Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) condemned the fiery House hearing after Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Marjorie Taylor Greene traded barbs, saying that members needed to show decorum.
“It’s not a good look for Congress,” Johnson told reporters on Friday.
The Republican speaker chided both parties, saying that while “vigorous debate” was welcomed, “we have to treat one another with dignity and respect.”
“Decorum is an important principle to maintain,” he said.
“And we need people on both sides of the aisle to just, I think, just take the emotion out of it. We can have vigorous debate. That’s what this institution is built upon. But you know, we have to treat one another with dignity and respect,” Johnson said.
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The hearing quickly spiraled out of control, after Greene took a shot at her Democrat colleague, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Mo.
“Do you know what we’re here for?” Crockett asked Greene, who shot back: “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”
WATCH:
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer pleaded for order amid audible groans in the chamber.
Ocasio-Cortez weighed in saying: “I do have a point of order, and I would like to move to take down Ms. Green’s words. That is absolutely unacceptable. How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person… move her words down.”
“Are your feelings hurt?” Greene asked.
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“Oh girl, baby girl!” Ocasio-Cortez shot back. “Don’t even play!”
Ocasio-Cortez pushed to have Greene’s words “taken down,” which is a procedure to give a speaker the chance to withdraw their words or amend them if they are deemed out of order.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-KY, ruled that the comments did not violate House rules against engaging in “personalities” during debate.
The hearing led to a 24-20 vote along party lines to recommend holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt.
Crockett reacted to the brouhaha on X.
“So MTG wanted to talk about my appearance in COMMITTEE?!” Crockett wrote on X. “This is what happens when mentally deficient people who can’t read and follow rules or just don’t give a da–… somehow end up in CONGRESS!”.
“Disagreement is part of democracy, but the hearing descended into outright name-calling and insults about Congressmembers’ appearances,” Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) wrote on X. “No American deserves this chaos in Congress.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), observing the hearing, wrote on X: “Looks like they’re having a totally normal one over in Oversight…”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Speaker Johnson’s office for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
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