A Democratic lawmaker had his comments on the House floor struck from the record after he used his time to detail Donald Trump's troubles with the law on Wednesday, per NBC News.
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., used his floor time to criticize the House's Republican majority for shutting down honest discussion of Trump's criminal cases and distracting people "from the fact that their candidate for president has been indicted more times than he's been elected." But he was ruled out of order by the presiding officer, Rep. Jerry Carl, R-Ala., for then actually listing all of Trump's legal entanglements.
The back-and-forth between McGovern and Republican House members grinded proceedings to a halt for about an hour. Carl told McGovern to “refrain from engaging in personalities," to which the Democrat responded by asking where it was "unparliamentary to state a fact." McGovern also pointed out that GOP members who had called Trump's Manhattan trial a sham and accused the judge of bias were allowed to speak unabated. Carl declined to weigh in. "In this Republican-controlled House, it’s okay to talk about the trial, but you have to call it a 'sham,'" McGovern complained.
Rep. Eric Houchin, R-Ind., then entered the fray, asking that McGovern's words be stricken from the record, a request that members can make if they feel that a colleague has used disorderly language. As they fired broadsides, staff members scrambled to figure out how to proceed correctly. Eventually, Carl ruled McGovern's words out of order, citing rules that prohibited members from using "personally offensive" language about the president.
"The accusation that the president has committed a crime or even that the president has done something illegal is not in order," Carl said. Even though Trump is no longer in office, Carl said that precedents have expanded this rule to include former presidents as well.
McGovern was not allowed to speak on the House floor for the rest of the day, so the congressman took his speech to the reporters outside.
“This is a cult,” McGovern said, referring to the Republican Party. “I mean, they go to extreme measures to protect Trump, you know. And any which way they can. And they’re awfully sensitive.”
