CNN
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Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett called Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene a “racist” after Thursday night’s tense House Oversight Committee markup quickly devolved into a personal attack. ” he criticized.
The Georgia State Commission was in session to proceed with contempt proceedings against Attorney General Merrick Garland over his refusal to provide audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s meeting with Special Counsel Robert Hur. Greene, a Republican, made comments about Crockett’s appearance that sparked outrage. “I think the false eyelashes are ruining what I’m reading,” Green said.
“That’s it, this is racism,” Crockett told reporters Friday about the incident. And she, she, yesterday, she decided out loud that she was going to be that person. The difference is, I wasn’t going to just lie there. ”
“She’s a racist. I mean, no questions asked about that,” she added.
When asked for comment by CNN, Greene’s office said, “Congressman Crockett was the only member to mention color.”
House rules state that MPs cannot “engage in character,” meaning they are not allowed to make offensive comments about or towards other members.
If this occurs, the insulted member may request that the words be removed from the record, in which case the offending member will not be allowed to speak during the remainder of the proceeding.
During markup, a vote to remove Greene’s comments from the record failed and she was allowed to continue speaking.
At Markup, Greene began by asking Democrats on the committee whether any Democrats were hiring the daughter of Judge Juan Machan, who is overseeing former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York. Republicans are trying to curry support from President Trump while weakening the case by going after Marchand’s daughter, who has ties to Democrats.
Crockett, a Democrat from Texas, asked Greene, “Do you know what we’re here for?”
Green retorted: “I don’t think you know what you’re here for…I think your false eyelashes are ruining what you’re reading.”
Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez quickly intervened and forced Greene to retract her statement.
“That is absolutely unacceptable. Attacking someone else’s appearance is just that,” the New York Democrat said.
After a series of votes were taken in response to Greene’s explosive rhetoric, Crockett made criticisms that appeared to be directed at Republicans.
“I’m just curious, to better understand your ruling. Then when someone on this committee starts talking about someone’s bleach-blond, bad-looking butch body, it’s not about character. “Yes,” Crockett said.
Crockett said Friday that Greene is disingenuous and doesn’t respect the process.
“She completely lacks the ability to participate in real discussions and doesn’t know her job. She doesn’t know the issues we’re dealing with when we’re on committees. Instead, she is aimed at insults and personal attacks, which is what most of the MAGAs do. She needs to hire a staff member who knows the situation so she can actually talk about the essentials and actually represent the district.” he said.
Crockett also said she is a “grown woman” and has no intention of “taking it lying down.”
“One thing I don’t want to do is have someone disrespect myself as a legitimately elected official. In that case, I’m just going to say, well, that’s okay. And rub it in. I’ll drop it. No, I don’t mean to.
She added: “If they can’t follow the rules, I’ll have to fight for myself.”
Republican and Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee expressed shock and disgust at the “unacceptable” conduct during the committee meeting.
“That’s not appropriate. None of it is appropriate,” said Republican Rep. Tim Burchett, who sat next to Greene during the hearing. “I mean, ‘butch bodies’ and ‘bleach blonde’ hair, there’s no place for that here anymore. And it’s just disgusting. And I have a little girl, she’s somebody’s I don’t want to hear people insult their appearance like that. And yeah, that was pathetic,” he added.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the committee’s top Democrat, criticized Greene’s conduct during the hearing, saying House Republicans’ actions “bring disrepute to the entire organization.”
“When the chairman allowed a distinguished gentleman from Georgia to attack the eyelashes and appearance of other members, at that point the entire meeting went into a hush,” he said.
