'That's crazy!' MAGA lawmaker's startling admission stuns CNN's Kaitlan Collins
CNN's Kaitlan Collins was floored late Wednesday when a MAGA lawmaker appeared to fess up to what a Trump administration official would not.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) joined Collins on her show, "The Source," to discuss the latest on the White House's meeting with Danish officials on Trump's crusade to buy Greenland, as well as discuss a federal criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Collins shared Lawler's own remarks back to him, noting he told Politico that he believed Powell was late in addressing inflation and "woefully slow" in lowering interest rates, but that he maintained the independence of the agency was "paramount." To boot, he said he opposed "any effort to pressure them into action."
Collins pressed him on his thoughts with the same biting question she posed a day earlier to Kevin Hassett, a conservative economist who serves as director of the National Economic Council in the Trump administration.
"Do you think Jay Powell would be under investigation tonight if he had cut the interest rates like the president demanded?" she asked Lawler.
His answer floored her.
"Probably not," he began.
"That's a crazy thing!" she cut in. "Don't you think?"
Lawler noted Powell's term is quickly coming to an end and that the Fed needs to focus on reducing interest rates and grow the economy.
"A lot of this is a distraction and wasted time and effort," he said.
Lawler's answer came a day after Hassett, rumored to be among Trump's top choices to replace Powell, rebuffed Collins' question."
President Trump and the White House Press Office has discussed that matter, I think I have nothing to add to that," he said.