Over the past year, Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) has made a name for herself by showing up to House hearings with a basic understanding of the simple facts of topics at hand. In doing so, she embarrasses the government and corporate officials called upon to testify (who, it should go without saying, should have a basic understanding of the same simple facts).
Porter’s latest victim is Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, who didn’t know the term for properties that have been foreclosed on.
I asked @SecretaryCarson about REOs – a basic term related to foreclosure – at a hearing today. He thought I was referring to a chocolate sandwich cookie. No, really. pic.twitter.com/cYekJAkRag
— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) May 21, 2019
Carson was on Capitol Hill testifying before the House Committee on Financial Services as part of its oversight of his agency. During the hearing, Porter asked Carson if he knew what REO stood for, which is short for “real estate owned.”
“An Oreo?” asked the head of housing in America before Porter went on to explain the term to him. People applauded Porter for showing Carson’s ignorance on a topic his agency is ostensibly supposed to be knowledgeable about.
Saw this all over twitter but it is still startling to watch https://t.co/XfUbZyBZDJ
— Nick Riccardi (@NickRiccardi) May 21, 2019
she looked him dead in the face and said “what’s the o stand for.”
— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) May 21, 2019
dead. https://t.co/KNiuIzA5YS
it seems like every time Porter is at a hearing, we see another one of these clips of her schooling the witness, but today it’s a cabinet secretary and particularly cringe-y to watch https://t.co/SNTQuXDZqY
— Jessica Yarvin (@jyarvin) May 21, 2019
C’mon. It’s not fair to expect the secretary of housing in the Trump administration to understand a basic issue of real estate. https://t.co/XOr7UxZERb
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) May 21, 2019
But what they really were interested in was her description of Oreos.
https://twitter.com/Cool_Mintz/status/1130891514551255040
https://twitter.com/rd110180/status/1130915234871427075
Update 3:35pm CT, May 21: Secretary Ben Carson responded to the viral video with a picture of himself and some cookies, saying he would send some Porter’s way.
OH, REO! Thanks, @RepKatiePorter. Enjoying a few post-hearing snacks. Sending some your way! pic.twitter.com/q4MMTBWVUI
— Archive: Ben Carson (@SecretaryCarson) May 21, 2019
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