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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) launched a personal attack against Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D), sparking chaos during a House Oversight Committee meeting.
On Thursday (May 16) night, lawmakers gathered for a House Oversight Committee meeting over whether Attorney General Merrick Garland should be held in contempt of Congress for declining to hand over audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur about his handling of classified documents.
Chaos ensued after Greene responded to one of Crockett's questions, saying, “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) and other Democrats swiftly condemned Greene's comment, asking that her words be struck from the record and for the GOP lawmaker to apologize to Crockett.
"That is absolutely unacceptable," Ocasio-Cortez said. "How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person?"
"Are your feelings hurt?" Greene shot back.
"Oh, girl? Baby girl," Ocasio-Cortez quipped. "Don't even play."
Greene went on to say that Ocasio-Cortez doesn't have "enough intelligence" for a debate.
"Why don't you debate me?" the Republican questioned, to which Ocasio-Cortez responded, "It's pretty self-evident."
"You don't have enough intelligence," Greene told the New York lawmaker.
Greene eventually agreed to strike her comment about Crockett but refused to apologize for either of her attacks.
“You will never get an apology out of me,” she said.
Committee chairman Rep. James Comer (R) ruled that Greene's remark didn't violate a House rule that allows lawmakers to engage in "personalities" during debate.
Crockett asked Comer to explain his ruling on the matter.
"I'm just curious, just to better understand your ruling," Crockett said. "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?"
Chaos ensued again, with one member telling Crockett to "calm down."
"I have two hearing aids. I'm very deaf," Comer said. "I'm not understanding — everybody's yelling. I'm doing the best I can."
Comer later agreed to strike Greene's attack on Ocasio-Cortez from the record. Democrats attempted to enforce a committee rule that could've barred Greene from speaking for the rest of the hearing. Republicans, however, voted to allow her to speak.
Comer called a short recess amid the chaos. After lawmakers returned to the hearing, Comer warned them to follow "the House's standard of decorum."
When Greene was recognized to speak, she again refused to apologize.
"I will not apologize for my words, and I will not change them," she said.
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