WATCH: Trump EPA chief sparks explosive hearing showdown over global warming alarm from Dems: 'I'm talking'
Fresh off his viral bout with Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin engaged in another heated exchange with Rep. Robert Menendez Jr., D-N.J., during a Tuesday session and...
By Fox News · Fox News
Fresh off his viral bout with Rep. Rosa DeLauro , D-Conn., EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin engaged in another heated exchange with Rep. Robert Menendez Jr., D-N.J., during a Tuesday session and afterward appeared to make a cryptic reference to the congressman's father, who was imprisoned for corruption. Zeldin and Menendez Jr. sparred over the agency’s policy changes, which the Democratic lawmaker said are exacerbating climate change and related costs, as well as former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s tenure and government waste, as Menendez became increasingly frustrated with the administrator. In a post on X after the blowup, Zeldin quipped that Menendez Jr. "starts doing some really weird things with his hands when he starts hearing about 'gold bars' getting tossed around." ADAM SCHIFF TELLS EPA'S LEE ZELDIN HE’LL CAUSE CANCER AFTER SHOUTFEST: ‘COULD GIVE A RAT’S A--' Former Sen. Robert Menendez Sr., D-N.J., was dubbed "Gold Bar Bob" by the New York City press after federal prosecutors found gold bars in his home while investigating the corruption scandal that landed him and his second wife behind bars in 2025. Earlier Tuesday, Menendez Jr. and Zeldin cut each other off as the lawmaker raised his voice during a line of questioning about how Zeldin would have managed New York on the environmental front if he had been elected governor in 2022 and faced with Trump-era policies. Menendez asked whether Zeldin understood that climate change will reportedly create $45 billion in healthcare costs by 2050 after his agency rescinded an Obama-era "endangerment finding" that had governed greenhouse gas emissions and led to new consumer requirements like automobile "start-stop" features. Zeldin had previously told DeLauro that she did not understand the Loper Bright Supreme Court decision that his office analyzed in making the change, while telling Menendez the rescission is in line with the Clean Air Act. Menendez also pressed Zeldin on climate change’s role in Superstorm Sandy, w…