Jasmine Crockett embracing internet fame after confrontation with Marjorie Taylor Greene

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett has witnessed plenty of partisan fireworks as a freshman member of the U.S. House Oversight Committee, but last week’s confrontation with Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene quickly reached new heights as an online sensation.

“I’ve had things that have gone viral as I was sitting in committee,” Crockett said. “Nothing like this.”

The committee was considering whether to hold U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for withholding audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s conversations with special counsel Robert Hur, but things veered off the rails after Greene told Crockett, “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”

Democrats objected, but the panel’s Republican chairman, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, ruled Greene did not violate rules against personal attacks.

Crockett, D-Dallas, asked for clarification.

“If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleach-blond, bad-built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?” she said.

Her phone quickly blew up with texts from folks back home, including a message from her pastor suggesting she provide a warning before deploying language so colorful it had him choking on his water.

When Crockett showed up at a speaking engagement the next day, one woman there was wearing a dress bearing the phrase.

The furor has raged online for days as people post parody remixes of the hearing room exchange or release their own songs incorporating what Crockett calls the “B6” phrase. Crockett’s campaign filed an application to trademark the six-word phrase, which she said was a spontaneous creation.

Crockett has said Greene is a racist bully, reflected in the attack on her appearance that channeled common tropes about African-American women and fake hair, nails or eyelashes.

Crockett said she has been heartened by the support.

“I think that people were just finally excited to see a bully cut down to size,” she said.

Greene is unlikely to change her approach, Crockett says, but Comer might reconsider how he runs the committee.

“He will think twice about if it’s worth catching all this heat for somebody that honestly isn’t even a team player for your team,” she said.

Greene has been a periodic thorn in the side of House Republicans, including her recent failed bid to oust Speaker Mike Johnson.

Greene posted a statement on X after the hearing.

“Some people are upset about the scene from Oversight Committee last night, well I’m upset and disgusted pretty much everyday at the Democrat controlled DOJ, federal government, and Congress in general,” she posted.

Greene said the Department of Justice is going after Republicans, Congress has run up the national debt and Washington politicians are focused on funding foreign wars rather than securing the southern border.

“Pardon me if I don’t talk as nicely as some people would like to hear,” Greene posted. “I’m not going to keep you all addicted to outrage and hopium that never solves a problem or stops the inevitable implosion of the United States of America. I’m completely over it.”

Crockett is looking to raise campaign money off the incident.

“So we are going to drop ‘A Crockett Clapback Collection,’” Crockett posted on X. “This collection will feature various swag that includes random things I’ve said. The money will go to ensuring that we have a Democratic House! Give me a little time to really get the swag online etc., but B6 will drop first.”

The post included a photo of a man wearing a shirt bearing the now-signature phrase. Sharp-eyed observers noticed the image on the shirt misspelled her name as “Crockrtt.”

Greene spokesman Nick Dyer pointed out that during Thursday night’s hearing, before the Greene-Crockett exchange, Democrats had criticized Comer for soliciting campaign donations tied to committee proceedings.

Crockett retweeted a clip in which the panel’s top Democrat, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, said he was disappointed by Comer’s solicitation.

Dyer said Crockett using the proceedings to raise campaign funds was the “height of hypocrisy.”