In advance of Andrew Puzder’s Labor secretary confirmation hearing on Thursday, Politico has obtained the much-discussed clip of the fast-food business CEO’s ex-wife Lisa Fierstein discussing allegations of domestic abuse on Oprah.
The clip, which is from a 1990 Oprah special on “High-Class Battered Women,” was turned over by the Oprah Winfrey Network to the senate committee, and members of both parties have been assessing the tape in private. Democratic senator Patty Murray said she was “deeply troubled” by the tape. Until now, the network would not release the clip to the press.
Fierstein appeared on Oprah in a wig and sunglasses and went by the name Ann as she alleged that Puzder told her she would “pay for this” and that he “vowed revenge” against her for making her spousal-abuse allegations public. “Remember,” she says in the clip, “my husband was a public figure.”
Puzder and Fierstein divorced in 1987. Eight months following their divorce, she retracted her allegations of abuse and said often that she only claimed abuse for leverage in the divorce. Though Puzder and Fierstein’s divorce documents had been sealed, a lawsuit filed by the Campaign for Accountability could result in the files being unsealed before tomorrow’s confirmation hearing, Politico reports.