Congressman Stands His Ground In Heated Confrontation, Accused of Degrading Trump and ‘President’ Musk After Saying They’re ‘Enriching Themselves’
In a stunning move, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer threatened to remove Maxwell Frost from a committee meeting Tuesday after the Florida Democrat called President Donald Trump a “grifter.”
“People like the grifter in chief, Trump, and President Musk are openly using their public offices to enrich themselves to the tune of billions of dollars,” Frost said during the meeting.
“So, if we want to look at waste, fraud and abuse, which I’m down to do, why is there complete silence on the other side of the aisle about looking at the complete grifter that … is the president of the United States and the richest man on the earth,” the congressman added before being interrupted.
Comer, a 52-year-old Kentucky Republican, asked Frost if he wanted “to revise your remark with respect to improperly identifying the president of the United States.”
“I’ll say ‘President Musk’ and ‘grifter in chief Trump,’” Frost responded.
The ranking member on the committee, Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly later told Comer he didn’t “believe that Mr. Musk is protected by the rules of the House or the committee.
Comer said Frost had disparaged the president.
“But I don’t believe Mr. Frost disparaged the president, I believe he disparaged Mr. Musk,” Connolly responded, with more crosstalk following after and Frost saying he would “say something else.”
Frost continued.
”President Musk and the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who is engaged in grifting of the American people, often use their public offices to enrich themselves. Someone on the other side was just asking, ‘How would you feel if you called someone else from the —” he said before Comer cut him off.
“Hold off, hold off, Mr. Frost, hold off,” Comer said, later adding that “the chair finds the words from the gentleman from Florida are not parliamentary because they constitute personalities toward the president, which, if you sit in the House floor, that’s always uttered by the presiding officer on the House floor, you cannot disparage the president of the United States.”
“I wanna say it’s despicable that this committee is going to silence me for bringing up —” Frost later said.
Comer then warned Connolly he was going to have Frost removed “if he doesn’t refrain.”
Frost’s comments were stricken from the record. One former senator said she was aghast that Frost was told he could no longer speak.
“I honestly have never in my life seen anything so outrageous as that,” said former Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, discussing the showdown Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “Now, I know there’s a lot of things that are outrageous that impact American’s lives every day so don’t yell at me online. But this is really, really bad. “
McCaskill said she hopes the video goes viral.
“What they’re saying is, if you criticize the president of the United States as an elected member of Congress, we will silence you,” she continued. “I mean, that’s a really good way to lose the midterms.”
“I hope that that goes viral, because the truth is, the only thing we know about what Musk and Trump are doing in all these federal agencies is what he puts on his privately owned social media,” she said. “He owns it privately, I mean, it is something that he bought for billions of dollars, and now he is lifting it up.”
McCaskill said Frost was just pointing out the obvious.
“You’ve got Trump actually selling crypto and you’ve got Trump who actually is letting people, anybody, buy these, this crypto and enrich him without us knowing who is buying it — how many bad guys are?” she asked. “They are grifters and they are using their positions to make lots of money, and that’s a fact. And any member of Congress ought to be able to say it and that just infuriates me at that sleazy Comer for saying that.”
On X, users were largely supportive of Frost, who, at 28, is the youngest member of Congress.
“Oh, what a perilous day for democracy when a representative can’t even toss a little shade at the president without the big bad Chairman Comer throwing a tantrum! If Rep. Maxwell Frost can’t call out Trump’s “grifting” in a committee meeting without Comer threatening to sic the House Sergeant of Arms on him, we’re not just sliding down a slippery slope—we’re doing a full-on belly flop into authoritarian quicksand,” wrote one. “Stifling dissent in a setting meant for oversight isn’t just dangerous; it’s a neon sign screaming that criticism of the top dog is off-limits. What’s next—gag orders for anyone who doesn’t salute the presidential portrait?”
Frost has responded to the controversy on X, writing, “James Comer can hide behind the Sergeant in Arms and try to have me removed, arrested, and silenced. But that’s not going to stop me from calling out Donald Trump’s grift and his bullsh-t.”
