A Democrat started the mayhem by calling the head of DOGE “President Musk” and President Trump the “grifter in chief.” This came before the scheduled discussion of billions of dollars in government waste that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) had uncovered during Tuesday’s House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing.
At the outset of the session, Republican Chairman Rep. James Comer of Kentucky accused Democrats of not wanting to work with Republicans on their oversight plan.
Democrats have told us they have changes to the plan, but they won’t consult me beforehand, so we won’t be able to implement them. Everything that was changed was preserved. “In their opening remarks, they wanted a secret,” Comer stated. Every chance that has been given to Democrats to help with the oversight plan has been turned down. Consequently, how am I to include their hidden thoughts and feelings that they are unwilling to divulge? ‘Why would the Democrats do that?’ you might be wondering. If Democrats truly want to be involved in oversight, they should seize several chances to be a part of the oversight plan’s development. Why? Because they have no interest in taking part. They are interested in acting out and refusing to budge.
Adding that polling this week shows “the American people overwhelmingly support the work President Trump and DOGE are doing,” Comer continued by accusing Democrats of preferring to discuss “President Trump and the evil Elon Musk” over cooperating on the real oversight that the American people are demanding.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), ranking member, retaliated by attacking the Republican oversight proposal, which he saw as too lenient toward the Trump administration.
“The failure to address certain issues in this plan is damning,” Connolly argued. “My amendment would restore the committee’s proper role as a watchdog, not a lapdog.”
When Representative Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) spoke before the committee, partisan tensions rose.
“People like the grifter in chief Trump and President Musk are openly using their public offices to enrich themselves to the tune of billions of dollars,” said Frost. “So if we want to look at waste, fraud and abuse, which I’m down to do, why is there a complete silence on the other side of the aisle about looking at the complete grifter that is the President of the United States and the richest man on the earth…. Why don’t we investigate the real corruption?”
Comer raised a point of order in response to an objection voiced by Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.). Frost insisted he could call Elon Musk “the president,” but Connolly insisted the First Amendment was still in effect.
House and committee norms of decorum protect the president, therefore Comer urged Frost to “revise” his comments against the president. Frost refused to back down.
First Frost started to remark, “I’ll say President Musk and grifter in chief Trump,” but then another point of order was mentioned.
Comer offered Frost another opportunity to amend his remarks as committee members started shouting over each other.
“President Musk and the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who is engaged in grifting of the American people, often use their public offices to enrich themselves,” Frost pointed out, before Comer intervened.
When Frost was asked to respond to the motion against him for “disparaging the president,” Comer informed him, “If you’re willing to request unanimous consent to withdraw the disparaging comments about President Trump, I guess you can disparage Elon Musk if you want.”
“I will step down as chief grifter,” Frost declared. “I will say the president’s grifting because you spent the last two years saying President Biden was corrupt.”
In my opinion, Trump is engaging in graft. The term “grifter in chief” is one that Frost plans to remove.
Connolly questioned the chair’s decision and requested a vote, however Comer claimed Frost was prevented from continuing to participate in the hearing.
Frost was caught aback by the committee’s decision to remove his comments and quiet him for the remainder of the session. He interrupted by saying, “It’s despicable that this committee is going to silence me.”
“Mr. Ranking Member, I’m going to have the sergeant remove him if he doesn’t refrain,” stated Comer.
Democrats, including New Mexico Representative Melanie Stansbury, continued to yell out in support of “free speech,” and Comer made another effort to redirect the session.
“We have a hearing on waste, fraud and abuse that hasn’t even begun,” said Comer. “The part about organizing usually just takes around five or ten minutes. We have spent the last 35 minutes here debating about nothing new… It’s time to get down to business. There are witnesses standing by to help us eradicate fraud, abuse, and waste. Here, too, we have made an effort. The length of the argument has exceeded everyone’s expectations.
Following almost forty minutes of circling back and forth, the session was adjourned. The committee heard the recommendations for DOGE from the GAO’s watchdog, Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, when it returned.
“James Comer can hide behind the Sergeant in Arms and try to have me removed, arrested, and silenced…,” Frost said in an X post, continuing the dispute that began on the battlefield. However, I will continue to expose Donald Trump’s deceit and bluster—”
The fact that I referred to President Musk and Trump as the Grifter-in-Chief has greatly irritated these snowflakes. “I suppose the truth can be difficult for some individuals,” he said from his campaign account.
