Transcription
So, you're the chief diversity officer, and you're arguing you are certain discrimination is not happening at the State Department. Is that right? Is that Is that what you're testifying? That's what you just said.
>> Certain candidates could not be hired because So, these are employees at the State Department saying, "We can't hire someone because" And here's what the email list they have a disability, they're white men, they're straight white men, or they're not of the right religion.
>> Indeed.
>> What's wrong with you people?
>> You are about to watch one of the most damning congressional exchanges to ever come out of Washington. Imagine being the person whose sole high-salaried job is to stop discrimination, only to sit before a Senate committee and claim absolute ignorance when confronted with hard evidence that your department is doing exactly that. Senator Ted Cruz just pinned down the State Department's chief diversity officer with a leaked email written by a senior official within her own agency. The email explicitly states that hiring managers were refusing to hire qualified candidates simply because they have a disability, because they are white, because they are straight, or because they aren't practicing the right religion. Watch her try to squirm out of reality, parse words over what a comment means, and completely contradict herself on camera. Pay close attention to how she reacts when the receipts are laid out on the table.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ambassador Abercrombie Win Stanley.
>> [sighs]
>> The Biden administration, I believe, is staffed by radicals. The State Department has consistently alienated our friends and appeased our enemies.
>> [snorts]
>> You're empowered as the State Department's first stand-alone chief diversity and inclusion officer. Your mandate is to promote a concept on the left called equity, which I think is nothing more than brazen discrimination. You were appointed in April 2021. And as you extensively testified this morning, you introduced fundamental changes to the State Department hiring practices in line with the mandate of equity to affirmatively and aggressively discriminate. A year after your appointment, in April 2022, the State Department released its {quote} equity action plan to integrate these so-called equity principles into {quote} all aspects of State Department foreign affairs. That very week, just days after you published the equity action plan, and 1 year after you began your tenure, a senior State Department official broadly distributed what I consider to be a very troubling email. I have a copy of that email next to me. Let me read from a part of the email. The email says that hiring practices have developed inside the State Department so that, and I'll quote, that certain candidates could not be hired because they have a disability. They are white men. They are straight white men. They are not of the {quote} right religion. All of these are verbatim quotes from the email of a senior State Department official. My first question to you is, did you clear this guidance?
>> Thank you for the question, Senator. Um I've never seen that before.
>> You've ne- You've never seen the email before.
>> I've never seen it.
>> So, you didn't know it had been sent.
>> This is the first time I'm seeing it, sir.
>> Well, do you do you know that it is happening? That the State Department perceives, and this is I believe as a result of your work, that they have a mandate to discriminate against as the email says to discriminate against people with disabilities, to discriminate against white men, to discriminate against straight white men, and to discriminate against people that are not of the quote what right religion. I'm not sure what that meant, but I suspect it meant that if someone is a Christian. I don't know that cuz that's not what the email says. Are you aware these practices are happening at the State Department?
>> Again, thank you for the question. Uh I am definite and certain that they are not happening at the State Department, but again
>> So, do you believe the senior State Department official who sent this email was lying?
>> Senator, I I can't comment on not I don't know who that's from. I don't know if it's I've never seen it before. So
>> So, you're the chief diversity officer, and you're arguing you are certain discrimination is not happening at the State Department. Is that right? Is that Is that what you're testifying? It's what you just said.
>> I am saying that it is against the law, and we certainly are not overtly or on purpose breaking the law in the Department of State. Certainly, there are uh members of our organization who do discriminate, who do harass, who do bully, which is why we are trying to put in place programs to address it and to strengthen accountability for those who do indeed break the law.
>> didn't clear this guidance, and after it was sent, you're testifying now that you remained unaware of it. So, no one no one showed it to you. You're in the State Department for a year. You were empowered in your position in an unprecedented way and your testimony, you talked about creating a DEIA data working group about hiring practices and a dedicated DEIA core precept. And your testimony is you didn't know that this discrimination was happening. My My staff can transmit to you the exact header and the details of this email.
>> Okay.
>> But I have to say Ambassador, I find it a little bit amazing that this discrimination is being reported to be ongoing in the administration and you are professing to be unaware of it. I you know, I'm reminded from a line from the movie Office Space. What would you say you do around here? What is your job if not to stop discrimination and unfortunately, I believe what your job in practice is is encouraging this discrimination. This is a manifestation. You just said a minute ago in testimony, your hiring and promotion in the State Department will depend on complying with the edicts from your office. Is it good for the State Department and good for the United States government to be actively discriminating based on disability, based on race, based on being straight white man or based of not being the right religion. Is that good or bad?
>> Uh Senator, as I'm looking at the email, it does appear to me and my eyesight is not great that people have reported it's comments that's certain candidates
>> So what it says is unfortunately, over the past several months, a number of people have reported comments that certain candidates could not be hired because so these are employees at the State Department saying we can't hire someone because and here's what the email list they have a disability they're white men they're straight white men or they're not of the right religion.
>> Indeed and so I would say comments does not at all say it is indeed happening.
>> Comments from hiring people saying we can't hire them because of it.
>> Time of the senator has well expired.
It is completely mind-boggling. The sheer level of defense deflection we just saw is why millions of Americans have lost absolute faith in federal agency accountability. Let's look closely at the timelines and the facts established during that testimony. April 2021, the chief diversity officer is appointed to fundamentally change hiring and promotion frameworks. April 2022, the State Department officially releases its equity action plan. Days later, internal emails circulate among senior officials explicitly warning that qualified candidates are being barred from positions because of their demographic status. When confronted with this reality, the witness attempted a classic defensive gaslighting loop. First, she claimed total ignorance saying she had never seen the email. When Cruz pushed her on whether this systemic discrimination was actively happening under her watch, she responded, "I am definite and certain that they are not happening." Think about that logic for a second. In the very same breath, she admitted that she has never read the internal reports, yet she is somehow 100% certain that the illegality isn't taking place. The Office Space moment, Senator Cruz nailed the fundamental issue by asking the ultimate accountability question, "What would you say you do around here?" If your entire mandate is to police fairness, but you remain blissfully unaware of high-level warnings regarding civil rights violations, your office isn't preventing bias. It's providing cover for it. Then came the absolute worst part of her defense. She looked directly at the text of the leaked email and tried to minimize it by arguing it only documented reports of comments from hiring personnel. Let's be entirely clear about federal labor policy. If multiple hiring managers are explicitly stating they cannot onboard someone because of their race, sex, disability, or Christian faith, that is not just idle comments. That is a coordinated hostile environment that openly violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. This hearing completely exposes the core deception of these equity mandates. They don't look at individual merit or equal opportunity. They look at engineering forced outcomes by actively penalizing people for things they cannot control. What did you think of her defense? Was she genuinely asleep at the wheel, or did she know exactly what was going on? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments. Smash that like button and hit subscribe to keep up with our daily breakdowns. Stay safe, stay sharp, and I'll see you on the next one.