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Katie Porter, Esquire, Tears Steve Mnuchin, Smug Prick, a New Asshole

If there’s one phrase that comes to mind when one thinks of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, it’s “Foreclosure King of America.” If there’s another, it’s “posing with money.” If there’s a third—and really, this would probably be the first for many people—it’s “smug asshole.” True to his MO, that’s the exact energy Mnuchin brought to his hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to discuss his attempt to strip Americans of much needed pandemic relief. But unfortunately for the Treasury chief, it was no match for Representative Katie Porter, who’s eviscerated more than her fair share of smug assholes.

Referring to Mnuchin’s decision to make the Federal Reserve, against its will, return hundreds of billions of dollars that were designated for emergency COVID-19 lending programs, and place them in the Treasury’s general fund where his successor cannot tap them without congressional approval, Porter told the secretary: “I’m reading aloud now from Section 4027 of the Cares Act. ‘On or after January 1, 2026, any funds that are remaining shall be transferred to the general fund.’ In other words, sent back to the Treasury. Secretary Mnuchin, is it currently the year 2026, yes or no?”

Mnuchin, who drove a Porsche as an undergrad at Yale and has seemingly been this way for his entire life, initially failed to answer the question and then, after it was asked again, sneered, “Of course it’s not 2026. How ridiculous to ask me that question and waste our time.” While he presumably thought that would be the end of that, Porter was only getting started. “Well, Secretary Mnuchin,” she said, “I think it’s ridiculous that you’re play-acting to be a lawyer when you have no legal degree.”

Responding as only someone who’s probably uttered the words “my maid makes more in a year than you will your entire life,” Mnuchin shot back, “Well, actually, I have plenty of lawyers at the Department of Treasury who advise me,” adding that they would “explain all the legal provisions.”

“Secretary Mnuchin, are you in fact a lawyer?” Porter continued.

“I do not have a legal degree, I have lawyers [who] report to me,” Mnuchin answered, with characteristic condescension.

Porter then turned to Fed chair Jerome Powell and, confirming he does have a law degree, told Mnuchin, “Okay, so Secretary Mnuchin, you are trying to tell Chairman Powell to send over any remaining funds right now, and you’re claiming falsely, in my opinion, that that is what the law says.” Mnuchin responded by asking Porter, who graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum laude and is a law professor at University of California, Irvine, “Are you a lawyer?”

Anyway, our most fervent wish, besides a highly effective vaccine for all, is that we could go back in time and have Porter present for Mnuchin’s confirmation hearings so she could question him about his company’s decision to reportedly initiate foreclosure proceedings on a 90-year-old woman over 27 cents.

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That preemptive pardon would come in handy right about now

Y’know, just in case!

Yes, great idea, keep telling more Republican voters this

In one of his last acts as Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo attempts to kill hundreds of Americans

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