Rep. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.) accused Republicans of bending the knee to former President Trump in a House Homeland Security Committee hearing Wednesday.
“We’ve held 17 hearings, 17, on the border, and this impeachment’s part of that,” Menendez said during a hearing on an impeachment resolution against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Menendez then pointed out the panel has yet to hold any full committee hearings on topics such as emergency preparedness, infrastructure protection and transportation security.
“We have not lived up to our oversight obligation here on this committee, because you all are obsessed with the border, because you bend the knee to the ‘Orange Jesus,’ as you refer to him across the aisle,” Menendez continued.
The remark echoes comments made by committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) referring to former President Trump as “Orange Jesus,” as recalled by former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) in her book “Oath and Honor”.
Cheney said while in the GOP cloakroom in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, members were encouraged to sign onto electoral vote objection sheets, according to CNN. There was a sheet for each of the states that GOP members were pushing back against, per Cheney.
“Among them was Republican Congressman Mark Green of Tennessee,” Cheney wrote. “As he moved down the line, signing his name to the pieces of paper, Green said sheepishly to no one in particular, ‘The things we do for the Orange Jesus.’”
A spokesperson for Green argued that what Cheney said about the lawmaker was “false.”
“She and her publishers would know this had they reached out to Rep. Green or his office,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “There was a large crowd in the cloak room that day and Congressman Green unequivocally denies making this comment.”
Menendez is the son of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who has faced controversy recently after being indicted on charges of bribery over allegations that he and his wife accepted $600,000 in bribes from three businessmen in exchange for favors, and acted as a foreign agent on behalf of Egypt.
The elder Menendez was hit with another superseding indictment last month, which alleged he accepted gifts from the Qatari government and helped a real estate developer obtain millions in investment funds from the Gulf country. He has denied the charges.