Tensions boiled over during the House Judiciary Committee’s contentious Federal Trade Commission oversight hearing Thursday morning.
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) called out the “hypocrisy” and “the lack of integrity” of some Republican lawmakers who questioned FBI Director Christopher Wray’s judgment in a Wednesday hearing and were now interrogating FTC Chair Lina Khan.
He alleged that these GOP lawmakers weaponized the government on Jan. 6 “to overthrow the government in contradiction of their oath of office.”
“Is the gentleman accusing us of a lack of integrity?” one Republican lawmaker interrupted.
“Mr. Chairman, if you would ask whoever it is to shut up?” Cohen shot back.
“I’m sure [Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)] will rule when he comes back,” the lawmaker quipped.
Cohen’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
A few minutes later, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) implied Khan, a British-born American whose parents are from Pakistan, was under Republican attack for her work in part because of her ethnicity.
“When we treat a witness who looks like you with the politics of personal destruction, and when we only attack witnesses who look like you with allegations of incompetence and a lack of ability to lead their agency, it’s indicative of the need for this committee to reflect what the American people look like,” Johnson said.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who questioned Khan before Johnson’s remark, bristled at the assertion, requesting Johnson’s comments be stricken from the record.
“I would ask that that portion of his testimony be taken down as inappropriate and argumentative to and making a racial slur against myself and other members of the Congress, who, by the way, yesterday treated what I would call a very white man of a greater age very similarly,” Issa said.
Republicans hammered Khan on what they characterized as her mismanagement of the agency, politicized rulemakings and aggressive and unproductive action to stop corporate mergers.
They repeatedly pointed to a ruling issued Wednesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that cleared the way for Microsoft to buy the video game company Activision Blizzard, a ruling the FTC said Thursday it would appeal.
Democrats have been largely supportive of the FTC’s efforts to prevent corporate mergers that they argue would harm consumers and give single businesses too much power over their industries.
Jordan sought to settle tensions, reminding the committee, “We should all engage in proper decorum, not disparage colleagues, not disparage people in the government, not disparage anyone.”
“No personal affront was intended,” Johnson clarified.
The hearing comes on the heels of a similarly heated hearing the committee held Wednesday where Republican lawmakers grilled Wray about the agency’s credibility and accused the agency of being politically biased in its ongoing investigations of former President Trump.
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