WATCH: MTG laughs in hearing after claiming Swalwell had sexual affair with Chinese spy
Anna Giaritelli
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A House hearing meant to debate funding levels for the Department of Homeland Security went off the rails Wednesday after a right-wing firebrand member accused a Democrat of having an affair with a Chinese spy.
The House Homeland Security Committee’s hearing with witness Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was focused on the state of the U.S.-Mexico border and other related matters when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) pivoted from the topic and joked about the personal life of Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).
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Swalwell had wrapped up his five minutes of questioning Mayorkas with remarks about the need for people not to escalate how they speak of other ethnic groups, religions, and backgrounds when Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) offered Greene her chance to speak with Mayorkas.
Swalwell had asked Mayorkas about former President Donald Trump’s recent call for the FBI to be disbanded until political operators on the inside could be purged. Swalwell also pointed to rapper Kanye West’s comments disparaging Jews.
“That was quite entertaining from someone that had a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy, and everyone knows it,” Greene said and laughed.
“I move to take her words down,” called out a voice on the Democrats’ side of the table.
“Completely inappropriate,” another person said.
https://twitter.com/Anna_Giaritelli/status/1648743762196037643
The committee spent the next seven minutes researching whether Greene’s comments could be stripped from the record on the basis that it was a personality attack.
The chairman offered Greene a chance to retract her comment, but she declined to take it back.
After several minutes, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), longtime committee member and former chairman, spoke out in disgust.
“We’ve never had an accusation made of any member like that, and I’m appalled at it,” Thompson said. “We all ought to be embarrassed at it. We are a better committee than what the gentlelady is trying to make of this committee.”
Greene then began her questioning of Mayorkas and yelled at him over the deaths of people due to fentanyl.
Mayorkas responded that the DHS was fighting the fentanyl epidemic.
“You’re a liar,” Greene snapped back.
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Greene posted to Twitter afterward that it was unfair she was censored for name-calling when Thompson was not censored for using similar phrases.
https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1648731327330414592
The spy incident unfolded in late 2020 when the federal government alleged that Chinese affiliates had targeted some California lawmakers. Swalwell denied any involvement or wrongdoing.