A committee hearing descended into chaos as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Marjorie Taylor Greene a ‘baby girl’ and the pair traded personal insults in a fiery debate.
The fight broke out on Thursday night as the House Oversight Committee voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena.
Greene started the fight by making a snide personal comment about Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, criticizing her ‘fake eyelashes’. AOC then stepped in and the pair traded jibes before AOC said to Greene: ‘Oh girl, baby girl… don’t even play.’
Chairman James Comer desperately tried to maintain order, at one point even saying, ‘I have two hearing aids, I’m very deaf,’ in a plea to get everyone to stop shouting.
Over the years AOC and Greene have clashed many times with Greene previously accusing AOC of acting like a ‘teenage girl’, calling her a ‘chicken’, and labelling her a ‘little communist’.
Marjorie Taylor Greene started the fight at the committee hearing on Thursday night by making a personal comment about Rep Crockett’s ‘fake eyelashes’
AOC then stepped in, calling for Greene to apologize and for her comments to be taken down. The argument quickly escalated with the pair trading personal jibes
Thursday’s fight broke out during a committee hearing over whether to hold Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over an audio recording of President Biden’s interview with special counsel Ben Hur.
But the hearing quickly spiraled out of control with representatives taking potshots at each other and shouting over one another.
The antics were caught on camera with video showing Greene first taking aim at Rep Crockett.
Greene asked if ‘any of the Democrats on this committee are employing Judge Merchan’s daughter?’
She was referring to Rep Dan Goldman, who has taken on the services of a political consulting firm that employs the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over Trump’s criminal trial in New York.
Crockett replied to Greene: ‘Please tell me what that has to do with Merrick Garland.’
Greene then said: ‘I don’t think you know what you’re here for… I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.’
She was then cut off by Chairman James Comer calling for order.
AOC then stepped in, calling Greene’s words ‘absolutely unacceptable’ and asking her: ‘How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person?’
Crockett later shouted at Greene, who repeatedly told her to ‘calm down’
She called for Greene’s words to be ‘taken down’, a procedure which allows a speaker to take back or amend their comments if they are deemed out of order.
Green retaliated, asking AOC: ‘Are your feelings hurt?’
AOC responded, repeatedly saying: ‘Move her words down.’
Greene then said, ‘aww’ to which AOC replied: ‘Oh! Girl, baby, girl, don’t even play!’
Greene then said: ‘Baby, girl? I don’t think so,’ and AOC replied: ‘We are gonna move and we are gonna take your words down.’
Chairman Comer suspended the hearing while they decided whether to strike Greene’s words.
While they discussed, AOC could be heard saying ‘No way is that being allowed’ and ‘not today.’
She added: ‘We’re not going to do a smarmy apology. She has to actually apologize. And that needs to be up to Ms. Crockett as well. It needs to be sincere.’
Greene later said she would strike her words but refused to apologize and went on to call AOC ‘not intelligent’.
As the shouting continued, Comer was forced to gesture to his ears and say, ‘I don’t know if you noticed, but I have two hearing aids. I’m very deaf.’
Throughout the fiery exchange other representatives were shouting and jeering while Comer called for order.
Crockett then later attempted to clarify whether Greene’s personal attack on her was allowed by the committee.
She asked Comer: ‘I’m just curious. Just to better understand your ruling. If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleach blonde bad built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?’
Greene responded telling Crockett to ‘calm down’ repeatedly, which prompted Crockett to start yelling and say ‘don’t tell me to calm down, you’re talking all this noise, but you can’t take it’.
As the shouting continued, Comer was forced to gesture to his ears and say, ‘I don’t know if you noticed, but I have two hearing aids. I’m very deaf, I’m not understanding, everyone is shouting. I am doing the best I can.’
Crockett later posted on X: ‘So MTG wanted to talk about my appearance in COMMITTEE?!
‘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!’
The committee eventually voted to hold Merrick Garland in criminal contempt meaning the motion now moves to the full House for a vote.
The vote came after President Biden asserted executive privilege over the audio tapes of his interview with ex-special counsel Robert Hur in a move to shield Garland from criminal charges.
Throughout the fiery exchange other representatives were shouting and jeering while Comer called for order
Republicans have seized on a line in Hur’s report about the president’s mishandling of classified documents stating Biden appeared to be an ‘elderly man with a poor memory’ and wanted audio evidence.
Garland lashed out at the move, saying earlier Thursday that the DOJ has gone to ‘extraordinary lengths’ to provide the committee with information.
‘We have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that a committees get responses to their legitimate requests, but this is not one,’ Garland told reporters ahead of a hearing to advance his contempt charge.
Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., shot back: ‘The White House is asserting privilege over the recordings, but it has already waived privilege by releasing the transcript of the interview.’
AOC and Greene have a long history of animosity.
AOC and Greene have a long history of animosity. In 2021, Greene took aim at AOC, calling her a ‘little communist’ and ‘not an American’ and then labelled her a ‘hate-America terrorist sympathizer’
In 2021, Greene took aim at AOC, calling her a ‘little communist’ and ‘not an American’ and then labelled her a ‘hate-America terrorist sympathizer’.
AOC immediately replied on Twitter, saying ‘first of all, I’m taller than her’.
Greene repeatedly demanded AOC debate her, telling reporters: ‘She’s a chicken. She doesn’t want to debate. I don’t think the debate has been agreed to yet.’
The pair clashed again last year, when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene accused Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of acting like a ‘teenage girl’ after the New York Democrat accused the Georgia Republican of ‘trafficking in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.’
‘I have repeatedly asked you to debate me, but you have been a coward and can’t even respond. But you go on CNN and lie about me,’ Greene tweeted.
‘When are you going to be an adult and actually debate me on policy instead of run your mouth like a teenage girl?’