A Thursday evening House Oversight Committee hearing quickly descended into chaos as members on both sides of the aisle hurled personal insults at each other, an explosive example of the deepening tensions on the Hill.
The proceedings got off to a rocky start as Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin, the ranking member, had his opening remarks continuously interrupted by GOP congresswoman and MAGA celebrity Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
The panel was meeting to markup a Republican-sponsored resolution holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress. The markup hearing was originally scheduled for 11 a.m. that morning, but was pushed back to the evening to allow Republican members of the committee to travel to New York to attend Donald Trump’s hush-money trial.
One of the exchanges began with a mention of Juan Merchan, the judge presiding over the trial, whom Trump and his allies have frequently accused of bias, often citing his daughter’s work as a Democratic strategist.
At one point, Greene, a staunch Trump ally, randomly asked, “I’d like to know if any of the Democrats on this committee are employing Judge Merchan’s daughter?”
Jasmine Crockett, a freshman Democratic congresswoman from Texas, responded, “Do you know what we’re here for?,” noting that this was a hearing about Garland.
“I don’t think you know what you’re here for. I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading,” Greene shot back, causing groans to break out through the room.
James Comer, the committee chairman, banged his gavel, trying to call for order as Raskin yelled, “That’s beneath even you, Ms. Greene!”
Crockett was quickly defended by her colleague Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who called for Greene’s words to be struck from the record. “I would like to move to take down Ms. Greene’s words,” she said.
“That is absolutely unacceptable. How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person!”
Greene was unfazed. “Are your feelings hurt? Awww,” she said.
Ocasio-Cortez retorted, “Oh girl, baby girl, don’t even play.”
“Baby girl? I don’t think so,” Greene said.
After some discussion, Comer asked Greene if she would agree to have her words stricken from the record. Greene agreed, but Ocasio-Cortez called for her to apologize to Crockett, which she refused. “Then you’re not striking your words!,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Greene then turned her focus to the New York congresswoman, asking her “Why don’t you debate me?”
“I think it’s pretty self-evident,” Ocasio-Cortez shot back.
Greene responded, “Yeah, you don’t have enough intelligence,” causing loud protests in the hearing room.
In another moment, Crockett took her own shot at Greene under the guise of asking a question about a previous ruling from Comer that allowed Greene to continue speaking after the dust-up.
“Just to better understand your ruling, if someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleached blonde, bad-built, butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?” Crockett asked.
Comer seemed confused, asking “Uh, what now?” as Raskin could be seen appearing to hold back a laugh.
The antics continued throughout the rest of the hearing. In a continuation of their ongoing feud, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado voted with Democrats on a measure that would bar Greene from speaking during the remaining parts of the proceedings. At one point, Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna of Florida referred to New York congressman Dan Goldman as a “trust-fund kid.” Politico reports that at least one member alleged that there were people in the room who weren’t on the committee who were drinking. The effects even reverberated into the next day as Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman criticized the hearing, writing on X, “In the past, I’ve described the U.S. House as The Jerry Springer Show. Today, I’m apologizing to The Jerry Springer Show.” Ocasio-Cortez responded to Fetterman, who has recently received criticism from progressives for his increasingly moderate stances:
Ocasio-Cortez called out the Republican handling of the hearing, saying that Greene’s rhetoric against Crockett was allowed by party members and alleged that leadership broke with legislative norms and cut the debate period short and moved straight to the vote. “Needless to say, this is not normal at all,” she said.
By the end of Thursday night, the committee voted along party lines to advance the contempt resolution against Garland, setting up a likely contentious vote with the full House of Representatives. Raskin, who called for the proceedings to adjourn during the back-and-forth, seemed to sum up the evening’s events.
“I think these 17-hour days might not work for us,” he said.
