Rep. Nancy Mace made a plea for “decorum” before calling Rep. Ayanna Pressley a “baby” in a fiery exchange during a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday.
The hearing concerned alleged fraud schemes taking place in Minnesota, with conservatives targeting the state’s Somali immigrant community.
Republicans at the hearing pressed questions about the state’s handling of the fraud cases. The ongoing controversy led, in part, to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announcing on Monday that he would no longer seek a third term.
Democrats in the room, including Pressley, countered by arguing that Republicans were conveniently ignoring blatant instances of fraud within the Trump administration and overblowing the Minnesota case because it’s a blue state.
The fireworks started when Pressley, 51, grilled three GOP Minnesota state representatives, called in to testify by House Republicans, on whether they opposed Trump’s pardon of Jan. 6 rioter Brian Christopher Mock of Minnesota.
Minnesota Rep. Kristin Robbins ignored the question and began to accuse Pressley of “grandstanding nonsense,” which caused Pressley to erupt in demands of “accountability.”
Republican House Oversight Chair James Comer of Kentucky attempted to shout down the visibly irate Pressley and give the microphone to Rep. Mace of South Carolina.
Comer taunted Pressley by saying she’d already “secured her MSNBC slot tonight.” Mace then sucked up to Comer by saying, “I agree, Mr. Chairman, she’s gonna be a great host on MSNBC.”
Pressley then said something inaudible to Comer, to which Mace replied, “No, baby, you’re not. No, baby, you’re not. You are not in order. You are out of order. Goodbye.”
In a post on X following the clash, Pressley wrote: “Republicans claim to care about fraud. But they support Trump pardoning his friends, corporations, & insurrectionists that were convicted of defrauding the public. Accountability means nothing to these hypocrites.”
With her hard-won time, Mace, 48, asked the Democrats’ witness, former DOJ prosecutor Brendan Ballou, a series of racist questions about Somalians, many of which she didn’t let him answer.
She first asked if Somalians should be required to speak English. Ballou said the question was “inappropriate,” and an unknown male voice asked Comer if “English is the official language of the United States.”
Comer said that wasn’t a “valid line of inquiry,” while Mace whined, “I’m being interrupted. Conservative women have a right to speak here.”
She then asked about “immigration fraud like marrying your brother”—a charge Mace has baselessly levied at Somali Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar—and challenged Ballou to name “one contribution from a Somali immigrant who can’t speak English.”
Mace also moved to subpoena Omar’s immigration records, saying on X, “We are moving to subpoena Rep. Ilhan Omar and her brother/husband’s immigration records. The facts raise serious questions about potential federal marriage fraud, incest, polygamy, and tax fraud. The public deserves full transparency. If true, Ilhan Omar must be denaturalized and deported.”
Mace has repeatedly been at the center of dramatic meltdowns in House hearings. In September, she screamed on the House floor after Democratic lawmaker Sara Jacobs said plastic surgeries such as breast augmentations and lip fillers count as “gender-affirming care.” Back in February, she brazenly yelled anti-trans slurs in Congress.
Mace has also drawn headlines for her public freakouts, including a weeks-long saga over what she felt was her mistreatment at the Charleston, South Carolina, airport. She posted hundreds of times on social media about the incident in the days following, sparking concern.
