What does Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have to do with Trump’s family separation policy? We don’t know—and that’s the problem. Sen. Elizabeth Warren pushed hard to pin Kathy Kraninger down during her confirmation hearing (watch the video below), but the nominee, who is currently at the Office of Management and Budget, twisted and dodged to avoid admitting to just what involvement she’s had in tearing children from their parents. But despite all that dodging, Warren pinned Kraninger—and the entire Senate—down with the truth of what she’s been participating in:
These are innocent children who might be scarred forever because of this policy. It’s fundamentally immoral—and you, you, were a part of it, Ms. Kraninger. That’s a moral stain that will follow you for the rest of your life.
And if the Senate votes to give you a big promotion, then it is a stain on the senators who do so.
No amount of squirming and evading can get Kraninger out of that fundamental truth—but based on her performance in the hearing, she’ll never stop trying to weasel-word her way out of it. Warren had earlier noted that “for a month now, you’ve refused to respond to Ranking Member Brown’s and my request for information, for documents relating to your role in child separations. And when we met in my office last week, you refused over and over to give me a straight answer about your role.”
“So I’m going to ask you again, under oath,” Warren continued. “Were you involved in any way in developing and implementing the policies that led this Administration to take thousands of children away from their parents at the border?” Kraninger dodged: she “had no role in setting the policy.” But did she help develop or implement it? She dodged again. And again and again and again. According to Kraninger, simply answering whether she even worked on a plan to reunite children and parents torn apart by the Trump administration would be a “slippery slope.”
After those repeated attempts to pin Kraninger down on how she was involved, Warren shifted her question, citing White House chief of staff John Kelly’s own words that the family separation policy was intended as a deterrent to migrants, even asylum seekers. “The American Academy of Pediatrics says that being separated from their parents for weeks or months can cause these children irreparable, lifelong physical and psychological harm,” Warren said. “Do you think purposefully inflicting that on innocent children is immoral?”
Kraninger dodged that question, too. Really, what else could she do? She could say that inflicting harm on children is immoral and enrage Trump, she could say it was moral and outrage the very concept of morality, or she could dodge. Warren wasn’t having it. “It’s a simple yes or no question. Do you believe that it is immoral to set up a plan whose deliberate intent is to inflict harm on children?”
“Senator it’s not appropriate for me to provide my personal opinion and internal deliberations and discussions on this matter.”
And then Warren was off and running, to that final conclusion that bears repeating:
These are innocent children who might be scarred forever because of this policy. It’s fundamentally immoral—and you, you, were a part of it, Ms. Kraninger. That’s a moral stain that will follow you for the rest of your life.
And if the Senate votes to give you a big promotion, then it is a stain on the Senators who do so.
Watch the whole video: