Footage of a clash between Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin and Republican Representative Matt Gaetz has been viewed more than a million times on social media.
The two men got into an exchange at a hearing of the House Rules Committee on Wednesday when Raskin, who represents Maryland's 8th congressional district, asked Gaetz if President Joe Biden had won the 2020 presidential election.
Gaetz, who represents Florida's 1st district, was appearing before the committee to argue against holding Steve Bannon in contempt for not cooperating with a subpoena issued by the House Select Committee investigating the events of January 6.
At one point, Raskin responded to Gaetz by telling him that his remarks "might work on Steve Bannon's podcast" but not before the committee.
Two video clips posted on Twitter featuring Raskin's comment had collectively received more than a million views as of Thursday morning.
A video from Adam Klasfeld, managing editor of Law & Crime News, had been viewed more than 580,000 times at the time of writing and a shorter clip posted by Democratic strategist Kaivan Shroff had racked up more than 460,000 views.
Rep. Raskin pressed Gaetz on fact that the pro-Trump post-election lawsuits failed, even among his appointees.
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) October 20, 2021
Gaetz pushes the talking point about dismissals on procedural grounds. (Some were dismissed on merits.)
Raskin, constitutional law prof, isn't having it.
WATCH pic.twitter.com/HvrShXvvMt
During the hearing, Raskin asked Gaetz: "Do you accept that Joe Biden won?"
"I accept that Joe Biden is the president," Gaetz replied.
Raskin went on: "Do you accept that Joe Biden won the election by more than 7 million votes and defeated Donald Trump by 306 to 232 in the Electoral College? A margin that Donald Trump called a landslide when he beat Hillary Clinton by the same numbers."
"I think that our election was uniquely polluted by these indiscriminate mail-in ballots," Gaetz said. "I think this was the first time in America's history where the mailbox beat the ballot box."
Raskin asked Gaetz if there was evidence of fraud in the 2020 election and Gaetz again mentioned mail-in ballots and argued that the courts had not properly assessed claims of fraud as Raskin pressed him on the issue. However, he didn't cite evidence of voter fraud.
"You know what, that might work on Steve Bannon's podcast, but that's not going to work in the Rules Committee of the United States House of Representatives," Raskin said.
Raskin asked Gaetz why he had opposed a bipartisan commission to investigate the events of January 6 and the two continued to clash and speak over each other.
At one point, Gaetz mentioned the "Russia hoax" and former White House Counsel Don McGahn, who testified before the House Judiciary Committee in June, having defied a congressional subpoena in April, 2019.
Gaetz told Raskin: "The reason you all waited on McGahn was the Russia hoax wasn't going well for you and the reason you're not waiting now is you have no other legislation or other solutions for the country."
"Blah, blah, blah," Raskin said, before moving on to question Republican Representative Jim Jordan.
Uncommon Knowledge
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About the writer
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more
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