'Are You On The Clock Right Now?': Hank Johnson Grills Fox News Contributor At Judiciary Hearing

2 days ago

At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Hank Johnson (R-GA) grilled Fox News contributor Nicole Parker about her work.

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Transcript

00:00Now I'm going to recognize the gentleman from Georgia.

00:07Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Ranking Member.

00:12Mr. Parker, after, or excuse me, Ms. Parker, after serving your country as a special agent

00:23for the FBI, you landed in a soft, cushy position as a paid contributor at none other than Fox

00:35News. Isn't that correct? Actually, that was not correct. When I initially left the FBI,

00:42you're not a contributor. I am at this point, but when I left the FBI, I was not initially

00:46a paid contributor for Fox. But you are a paid contributor now. Today I am, but when I left the

00:51FBI, I was not. And you get paid to create content at Fox News. Isn't that correct? I get

00:57paid to speak the truth. So you create content, you create content at Fox News, don't you? Giving

01:05your view on things? What I do... That's content creation, isn't it? What I do is I speak the

01:11facts and I speak the truth based on my experience at the FBI. And you get paid to do that? I get

01:16paid to speak facts and I get paid to speak the truth. And are you on the clock right now?

01:21Am I on the clock right now? Yeah. No. You're not getting paid right now for being a lobbyist?

01:29No, sir. I'm not getting paid to be a lobbyist. Or for any other purpose?

01:32Excuse me? You're not getting paid as you sit here right now to be here? I am not getting

01:37paid to be here. No, I am not, sir. Fair enough. Mr. Whitson, you also served as an FBI agent

01:43before falling into a very lucrative position as the legal director at the Foundation for

01:50Government Accountability, correct? That was my former position, yes. Well, what is your current

01:58position now? So I currently serve as the senior director of federal affairs. And it's a pretty

02:03lucrative upgrade from where you first started. The position I'm in now? Yeah, you're making more

02:10money now than you were when you first started, right? Yes. And would it surprise you to know that

02:18your funding, between 2013 and 2022, six conservative foundations tied to billionaire

02:30donors, sunk $44 million into your organization, correct? I don't know the precise numbers.

02:40It wouldn't surprise you, though. But that wouldn't surprise me at all. And your largest

02:46known source of funding between 2013 and 2022 was a foundation controlled by

02:53Illinois billionaire Dick Uline, who invested over $18 million into your operation.

03:01And another source of your funding was the 85 Fund, which gave you $2 million between 2013 and

03:112022. It is among the network that is controlled by Leonard Leo, who received

03:21over a billion dollars in contributions from a single billionaire to fund his continued takeover

03:31of our court system. And so you get paid to promote an agenda, which includes rolling back

03:39child labor laws and stripping child workplace protections. Isn't that correct?

03:45No, that's not correct. And your organization has also worked to stop Medicaid expansion

03:50and to slash food stamps, correct? What do you mean by slash food stamps? Well,

03:57that means cut food stamps, cut the money. And y'all have been advocating for that. And you also

04:04were among the organizations that wrote the notorious Project 2025, which is the radical

04:13right-wing agenda, the blueprint that President Trump is implementing along with Co-President

04:21Musk, correct? I'm not aware of us writing anything in Project 2025.

04:28Mr. Stout, your organization must be brand new because I haven't been able to come up with

04:34anything on Reform the Bureau, which is the name of your outfit, correct?

04:40Yes, sir, that's correct. You just started it? I started in December.

04:44And have you been successful at recruiting any billionaire donors for your efforts?

04:51No, sir, I haven't. It's a grassroots level. Well, if I had more time, I would

04:56ask Dr. Hunt a question because he's the only non-paid individual up here not promoting a

05:05right-wing agenda. But I've run out of time. So, gosh, I yield back.

05:12I thank the gentleman. And I will now recognize, you know, just a word before that,

05:18probably most of the people who appear before us have to make a living somehow. That's okay.

05:24We all get paid salaries or whatever. Not unusual. Not scary.

'Are You On The Clock Right Now?': Hank Johnson Grills Fox News Contributor At Judiciary Hearing

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