Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Democratic Virgin Island Rep. Stacey Plaskett clashed during a hearing on government accountability, interrupting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from speaking.
Plaskett interrupted Kennedy, a presidential candidate and witness who was testifying before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, regarding censorship, free speech, and technology companies.
“Excuse me, point of order. I know that witnesses usually have five minutes. I see ten minutes on the board. Is it going to be ten minutes?” Plaskett said during the hearing on Thursday, soon after Kennedy had been given the okay to start speaking.
Congresswoman Stacey Plaskette the Virgin Islands has a total freak out over RFK Jr being allowed to speak pic.twitter.com/Obm4ncJxBP
— Daniel Bostic (@debostic) July 20, 2023
Jordan responded to Plaskett’s question by telling her they would give Kennedy five minutes, but that they were “pretty lax with this” and would allow him to speak a little longer.
“We are?” Plaskett seemed to shoot back in response to Jordan’s response, describing how she has seen him “hammer” away at people for going over their allotted time.
After being told by Jordan that “senators, and former Democrat members of Congress” had been given time exceptions, Plaskett informed him that Kennedy “was neither” of those and added that they should “watch the time.”
“If you want to cut him off and censor him some more, you’re welcome to do it,” Jordan told Plaskett.
Prior to the hearing, several Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Jordan and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) requesting that Kennedy be disinvited from testifying over “vile and dangerous” remarks he had made over the weekend in which he suggested that COVID-19 could have been designed to be a bioweapon to target specific races.