Former DOGE staffers testify in NEH grant lawsuit

0:00And I know we talked about it somewhat already, but what is DDI referring to here? It stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion. But let's start with what does it mean to you? It means diversity, equity, and inclusion. Well, that's the label, but what does, what do those words mean? It means making decisions on a basis of something other than merit. How does diversity differ from equity in that term? I don't know. I don't understand the label itself, frankly. So right now, do you have an understanding of what DDI is? Yeah. So what's your understanding as you sit here today in this deposition? Well, it was exactly what was written in the EO. And so any time that we would look at a grant through the lens of complying with an executive order, we would just refer back to the EO and assess if this grant had relation to it.

1:00Okay, but I guess I'm stepping back from your methodology strictly in terminating the grants. Do you have an understanding as you sit here today of what DDI means? Yeah. Okay, so what's your understanding of what it means? Well, it is exactly what was written in the EO. And I don't have the EO in front of me. And the rationale says, the documentary addresses gender-based violence and overload histories contributing to DEI by amplifying marginalized voices. Yes. Why is the documentary about Holocaust survivors? Dei. It's the gender-based story that's inherently discriminatory to focus on this specific group. It's inherently discriminatory to focus on what specific group.

2:06The gender-based, so females during the Holocaust. And you believe that that's inherently discriminatory? I'm just saying that's what it's focused on. But this is related to DEI. Right. But you just use the term inherently discriminatory. What did you mean by that? It's focusing on DEI principles. Okay, if you had already been reviewing every grant one by one such that you gain an understanding of it, why then we're on all of those grants again through a large language model like OpenAunt? It's action. I'm not sure. You don't know? But no one told you to.

3:08No. What did you do at the US Institute of Peace? We reduced the Institute of Peace to its statutory minimum. What did that involve? It involved terminating all of the existing contracts grants and firing all of the employees. All of the existing contracts grants and firing all of the employees of the US Institute of Peace. Detection. Effectively yes. So is your assessment that immigrant would have been contrary to the EU's? It depends on the grant. But you put it on this list because at some point you thought that a word like immigrant might conflict with the EU's? It might, but it all depends on the grant. Is that why you put this word on the list? It could indicate DEI.

4:08It's not hamburger. It's something that may relate to cultural appropriation and DEI-related grants. You don't regret that people might have lost an important income to support their lives. No. I think it was more important to reduce the federal deficit from $2 trillion to close to zero. Did you reduce the federal deficit? No, we didn't. You did. No, I don't believe we did.