Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) accused Rep. John Fetterman(D-PA) of being "confused about racism and misogyny" after her colleague compared a fiery congressional hearing to the Jerry Springer Show, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The House Oversight Committee met on Thursday to address Attorney General Merrick Garland's contempt of Congress charges, and the hearing devolved into a war of words after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) insulted the physical appearance of Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX). Greene's remark outraged Ocasio-Cortez, leading to a heated exchange that derailed proceedings for nearly an hour.
Fetterman took to X Friday morning to share a CNN headline about the ordeal, and wrote in his post, "In the past, I’ve described the U.S. House as The Jerry Springer Show. Today, I’m apologizing to The Jerry Springer Show."
Ocasio-Cortez quickly took notice of Fetterman's dig, clapping back in her own X post soon afterward, "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."
"But I stand up to bullies, instead of becoming one," she continued, "And to the women of Pennsylvania: I’d stand up for you too." Her statement concluded, "Enjoy your Friday."
Ocasio-Cortez asserted in another post that "this stuff isn’t just all-sides chaos, or mere distraction, or a pox on everyone’s house." "They WANT you to think this was some random devolution of conduct instead of a structured GOP outcome," she wrote. "We must understand who and what actions created the situation. It matters."
Ocasio-Cortez later reposted a statement made by Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX), who wrote: "Women of color in congress are frequently targeted by misogynistic, xenophobic, ignorant people. I’ve lived it." "One of the shameless extremists we work with insulted @JasmineForUS, and @AOC used parliamentary procedure to demand a standard of decorum," Escobar said. "There is no 'both sides.'"
The conflict during Thursday's hearing began when Greene questioned if any committee Democrats employed the daughter of the judge presiding over Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial in New York.
Crockett challenged the relevance of Greene's question, which led Greene fire back, "I don’t think you know what you’re here for. I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading."
Ocasio-Cortez jumped in, calling Greene's comment "disgusting" and "unacceptable," and asking, "How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person?"
Green replied mockingly, "Are your feelings hurt?" to which Ocasio-Cortez retorted, "Oh, girl. Baby girl. Don't even play."
"Baby girl? I don't think so," Greene snapped back.
Ocasio-Cortez demanded that Greene's comments be struck from the official record, but the Georgia lawmaker refused to apologize as Crockett, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) joined the discord.
After the disruptions, the panel refocused and voted to advance the contempt proceedings against Garland.