I have to admit to enjoying the grilling that Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) gives witnesses in Congress.
You can always count on him getting to a point, wrecking the witness, and being humorous along the way.
Matt Vespa at our sister site Townhall picked up on a funny exchange that Kennedy had this week while grilling Richard Painter, S. Walter Richey Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Minnesota, during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Wednesday. Painter has been a critic of President Donald Trump.
They were talking about cryptocurrency regulation. During his time, Kennedy expressed that crypto was a challenging subject for regulation.
Things went off the rails when Kennedy asked Painter if he thought Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) "was a crook." Then Kennedy did that great thing he does, reading back Painter's social media posts to him. Painter disputed that he called her a crook. He had a meltdown in response, shouting back at Kennedy and trying to tell the senator what he should be focusing on. That did not end well in a pretty wild exchange that ultimately got the gavel.
🚨This witness got VERY defensive when Senator Kennedy read his X post.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 9, 2025
"You're a WACK JOB!"
This exchange got TENSE. pic.twitter.com/8btrQPRLZB
"I did not call her a crook!" Painter insisted. Kennedy continued with his question, as Painter groused, "You're doing this again!" Kennedy read tweets he said Painter posted on social media, and asked if he thought the crypto industry was buying Sen. Gillibrand. Painter didn't want to say that. He said there were massive amounts of contributions coming into this Congress from the crypto industry.
Kennedy then asked Painter if he would apologize to Sen. Gillibrand. Painter was so mad, "You are distorting what I said! Just like you did in the last hearing. You're wasting everybody's time, Senator."
Translation? How dare you read my tweets back to me! I don't think I've ever heard a witness start coming back at a senator like that. But it didn't come off well.
Kennedy seemed amused by his reply and responded, "You're a whack job! You are a major league, next-level whack job!"
That's when you started hearing the gavel coming down, but I think Kennedy had already gotten his point in and dispensed with Painter.
Kennedy was having a salty week. He also exacted a savage takedown of former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA head John Brennan in the inimitable way that he has when commenting on the new investigation into their role in the Russia collusion probe. He gave a great take on why he doesn't trust either of those characters, quoting President Lyndon Johnson and giving more credence to the guy who salts the fries at McDonald's.
READ MORE: Pure Gold: Sen. Kennedy Demolishes Comey and Brennan Over New Investigation As Only He Can
Brit Hume Masterfully Parlays FBI Investigation of Brennan and Comey Into Wrecking Hillary Clinton
Hopefully, that investigation will now lead to some real action to hold people accountable. We've waited a long time, and it's time for action.
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