Sen. Tom Carper curses during virtual USPS hearing
It turns out even United States senators get frustrated with Zoom calls.
USA Today reported during a virtual Senate hearing on the United States Postal Service, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., dropped multiple F-bombs in a row.
Carper was next to question Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, but Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chairman, didn’t hear him.
Instead, Johnson moved on to Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., as the next person to question DeJoy.
Carper could be heard uncensored on C-SPAN, saying the expletive three times in a row, unmuted.
Lankford interrupted, telling Johnson, “Mr. Chairman, I think Senator Carper is there. I think he’s trying to be able to queue it all up right now.”
Johnson went back to Carper after confirming he was set up and possibly alluded to Carper’s remarks, saying, “We don’t want to be on TV again.”
Carper was then able to begin his questioning.
Rep. Matt Gaetz responded to the gaffe on Twitter with a brief, “Oh my.”
The video in the tweet is uncensored.
“Like most Americans in 2020, Senator Carper got frustrated with technical difficulties this morning,” a spokeswoman for Carper told USA Today. “But that pales in comparison to his frustration with a Postmaster General who’s actively undermining the U.S. Postal Service during a national crisis.”
For his part, Carper joked about the incident, tweeting, “What can I say? I’m passionate about protecting the @USPS! (And I think I can safely say we’re all over the Zooms...).”
About the Author
Kelcie Willis is a writer and online content producer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Sociology from the University of Georgia. At the AJC, she covers state, regional and national news with the Content Curation Desk.
