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Tlaib Triggers Rare Rule After Republican Accuses Her of Defending Terrorists
The House of Representatives had to stop working and use a rarely used parliamentary maneuver to protect Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a socialist from Michigan, after Ohio Republican Rep. Max Miller accused her of working with Hezbollah and supporting terrorists.
The fight started during the debate of a resolution Tlaib had pushed for on war powers in Lebanon.
In the end, Miller’s comments were ruled out of order and taken out of the record.
The Ohio Republican was also barred from speaking on the House floor for the rest of the day.
He also refused to issue an apology.
The fight, which was one of the most heated on the floor in recent memory, showed how divided people are over U.S. policy in the Middle East and how much members can say about each other without breaking House rules.
It also brought up a tougher question that the rules can’t answer: whether Miller’s main charge, no matter how bluntly it was made, was valid.
Tlaib, a Palestinian-American and one of only two Muslim women in Congress, opened her floor remarks by calling for an end to “U.S. participation in the Israeli apartheid regime’s invasion of Lebanon.”
She accused the Israeli military of targeting journalists and using American tax dollars “to commit war crimes.”
Miller, who is Jewish, responded by going directly at Tlaib. He referenced Hezbollah.
“Its members are butchers that you like to hang out with to a certain extent,” Miller said.
When Tlaib reacted, hollering at Miller from across the chamber, though her words were not picked up on the microphone, Miller stood his ground.
“Yes, you advocate for terrorists on a daily basis. You advocate for a terrorist regime every single day,” Miller said.
Then came the line that seemed designed to provoke: “Oh, I’m sorry. Are we getting a little emotional?”
Tlaib moved quickly to invoke the House’s formal remedy.
She asked that Miller’s words be “taken down,” a term of art on Capitol Hill that triggers a review of whether a member’s remarks violated chamber rules against personal attacks.
Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., who was presiding over the debate from the dais, slammed down the gavel, addressed both members, and asked Miller to sit down.
“Colleagues, this is a serious topic. We will debate it respectfully and deliberately,” Obernolte said.
House business came to a halt as staff and stenographers reviewed the disputed remarks.
After an hour of delay, Miller still would not apologize or withdraw his statement.
Obernolte then issued his ruling.
“The words of the gentleman from Ohio contain an allegation that the gentlewoman from Michigan is a ‘butcher’ and affiliated with a terrorist organization. Such remarks impugn the patriotism and loyalty of the member of the House,” Obernolte said.
Obernolte declared the remarks “contain personalities and are not in order” and ordered them stricken from the record.
The House sanctioned Miller and suspended him from speaking for the rest of the day.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., who had been managing the Lebanon debate on the floor for Republicans, stepped in to speak on Miller’s behalf.
Mast told the chamber he would deliver a message from Miller, then quoted the Ohio Republican directly: “Yes, I said it. I own it. And I stand by it.”
Mast then went further.
He asked the House for permission to submit into the Congressional Record an article titled “Rashida Talib, member of a secret Facebook Group where Hamas Terrorists glorified.”
Tlaib objected.
Mast also tried to enter a transcript of Tlaib allegedly speaking about genocide.
Tlaib objected again.
The outcome of the procedure obscured the main argument.
Tlaib spoke in front of the House and called Israel, which is an ally of the US through a treaty, a “apartheid regime.”
Its military was doing “war crimes” with American tax dollars, she said.
White House Privately Braces for 2027
The White House is quietly preparing for a Democratic takeover of the House by hiring lawyers to fend off a wave of legal challenges that could cripple the final two years of President Donald Trump’s time in office.
The preparations illustrate how the White House is privately preparing for the possibility that Democrats will regain at least one chamber of Congress in November, even as Republicans express confidence in public, according to people close to the administration.
A Democratic House next year could be reminiscent of 2018 fights that included impeachment inquiries of the president and multiple investigations into his inner circle.
Michael Williams, who served in White House roles in President Donald Trump’s first term and was deputy general counsel for the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, said staff is already preparing for another impeachment push even as Trump sets a broader strategy for dealing with Democrats.
“They’re ready for that eventuality,” Williams told Bloomberg Government. “I don’t think they’re ready to concede that that’s the likely outcome, but they’re certainly prepared in that event.”
Emma Doyle, former chief of staff at the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first term who later worked in the West Wing, said the administration is already hiring experienced lawyers to help prepare officials for impeachment, as she did in the first term.
The return of advisers Jason Miller and Johnny DeStefano strengthens the White House for those fights, Doyle said, along with staff such as Mark Paoletta, the OMB general counsel who worked on impeachment defense in the first term.
Miller and DeStefano rejoined the White House last month to work on midterm strategy.
However, Democrats are facing their own problems.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) may find himself caught in the very blue wave he hopes to ride into power this November.
More and more Democratic candidates are telling Axios that they can’t promise to support his leadership.
It’s a big change from Jeffries’ once “untouchable” position in the Democratic Party just a few years ago. This could mean his path to the speakership will be harder than people thought.
Jeffries and his supporters say they aren’t worried at all about a mass defection. They point out that he hasn’t lost a Democratic vote in 20 speakers’ ballots, even though he is in the minority.
However, this group of new candidates could potentially be the first challenge to the previously unyielding support.
A group of viable candidates has made it clear that voting for Jeffries as speaker is not a given if the Democrats win the House.
Axios reported that more than 80 Democratic House candidates across the country were either not sure if they would support Jeffries’ leadership or were completely against it.
Since then, things have only gotten worse for him.
The tension was on display in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District. Democrat nominee Rebecca Bennett, who likely needs to beat Rep. Tom Kean (R-NJ) if Democrats have any shot at the majority, refused to commit to voting for Jeffries before her primary win.
Likewise, Iowa’s 1st congressional Democratic nominee Christina Bohannan is also noncommittal, merely responding “I don’t know yet. I haven’t made that decision,” when asked by Punchbowl News if she would support Jeffries.
“I want to get elected first,” she continued.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has classified both Bohannan and Bennett’s districts as toss-ups.
Republicans currently hold both seats.
Montana’s 1st congressional Democratic nominee Sam Forstag echoed similar sentiments as Bohannan.
Forstag sits in a seat labeled “likely Republican,” but has no incumbent running.
Mai Vang, the leading progressive primary challenger to Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), previously said she would “support the person that my future colleagues elect as our leader.”
But in an unprompted statement last week, she told Axios: “The Democratic Party and its leadership—Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries—have failed to mobilize meaningful opposition to Trump’s illegal war and their silence as AIPAC and corporations flood Congressional primaries with millions of dollars is deafening.”
“I cannot support this kind of leadership,” Vang said. “If we want to defeat Trump and rebuild trust with working Americans, we need new leadership and a new direction.”
“Most Democrats agree that he’s been failing to meet the moment,” said Adam Hamawy, a candidate in New Jersey’s 12th district, saying he is “looking for someone that’s gonna stand up to the administration.”
When asked if she would support Jeffries’ leadership, Claire Valdez, a New York State Assembly member who is running to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), said in an interview with Axios that “there would need to be some conversations.”
