President Donald Trump’s federal spending restriction reportedly sparked a Tuesday argument between CNN host Jake Tapper and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
Miller defended Trump’s directive to halt government spending of hundreds of billions of dollars, which was stopped on Tuesday by U.S. District Court Judge Loren AliKhan.
“President Trump, when he said ‘drain the swamp,’ he meant it. And yes, so those kinds of spending programs are going to be put under review.” Miller said.
“Okay. I don’t think anybody’s taking issue with if you find money that is being disbursed in an inappropriate way, halting it. I think what the confusion is is this seemed to a lot of groups and a lot of states – Republicans, Democrats, independents – like a very sweeping order and there is confusion. I just want to make sure I understand. So anybody out there that provides school lunches, anybody out there–” Tapper said in response.
“There’s zero impact on public benefit programs, full stop, as OMB has made clear. But I want to really drill down on this, Jake, because it’s so important. There’s two million employees in the federal government. Overwhelmingly, the career federal service in this country is far-left, left-wing.” Miller interrupted.
“I don’t know that to be a fact.” Tapper said in response.
“Well, I’ll give you a great example. We looked at USAID as an example. 98%– 98% of the workforce either donated to Kamala Harris or another left-wing candidate. Just as an example.” Miller shot back.
“Okay, but demonizing an entire workforce as having a–” Tapper replied.
“Wait. Woah, woah, woah, woah! Did you just say that saying someone voted for Kamala Harris is demonizing them?” Miller shouted back.
Miller then burst into laughter.
“No, your suggestion is that there is a bias.”
“But you used the word demonizing,” said Miller. “You just said that I’m demonizing somebody by saying they voted for Kamala Harris.”
“Let’s get back on track,” Tapper said.
“I am on track. Let me stay on track. What I’m saying to you is this. There are 2 million employees in the federal government. They’re overwhelmingly left of center.” Miller declared.
“The American people voted for dramatic change implemented by Donald Trump, so it is essential for him to get control of government, to establish a whole of government process for Donald Trump’s political appointees to review discretionary grants of spending for pet projects that are not directed by Congress.” he concluded.
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