Rep. Rashida Tlaib calls HUD appointee Lynne Patton a ‘prop’ during Cohen questioning
Republican Rep. Mark Meadows and Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib get in to a fiery exchange during Michael Cohen’s hearing before the House Oversight Committee; Ellison Barber reports.
Fox Business’ Charles Payne, host of “Making Money with Charles Payne,” offered his Twitter followers a nuanced take on a controversial moment during the Michael Cohen hearing Wednesday in front of the House Oversight Committee.
During the hearing, Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. and Mark Meadows, R-N.C., clashed over the presence of a longtime Trump aide and official from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Lynne Patton, who was invited by Meadows to attend. Tlaib suggested that Patton, who is black, was invited as a "prop" to counter Cohen's narrative of Trump as a racist. "To indicate that I asked someone who is a personal friend of the Trump family, who has worked for him, who knows this particular individual (motioning to Cohen), that she’s coming in to be a prop -- it's racist to suggest that I asked her to come in here for that reason."
TLAIB RAISES SPECTER OF RACISM
That exchange ultimately led to Payne's pointed tweet on Thursday: "What's Racist? Assuming a Black woman standing behind republican during a crowded hearing is a "prop" or Assuming that said Black woman isn't accomplished enough to be in room on her own merit?"
The entire line of discourse followed Cohen's incendiary testimony, in which the longtime Trump lawyer and fixer called his ex-boss “a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat.”
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
On Thursday, on the House floor, the two lawmakers appeared to have reconciled. Payne's tweet, though, was a clear nod to the notion that on this subject, there are no simple answers.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
More from Politics
