of mccarthy-ism, republicans called on the expertise of friendly star witnesses like ex democrat turned tucker carlson see warmer, tulsi gabbard and two current gop senators, chuck pressley and conspiracy theorists, ron johnson. it played less like an investigative hearing and more like an indulgent for our live stream from a deep-based conspiracy theorists. as the washington post put it, the weaponization subcommittee will just be one thing to complete its work, quote, a scintilla of evidence. that did not emerge this week. let s discuss with someone inside one of those hearing rooms, democratic congresswoman summer lee of pennsylvania. she s a member of the house oversight and accountability committee. congresswoman, thank you so much, it s good to see you, greatly appreciate your time this evening. let me ask, you when you are named to the oversight committee, is this the kind of work you imagine yourself to be doing? talk to us about what was going through your mind during wednesda
i m chris hayes. on tuesday of next week, president joe biden will be making his very first appearance under the big top. the capitol dome a housing the utter circus that is the republican-led house of representatives. it s been since being taken over the mega congress the congress has so far been a spectacle, but newsmax tv or steve bannon spired podcast in the halls and hearing rooms of congress. even after four years with on top of the white house, even many republican members themselves recognize this as a new level of absurdity. kevin mccarthy, the mostly feckless speaker of the house, finally got his first big win yesterday, rallying his caucus to knock democratic congresswoman ilhan omar off the foreign affairs committee. but in the immediate aftermath some republicans in the caucus voted to do it conceded victory was not worth the cost. following the vote house foreign affairs member can block, republican of caroler ottawa, s were overheard in an elevator calling it the
when he has a hoodie on. we have to keep pushing for that. all of us have to stand up and say these things are not at odds with each other. we can support police and we can support accountability. we can support funding for recruitment and we can ensure that people who abuse this power are held responsible. and a lot of that is just rejecting the dichotomy that republicans have tried to force on us time and time again that it s black or white, it s one or the other, and it s not. it s both and we all have to stand up and say so. michigan lived through and your governor, obviously, prevailed politically and in terms of her personal safety, thank god, a brutal plot against her by violent extremists. as you watch again a republican party really grapple, not even grapple, but move towards more guns being allowed in hearing rooms, towards elevating people who are instrumental in the
alexandria ocasio-cortez, it was paul gosar s own family members who tried to warn the country about their brother. again, he said he didn t choose his words loosely. quote, i believe he is dangerous, unhinged and reckless. these are the people that want to have guns in the hearing rooms. what as a security expert is wrong with that? just about everything. i find it surreal that we re having this conversation. i feel since republicans took over the house, we re being brought down the rabbit hole and we have arrived at the bar and everybody is armed now. this is just absurd on its face. but it s clear that the republicans are trying to appeal to the maga crowd. it s not just an embrace of the second amendment. i think what they are trying to do is to show their embrace of a gun culture in this country. which representative boebert in terms of trying to increase the
republican-controlled rules committee removed the provision democrats have put in place for the previous two years that banned firearms in hearing rooms and committees. lauren boebert called the amendment a political stunt while reiterating her desire to have a loaded gun on her in the capitol. congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez said, it s all extremely concerning. i sit on that committee with a man who threatened to kill me, referring to a video posted by representative paul gosar, who denied it was meant as a threat. there are reassurances they don t want to hurt members, frankly, are quite empty. they have stoked an environment that s unsafe, she said. the amendment failed in a party line vote. meanwhile, the state of the union is less than one week away, and congresswoman huffman and 13 other democrats sent a letter to house and senate leaders expressing urgent concern about the safety and security of those in attendance. the gop house majority s new