A contentious interview with Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) got so out of control Tuesday that CNN anchor Pam Brown finally cut him off.
The discussion centered around Elon Musk's control of the Department of Government Efficiency and the myriad controversies surrounding his government cuts and access to sensitive data.
"What information do you actually have on what DOGE is doing with that data?" Brown asked. "What are your questions? What do you want to know? Certainly as a member of the oversight, you have some questions."
But Burchett replied by talking about how the "IRS is a nightmare."
Brown interrupted him, saying, "Look, I'm not saying there's no problems with government agencies or the IRS —"
"Hold on! You asked me a question," Burchett interrupted.
"But you're not answering it!" exclaimed a clearly frustrated Brown.
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Burchett went on about the IRS, and the two argued over each other until Burchett said, "Where were they fussing the last 3 or 4 years? I mean, we've had these different groups have had access, hundreds of different people have access to this that that are nowhere in the scope of what needs to be. And, yet, no one raised one peep about it. Now Elon Musk gets ahold of it and he's going to make some changes that need to be made, and you all are pitching a fit!"
"It's the same old line, man. You attack the message carrier."
"To be clear, we are not pitching a fit," Brown said. "As you said, a lot of people think it's a good thing to weed out waste, but these are fair questions to be asking, congressman, about these unelected people going in and having access to private information from Americans. How can you not be asking those questions? Those are very fair questions."
The back and forth about the "bloated government" continued, with Burchett asking, "Well, then why are y'all not exposing it?" Have y'all even talked about, hey, Mozambique. We sent them $10 million for circumcisions? I mean, goodness gracious, ma'am."
"OK, we've been covering at length where the money is going," Brown offered, before Burchett interrupted, "No you haven't! All y'all do is run down Elon Musk and Donald Trump, and you continuously do this, and that's why your ratings are in the tank!"
Brown finally had enough.
"All right, we're going to leave it there," she said, cutting Burchett off.
Watch the clip below or at this link via CNN.
