House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) threatened to have Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) removed from a hearing on Tuesday after he repeatedly called Donald Trump a “grifter.”
In his remarks after he was recognized by the chair, Frost called Trump the “grifter-in-chief” and accused him and unelected South African born billionaire Elon Musk of using their positions to “enrich themselves to the tune of billions of dollars.”
“So if we wanna look at waste, fraud, and abuse — which I’m down to do — why is there complete silence on the other side of the aisle about looking at the complete grifter that is the President of the United States and the richest man on the Earth, which is looking into things like social security and different things like that?” Frost said. “Why don’t we investigate the real corruption?”
A shouting match broke out as Republicans on the committee demanded that Frost’s remarks be stricken from the record.
“Would you like to revise your remark with respect to improperly identifying the president of the United States?” Comer asked Frost.
Frost doubled down, “I will say President Musk and Grifter-in-Chief Trump.”
Again, Republicans on the committee called for Frost’s remarks to be removed from the record.
Comer then asked Frost to revise his remarks, but he dug in and continued to insist Trump was “grifting.”
“I will say the President is grifting because you spent the last two years saying President Biden was corrupt,” Frost said.
Frost was again interrupted as Comer said there was a “pending motion for disparaging the president.”
“I can say that Trump is grifting!” Frost said. “What I will withdraw is calling him ‘grifter-in-chief.’ That is what I will withdraw.”
Comer then ruled that Frost was out of order and ordered his words be stricken from the record and barred him from speaking for the rest of the hearing.
“I want to say it’s despicable that this committee is going to silence me,” Frost said before his microphone was cut off. He however kept speaking as he gathered his things.
“The gentleman’s words have been taken down,” Comer said. “He is not permitted to speak for the rest of the hearing. Mr. ranking member, I’m going to have the sergeant at arms remove him if he doesn’t refrain.”
