Political pundit Chris Cuomo had President Donald Trump‘s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Scott Turner, on his News Nation talk show to discuss the federal government shutdown and how the administration is using official government channels to target Democrats with partisan messaging.
Cuomo noted that the HUD website now has a label on its homepage which reads, “The radical left in Congress shut down the government. HUD will use available resources to help Americans in need.”
Saying he was “not used to seeing naked political propaganda on a government website,” Cuomo asked Turner, “Are you worried about this violating the Hatch Act?”
Turner replied, “No, sir, we’re not worried at all. And this is not about propaganda, Chris, this is just about letting American people know what’s going on.”
Cuomo disagreed with Turner (“That’s not true, it’s propaganda”) and then asked Turner about the shutdown’s direct impact on people his agency serves.
(NOTE: The Hatch Act is a 1939 federal law that “limits certain political activities of federal employees” according to the U.S. Office of the Special Counsel. The law is meant to ensure that “federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion [and to] to protect federal employees from political coercion in the workplace.”)
CUOMO: “I’m not used to seeing naked political propaganda on a government website.”
HUD @SecretaryTurner: “This is not about propaganda.”@ChrisCuomo: “It’s not true, that’s why it’s propaganda… How many people that you serve are on Medicaid?”
TURNER:
pic.twitter.com/JON90yUbB4 — The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) October 2, 2025
Cuomo asked Turner, “What percentage, do you think, of people that you serve are on Medicaid?” When Turner offered to “get back to you with that number,” Cuomo interrupted and said, “No, no, no, it’s not a gotcha, it’s not a gotcha, but is it a significant portion or is it the minority?”
Turner replied, “You know, I’m not sure,” and added, “I want to give you a right answer. I don’t want to just throw anything out there because that’s not how I operate.”
Note: A 2014 analysis by the Department of Health and Human Services revealed that there is a great overlap between the two programs which in many cases serve similar low-income populations. According to the report: 73% of HUD-assisted individuals under 65, and 96% of those 65 and older received Medicaid, Medicare, or both.