Sen. John Kennedy: No Politician Should Have a Building Named After Him ‘While He’s Alive’

MARGARET BRENNAN: You were very sharp in your questioning of then-Secretary Kristi Noem in regard to some ads that DHS had been running, using taxpayer money to bolster her public image. Our viewers are going to see a 30-second commercial on this program. It’s on all major networks, it’s on the cable networks as well. It prominently features President Trump, and there’s a voice praising him as, quote, “the toughest, most resilient person I ever met.” And at the end, it says “paid for by the U.S. government.” Is that the best use of taxpayer money?

KENNEDY: Well, first, as to Secretary Noem, what she did was master class dumb. she spent $220 million on commercials about her, and I called her out on it. Number two–

BRENNAN: This looks like a commercial about President Trump.

KENNEDY: I don’t, I was just going to say, Margaret, I don’t think any public official, including President Trump or Kristi Noem or John Kennedy, should spend public money on private ads for themselves. Now, the White House sees it differently, but I don’t- I think there ought to be a rule that you can’t- well, there probably is a rule- you can’t spend public money to to promote yourself. I’m going to- I may end up with a sombrero on my head, but I also think that we ought to have a rule that no politician–

BRENNAN: Yeah.

KENNEDY: –can have a building named after him while he’s alive. I think that would settle a lot of this controversy. We have that rule in Louisiana. It works pretty well.

BRENNAN: Well, we’ll watch, Senator, if you introduce that.