House Democrats on Friday called Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene a racist after the chaotic House Oversight Committee hearing the night before where the conservative made comments on another lawmaker’s appearance.
The spark that lit the fire in the hearing was Ms. Greene’s comment about Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s “fake eyelashes.” Ms. Crockett, who is Black, told reporters that not only was Ms. Greene racist, but also that she was likely raising money from the episode.
“She’s racist. I mean, that’s what it is. And, and the thing is, I get attacked all the time on social media, and it’s usually by minions and people that follow her and Trump,” said Ms. Crockett, Texas Democrat.
She continued, “She probably will raise money because the racists are gonna be so happy to give it to her.”
Ms. Greene’s comment prompted an uproar in the room from lawmakers who decried attacking someone’s appearance. Included was a disparaging response from Ms. Crockett, who belittled Ms. Greene’s looks after the Georgia Republican refused to apologize.
Friday morning, Ms. Greene shifted her anger toward the “Democrat-controlled DOJ, federal government and Congress in general.”
“Pardon me if I don’t talk as nicely as some people would like to hear,” she posted on X.
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California, also a member of the House panel, said Ms. Greene started the fracas, with Ms. Crockett simply responding after being “viciously attacked.”
“I think there’s no question that Marjorie Taylor Greene uses racist language all the time,” Mr. Garcia said. “I mean, let’s be very clear, she’s always, actually, I think coddling to White supremacists, she’s coddling to the language that Donald Trump uses.”
Adding intrigue to the fiasco was that Mr. Garcia suggested that lawmakers on the panel had been drinking, but he was unsure if they were imbibing during the hearing.
While Democrats went after Ms. Greene on Friday, Republicans tried to temper the fiery exchange.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said he would talk with his colleagues about the importance of decorum and hoped that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, would do the same on his side of the aisle.
“It’s not a good look for Congress,” Mr. Johnson said. “And as I’ve said a few times this morning, decorum is an important principle to maintain. And we’re going to continue to try to advance that principle, and we need people on both sides of the aisle to just, I think, just take the emotion out of it.”
Rep. Byron Donalds, Florida Republican, agreed that the hearing looked bad, but said the drama detracted from the committee vote to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for not handing over the recordings of President Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur.
“It wasn’t a good look. But that doesn’t matter to the actual merits of what we did last night,” Mr. Donalds said. “Yeah, that’s just personalities. You know, late night, you have personality clashes. It’s unfortunate, but we move on.”