GOP Rep. James Comer's Startling 'Shut Up' Command At Maxwell Frost Speaks Volumes

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) told Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) to “shut up” during an oversight hearing on Capitol Hill this week — and the moment spoke volumes.

During Thursday’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing, Frost asked whether Comer, the committee chair, would commit on the record to subpoenaing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem regarding an incident that took place with Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) that same day.

Padilla was roughed up and handcuffed as he was forcibly removed from Noem’s press conference in Los Angeles, where she discussed the immigration raids happening in the region. Padilla was approached by two men who pushed him out of the room after he tried to speak up about the raids, according to video footage of the conference. The senator could be heard identifying himself as he was being forcibly removed. Video also shows officers forcing Padilla to the ground in a hallway.

Frost repeatedly brought up the incident during Thursday’s hearing as Comer attempted to let Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) speak. “Reclaiming my time!” Greene said repeatedly, before launching into a rant about Republicans being “in charge.”

“Shut up! Just shut up!” Comer eventually snapped at Frost.

“No, you’re not going to tell me to shut up,” Frost responded.

Comer then accused Frost of trying to get on network TV before Greene jumped in and called the Florida Democrat a “former Antifa member.” Frost asked for Greene’s false accusations be taken down from the hearing record. (Watch a clip of the exchange here.)

MSNBC’s Symone Sanders-Townsend wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that she thought Comer’s behavior was unusual.

“Congressman Frost is the youngest member on this panel,” she said about the 28-year-old, who became the first Gen Z member of Congress when he was elected in 2022. “I’ve never heard Congressman Comer tell another member to ‘shut up’ before — especially during committee hearing.”

“Comer doubles down in the video and that to me says he thinks his comments are warranted,” she continued. “They are not. They are inappropriate.”

Collin Anderson, a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University at Buffalo, noted that the exchange said a lot about the “mounting anger between members of the two parties” — and that it’s not a good look for voters at home to witness.

Anderson told HuffPost that the context of the situation at Thursday’s hearing is important.

He said the exchange between Frost and Comer in “isolation” might’ve not been anything “too remarkable.” But it’s clear that “tensions are high in the Capitol” considering that Frost was trying to discuss the incident with Padilla during the heated moment through Greene’s “unwarranted and unfounded interjections.”

He added that what happened with Padilla at the Noem press conference is “essentially uncharted territory for the government and America.”

Anderson said that as committee chair, it’s within Comer’s power to call members to order, and that it’s not uncommon for committee chairs to quiet down other members of Congress —  though “it’s usually done a little more diplomatically.”

“Shouting matches have become more normalized in the past 10-15 years than they were previously,” Anderson said.

And while Anderson pointed out that in a “very technical sense” Frost was “out of order” due to rules and procedures that are set forth for hearings, Comer has “a lot of leeway on how to handle things” — and there are other ways he could have addressed the situation “rather than shouting for Rep. Frost to shut up.”

“Marjorie Taylor Greene was also out of order and wasn’t dressed down by Rep. Comer, which seems to suggest some unfair treatment against Rep. Frost,” he said.

Overall, Anderson doesn’t think Thursday’s hearing put any positive light on lawmakers.

“The behavior displayed in the House Oversight Committee is not behavior that Americans should be particularly proud of or want out of any of their elected officials,” he said.

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