White House Exclusive: Puzder’s ex-wife told Oprah he threatened ‘you will pay for this’ POLITICO obtained the 1990 taped appearance by the Labor nominee's former spouse.

The ex-wife of President Donald Trump’s labor secretary nominee told “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that he “vowed revenge” when she made public spousal abuse allegations, according to a 1990 tape reviewed by POLITICO on Tuesday night.

Andrew Puzder’s hearing for labor secretary is Thursday, but the allegations of domestic abuse, which he's repeatedly denied, and his admission that he employed an illegal immigrant have put his confirmation in jeopardy. The details of the Oprah tape, which haven’t been made public until now, could further erode his support in the Senate, where four Republicans have expressed reservations about his nomination. No Democrats are expected to support him.


During the episode, titled “High Class Battered Women,” Lisa Fierstein, Puzder’s ex-wife, said he told her, “I will see you in the gutter. This will never be over. You will pay for this.” Fierstein also said she called the police on him.

Fierstein divorced Puzder in 1987. Eight months after appearing on “Oprah,” she retracted her allegations of domestic abuse as part of a child custody agreement. She said repeatedly thereafter that the allegations were a tactic to gain leverage in her divorce.

But Fierstein appeared on “Oprah” in disguise, wearing large sunglasses and a wig and using an assumed name, "Ann." She sat on a panel with two other women who also alleged abuse by their husbands. Fierstein spoke for about 5 minutes, 50 seconds of the hourlong episode.

POLITICO first reported Fierstein's appearance last month but didn't obtain a taped copy until Tuesday, from another woman who appeared in the episode.

Senators on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which will hold Puzder's confirmation hearing, have been reviewing the tape in private. Winfrey's company, the Oprah Winfrey Network, turned the tape over at the committee's request but has refused to provide a copy to the news media.

George Thompson, a spokesman for Puzder and Fierstein, said in a written statement that Puzder, his current wife and Fierstein “are close friends today and often spend time together, but none of that context seems to matter to Andy’s critics. Perpetuating these retracted 30-year-old allegations and an impulsive decision to appear on a talk show is nothing more than a desperate attempt to tarnish Andy Puzder at the expense of Lisa and their family.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In addition to the details of the tape, it’s possible that additional information about Fierstein’s domestic abuse allegations could be made public before Puzder’s confirmation hearing.

Divorce documents that were sealed after Puzder’s nomination are being sought in a lawsuit filed by the Campaign for Accountability, a left-leaning nonprofit, which argued in a St. Louis County courtroom Tuesday afternoon that Puzder's nomination required that they be seen by the public. They might be unsealed as soon as Wednesday , according to Daniel Stevens, acting executive director of the Campaign for Accountability.

In the tape, Fierstein does not detail her accusations of physical abuse — accusations she had leveled two years earlier in a petition seeking $350,000 in damages. In that petition, Fierstein said Puzder "assaulted and battered me by striking me violently about the face, chest, back, shoulders and neck, without provocation or cause," leaving “bruises and contusions to the chest, back, shoulders and neck” and “two ruptured discs and two bulging discs,” among other injuries.

The judge in the case dismissed the petition on the grounds that Puzder's divorce agreement had already settled all of Fierstein's prior claims against him.

"I wound up losing everything, everything," Fierstein said on “Oprah.” "I have nothing. He has a Porsche and a Mercedes-Benz. He has the home. He has everything. He was an attorney, and he knew how to play the system."

Fierstein spoke mostly in broad terms on “Oprah” about the effect the abuse had, she said, on herself, and the effect such abuse has on women in general.

"Most men who are in positions like that don't leave marks," Fierstein said. "The damage that I sustained you can't see. It's permanent. ... They don't hit you in the face. They're too smart. They don't hit you in front of everyone."

In response Tuesday, Thompson said: "This supports their collective claims that Andy was never physically abusive."

In a Jan. 18 letter to the HELP Committee, Fierstein said she was contacted by producers for “Oprah” after details of her divorce were made public in the St. Louis press, an apparent reference to a 1989 article in the Riverfront Times detailing her abuse allegations. "They asked me to appear as a panel member to discuss the issue of adult abuse. I was hesitant but encouraged by friends and became caught up in the notion of a free trip to Chicago and being a champion of women and women's issues."

"I regret my decision to appear on that show," she wrote. "I never told Andy about it."

POLITICO obtained a copy of the tape from Charlotte Fedders, a once-famous victim of domestic abuse whose story, when it landed on the front page of The Wall Street Journal in 1985, swiftly ended then-husband John Fedders' tenure as chief of enforcement at Ronald Reagan's Securities and Exchange Commission. Charlotte Fedders appeared with Fierstein on the 1990 “Oprah” episode.

"I totally believe that she was abused," Charlotte Fedders said Tuesday. "Powerful men have a way of convincing you that they didn't do it. I do believe that she was abused."

