Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif., pictured right) is chair of the House Oversight committee. As such, he’s spent the last few years trying to find evidence of criminality in the White House seemingly on a mission to investigate–and eventually, impeach–President Obama. During a committee meeting on Wednesday, Issa tried to squeeze answers out of IRS bureaucrat Lois Lerner about the alleged targeting of Tea Party nonprofits for auditing (a scandal which has long been a futile pursuit since Lerner has invoked the 5th amendment). During his drilling, he turned the mic over to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md., pictured left) who said he had a question. That’s when things got interesting.
Before asking his question, Cummings attacked Issa for what he deemed to be a witch hunt. Issa decided that what he was saying wasn’t important and proceeded to cut his mic off and dismiss the hearing. Oh, no he didn’t!
Here’s a brief rundown of what happened:
..Issa turned off his microphone, instructing staff to “shut it down.”
The silencing enraged Cummings, who started yelling that the minority should get its turn.
“And now you’re turning me off,” Cummings says, barely audible because his mic was off.
“You’re all free to leave; we’ve adjourned,” Issa said off-mic.
“I don’t care. … I am the ranking member of the committee and I want to ask a question!” Cummings shot back. “I have listened to you for 15 minutes … let me say what I have to say.”
When Cummings started speaking again, denouncing Issa for trying to tie the scandal to the White House when it broke even though there has been no evidence to support that claim, the microphone was turned off again.
When Issa refused to let Cummings talk, Democrats on the panel yelled “shame” at the dais.
“If you will sit down and allow me to ask a question,” Cummings continued to yell off-mic as members filed out. “I am a member of the Congress of the United States of America. I am tired of this!”
Wow. How extremely disrespectful. Congress seems to be like a fricking circus these days. Do we need to provide chaperones?!