Donald Trumps crony takes brutal swipe at | TV Shows

One of Donald Trump’s greatest allies has turned against the president after he was grilled by CBS’s Margaret Brennan.

Kevin Hassett, Director of the National Economic Council (NEC) and a current front-runner for the Federal Reserve Chair place, criticized Trump’s current financial coverage during an interview on Face the Nation.

Speaking on Sunday, December 21, Kevin claimed the potential rollout of tariff refunds “is a mess,” additional telling Margaret, “It would be very complicated.”

In late 2025, the 79-year-old president announced that the federal government would refund American residents for the tariffs they’d confronted. He said people would obtain $2,000 each, with the rebate benefitting “low and middle-income” Americans.

However, these refunds are at the moment tied to the bigger tariffs debate, as the Supreme Court is investigating whether or not they’re constitutional.

During the episode, Margaret requested Kevin, “If the Supreme Court doesn’t find in your favor, who gets the refund? Is it the companies or is it the consumers? How does that work?”

“Yeah. You know, we really expect the Supreme Court to rule with us,” the 63-year-old replied. “And I also think that if they didn’t find with us, it’s going to be pretty unlikely they will call for widespread refunds because it would be an administrative problem to get those refunds out there.”

Continuing, he added, “But basically whoever paid the tariff, like actually cut the check to buy the thing, would be the person who would be getting the refund if there were one.”

Margaret then jumped in rapidly, asking the financial knowledgeable, “Doesn’t the administration claim it was the country that paid that? You’re saying it’s the company.”

However, Margaret’s query led Kevin to stutter and stumble over his phrases before he said, “So in the end, who pays the tariff depends on the elasticity of supply and demand. Post-tariff price from Chinese foods is about what it was before the tariff.

“But the people who pay the tariff—if there’s a refund, the people who really paid for the nice, the importer in most circumstances, they’re those who could be the first line of protection for refunding the tariff.”

Kevin then continued his explanation, adding, “But I actually, actually don’t assume that’s going to occur. It could be very sophisticated. Then that particular person could be accountable for allocating the tariff refund to the suitable people.”

In response, Margaret simply replied by remarking, “It seems like a mess,” with Kevin replying, “Yes, it’s a mess. And that’s why I feel the Supreme Court wouldn’t do it.”