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Insults Shockingly Fly When John Kennedy And Richard Painter Have Wild Clash
Forbes Breaking News
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7/9/2025
At today's Senate Banking Committee hearing, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) had a shocking clash with Richard Painter, former Associate Counsel to the President and chief White House ethics lawyer.
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00:00
Senator Kennedy.
00:02
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:06
I've listened with great interest today,
00:10
and here's what I hear you saying.
00:15
The four folks to my left,
00:19
I hear you saying that digital assets are different.
00:26
Digital assets hold great promise.
00:30
Digital assets need special rules.
00:35
I agree with that.
00:39
The obvious question is what should those rules be,
00:44
and to what extent should we allow you to draft them?
00:50
I've also heard some of you say that digital assets represent the next generation of the Internet.
00:58
Well, we let the current generation of the Internet draft their own rules,
01:04
and frankly, it looks like what we got as a result looks like somebody knocked over a urine sample.
01:11
Congress can't even agree on basic legislation dealing with privacy on the Internet.
01:21
How the hell are we going to tackle this?
01:22
But I hear what you're saying.
01:27
I hear Mr. Painter, as usual, if you follow him on social media, you know.
01:33
All politicians are crooks.
01:35
Very helpful.
01:36
I want to direct most of my questions to Professor Massad.
01:45
Is that how you say your name?
01:47
Massad.
01:48
Mr. Massad.
01:53
I'm really worried we're going to get this wrong.
01:55
Now, we don't know, we in Congress and our staffs don't know as much as the professionals in digital assets know.
02:12
And I don't see how we can possibly catch up.
02:15
Tell me more about your idea of having the SEC.
02:26
Well, first, I don't want to run out of time here,
02:29
but why is the digital assets industry so scared of being regulated by the SEC?
02:37
Well, I think we need to step back, Senator.
02:40
Briefly.
02:41
Please.
02:42
They don't want everything treated as a security because they don't want that entire framework to apply,
02:48
but that's also because the SEC did fail to try to customize its rules to adapt for this technology,
02:56
and it should do that.
02:57
And you've got leadership at the agencies now who are working on those things.
03:03
You're suggesting that we turn to two of our agencies, one of which is the SEC,
03:09
and say you have expertise.
03:13
Before we take a crack at a bill, you come up with a bill, with rules, with regulations.
03:21
Tell us how to do this.
03:23
Because I hear you saying in some cases digital assets are commodities.
03:27
In some cases they're securities.
03:30
Congress needs to fill the gap, which is, if it's not a security,
03:37
who's going to create a regulatory framework for it?
03:40
So you do need to fill that.
03:42
But these questions about exactly when is it a security, when is it not a security,
03:47
how do we customize the rules, what should we do about DeFi,
03:51
a lot of that should really be left to the agencies.
03:54
You could establish some principles, but I wouldn't write detailed rules.
03:58
Have you looked, Professor, at Congressman Hill's legislation?
04:04
I have in detail.
04:05
What do you think?
04:06
I think it's got a lot of problems.
04:07
I think it's 236 pages of regulatory arbitrage opportunities for creative lawyers,
04:13
and I used to be one that did that kind of stuff.
04:16
Made a lot of money, did you?
04:17
I did, but...
04:18
Mr. Painter, do you think Senator Gillibrand is a crook?
04:25
No, and I do not think all politicians are crooks.
04:29
And why did you call her a crook?
04:30
I did not call her a crook.
04:32
Now, Senator, you need to focus on this bill.
04:36
You're doing this again.
04:37
You did it at the last hearing.
04:39
You need to read the bill.
04:41
Senator Gillibrand's role in stable corn regulation,
04:44
$217,000 in crypto donations.
04:49
You tweeted that.
04:50
Yes, I do.
04:51
And then you said,
04:52
the crypto industry is buying Congress and the White House.
04:56
This won't end well.
04:58
Why do you think the crypto industry is buying Senator Gillibrand?
05:03
I said, look at the campaign contributions from this industry.
05:07
You think they've bought her?
05:08
I said, look at the campaign contributions.
05:10
You said they bought her.
05:11
Do you think they bought her?
05:12
Senator, you need to focus on this bill instead of trying to distort my Twitter.
05:15
Last time, you were quoting what a Marxist in Chicago said about me.
05:20
And what evidence do you have to keep a crook?
05:23
I said, there is massive amount of campaign contributions coming into this Congress
05:28
from the crypto industry.
05:29
Do you want to apologize to Senator Gillibrand?
05:32
I do not want you to have to apologize for passing legislation that destroys our economy.
05:38
You are distorting what I said, just like you did in the last hearing.
05:42
You're wasting everybody's time, Senator.
05:45
You're a whack job.
05:46
Senator, you are a major league.
05:48
I think we are.
05:49
Next level whack job.
05:52
Is this middle school, Senator?
05:54
Senators and witness, thank you both.
05:56
I think you should apologize, Senator.
05:58
I think, Senator, you're wasting our time.
06:00
This is not middle school.
06:01
Thank you for your participation.
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