Insults Shockingly Fly When John Kennedy And Richard Painter Have Wild Clash

Forbes Breaking News

At today's Senate Banking Committee hearing, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) had a shocking clash with Richard Painter, former Associate Counsel to the President and chief White House ethics lawyer.

Transcript

00:00Senator Kennedy.

00:02Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:06I've listened with great interest today,

00:10and here's what I hear you saying.

00:15The four folks to my left,

00:19I hear you saying that digital assets are different.

00:26Digital assets hold great promise.

00:30Digital assets need special rules.

00:35I agree with that.

00:39The obvious question is what should those rules be,

00:44and to what extent should we allow you to draft them?

00:50I've also heard some of you say that digital assets represent the next generation of the Internet.

00:58Well, we let the current generation of the Internet draft their own rules,

01:04and frankly, it looks like what we got as a result looks like somebody knocked over a urine sample.

01:11Congress can't even agree on basic legislation dealing with privacy on the Internet.

01:21How the hell are we going to tackle this?

01:22But I hear what you're saying.

01:27I hear Mr. Painter, as usual, if you follow him on social media, you know.

01:33All politicians are crooks.

01:35Very helpful.

01:36I want to direct most of my questions to Professor Massad.

01:45Is that how you say your name?

01:47Massad.

01:48Mr. Massad.

01:53I'm really worried we're going to get this wrong.

01:55Now, we don't know, we in Congress and our staffs don't know as much as the professionals in digital assets know.

02:12And I don't see how we can possibly catch up.

02:15Tell me more about your idea of having the SEC.

02:26Well, first, I don't want to run out of time here,

02:29but why is the digital assets industry so scared of being regulated by the SEC?

02:37Well, I think we need to step back, Senator.

02:40Briefly.

02:41Please.

02:42They don't want everything treated as a security because they don't want that entire framework to apply,

02:48but that's also because the SEC did fail to try to customize its rules to adapt for this technology,

02:56and it should do that.

02:57And you've got leadership at the agencies now who are working on those things.

03:03You're suggesting that we turn to two of our agencies, one of which is the SEC,

03:09and say you have expertise.

03:13Before we take a crack at a bill, you come up with a bill, with rules, with regulations.

03:21Tell us how to do this.

03:23Because I hear you saying in some cases digital assets are commodities.

03:27In some cases they're securities.

03:30Congress needs to fill the gap, which is, if it's not a security,

03:37who's going to create a regulatory framework for it?

03:40So you do need to fill that.

03:42But these questions about exactly when is it a security, when is it not a security,

03:47how do we customize the rules, what should we do about DeFi,

03:51a lot of that should really be left to the agencies.

03:54You could establish some principles, but I wouldn't write detailed rules.

03:58Have you looked, Professor, at Congressman Hill's legislation?

04:04I have in detail.

04:05What do you think?

04:06I think it's got a lot of problems.

04:07I think it's 236 pages of regulatory arbitrage opportunities for creative lawyers,

04:13and I used to be one that did that kind of stuff.

04:16Made a lot of money, did you?

04:17I did, but...

04:18Mr. Painter, do you think Senator Gillibrand is a crook?

04:25No, and I do not think all politicians are crooks.

04:29And why did you call her a crook?

04:30I did not call her a crook.

04:32Now, Senator, you need to focus on this bill.

04:36You're doing this again.

04:37You did it at the last hearing.

04:39You need to read the bill.

04:41Senator Gillibrand's role in stable corn regulation,

04:44$217,000 in crypto donations.

04:49You tweeted that.

04:50Yes, I do.

04:51And then you said,

04:52the crypto industry is buying Congress and the White House.

04:56This won't end well.

04:58Why do you think the crypto industry is buying Senator Gillibrand?

05:03I said, look at the campaign contributions from this industry.

05:07You think they've bought her?

05:08I said, look at the campaign contributions.

05:10You said they bought her.

05:11Do you think they bought her?

05:12Senator, you need to focus on this bill instead of trying to distort my Twitter.

05:15Last time, you were quoting what a Marxist in Chicago said about me.

05:20And what evidence do you have to keep a crook?

05:23I said, there is massive amount of campaign contributions coming into this Congress

05:28from the crypto industry.

05:29Do you want to apologize to Senator Gillibrand?

05:32I do not want you to have to apologize for passing legislation that destroys our economy.

05:38You are distorting what I said, just like you did in the last hearing.

05:42You're wasting everybody's time, Senator.

05:45You're a whack job.

05:46Senator, you are a major league.

05:48I think we are.

05:49Next level whack job.

05:52Is this middle school, Senator?

05:54Senators and witness, thank you both.

05:56I think you should apologize, Senator.

05:58I think, Senator, you're wasting our time.

06:00This is not middle school.

06:01Thank you for your participation.

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