Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: What DOGE Is Doing Is ‘Smash and Grab Robbery’

SIDNER: “Let me ask you about Democrats. Are Democrats lost in the sauce here? Donald Trump is sucking up, obviously, as the president, all of the attention. He is making quick moves. He is, you know, letting DOGE do its deeds inside of many different departments. What are Democrats doing?”
WHITEHOUSE: “Well, I would analogize this to a smash-and-grab robbery, all done for the benefit of providing tax breaks to billionaires at the end of the day, but in its tactics right now, essentially a smash-and-grab robbery. And speed is to your advantage when you’re the smash and grab robber. And doing as much destruction as you can quickly is to your advantage when you’re the smash-and-grab robber. But over time, courts will look at this. Evidence will mount. He will need things from Congress, and the situation will change. I think it’s particularly important to watch the courts, where he is losing case after case after case after case for the very precise reason that what he is doing is illegal.”
SIDNER: “He has won one, though, letting Doge get all that data from several different agencies where some people are resigning over it. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, thank you so much.”
WHITEHOUSE: “Yeah. I mean, that’s kind of a data theft. Thank you.”
SIDNER: “Thank you so much for coming on and expressing your very strong opinions this morning. We appreciate it.”