Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) told a mother who lost her daughter to the fentanyl crisis that she lacked the background to speak at an impeachment hearing for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
And that Republicans were using her.
From Fox News:
Goldman's remarks to Josephine Dunn, whose 26-year-old daughter Ashley lost her life to fentanyl-laced pills, came during the committee's hearing titled “Voices for the Victims: The Heartbreaking Reality of the Mayorkas Border Crisis.”
Dunn had been invited by Republicans to take part in the hearing and share the story of how she lost her daughter to fentanyl as Congress continues on with the impeachment proceedings against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Expressing his “sincere condolences” to Dunn for the loss of her daughter, Goldman said that he wanted to “apologize in some ways” to Dunn because she was “being used as a fact witness for an impeachment investigation.”
“Obviously, given what your experience has been, you don't have the background to understand what a high crime and misdemeanor is and how it relates to this,” he added in his remarks to Dunn.
Goldman's attempt at diplomacy failed to impress Dunn. She told the Daily Caller that the Manhattan Democrat is “unaware about what my understanding, about what my education, what my experience is in any of those areas when it comes to misdemeanors or high crimes.”
“I have my opinions, and for him to assume that I want to just put more money into a system that has had plenty of money placed into it and is still broken is incorrect. Please don't think for me. I have a brain, I can think and speak for myself,” she remarked.
As Goldman kept questioning Dunn, the pair became visibly frustrated.
“You would agree, would you not, that it would help to stop the fentanyl trade and fentanyl trafficking from coming into this country if we had more law enforcement officers at the border and more resources and technology to stop the fentanyl from coming in?” he pointedly asked Dunn. “Do you agree with that?”
Dunn snapped at the congressman, retorting “Border Patrol is now being used to make sandwiches and to screen people and let them into our country. So I disagree with you.”
“I would like the Border Patrol to be able to do the job that they were hired to do,” she continued. “Every Border Patrol officer that I have spoken to has told me that their hands are tied by this administration and Mr. Mayorkas. I've been to the border, sir, have you?”
