Florida congresswoman Val Demings was not having Jim Jordan‘s rhetoric on Tuesday. During a House hearing on the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which would address the troubling increase in anti-Asian hate crimes since the start of the pandemic thanks to Donald Trump and other Republicans calling it the “Chinese virus,” Jordan attempted to derail the conversation by accusing Democrats of stirring up civil unrest towards the police in the midst of the Derek Chauvin trial. As Jordan quickly learned, this was the wrong move to make in front of Demings who’s a former Orlando police chief.
Demings clearly remembered Jordan’s silence about blue lives during the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building, and she tore into the Ohio senator for his “completely irrelevant” remarks.
Wow — watch @RepValDemings eviscerate @Jim_Jordan on his opportunistic support for law enforcement after hanging them out to dry on 1/6. pic.twitter.com/WPv6M3UdMH
— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) April 20, 2021
Via Mediaite:
“It’s interesting to see my colleagues on the other side of the aisle support the police when it is politically convenient to do so,” Demings said. As she continued to say law enforcement officers “deserve better” than that, Jordan moved to interject, which prompted her to exclaim “I have the floor, Mr. Jordan!”
“Did I strike a nerve!?” Demings shouted. “Law enforcement officers deserve better than to be utilized as pawns! And you and your colleagues should be ashamed of yourselves!”
Democratic congressman Jerry Nadler attempted to restore order between the two, but Demings wasn’t letting Jordan get away with his remarks. “I have watched officers live and die,” Demings pointedly told Jordan. “You know nothing about that.”
(Via Harry Litman on Twitter)