Richard Painter Goes Off on Hugh Hewitt in Heated MSNBC Fight: ‘I Am Fed Up!’
Former White House ethics chief Richard Painter got combative with Hugh Hewitt on MSNBC over the ethical issues surrounding EPA chief Scott Pruitt.
News came out over the weekend that Pruitt last year rented a residence partly owned by the wife of a top energy lobbyist. Even Chris Christie thinks he should step down.
Painter went off on the “corruption” of the Trump White House while Hewitt said the real issue here is policy, not ethics, saying liberals don’t like decisions Pruitt has made.
He told Stephanie Ruhle –– filling in for Ari Melber –– that “every single case against Scott Pruitt has been a nagging political attack to slow down the agenda.”
Painter jumped in and said there’s no way the rental arrangement wasn’t a gift and charged, “No career professional would ever sign off on that.”
Hewitt told Painter he shouldn’t be “slandering” the EPA ethics official who recently defended the housing arrangement in a memo.
Ruhle challenged Hewitt on that arrangement and asked, “You don’t think $50 a night is a gift?” Hewitt insisted again it was reviewed by ethics officials and swiped at Painter, “He’s entitled to pass judgment on whomever he wants, but there’s a reason he’s in Minnesota and not in Washington D.C.”
“Excuse me!” Painter cried. “I am fed up with people being attacked in Minnesota, in my state!… We are sick and tired of K Street lobbyists who look down on us.”
He continued:
“This is corruption! This is why the people of Minnesota and every other state here in flyover country where you want to look down on us––we are gonna vote these people out! It is disgusting what you just said about people in Minnesota!… We’re gonna drain the swamp for sure.”
Watch above, via MSNBC.
[image via screengrab]
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