Republican Takes Aim at Trump Convicted Felon Comment in Hearing

At Tuesday’s House Rules Committee meeting, Republican Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina took aim at Democratic Congressman Jerrold Nadler of New York for a comment delivered on the House floor regarding former President Donald Trump’s criminal conviction.

Late last month, in a case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records. The charges related to a hush money payment made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels by Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen shortly before the 2016 presidential election. Trump has maintained his innocence and has continued to say the case is politically motivated as he took aim at the justice system following the verdict. “This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt,” he said.

The House Rules Committee meeting on Tuesday considered rules for debate on a resolution aiming to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur on the president’s handling of classified documents.

During the meeting, Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, while speaking on his support for Garland, briefly mentioned Trump’s conviction: “This resolution may boost Donald Trump’s spirits before his sentencing for his conviction of 34 felonies, but it will certainly not convince the Department of Justice (DOJ) to produce the one remaining file in question.”

In an apparent response to Nadler’s remark, about an hour later, Norman, a House Freedom Caucus member, spoke out against the comment while questioning Trump’s guilty verdict.

Newsweek has reached out to Norman and Nadler’s offices via email for comment on Tuesday.

“You know, I’ve sat here for, what, two hours, probably gonna be three or four. And listening to these smoke screens that my friends on the other side of the aisle are saying. They bring up the trial of Donald Trump, a convicted felon. Really? By a judge that is a known anti-Trumper?” Norman said.

Nadler, of New York, interjected, saying: “By a jury.”

Norman hit back: “Mr. Nadler, I’ve got the floor. If you’re gonna interrupt—Mr. Chairman, call him down when he interrupts. It’s my time, and I’ll let you respond, but I’m tired of this, you talk over everybody. It’s so rude of you.”

The meeting comes after Hur’s report on the Obama-era classified documents found at Biden’s Delaware home and at his Penn Biden Center office in Washington, D.C., from November 2022 to January 2023. Hur declined to prosecute the president.

But House Republicans have continued to argue audiotapes of the interview are necessary to their investigation of the president, despite the DOJ making a transcript of Hur’s interview with Biden available to the GOP-led committees.

“The purpose of getting the audiotapes of the Biden interview is because the committees have to do their legislation work. They use the audio to evaluate the work and the accuracy of the special counsel. We have the transcript; there should be no surprises here,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a news conference last month.

Garland has maintained his stance to not turn over the audiotapes: “I will not be intimidated. And the Justice Department will not be intimidated. We will continue to do our jobs free from political influence. And we will not back down from defending our democracy,” Garland said to the Judiciary Committee last week.