GOP's Burchett berates CNN anchor over spending cuts coverage
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday attacked CNN’s coverage of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) spending cuts and accused the network of trying to rally its viewers against President Trump.
In an interview on “CNN News Central,” anchor Brianna Keilar asked the Republican lawmaker about nonpartisan estimates suggesting the GOP’s targeted spending cuts would necessitate cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.
It follows Elon Musk's suggestion in an interview Monday that in order to make a significant dent in cutting wasteful spending in government, lawmakers need to take a closer look at entitlement spending. Trump, meanwhile, has continued to insist his efforts to rein in government spending will not reduce the popular entitlement programs of Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.
“The issue is the cuts to the benefits versus waste, fraud and abuse,” Keilar said to Burchett. “There seems to be a lot of support right for [cutting] waste, fraud and abuse.
“The issue is that — if you talk to folks who can actually know the amount of waste, fraud and abuse that you could tackle — they say you can't get that number of the cuts that he's talking about … without being honest about cutting these entitlements” Keilar continued, referring to the goals laid out by Musk, public face of the DOGE efforts.
Burchett fired back, saying those who suggest entitlements need to be cut are the same people who “created the problem” and who are afraid “they're going to get caught with their hand in the cookie jar,” adding, “Of course, they're going to tell you, ‘No, we didn't make a mistake. This is crazy.’”
“If Elon Musk says that he thinks he could find a trillion dollars’ worth of waste, abuse and fraud, why don't we let him try to see if he can find it? What does that hurt? You know, everybody's trying to be critical. They're attacking the message carrier,” he added.
Keilar repeatedly pressed Burchett on the “math,” pointing to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate showing the total amount of fraud falling short of the targeted spending cut goals. She also noted that DOGE’s own receipts of cut programs could not account for the desired budget cuts.
Burchett pointed to specific fraud that DOGE had found, and soon he and Keiler were speaking over each other as she said she was "trying to have a conversation."
“Why don't you all at CNN want to cut that stuff?” Burchett asked her, referring to cuts DOGE has found.
“I'm just, I'm trying to do some math with you, talking about —,” Keilar said, before getting cut off.
Burchett then accused CNN of intentionally opposing the cuts and trying to "scare" viewers.
“Ma’am, you all do not support one cut. CNN, you all do not support one dadgum cut in any of this stuff. You're trying to use the lowest denominator. You're trying to scare the most people, to drive the train against Trump. And it's not working. The American people are not buying it. And you all have made a huge error in this, because there is unbelievable waste, abuse and fraud.”
“No, I’m looking at the numbers,” Keilar said over Burchett.
He responded as she talked: “No, ma’am. You’re not looking — no ma’am, you all are not.”
The anchor continued: “I'm looking at the numbers that DOGE has put out themselves. They say they're cutting contracts that have already ended. They say they're cutting a big amount. It turns out it's actually a smaller amount."
“That's just math, congressman, and we're going to continue to keep looking at the math,” she said.
“Well, look at the math. Are you saying there's not billions of dollars of waste abuse and fraud in federal government? Are you trying to say that?” he said. “Because everybody out there knows it.
She responded, speaking over him: “I don’t need to tell you that. There are CBO estimates."
"And that’s why Trump’s in the White House and that’s why Kamala Harris is on a book tour," Burchett said, speaking over Keilar.
"That’s what we’re trying to discuss is the actual number," she said. "... I'm trying to have an honest conversation with you about the numbers and CBO estimates and the numbers that experts on this topic expect there to be.”
She then ended the interview, as Burchett chimed in, "Unnamed experts."
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