Jasmine Crockett admits she almost got into a fight in the House after she made the ‘bleach blonde, bad body’ comment
Representative Jasmine Crockett of Texas said The Independent that her fellow Democratic congresswoman Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts nearly defended her after right-wing agitator Marjorie Taylor Greene mocked her on the House floor.
Last month, the House Oversight Committee was in uproar as a resolution was being drafted to condemn Attorney General Merrick Garland for contempt of Congress. At one point, Greene mocked Crockett’s “false eyelashes.”
That prompted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the number two Democrat on the committee, to call Greene’s remarks “repulsive” and “unacceptable,” considering them a personal attack and a breach of decency. When Greene asked Ocasio-Cortez if Greene had hurt her feelings, Ocasio-Cortez responded, “Oh girl, oh baby, don’t even play.”
In response, Crockett had a viral moment when she asked Chairman James Comer, “Then if someone on this committee starts talking about a person’s bleached, badly built butch body, that wouldn’t be a character issue, would it?” Greene later responded to Crockett, “Yes, my body is built and strong, NOT by nipples, lifts, plastic or silicone, but by a healthy lifestyle.”
But Crockett said The Independent in an interview to be published later this week that other dynamics are at play.
“When AOC intervened so quickly, the people behind the camera didn’t see that Ayanna Pressley was ready to step in and stand up, and … there was going to be a fight,” Crockett said The Independent.
She also said that Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the committee, had defended her in a similar way. When Greene first launched her attack, Raskin reportedly said, “That is beneath you, Ms. Greene.”
“They had no idea that Raskin was in the middle of it too and that we were arguing with Comer,” said Crockett, a young Democrat.
Crockett’s team later sent a statement to The Independent and said there was never any possibility of a physical confrontation.
“Representatives Pressley and Ocasio Cortez are both experienced lawmakers who are unafraid to stand up to bullies and bigots when they target their communities and friends, and I am honored to join them,” she said in a statement.
Ocasio-Cortez, for her part, praised Crockett’s abilities in Congress.
“I think Congresswoman Crockett brings that prosecutorial perspective that is both vocal and combines her legal and professional expertise with the ability to break it down for regular people, which I think is a huge advantage,” she said The Independent.
Crockett said she appreciated that the committee also included communities of women of color.
“The bigger story that came out of that was what women of color experience at work,” she said. “When you’re alone, people take liberties, but when they realize you’re not alone, it definitely puts them in a different light and puts them in a different mindset.”