‘Oversight After Dark’: Lawmakers Hurl Insults at Session

In an after-hours session on Capitol Hill, insults by the right-wing Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene led to a raucous exchange with Democrats, featuring insults about personal appearance, intellect and more.

Share full article

By Luke Broadwater

Reporting from Washington

May 17, 2024Updated 1:12 p.m. ET

Even by the rock-bottom standards of the 118th Congress, Thursday night’s three-hour voting session of the House Oversight Committee was perhaps a new low. There was shouting and chaos. There were insults about eyelashes, hair dye and body composition. It was behavior that would get most elementary school kids suspended.

The members of the Republican-led committee gathered after 8 p.m. in a Capitol Hill hearing room ready for a fight — some members of the audience were even said to have brought alcoholic beverages to enjoy the show. They had gathered so late because so many Republicans traveled to Manhattan to show support for former President Donald J. Trump at the courthouse where he is on trial on criminal charges involving hush money payments to a porn star.

Back in Washington, lawmakers were ostensibly meeting for the most serious and somber of reasons: to debate whether to hold a cabinet official in contempt of Congress. Republicans were recommending charging Attorney General Merrick B. Garland — an action that the committee chairman, Representative James Comer of Kentucky, proudly touted in a fund-raising appeal earlier in the day — and they would eventually get to that.

But first, it was time for fight club.

Who better to instigate the chaos than Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the right-wing Georgia Republican best known for her penchant for incendiary statements and stunts? Her first target was Representative Jasmine Crockett, the Democrat from Texas who frequently takes on Ms. Greene in the committee.

After an initial back and forth, Ms. Greene went after Ms. Crockett’s appearance, causing all hell to break lose.

“I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading,” Ms. Greene said, mocking her makeup.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.