Anderson Cooper to Chris Sununu Battling About DOGE Cuts: ‘Don’t Be a Dick’

COOPER: “Governor Sununu, is — was it strange to see?
SUNUNU: “It was surreal. But I gotta tell you, I know what you‘re not showing here. Musk gave seven specific examples off the top of his head of where the corruption and fraud were. I know you don‘t — you didn‘t play the clips. He was talking about a contractor that had a three-month contract, he was paid for 20 years. He was talking about welfare benefits that were being paid to someone that was technically 150 years old. He was talking about line items in the Treasury that he had no justification — “
COOPER: “But we didn’t see any of that. There’s not any — like, he doesn’t present any actual evidence.”
SUNUNU: “Well, he‘s standing there in the Oval Office. Do you expect him to come in with 10,000 pages? And I have to be clear. To complain about this administration about transparency, when this president takes open questions on a daily basis, yet Joe Biden didn‘t show up for a press conference in six months is insane. These guys are being extremely transparent. They don‘t have to sit there and take the questions, but they do. It‘s all on the website. It‘s all out there.”
TOOBIN: “It‘s not transparency to say things that have no factual background. I mean, to say we‘re cutting — you know, we‘ve found $1 billion or $1 trillion in waste with no specifics, that‘s just talk. That‘s not transparency.”
SUNUNU: “It‘s 23 days in here, guys. 23 days. You‘re talking about $2.3 billion that was saved last year. These guys are saving $2.3 billion a day. It‘s incredible.”
TOOBIN: “That‘s what they‘re saying. But where‘s the proof?”
SUNUNU: “You‘re waiting — you‘re not going to be satisfied until he shows up with 10,000 pages.”
TOOBIN: “How about one page?”
COOPER: “10,000 pages? He‘s giving very specific things, but he‘s not actually giving any evidence of that.”
SUNUNU: “It‘s all going to come, because what they also said was, ‘If we have to go to Congress, we‘ll go to Congress, we‘ll show where it is.’”
COOPER: “Right. But some of the details that have come out, like the, you know, $59 million spent on luxury hotels, it‘s actually not — “
SUNUNU: “Talking about the FEMA money that was abused for migrants? That was FEMA money for migrants? That‘s okay now?”
COOPER: “No, I‘m not saying it‘s okay. I‘m not saying it‘s okay. Don‘t put words in my mouth.”
SUNUNU: “Would you stop that? Would you stop that process?”
COOPER: “Don‘t be a dick. The portrayal — what I‘m saying is, the portrayal by him is just not factually accurate. He‘s talking about luxury hotels. There — you can — I’m not a big — look, I was in Hurricane Katrina. I saw what FEMA does. I saw — “
FARAH GRIFFIN: “I think the issue, too, is these are congressionally appropriated funds. I think you and I, as conservatives, could look for a lot of things in the federal budget we would be more than happy to see done away with. But I think that there have been things that have been presented as one thing and then turn out to be something very different. The condoms to Gaza, the first time I heard that stated, I knew that wasn‘t true. It doesn‘t take an expert to know that we‘re not doing that. And then we‘ve got this example of Politico allegedly spending $8 million. That just simply wasn‘t true. So I think what people want is, yes, it‘s fine to tweet it out, but explain why we‘re cutting it, what it is, and if it‘s taking away a good or a service from the public, what is back-filling it so that people aren‘t going to be losing something they need?”