Mnuchin: 'Continue to Grill Me' and 'I Will Not Be Back'

Secretary leaves hearing after heated exchange with Maxine Waters
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 10, 2019 9:01 AM CDT

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters probably won't be exchanging holiday cards this year after things got a little tense during the Treasury secretary's testimony on Tuesday. Mnuchin had testified about his plans to respond to requests for President Trump's tax returns for roughly three hours by 5pm when he reminded committee members that he had a meeting with "a foreign leader," meaning Bahrain's interior minister. "It will be embarrassing if I keep this person waiting," he said, per CNN. "It's a new day and it's a new chair," said Waters. Mnuchin went on to claim a person in his position never testified so long or was treated in such a way by Republicans, as Waters tried to arrange testimony at a later date. "If you wish to leave, you may,” she said with a stern look, refusing to dismiss the hearing.

"If you'd wish to keep me here so that I don't have my important meeting and continue to grill me, then we can do that," but "I will not be back here," Mnuchin said, growing heated. "The secretary has agreed to stay to hear all of the rest of the members," Waters responded, per the Hill. "Please cancel your meeting and respect our time." Mnuchin then said she was "instructing" him to stay, while Waters said she was accepting his offer. Mnuchin denied any offer and told Waters to "take the (gavel) and bang it" for a proper dismissal. He left soon after she advised him "not [to] instruct me as to how I am to conduct this committee." Waters later told CNN that nothing is more important than Congress "trying to find out what exactly this secretary is doing." Mnuchin only said he would "comply with the law" in regard to Trump's tax returns, per Time. (More Steven Mnuchin stories.)

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