Ron Wyden Grills CBP Nom On Being Part Of Facebook Group With 'Racist And Sexually Explicit Posts'

Forbes Breaking News

During a Senate Finance Committee hearing Wednesday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) questioned CPB Commissioner nominee, Rodney Scott, about his membership in a CPB Facebook group that featured 'vile, racist, and sexually explicit' posts.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And to continue on the question of the Secretary's letter.

00:06She continues to not respond to our request for the documents, which is central to our doing our

00:13oversight work here. But what is even more significant to me is that she hasn't responded

00:21to the key question, which is whether the subpoena the nominee signed was legal and appropriate.

00:30I have serious questions about that. And until we get that information, I continue to have

00:34reservations about this nominee. Now, to move on to this matter of the rape threat, Mr. Scott,

00:42you tweeted what a judge referred to as a classic rape threat to a former Border Patrol agent who's

00:48critical of your leadership. And you tweeted at her on this matter, quote, lean back, close your eyes,

00:58and just enjoy the show. To a former officer who took issue with you in CBP leadership for the

01:04culture you'd fostered, a culture that included the alleged cover-up of the brutal killing of Mr.

01:10Rojas, this strikes me as exceptionally troubling. She had said that she had been raped while she was

01:18at the academy, and you chose to respond with a rape threat. And a San Diego judge called it a classic

01:24rape threat, and said, maybe you were the only purpose in the world that never heard of a lie back

01:28and taken as referring to rape. Now, as far as I can tell, there hasn't been any real apology,

01:37no apology in court. Do you think this is acceptable, in your view, to respond to a former officer in this

01:45way? So I'd like to thank you for bringing this up, because I'd like to clear the air. There was an

01:50apology. I actually, even after that court, went and met with her specifically in front of witnesses

01:55with her attorney, and said the same thing I did in court with a little more. That was not my intent.

02:01I was challenging after about four years of being insulted left and right. I had a weak moment.

02:08I apologize for that. But I was not making any type of a threat. I was challenging her creative imagination

02:15that I had asked her for- Pardon me? You were challenging her creative imagination about rape?

02:21That is not what I said. I was challenging her creative imagination about multiple threats,

02:25multiple allegations against me and the agency that she would never provide any information or data to

02:31support or any evidence. But regardless, I apologized to her. I told her that I believed it was out of

02:36line. I did not mean for it to come across that way, and I wanted her to know. I told her that to

02:41her face. So you're apologizing now, because I know you didn't apologize in court. I apologized to her

02:46in the hallway right outside the courtroom doors in front of her friends, her attorney, and I don't know

02:51who else was there. Okay. Let me ask about this Facebook group as well. You are one of only two senior

03:01CBP officials that were members of this CBP Facebook group that contained racist and sexually explicit

03:08contact. Kent, if you were confirmed as commissioner, more than 60,000 professionals will be looking to

03:15you for your leadership and guidance. You'll be expected to lead by example. Your membership in this

03:22group where vile racist and sexually explicit posts were shared again is just, I think, unacceptable from

03:32a leader. Indifference and wisecracks to the death of a 16-year-old who died in border patrol custody,

03:38sexually explicit content involving a member of Congress, a photo that appeared to show a deceased

03:44father and a child face down in a river with comments suggesting that it had been faked. This was the

03:51group that you were a senior member of, as I understand it. Maybe you can tell me what your response is.

04:02The actions of a few tarnished the reputation of many, to include myself. And this has nothing to do with

04:09me right now. I want to make sure people fully understand there were about 9,000 people that

04:14were members of that group. There was a very small group of people that posted inappropriate,

04:19offensive material. It was called out by other border patrol agents on that site and it was investigated

04:27and they were held accountable. At no time did I ever see any of those posts until I was actually

04:32interviewed by the Office of Professional Responsibility during the investigation. And the vast majority,

04:38just because of the algorithms of Facebook and how that works, unless someone tags you,

04:43the vast majority of those 9,000 people did not see it either. But I think the most important thing

04:49to point out here is the culture didn't stand for it. Border Patrol agents actually identified it,

04:55flagged that what they thought was inappropriate. It was investigated. Many of those individuals,

05:00the individuals responsible were disciplined and a couple were fired.

05:03Time is about to expire. Were you a senior member of this group?

05:09I was a member of this group. I never deleted my account. I wanted total transparency. People could

05:14see what I saw. Okay. So you were in fact one of only two border patrol chiefs who were members of the

05:21group whose activity resulted in two employee removals, 43 suspensions and 12 letters of reprimand.

05:28So I'm looking for an assessment of your judgment. Should you have been a member of this Facebook group

05:34with all of this ugliness being sort of business as usual? There were 9,000 people on that group. To

05:41say that a few that actually posted something inappropriate were held accountable and were

05:46disciplined are a reflection of everyone else on that group I think is just a mischaracterization.

05:51question. I said should you have been part of this group as a senior member given what we have on

05:57the record and you apparently think that there's really no problem with it that it's just another

06:02big group and that's my concern. Thank you Mr. Chairman.

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