A Congressional committee descended into chaos on May 16 when Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene traded personal insults with a Democrat. The House Oversight Committee met to discuss GOP efforts to hold US Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over tapes of President Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur. Early into the proceedings, Georgia’s Taylor Greene engaged in a hostile spat with Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas.
It began when Crockett expressed a lack of clarity as to the purpose of the meeting, to which the Republican responded, “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.” Amid subsequent raised voices and tempers, chairman James Comer struggled to maintain order, and New York’s Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez demanded the Committee formally strike down Taylor Greene’s words as “unacceptable.”
Rep. Crockett then hurled insults back at her GOP counterpart, suggesting she had a “bleach blonde, bad built, butch body,” prompting yet more uproar. Mr. Comer suspended proceedings, and when the lawmakers resumed, Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert apologized to the American people for the spectacle.
With calm restored, the Committee voted to hold Mr. Garland in contempt by 24 votes to 22. Similarly, the House Judiciary Committee convened a meeting for the same purpose and passed the motion by 18 to 15 along party lines.
The Attorney General and the Justice Department have refused to hand over recordings of the President’s interview with Robert Hur, arguing that the transcripts, which Republicans have already received, are sufficient. The GOP, however, argues that how the President spoke, or pauses in the conversation, are vital and testify to Biden’s mental and cognitive state.
Furious Democrats say Republicans only want the tapes so they can use them in election ad campaigns and that proceedings to obtain them are a misuse of their power and carried out solely for electoral advantage. The resolutions will now travel to the House floor for consideration.
