Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sparred after the New York representative was involved in a verbal altercation with fellow House members late last week.
During a late Thursday House Oversight Committee meeting to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress after failing to provide subpoenaed audio tapes of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Joe Biden, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett engaged in a back-and-forth after Greene suggested Crockett was unable to read because she was wearing "fake eyelashes."
The committee hearing was initially delayed from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. as some House Republicans attended former President Donald Trump's alleged "hush money" trial currently underway. After the hearing commenced, Greene ased if any Democrats on the panel were associated with the daughter of Judge Juan M. Merchan, who is overseeing Trump's trial. Merchan's daughter Loren, a political consultant, has been accused of profiting off of the former president's trial.
“Please tell me what that has to do with Merrick Garland," Crockett asked Greene in response to the Georgia representative's query. “Do you know what we’re here for?”
“I don’t think you know what you’re here for,” Greene retorted. “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”
Following Greene's response, Ocasio-Cortez raised a point of order to "take down Greene's words," before shaming Greene for criticizing the "physical appearance of another person."
The Georgia representative asked if Ocasio-Cortez's feelings were hurt, to which she replied, "Oh girl, baby girl, don’t even play."
“Oh really? ‘Baby girl?’” Greene shot back before asking why Ocasio Cortez refused to debate her.
Greene then suggested Ocasio-Cortez didn't possess "enough intelligence" as other representatives from both sides of the aisle jumped into the argument.
On Friday, Fetterman shared a screenshot of a CNN article covering the incident before commenting on the matter.
"In the past, I've described the U.S. House as The Jerry Springer Show," Fetterman wrote. "Today, I'm apologizing to The Jerry Springer Show."
Shortly after Fetterman's post, Ocasio-Cortez responded in her own post.
"I understand you likely would not have stood up for your colleague and seem to be confused about racism and misogyny being a 'both sides' issue," Ocasio-Cortez wrote. "But I stand up to bullies, instead of becoming one."
"And to the women of Pennsylvania: I'd stand up for you too," she added.
Fetterman responded to Ocasio-Cortez's remarks during a Sunday appearance on CNN's State of the Union with host Jake Tapper.
"That‘s absurd,” Fetterman said. “I was just simply responding to the kind of chaos and everything that Rep. Greene started as well.”
“And if everyone on the committee was proud of what they‘ve produced, they are entitled to their opinion or if they feel that this is the kind of a video that you want to send to a classroom of 8th grade civics kind of students across America,” he added. “That’s their choice."
