WATCH: Whitaker Hearing Repeatedly Plunges Into Chaos as Lawmakers Exchange Fire
The hearing for Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker fell into disarray on Friday when proceedings dissolved into multiple instances of partisan bickering and food fights.
Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA) started things off by pressing Whitaker on whether he agrees with President Donald Trump about the Russia investigations being a “witch hunt,” along with the nature of his commentary on the raid of Roger Stone. Whitaker responded, but Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) interjected and accused the acting attorney general of filibustering through Johnson’s time by not answering questions.
As that was happening, Ranking Republican Doug Collins (GA) accused Nadler of counseling Whitaker on how he should answer, to which, Nadler responded he was telling Whitaker not to stall. This prompted Nadler to declare Collins out of order, and he restored time to Johnson so he could finish his questioning.
Later, Collins interrupted questioning from Karen Bass (D-CA) to demand a point of order. When he accused Bass of asking a question beyond the scope of DOJ oversight, Nadler shut him down and ruled that the point of order was not valid.
Nadler repeatedly tried to hand the floor back to Bass, but Collins kept interrupting to establish his point.
“I was not through with my point of order,” Collins protested.
Eventually, the commotion resulted in a roll call vote to override Collins. Democrats voted to table the GOP’s motion, so Bass was able to ask Whitaker about his work with a conservative group that has called for investigations of leftist politicians.
Watch above, via CNN.
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