WASHINGTON — A House Oversight Committee spiraled into chaos on Thursday night, with personal insults and shouting derailing the committee's meeting.
The already contentious hearing centered around contempt charges against Attorney Genral Merrick Garland for his refusal to hand over audio from President Joe Biden's interview with a special counsel.
In back-to-back hearings that nearly spilled into early Friday, the House Judiciary and Oversight and Accountability committees voted along party lines to advance an effort to hold Garland in contempt of Congress for not turning over the records. But the timing of any action by the full House, and the willingness of the U.S. attorney’s office to act on the referral, remained uncertain.
The Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing took a nasty turn after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene took a personal jab at Rep. Jasmine Crockett, saying her false eyelashes were apparently interfering with her vision.
The hearing soon had several members shouting and hurling insults at each other.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Greene's words "absolutely unacceptable." She moved to have them struck from the Congressional record. She also addressed Greene as "baby girl," while Greene asked if her feelings were hurt.
More shouting broke out when Crockett asked how a representative "talking about somebody's bleach blonde, bad-built butch body" would fit into the committee ruling.
The two House Committees moved ahead with the contempt charges on Thursday, advancing the matter after the White House's decision to block the release of the recording earlier in the day.
If House Republicans’ efforts against Garland are successful, he will become the third attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress.
The rapid sequence of events Thursday further inflamed tensions between House Republicans and the Justice Department, setting the stage for another round of bitter fighting between the two branches of government that seemed nearly certain to spill over into court.
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