House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler has been critized over his behaviour throughout Tuesday’s hearing with Attorney General William Barr.
Nadler was called out on social media and by the Attorney General as being a ‘class act’ for preaching about masks while not wearing his own.
RT reports: In the early moments of the hearing, meant to question AG Barr on the deployment of federal officers to intervene in violent protests in Portland, Oregon, Nadler called out several GOP members by name – Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), Andy Biggs (Arizona), and Mike Johnson (Louisiana) – for removing their masks, saying they were violating the “safety of the members of the committee” each time they did so.
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“Is it not permissible to drink coffee?” one member asked Nadler, to which the chairman quickly replied, “It is not permissible!”
The “not permissible” comment may have stemmed from confusion as Nadler was confused as to who had just spoken and who was next. Jordan had to step in to remind him.
The biggest problem from Nadler’s mask preaching was that his own mask was not covering his face and hanging haphazardly around his neck while he was making his point about endangering others during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Members can clearly be heard laughing at Nadler, with one calling the exchange “unbelievable.”
The episode was catnip for critics on social media, many of whom pointed out through the hearing that Nadler had trouble keeping control of the increasingly heated questioning.
“Jerry Nadler just condemned Jim [Jordan] for not wearing his mask while NOT wearing a mask. You can’t make this crap up,” conservative writer Kambree Kawahine Koa tweeted in reaction.
This is not the first time Nadler has been pictured without a mask. In a now viral video where the congressman calls violence by far-left group Antifa “a myth,” he was strolling the streets of DC without a mask only days ago.
The chairman also found himself in a tense exchange with Barr at one point not over policy, but over whether a short break would be allowed or not.
Barr asked the chairman for a five minute recess, to which Nadler replied, “no,” immediately earning scorn from Jordan.
“That’s a common courtesy, Mr Chairman, of every witness,” the congressman said.
Barr then accused the committee of making him wait “an hour” in the morning. Nadler replied they were “almost finished” and began stumbling through his words before Barr sarcastically blasted, “you’re a real class act, Mr. Chairman, a real class act.” He then broke into laughter, clearly confused at being told to wait for a break like a child.
After Jordan again interrupted Nadler, the chairman broke down and brought the hearing to recess.
Committee member Biggs, one of the ones questioned for removing his mask, pointed to the moment as just one example of the “complete contempt” Democrats showed Barr during the hearing. Biggs tweeted his thoughts once everyone was permitted to take that break.
