Sec. Mnuchin on Clash With Rep. Maxine Waters at Hearing: ‘Really Unnecessary’ and ‘Silly Ending’

Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin gave his side of the story after a testy exchange with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, where Mnuchin said he had other meetings to attend to, with Waters saying he could leave at any time.

“This is a new way and it’s a new day. And it’s a new chair. And I have the gavel,” Waters told him.

Mnuchin told CNBC it was an “unnecessary” and “silly way” to end the over three hour testimony.

“Really unnecessary ending,” Mnuchin said. “I offered I would be happy to come back to the committee and answer all their questions so I look forward to seeing them in May. I think it’s important that of all the Congress people have the appropriate time that they have their questions answered I knew we weren’t going to be able to do it all in one session. So it really was just a silly ending.”

“Do you feel like you were treated without respect at that hearing,” CNBC’s Sara Eisen asked.

“I’m not going to go there on that I think it was an unnecessary ending. I was prepared to come back and spend as much time as they wanted and I had been there for over three hours and fifteen minutes, which was longer than any secretary had been in a very long period of time,” Mnuchin replied.

“So political theater,” Eisen followed up.

“Little bit of political theater,” he said.

Watch above, via CNBC.