A Republican congressman known for occasional clashes with Trump-aligned conservatives in his own party is now at war with Fox News host Jesse Watters.
Dan Crenshaw took aim at Watters in a multi-post Instagram story that went up on Wednesday after the Fox News talking head used a photo of Mr Crenshaw during a segment about members of Congress profiting through the stock market.
Some members of Congress have faced growing scrutiny from members of both parties in recent years over their holdings of large stock portfolios while in office — in many cases those investments include stakes in companies which are parts of industries that those members have direct or indirect roles in regulating, such as health care, financial services or aerospace technology.
In 2022, a New York Times investigation found that nearly 100 members of Congress or their close family members had traded stocks in businesses or industries which were directly affected by areas of oversight correlating to their respective congressional committee assignments.
Mr Crenshaw labelled Watters a “f***ing clown, desperate for clickbait” in his furious retort while adding that he never had more than $20,000 in stock investments while serving in the House. The segment itself, which aired on Jesse Watters Primetime, only mentioned Mr Crenshaw and displayed his headshot for a few seconds at the end of a list of both Republicans and Democrats whose stock trades performed better than the market average.
“Fox knows this, but they’re desperate for fake controversy to get clicks,” the congressman angrily continued. “Watters is a tool, making millions to push conspiracies on TV.”
The posts went on, attacking Watters for an affair with his producer which led to his 2009 marriage and described him as a rich socialite living in Manhattan who supposedly couldn’t stand conservatives living in red states.
He went on to say that the network itself had cancelled a scheduled interview with him following his posts, which headed further off the rails through the evening.
“Jesse Watters seems like the type of dude who pees sitting down,” wrote the elected US congressman.
A source with knowledge of the situation told The Independent that Mr Crenshaw had actually been scheduled to appear on Fox Business, Fox News’s sister network — and said that the cancellation of his appearance was unrelated to his comments on Instagram.
Mr Crenshaw has been a pariah among the Trump-aligned faction of his party ever since he ascribed dishonesty to Republican members of Congress who continue to publicly support the lies made up by the Trump campaign about the 2020 election. Once a popular figure on the conservative right, Mr Crenshaw has more recently faced taunts and heckling from Trump supporters when making appearances at major right-leaning events.
Despite bucking the former president on such an important issue, Mr Crenshaw did not face a Trump-aligned primary candidate in 2022, unlike others such as Brian Kemp, Liz Cheney and Nancy Mace. He was, however, among a handful of Texas Republicans snubbed by the former president for an endorsement in the midterm cycle.
He has yet to name his endorsement for the 2024 election, but recently came out opposed to efforts to remove Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot over his role in calling his supporters to Washington and provoking what became the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
