Lauren Boebert called out over treatment of witness: ‘An insult is not an argument’

‘An insult is not a substitute for an argument,’ Jamie Raskin says

Far-right Colorado Republican Lauren Boebert was scolded by Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin for her attitude towards a witness during a hearing of the House Oversight Committee.

New York University professor Sally Katzen appeared at the hearing entitled “Death by a Thousand Regulations: The Biden Administration’s Campaign to Bury America in Red Tape” on Wednesday.

The lawyer and legal scholar was called to the Republican-led hearing by the minority, Newsweek noted.

Ms Boebert spent her time during the hearing berating Ms Katzen, interrupting her as she attempted to answer. The Colorado congresswoman asked Ms Katzen if she thought changes to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) not put forward by Congress were appropriate.

As Ms Katzen started to speak, Ms Boebert instead began laying out her thoughts on the matter. Ms Katzen was later interrupted again and when she attempted to respond for the third time, Ms Boebert said, “No ma’am it’s my time. Thank you”.

“Oh, I’m sorry, so you are not interested in my views?” Ms Katzen replied to which Ms Boebert once again said it was her turn to speak.

As the hearing went on, Ms Katzen appeared to stop trying to answer questions from Ms Boebert. At one point, she suggested that Ms Katzen had a “$2.5 million home” which appeared to be intended as criticism.

“Excuse me, I really take that as a personal ... I disagree that you’re casting aspersions on me,” the scholar responded, at which point Ms Boebert said her time was up.

After several minutes of verbal jousting, Mr Raskin asked for a moment to criticise Ms Boebert’s behaviour, saying that “an insult is not a substitute for an argument”.

“The chair would advise members to adhere to the House standard of decorum and proceed in order,” the chairman of the committee, Kentucky Republican James Comer of Kentucky, said.

Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett then apologized to Ms Katzen, saying that Ms Boebert’s line of questioning was “uncalled for”.

“Let me do what [Ms Boebert] would never do, which is to be an adult in this room, or in this chamber,” Ms Crockett said.

Twitter users also criticised Ms Boebert.

“Truly, I believe if Boebert and [Marjorie Taylor Greene] weren’t there, things would calm down in Congress. Those two are instigators of chaos, and just plain meanness,” one Twitter user said.

“The fact that Congressman Raskin has to battle cancer and this utter nonsense while maintaining his top-tier level of dignity is a travesty,” another account holder said.

After announcing his diagnosis late last year, Mr Raskin revealed in an open letter in late April that his cancer was in remission with a 90 per cent chance of no relapse.