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SCREEN CAPTURE / CNN
Rep. Pramila Jayapal's grilled Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker. |
Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker didn't know what hit him as he testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Friday (Feb. 8).
The hammer was swung by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-WA, as she questioned him about the Department of Justice responsibility in implementing the policy that separated children from their refugee parents who were seeking asylum.
Whitaker tried to dance around her questions but the Indian American congressmember wasn't having any of his BS.
When Whitaker said he didn’t believe the Justice Department was tracking separated parents, the congresswoman replied, “You were not tracking it. That is the correct answer.”
As Jayapal continued, she became more animated and passionate: “Your department was not tracking parents who were separated from their children. Do you know what kind of damage has been done to children and families across this country?”
“Children who will never get to see their parents again,” she added. “Do you understand the magnitude of that?”
His response was to take a drink of water.
Listen in as she grills Whitaker:
Whitaker tried to play semantic games with Jayapal refusing to call the policy a "family separation policy" vs. his preferred phrase, "zero tolerance policy."
Jayapal call him out when he said there was no family separation policy. She quickly responded, that's "four Pinocchios," - meaning it was an outright lie as reported by numerous media outlets, including the Washington Post.
It was as if they were speaking separate languages and points out the huge chasm between a passionate congressional representative and the unemotional response from the administration official, which came across as indifferent -- condescending even -- as if taking children away from their parents was an unemotional issue.
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