Christian Smith
(The hill) – Rep. Jaime Raskin (Md.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, says it is “worth investigating” whether lawmakers were drinking during Thursday’s explosive hearing after rumors circulated that that non-committee members were intoxicated.
“I didn’t see the lady from New Mexico drinking, Melanie Stansbury brought it up, she said there are members drinking in the room, and that’s something worth looking into if in fact there was drinking,” Raksin said on Fox News.
According to Representative Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), there were “some members in the room who were drinking inside the hearing room.” Stansbury said the lawmakers who were drinking were not on the committee, Axios reported.
On Thursday night, the Oversight Committee hearing it became chaotic while Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.) fought after Greene accused Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) of using “false eyelashes.”
The committee was holding a scheduling hearing to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland accountable for contempt of Congress, but it descended into chaos with nearly an hour of lawmakers shouting at each other.
It all started when a vote was taken on whether or not to allow Green to continue speaking during the hearing. Greene asked if any Democrats on the panel were employing the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan, the judge who oversaw former President Trump’s trial.
Thursday’s hearing was postponed a few hours after several Republicans on the panel went to New York in the morning to support Trump at his trial. Crockett questioned why Greene would mention Merchan and the two began to argue.
Crockett asked Green if she knows “why we are here?” Green said she doesn’t think the Texas Democrat knows “why you’re here.”
“I think your false eyelashes are getting in the way of what you’re reading,” she said.
At this point, Raskin interrupted, saying, “this is beneath even you, Mrs. Greene.”
Ocasio-Cortez said it was “disgusting” and “absolutely unacceptable” to attack another person’s physical appearance.
After a brief break, the two lawmakers continued their discussion, with Greene insulting Ocasio-Cortez’s intelligence and saying she would “never” apologize for her comments.
Crockett later responded to Greene saying she has a “bleached blonde, poorly built, masculine body.”
She said Friday that she believes Greene’s original comment was “absolutely” racist.
The whole scene drew criticism from both sides across the aisle, with Democrats and Republicans agreeing on at least one thing: It wasn’t a good look for Congress.
