Watch Elizabeth Warren Eviscerate A Banking Regulator Who Allegedly Helped Cause The 2008 Financial Crisis [Video]

Senator Elizabeth Warren is often considered one of the major champions of progressive values, next to Democratic frontrunner Bernie Sanders. And while Warren has said she’s not interested in the presidency, liberals who support her can still celebrate the constant vigilance she maintains within her political capacity. A classic example of Elizabeth Warren holding people accountable for bad decisions happened just this week when she verbally dismantled the former deputy director of the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board, who she claims was partially responsible for the near-disastrous global financial crisis of 2008.

Senator Elizabeth Warren took part in a Republican Banking Committee hearing to “asses the effects of consumer finance regulations,” or more specifically a hearing to determine if Congress should reverse Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms. Elizabeth Warren described it in her own words on her Facebook page, claiming the hearing was held “to talk about why we should roll back the rules on mortgages and credit cards because they’re just too costly for the banks.”

While many of the Senate Republicans are generally against heavy government regulation, Elizabeth Warren tends to support regulations that hold private institutions accountable. So, to keep the reforms in place, Elizabeth Warren showed up to cross-examine witnesses provided by the Republican Banking Committee. According to Raw Story, one of those witnesses happened to be Leonard Chanin, who once led the division of the Federal Reserve Board that supposedly failed to regulate “deceptive mortgages” and “subprime lending.”

Elizabeth Warren was more than happy to use Chanin’s reputation against him to refute the Republican’s proposal. She blamed Leonard Chanin, in part, for the 2008 global financial crisis.

According to the Levin-Coburn report, the crisis was the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression and was caused by “high risk, complex financial products; undisclosed conflicts of interest; the failure of regulators, the credit rating agencies, and the market itself to rein in the excesses of Wall Street.”

In order to defend the regulations that were put in place to prevent a future crisis, Elizabeth Warren relentlessly criticized Leonard Chanin for his mistakes while working for the Federal Reserve Board.

“Of all the people who might be called on,” said Elizabeth Warren. “I am surprised that my Republican colleagues would chose a witness who might have one of the worst track records in history on this issue. [You] helped lead the Federal Reserve division that refused to regulate deceptive mortgages — including the subprime lending that helped spark the crisis. You did essentially nothing. Now, your failure had devastating consequences.”

In response to Elizabeth Warren’s accusation, Leonard Chanin asserted that there was no hard data to predict the financial collapse at the time. To which Senator Warren had an even more brutal reply.

“Did you have your eyes stitched closed?… According to the Dallas Fed, [the 2008 financial] crisis cost the American economy an estimated $14 trillion. It cost millions of families their homes, their jobs, their savings – devastating communities across America. So when you talk now about how certain regulations are too costly or too difficult to comply with, you sound a lot like you did before the 2008 crisis when you failed to act.”

When Leonard Chanin continued to defend his actions and claim he didn’t have enough information about “a meltdown in the mortgage market” to prevent the crisis, Elizabeth Warren didn’t even try to hide her frustration.

“Oh my god. If you are still defending your time at the Fed that raises even more questions about your judgment.”

You can see Elizabeth Warren fully reprimand Chanin in the video at the top of the page.

Do you agree with Elizabeth Warren?

For another example of Elizabeth Warren standing up for her values, watch her defend Planned Parenthood.

[Photo via YouTube]