Lawmaker gives Trump nominee a tongue-lashing over insulting Senators: 'You're telling me'

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) pressed Konstantinos Ligris, President Donald Trump's nominee for Assistant Attorney General, during a tense hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday after discovering the Department of Justice hopeful had posted several social media attacks on lawmakers.

Whitehouse mentioned the comments during the nominee's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, pushing Ligris to respond.

"You have tweets that call Donald Trump and Kamala Harris 'two clowns,'" Whitehouse said. "You have tweets that call Senator Murkowski 'almost as dumb as Kamala.' You have tweets that call Senator Collins 'a fraud.' You have tweets that call Senator Padilla, who sits on this committee, a 'thug.' You have tweets that call Senator Schiff 'a fraud,' he also sits on this committee. And you undertook no preparation to face questions about that as you come before the Senate Judiciary Committee. You didn't tell the Department of Justice about those tweets?"

Ligris attempted to defend himself.

"Senator, I tweet and respond to tweet or repost tweets regularly and frequently," Ligris said.

Whitehouse pushed back.

"You're telling me here that you never disclosed to the Department of Justice these tweets about senators who would have to vote on your nomination, and you're telling me the DOJ, as far as you know, didn't even know about them," Whitehouse said.

Ligris said he never disclosed them, and that the DOJ was apparently unaware of his comments.