CNN Town Hall Erupts as Dem Torches GOP Lawmaker’s Praise of Elon Musk: ‘This Is Not Normal!’

Tempers flared as Reps. Jahana Hayes (D-CT) and Mike Lawler (R-NY) clashed fiercely at CNN’s town hall Thursday night in a tense exchange over Elon Musk’s DOGE-led federal government cuts.

Four House members from competitive districts — Republicans Lawler and Ryan Mackenzie (PA), and Democrats Hayes and Derek Tran (CA) — offered a fiery glimpse into the congressional budget battles and looming midterm fights during the town hall event.

Moderated by network hosts Kaitlan Collins and Jake Tapper, the 90-minute event featured sharp exchanges on President Donald Trump’s proposed universal tariffs, immigration crackdowns, sweeping spending cuts, and the fate of the Department of Education (DOGE).

The showdown started with Lawler singing Musk’s praises, crediting DOGE with a “turbocharged forensic audit through every department and agency.” But Hayes wasn’t having it.

“The American public is right to be concerned about Elon Musk,” she fired back. “He’s an unelected billionaire who has a tremendous amount of influence… This is not normal.”

When Lawler attempted to jump in, Hayes cut him off cold: “I’m still talking, please.”

Lawler, seated behind her and visibly irritated, kept pressing: “Is there one thing you agree with?”

Hayes acknowledged fraud in the unemployment system was real, but warned about the deeper issue: “For one person to make those decisions, everyone should have a level of concern by that.”

“Respectfully, in order to actually uncover that, you need to analyze the data. They have people that are career employees of each department,” Lawler said, defending DOGE.

“Who are they?” she clapped again and again, overshadowing his attempt to pivot and continue talking.

Giving up, Lawler squared with Hayes: “I know you think this is like some big stunt, but the fact—”

“Who are they?” Hayes repeated, refusing to let the question go.

Finally Lawler made his point: “You’re talking about career employees that are part of each department that are working with the Department of Government Efficiency to uncover the information. So you say you support the uncovering of unemployment fraud. Well, how do you think they got that information?”

“Do you have a list?” Hayes pushed back. “I’m not sure if the Republican conference got a list of the employees at DOGE because we [the Democrats] didn’t. So that information has not been availed to us. So if there are employees, career federal employees who are working within the system to find this information, we’d love for you to share that with us.”

“But the bottom line is, you should be more concerned about the amount of fraud that has already been uncovered,” Lawler protested. “When you’re talking about small business administration giving out $300 million of loans that have not been paid back, using social security numbers that are fraudulent, that is a problem. And if you don’t think that’s a problem, please let everybody know.”

With that Tapper moved to a commercial break.

Watch above via CNN.