Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was criticised by members of her own party for attacking fellow Rep Eric Swalwell in the middle of a House Homeland Security Committee hearing.
During the hearing, which took place on Wednesday 19 April, Mr Swalwell used social media posts to express concern over rhetoric being used by members of the committee.
One of which – “defund the FBI” – belonged to Ms Greene.
After Mr Swalwell yielded his time, Ms Greene responded with a smirk. “That was quite entertaining from someone that had a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy and everyone knows it,” she said.
Ms Greene’s comments are a reference to an unfounded claim that Mr Swalwell had sexual relations with alleged spy, Christine Fang.
There is no evidence that Mr Swalwell had any sort of sexual relationship with Ms Fang.
Representative Daniel Goldman swiftly motioned to have Ms Green’s words “taken down”, which would strike them from the official hearing record and bar her from speaking.
One committee member could be heard saying, “Completely inappropriate” though it is unclear who said this.
On Twitter, people critised Ms Greene for her behavior.
Journalist Molly Jong-Fast called it, “disgusting.”
Congressional candidate John Burrows said, “If it was not clear before, today’s Homeland Security Committee hearing showed exactly why Marjorie Taylor Greene should be removed from the Committee.
“She has no class. No respect,” Chris Flemming tweeted.
Conservative writer Benny Johnson called the hearing “chaos.”
Later on in the hearing, Ms Greene shouted and called the witness, the Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayoraks, a “liar.”
Ms Greene’s words were determined to have violated the rules of the committee by Republican Chairman Mark Green and Ms Greene’s words were taken down and she was barred from speaking.
In response to the situation, Mr Swalwell took to Twitter and wrote, “The hardest thing I do every day is to wake, feed, and dress 3 little monsters who are 5 and under. Dealing with this crazy lady’s delusions is like dunking in Oz.”
