CNN commentator Van Jones criticized Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) following her personal attacks on a congressional colleague during a House Oversight Committee hearing Thursday night.
The committee hearing, held to vote on whether to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland liable for contempt of Congress, descended into chaos after Greene made a comment about the appearance of Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) and her “eyelashes hairpieces”.
“I don’t think you know why you’re here,” Greene told Crockett after the Georgia Republican made comments about former President Trump’s secret trial. “I think your false eyelashes are getting in the way of what you’re reading.”
In response to the incident, Jones suggested that some lawmakers just want attention.
“I think the standard of conduct has been slowly lowered by some of these people in Congress,” Jones said Friday in comments to CNN. “They go there because they want to be celebrities. I’m talking about Marjorie Taylor Greene and others.”
“Why do we know her name? Marjorie Taylor Greene never passed a bill,” he continued in the panel interview, highlighted by Mediaitis. “She’s never chaired a committee. She’s never done anything other than be a provocateur and a clown and piss people off and that kind of thing that happens.”
After the eyelash comment, Crockett responded to Greene later in the hearing, apparently referring to her fellow Republican as a “poorly built, bleached blonde.” The Texas Democrat, and many others, also accused Greene of making comments with racial overtones.
While Jones appeared to agree with the assessment, he added that it is “a disgrace” regardless of the intent behind his comments.
“Whether she is racist or not, she is an embarrassment to the American people. She is an embarrassment to Congress,” he said.
Following the incident, several committee members criticized the episode as “disgusting,” “embarrassing” and a “high school fight.”
But despite the fight, the committee ultimately voted to hold Garland in contempt in an effort to censure him for failing to turn over audio recordings of President Biden for use in his impeachment investigation.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
