‘Never Heard His Name?!’ Dem Lawmaker Dumbstruck By Marco Rubio’s Answer on New Intel Boss Bill Pulte
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Rep. Bill Keating went ballistic after Marco Rubio said he'd never heard of new intel boss Bill Pulte "in the context" of intelligence during a fiery exchange The post ‘Never Heard His Name?!’ Dem Lawmaker Dumbstruck By Marco Rubio’s Answer on New Intel Boss Bill Pulte first appeared on Mediaite.
Rep. Bill Keating (D-MA) went ballistic after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he’d never heard of newly-named acting National Intelligence Director Bill Pulte “in the context” of intelligence during a fiery exchange on Wednesday morning.
Their verbal battle happened as Rubio testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“With all your Intelligence Committee experience, and now as secretary of state and national security advisor, in all those years of experience, have you ever, specifically in the context of the intelligence community, heard the name Bill Pulte?”
“In the context of intelligence? No,” Rubio said.
That set Keating off.
“Never heard his name?! Okay, thank you for answering that, never even heard his name!”
Rubio tried to speak again, but Keating kept ranting.
“Given all your years of experience and your position now, never heard the name,” Keating yelped.
He then slammed President Donald Trump for naming Pulte, who was the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as the new intel boss on Tuesday, despite having “no experience” in the field.
“[Pulte’s] misuse, widely reported, of confidential information led to the prosecution of the president’s political enemies, is NOW the person in charge of the nation’s most closely-guarded intelligence, when he couldn’t even conduct himself appropriately as a federal housing finance director.”
Keating then went off on Rubio and the Trump administration for a few more minutes. They continued sniping at each other, with Rubio telling Keating at one point to “try to stay under 5 minutes.” That quip was about four minutes into Keating’s allotted time, and it really irked the liberal lawmaker.
“It’s not funny, secretary, it’s not funny!” Keating fired back.
Wednesday marked the second straight day of Washington, D.C. testimony for Rubio. The day before, he got into a heated war of words with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) after Booker accused Trump of “begging” Iran for a peace deal. A protester also stormed Rubio’s hearing and screamed the secretary was “supporting” Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza and Lebanon.
Watch above via C-SPAN’s YouTube account. Keating’s time started at 10:24 a.m.
The post ‘Never Heard His Name?!’ Dem Lawmaker Dumbstruck By Marco Rubio’s Answer on New Intel Boss Bill Pulte first appeared on Mediaite.