Washington, D.C.
Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett has witnessed plenty of partisan fireworks as a freshman member of the U.S. House Oversight Committee, but this month’s confrontation with Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene quickly reached new heights as an online sensation.
“I’ve had things that have gone viral as I was sitting in committee,” Crockett said. “Nothing like this.”
The committee on May 16 was considering whether to hold U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for withholding audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s conversations with special counsel Robert Hur, but things veered off the rails after Greene told Crockett, “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”
Democrats objected, but the panel’s Republican chairman, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, ruled Greene did not violate rules against personal attacks.
Crockett, D-Dallas, asked for clarification.
“If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleach-blond, bad-built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?” she said.
The furor has raged online for days as people post parody remixes of the hearing room exchange or release their own songs incorporating what Crockett calls the “B6? phrase. Crockett’s campaign filed an application to trademark the six-word phrase, which she said was a spontaneous creation.
Crockett has said Greene is a racist bully, reflected in the attack on her appearance that channeled common tropes about African-American women and fake hair, nails or eyelashes.
Crockett said she has been heartened by the support.
“I think that people were just finally excited to see a bully cut down to size,” she said.
Crockett acknowledged receiving Republican criticism over selling the shirts but said she is trying to channel ugliness into something good.
