Civility was in small supply Thursday night during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee after Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene insulted Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett’s appearance in what many deemed a racist attack.
The committee was meeting to vote on holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for his failure to turn over a subpoenaed audio recording of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur.
Hur recently concluded an investigation to determine if Biden should face criminal charges for storing classified government documents at his home.
At one point during the meeting, Greene asked whether any Democrats on the committee were employing the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over Trump’s hush money trial involving adult film star Stormy Daniels.
When Crockett asked how her question was relevant to the point at hand, Greene responded by insulting her appearance. “Please tell me what that has to do with Merrick Garland,” asked Crockett, who is serving her first term. “Do you know what we’re here for?”
“I don’t think you know what you’re here for. I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading,” Greene responded.
Eventually, the meeting devolved into a full-scale argument, with representatives on both sides of the aisle jumping in to defend their colleagues. Committee chair James Comer struggled to regain order.
“That’s beneath even you, Ms. Greene,” New York Democrat Jamie Raskin said. His fellow New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez confronted Greene over the disrespectful remarks and asked her words be stricken from the record.
“I do have a point of order, and I would like to move to take down Ms. Greene’s words,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “That is absolutely unacceptable. How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person. Move her words down.”
“Are your feelings hurt,” Greene asked.
“Oh girl, oh baby girl, don’t even play,” Ocasio-Cortez said in response. She also demanded that Greene apologize.
Greene agreed to have her comments stricken but refused to apologize. The committee then took a vote on whether Greene should be allowed to continue to speak and many Republicans, with a notable exception of Lauren Boebert, voted to allow it. Comer also ruled favorably about Greene’s comments.
Perplexed at what she deemed a double standard, Crockett threw an obvious jab at Greene while seeking clarification.
“I’m just curious, just to better understand your ruling, if someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleach blond, bad-built, butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?” Crockett asked.
This prompted Florida Republican Anna Paulina Luna to jump in and request that Crockett’s comments be stricken from the record. Luna also yelled at Crockett, telling her to “calm down” and accusing her of being “out of control.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down because y’all talk noise, and then you can’t take it because if I come and talk s—t about her, y’all gon’ have a problem,” Crockett responded.
Crockett reiterated her position in a message she posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) that evening.
“So MTG wanted to talk about my appearance in COMMITTEE?! It’s against the rules to do… She refused to apologize! The chairman ruled that it was ok… AND I asked for clarification about what qualifies as ‘engaging in personalities’ & basically wanted to know if I could talk sh-t about her appearance as… well,” Crockett wrote.
She continued, “y’all know what she looks like, right? PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES! This is what happens when mentally deficient people who can’t read and follow rules or just don’t give a damn… somehow end up in CONGRESS!”
Users on social media weighed in with their opinions, with many calling out the racist tropes embedded in both Greene and Luna’s words.
“It’s the racist gaslighting for me. Jumping in a conversation that wasn’t hers and overtalking @JasmineForUS only to tell her to ‘calm down’ and ‘quit yelling’. They are all a joke, and I guess we found multiple hit dogs hollering,” one user wrote.
“All of that but the cherry on top was the ‘you’re out of control,’” another agreed.
Others told Crocket they stood in solidarity with her.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene got exactly the right one this time. Don’t take any s—t from her. Keep calling them out, Jasmine. We stand with you,” someone else responded.
Once things settled down, the committee primarily divided along party lines, and mostly Republicans voted to advance their resolution to hold Merrick in contempt of Congress to the full House for a vote.
