during those discussions. And frankly, I'm more focused on the future than the past, as you know. What I can say is the governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the Texas House have all provided us support and they have all said this is a priority for the upcoming special legislative session. As mayor of Kerrville, as someone who grew up here, I'm grateful for their support and I look forward to what they propose in the special session.

18:47Ben Meiselas:I'm sorry that inconveniences you to talk about things, but we need a reckoning of what the hell went down. And here he goes, ah, my wife's a first grade teacher. Stop acting like first graders. Here, play this clip. I'm married to a retired first grade teacher.

19:05And I learned a little bit about classroom management from her. If you yell questions at us, we're probably going to pick someone else to answer, okay? So if you feel the need to yell your questions, I will feel the need to not answer your question. In first grade, they raise their hands. That might be a good start. yesterday was a disaster and i was embarrassed our town was embarrassed your viewers were embarrassed

19:39Ben Meiselas:and i don't want that to happen again stop acting like what are these people talking about finally i'll show you this democratic senator dick durbin took to the senate floor and he talked about how the trump regime is rescinding all of the funding for public tv and he's like also public TV plays a major role in disaster warning. So can we not cut funding for something that was once always bipartisan? Here, play this clip. This request would cut$1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Do you listen to public radio, public TV? Are you aware of what it does for your community? This would eliminate any federal assistance for a Corporation for public broadcasting.

20:24It includes$700 million that's eliminated to provide critical funding for local public media. This would devastate more than 1 ,500 public radio and TV stations across this country. Bottom line, do you think we're better off with less information as Americans or more? Bottom line, do you want a choice to pick your own source of information? Do you want that choice to include Corporation for Public Broadcasting? The president says that no, we're not going to provide the assistance for that to continue. What it means is for small towns in downstate Illinois, all the way up to Chicago, and the classrooms there, public media stations provide essential nonpartisan news coverage, life-saving emergency and weather alerts, and educational program for our kids.

21:16I don't know the circumstances in Texas for this terrible flooding. And I don't want to presume anything. But as a general rule, more emergency information available to American families is better than worse.

21:28Ben Meiselas:Well, there you have it, folks. Let me know what you think. We're going to hold them accountable every step of the way. I'm not afraid to report this stuff. I'm just telling you the truth. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Thanks for watching. The truth is more important than ever. Check out our new Truth Over Lies collection at store.midastouch.com. All 100 % USA Union made.

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