The House Oversight Committee reportedly devolved into shouting on Thursday when Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, accused Republicans of enabling a “fascist takeover” of Washington under President Donald J. Trump.
Representative Byron Donalds, Republican of Florida, forcefully rejected her remarks, calling them “radical” and “insane.”
The hearing featured testimony from District of Columbia officials, including Mayor Muriel Bowser, about Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard and place the city’s police force under federal control as part of a crackdown on crime.
Tlaib used her time to frame those actions as an attack on civil rights.
“Just like D.C. home rule was won out of Black freedom struggle and the fight for civil rights, we can’t be passive right now,” she said. “So, nobody over there should take anything we say…so personally, as if we’re attacking them. No, we’re attacking a process — we’re not attacking people here.”
Tlaib pressed further, insisting: “We need to stand up against this fascist takeover — that’s not a bad word, it’s a fact. And here in D.C. and across the country, it is so incredibly important, Mr. Chair, that this committee does not allow rhetoric that…paints Washington, D.C. in a way that you all haven’t really, truly seen, you’re just reading off of —”
Her words prompted Donalds to interrupt. “Will the gentlelady yield for a question?” he asked.
Tlaib brushed him off. “No, I won’t yield. I don’t even have time,” she said, even as Chairman James Comer, Republican of Kentucky, informed her that her speaking time had expired.
Tlaib tried to press on. “It is expired, but Mr. Chair, but you all live here and you’re not telling people the beautiful parts that you do see in our nation’s capital,” she said. Comer, while describing himself as “nice” for allowing her to continue, eventually cut her off when she refused to yield.
Donalds then erupted, saying her words had crossed a line. “Chairman, I think if she’s going to refer to me and some of my colleagues that we’re from the Third Reich, this is insane,” he said. Turning to Tlaib directly, he asked: “Do I look like a member of the Third Reich to you, Ms. Tlaib? Is that what I look like to you? Is that what you think?”
As Tlaib shouted over him, Donalds raised his voice. “I think it’s radical and I think it’s insane! I respect everything that you say, but to say something like that to myself and my colleagues is way out of line!”
The exchange underscored the combustible tensions in Congress, where policy debates increasingly dissolve into accusations of extremism.
For Donalds, the moment was an opportunity to demand accountability for rhetoric that equates Republican colleagues with historical fascists.
Tlaib, for her part, insisted she was attacking processes, not people. But her choice of words drew sharp pushback — a reminder that in the charged political atmosphere of Washington, accusations once reserved for history books now routinely spill into committee rooms.
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