CNN anchor Kate Bolduan asked former Clinton Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers to weigh in on the fatalistic views held by some Republicans when it comes to Elon Musk having access to sensitive government information.
On Tuesday's News Central, Bolduan began, "Just earlier in the show, Secretary, I had the former Republican Governor of New Hampshire on, Chris Sununu, and he campaigned against Donald Trump ... he was for Nikki Haley. So, he says he doesn't like him, but he now says that this does not worry him at all.
"He actually applauds Elon Musk's move going into the Treasury and going into this payment system."
Bolduan then played a clip of her confrontation with Sununu.
"Do you know how many people have your Social Security number right now?" Sununu said.
"So, you're just saying, 'Cool?" Bolduan countered.
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"I'm saying I don't like it, but that's the society we live in. I mean, it really is, guys. So many people that you don't know that have no security clearance, have all that information. Don't fool yourself."
"You're just okay with it? You're just okay with him having access to the Treasury Department information?" Bolduan pressed.
"I understand that about a million people have access to my Social Security number right now. And if you don't think that's the case, America, I'm sorry. It just is."
After the clip finished, Bolduan asked Summers what he thought of Sununu's assertion.
"I think there needs to be a lot of reform," Summers said. "There are a lot of wasteful payments the government makes. The government's computer systems could be modernized and upgraded — but that's no excuse for abandoning the rule of law. That's no excuse for allowing the president to do what the Supreme Court rejected when Richard Nixon did it in terms of just cutting off payments. That's no excuse for not vetting the people who are doing it. That's no excuse for politicizing positions that have been held as nonpolitical positions for the last 75 years."
Summers concluded, "What we need for the country is, find the will to reform, but to do it in ways that are legal."