John Kennedy Absolutely Tees Off On FDIC Chairman And Tells Him To His Face: 'You Ought To Resign'

4 months ago

At a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Thursday, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) questioned FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg about the allegations of harassment at the FDIC.

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Transcript

00:00Senators, Senator Kennedy of Louisiana is recognized.

00:07I hope Senator Al Franken is watching today.

00:16If it weren't for double standards around this place, there wouldn't be any standards at all.

00:22Mr. Gruenberg, have you ever heard the expression, a fish rots from the head down?

00:32Yes, Senator.

00:36I understand you're, I listened carefully to your testimony. Do I understand you

00:43to assert that you're the, you believe you're the person to clean up the FDIC?

00:50I do, Senator.

00:52Do you also believe that Elvis is alive?

00:57Not to my knowledge, Senator.

01:01Do you also believe in Bigfoot?

01:04No, sir.

01:10Have you read this report?

01:12Yes, sir.

01:15You've been the chairman of the FDIC 10 of the last 13 years, haven't you?

01:19Yes, I have.

01:21And you've been there for 20 years almost, haven't you?

01:25Nearly, yes, sir.

01:27And this sleaze has been going on for decades, has it not?

01:31I think the report makes that finding, Senator.

01:34Did you read the report, the part of the report where, where one of your supervisors

01:42described one of your young female employees as being, quote,

01:48like a grizzly bear with tits, close quote?

01:53I've read the report, Senator.

01:55Did you read the part of the report where the, where one of your supervisors asked

02:04a young female employee, quote, does your husband eat you?

02:10Did you read that?

02:11I have read the report, Senator.

02:15Did, did you read the part of the report where one young employee said her supervisor

02:21sent a, sent her a text?

02:23Do you know what the text said?

02:25Quote, get naked, bitch.

02:28Did you read that?

02:29Yes, sir.

02:32Did you read the part of the report where one of your supervisors

02:35turned to one of your Hispanic employees and asked him to recite the Pledge of Allegiance

02:44to prove that he is an American?

02:48Did you read that?

02:49I read it, sir.

02:53You're not going to be able to clean up the FDIC

02:57because you're going to be too busy defending yourself in court.

03:00I'm going to introduce a bill to extend the statute of limitations

03:06to allow every employee at the FDIC to file suit over the sexual abuse

03:15and the sexual discrimination and this racism.

03:20And you're going to be spending all your time in court.

03:23Now, the, the, uh, the, the, uh, Clary Gottlieb report

03:28doesn't think you're the person to clean up the FDIC, does it?

03:34I don't know that the report reaches that conclusion,

03:36but it certainly has critical comments in regard to me, Senator.

03:38Well, I mean, the FDIC report says that, uh,

03:43it, it, it says that, uh, even your senior leaders feel quite

03:49disrespected, disparaged, and treated unfairly by you.

03:55Yeah. Did I quote that correctly?

03:57Yeah, I, I have read the report, Senator.

03:59And, and the, the Clary Gottlieb report, it goes on to say,

04:05um, that your long tenure and reputation for losing your temper and bullying people,

04:11quote, presents unique challenges to your ability to do the right thing.

04:19Close quote, for you to change the agency.

04:23Did you read that part?

04:24I have read it, Senator.

04:26And, and the Clary Gottlieb report also says,

04:30it questions whether you have the quote, moral authority to do so.

04:37Is that correct?

04:38I have read the report, Senator.

04:40Yes.

04:44You, you fixing this agency, Mr. Gruenberg?

04:49It's like asking, it's like asking Alec Baldwin to conduct a course in gun safety.

04:59You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

05:02And Mr. Sue, you ought to be ashamed of yourself for acting like a lickspittle here today,

05:08trying to defend this gentleman.

05:11Um, have you ever read a worse report, Mr. Gruenberg, in all your years?

05:23It's a bad report, Senator.

05:24Yeah, it's bad.

05:28Um, look, I, I could go through this report.

05:34I'm, I'm embarrassed to have to even read some of these, some of these allegations.

05:41Would you, would,

05:45these, these folks on the first row behind you, are they FDIC employees?

05:51Some of them are, Senator, yes.

05:53Would, would you like to turn around and apologize

05:57to the female employees sitting behind you at the FDIC?

06:01I have, Senator.

06:02Would you like to do that now?

06:04If you ask me to, I will.

06:05I think you should.

06:08I apologize.

06:11And now I think you ought to resign.

06:15I'm done, Mr. Chair.

06:18Senator Smith from Minnesota is recognized.

06:22Thank you, Mr. Chair.

06:23Um, it's ironic to me that my Republic

John Kennedy Absolutely Tees Off On FDIC Chairman And Tells Him To His Face: 'You Ought To Resign'

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