Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) confronted CNN’s Pamela Brown during a recent segment, pushing back against her framing of government inefficiency and questioning why the network had ignored key issues within the Biden administration’s handling of nuclear oversight.

During the interview, Brown brought up the Trump administration’s firings of nuclear oversight officials, arguing that the effort to remove government waste had been carried out in a “clumsy” manner.

She cited University of Maryland professor Dawn Kettle, who told The Washington Post that attempting to trim government inefficiencies without a careful approach was like using a “sledgehammer” to cut fat from a steak.

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Brown then asked Burchett if he agreed that the process of reducing government waste had been done in a “clumsy rather than methodical” way.

Burchett responded by shifting the focus to the Biden administration’s own handling of nuclear oversight, specifically mentioning Sam Brinton, a former Department of Energy official who was responsible for nuclear security but later faced multiple theft charges.

“Again, you’re upset about—you’re attacking the message here, not the results,” Burchett told Brown.

“You talk about nuclear secrets. You had a nuclear… A person who was in charge of nuclear secrets, a man who dressed up as a woman would go into the airport and steal women’s luggage was overseeing those nuclear secrets under the Biden administration. I never heard you all say a peep about that.”

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Brown, caught off guard, admitted she was unfamiliar with the case. “I don’t know anything about that. I’ll be transparent,” she said.

Burchett encouraged her to look into the case, saying, “Well, you need to look it up. It’s all over the internet. It’s all over. He was in charge of nuclear secrets.”

Brinton, who served as the deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition at the Department of Energy, was placed on leave and later left the agency in December 2022 following multiple theft allegations.

In July 2022, Brinton was accused of stealing a suitcase containing items worth approximately $3,670 at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.

A separate incident in September 2022 involved the theft of a suitcase valued at $2,325 from Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport.

Additionally, fashion designer Asya Khamsin alleged that Brinton had been seen wearing custom-designed clothing that had gone missing from her luggage in 2018.

After Burchett’s remarks, Brown attempted to pivot the discussion to Elon Musk, suggesting that even Musk had acknowledged mistakes occur when making rapid changes.

Burchett responded, “Humans will make mistakes, ma’am. But currently, these are bloated programs. You have no-show employees that are angry that they’re having to go back to work, that they’ve moved, and they’re not even in the distance.”

Brown agreed that government bloat was a problem but continued to press on the method of cutting inefficiencies.

Burchett, however, challenged CNN’s broader coverage, asking why the network had not extensively reported on government waste.

He then brought up an example of government spending: “Have you all even talked about, ‘Hey, Mozambique, we sent them $10 million for circumcisions?’ I mean, goodness gracious, ma’am. Americans are paying over 50% of their salaries.”

Brown pushed back, claiming that CNN had covered government waste “at length.”

Burchett dismissed the claim: “No, you haven’t. All you all do is run down Elon Musk and Donald Trump, and you continuously do this, and that’s why your ratings are in the tank, ma’am.”

911, I need to report the m*rder of CNN.

HOST: No one is disagreeing there is government bloat/waste, CNN has been covering it.

TIM BURCHETT: No you haven’t. All y’all do is run down Musk and Trump, and that’s why your ratings are in the tank.pic.twitter.com/RCGrhKzzVM

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 18, 2025

At that point, Brown quickly ended the interview, concluding with a brief, “All right, Congressman Tim Burchett, we’re going to leave it there. I do appreciate your time coming on and having this conversation. Thank you very much.”

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