Democratic Representative Jim McGovern refused to retract remarks he made regarding the upcoming criminal trial of former president Donald Trump in New York, leading to a lengthy floor altercation between House Republicans and McGovern.
“Donald Trump might want to be a king, but he’s not a king,” stated McGovern, the ranking member of the Rules Committee, when speaking on the floor. “Even though we are being told not to mention it, our presumed presidential contender is facing 88 felony counts. But in this House controlled by Republicans, bringing up the trial is OK—as long as you label it a fraud.
According to him, Trump was “on trial for sending a hush money payment to a porn star to avoid a sex scandal during his 2016 campaign, and then fraudulently disguising those payments in violation of the law.” This was one of the accusations against Trump.
Because of this, Republican Indiana Representative Erin Houchin called for McGovern’s remarks to be “taken down,” or completely removed from history. After McGovern refused to remove them, a protracted confrontation ensued on Wednesday afternoon in the House chamber.
Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Ala.), who was the floor leader at the time, finally decided after almost an hour that the remarks were “a breach of order” because they were “personally offensive” to the presumed GOP nominee. He had them removed from the official record.
The chamber resumed its regularly scheduled debate after McGovern did not raise any objections.
He expressed his amazement that his remarks were removed later on Wednesday.
No one can challenge me here, no matter how much they try to quiet me on the House floor. Nothing I said is something I now wish I hadn’t said. I have not said anything that is not true. I refrained from describing the trials. “I would say it again, and I’m glad I did,” he declared.