Sean Duffy Explodes at Yellen: ‘You Are Jeopardizing’ Congressional Investigation by Ignoring Subpoenas
[rush transcript]
YELLEN: “We plan to give them to you as soon as it's –“
DUFFY: “Just not now.”
YELLEN: “-- we're able to do so and not compromise an open criminal investigation.”
DUFFY: “Compromising open investigation.”
YELLEN: “We want to see this investigation succeed.”
DUFFY: “You do. Let’s talk about that. You want to see its succeed. So let's talk about the timeline. This happens in October of 2012. You don't follow your policy. The general counsel does an extensive six-month investigation. After that investigation, the general council is supposed to make a referral to the IG. That doesn't happen; the general council gives a report to the committee, right? And when you get that report, because you are you so concerned about justice, you're so concerned about bringing the leaker, to the forefront, what you do? Nothing. You didn't make a referral to the IG, you didn't make a referral to the FBI, the SEC, the CFTC, the DOJ, you did absolutely nothing. Zero. And so you're trying to say that Congress is going to obstruct your investigation when you had information, you did nothing to perpetuate an investigation that would lead us to the truth. Eventually the IG did their own investigation. And then they closed it. And guess what? Congress stood forward and said, listen, this is important stuff. We just, as Elizabeth Warren would say, we just don't want to have those that are well connected get information through leaks. We should know who the leaker is. And so it was because we pressured the IG, with a closed investigation and we pressured you that all of a sudden there's now a second investigation and they go ‘no, no, no, we can't give you that documentation now because it's a pending investigation’. And we're concerned about you jeopardizing it. Madam Chair, it appears that you are the one who is jeopardizing or the fed is the one who is jeopardizing this investigation. Am I wrong?”
YELLEN: “The FOMC has in place a clear set of rules for there are to be followed. When there are allegations of a leak.”
NN MALE: “You didn't follow them.”
YELLEN: “They call for a review of the incident by the general council and the FOMC secretary. We have described to you how that review took place. It took place before the review was complete. The inspector general our general council –“
DUFFY: “Did the general council –“
YELLEN: “That he had undertaken –“
DUFFY: “Did the general counsel per your guidelines talk to the FOMC board? Or did he make a recommendation to the IG? Because the requirement is -- they do an initial review and solely determine whether they make a referral to the IG. They didn’t do that, right?”
YELLEN: “Before his review was complete, he was informed by the IG, that the IG had undertaken his own investigation. And therefore, the IG was already looking at it before it was necessary for him to make a decision to refer it to the IG.”
DUFFY: “Madam Chair, my time is almost up.”
YELLEN: “The IG was already involved.”
DUFFY: “If anyone is trying to sweep this under the rug, it's the fed. It is Congress is trying to bring light to this. I sent you a letter in response to your denial with chairman (indecipherable) in the 17th of June. And we have almost a full page of footnotes where Congress has done oversight during an open, pending DOJ prosecution, we have right to these documents, you have the duty to provide them to us, you have cited no legal authority to deny that request. We are entitled to do oversight; you're required to give us the documents. I hope that you'll reconsider your denial. I yield back.”
