A House Oversight Committee hearing descended into chaos Thursday night, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) the firebrand Republican. The clash occurred after lawmakers accused Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) of wearing one. “False eyelashes”.
The comments, made during the markup to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress, caused nearly an hour of chaos within the committee, with lawmakers shouting at each other and shouting abuse left and right. Chairman James Comer (R) resigned. Ky.) I have a hard time maintaining order.
The madness culminated Thursday night with a vote on whether to allow Greene to continue speaking at the hearing, which the committee ultimately granted in a 22-20 vote. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) — butted heads She and Greene have crossed party lines in the past, voting against allowing the Georgia lawmaker’s hearings to proceed. Boebert sat two seats away from Greene during the vote.
“I wish I could bring you some popcorn,” Green exclaimed at one point during the hearing.
Republicans move to insult Garland after the attorney general refused to turn over audio recordings of President Biden’s meeting with special counsel Robert Hur, even though they already had recordings of the conversations. I showed you. Biden claimed executive privilege over the audio recordings.
The vote passed 24-20 along party lines just after 11pm ET Thursday night, hours after the House Judiciary Committee passed a similar resolution. The entire House is scheduled to vote on the charge of contempt of the attorney general.
The uproar erupted during Thursday night’s oversight hearing when Greene asked whether Democrats on the committee were hiring the daughter of Judge Juan Machan, who is overseeing former President Trump’s hush-money trial in Manhattan. did. President Trump and Republicans are targeting a judge’s daughter over her employment at a progressive digital agency. The Oversight Committee delayed the start of Thursday’s contempt charge from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., allowing many Republicans who sit on the committee to attend Mr. Trump’s trial in Manhattan.
“Tell me what that has to do with Merrick Garland,” first-term Rep. Crockett asked, followed by, “Do you know what we’re here for?” added.
“I don’t think you know what you’re here for,” Green replied. “I think your false eyelashes are ruining what I’m reading.”
The remarks sparked outrage from Democrats, with the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, saying, “That doesn’t even come close to Ms. Greene’s level,” and Ocasio-Cortez saying, “It’s disgusting.” That’s what I do,” he yelled.
Ocasio-Cortez moved to retract Greene’s words, calling them “absolutely unacceptable.”
“It’s common to attack someone else’s appearance,” she added.
“Are your feelings hurt?” Green replied.
“Oh, little girl, little girl, you can’t play with me,” Ocasio-Cortez retorted, prompting Green to say, “Oh, really little girl?”
The exchange briefly halted proceedings while Comer decided how to proceed. After the resumption, Ms. Greene said she agreed to take her word for it, but Ms. Ocasio-Cortez demanded that Mr. Crockett apologize, an exchange that led to Ms. Greene insulting the New York Democratic Party.
“I think she needs to apologize,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Ms. Greene responded, “I’m not apologizing,” to which Ms. Ocasio-Cortez responded, “Then I didn’t say anything wrong.”
“Why don’t you argue with me?” Green asked.
“I think that’s self-evident,” Ocasio-Cortez retorted.
Greene responded, “Well, you don’t have enough intelligence,” sparking unrest among Democrats.
Ocasio-Cortez was quick to criticize Greene’s comments about her “intelligence,” and the Georgia Republican agreed. However, she again stated that she would not apologize and she caused further confusion.
“You’ll never get an apology from me,” Green repeated shortly after. “I don’t owe you anything.”
Further confusion ensued minutes later when Mr. Crockett asked whether the hypothetical comment, which appeared to be a veiled jab at Mr. Greene, violated parliamentary protocol.
“I’m kind of curious because I just want to understand your ruling better,” Crockett said, referring to Comer’s ruling regarding Green’s comments. “If someone on this committee starts talking about someone’s bleach-blonde bad physique, that doesn’t involve personality, does it?”
At that point, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) jumped into the chaos and called for criticism of Crockett’s words.
“I want an explanation,” Crockett said, while Luna repeatedly yelled at him to “calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down,” Crockett replied.
“Calm down,” Luna retorted. “You are out of control.”
“If I come and talk trash about her, there’s going to be trouble,” Crockett said.
“I don’t know what you’re doing. It’s not cute,” Luna replied.
“I think this 17-hour day might not work out for us,” Raskin said at one point, arguing about Democrats reinstating their motion to suspend the proceedings.
“It’s about work,” Luna answered.
At that point, Rep. Dan Goldman (D.N.Y.) also joined the conversation.
“Yeah, they’re probably there to vote,” he replied, an apparent reference to Luna’s missed vote at the Capitol after appearing alongside President Trump in his hush money trial in Manhattan. It seems to be pointing.
Luna fired back, calling Goldman a “trust fund kid.”
The raucous hearing, which began about 30 minutes into the hearing, ended when the committee voted to allow Greene to continue speaking.
Updated at 11:35pm EST.
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