All Hell Breaks Loose As Melanie Stansbury Calls Out Marjorie Taylor Greene's Comment

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At today's House DOGE Committee hearing, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-GA) questioning of witnesses led Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) to call a point of order.

Transcript

00:00We will now begin the five-minute question period of the hearing.

00:05I would like to remind the members that Mr. Leifelt is here under a duly issued subpoena

00:12to answer questions at today's hearing.

00:15After refusing to appear voluntarily, I now recognize myself for five minutes for the

00:20purpose of asking questions.

00:23No one is here today to harm transgenders.

00:27We are here to defend girls and women, and we are here to defend Title IX, and to uphold

00:33President Trump's executive order that all biological males stay out of girls' and women's

00:40sports.

00:41Here displayed behind me is the post that Mr. Leifelt put up.

00:46Mr. Leifelt came in here today saying that this is game day.

00:51You're right, Mr. Leifelt, this is game day.

00:55Under the Ted Stevens Act, USA fencing and other national governing bodies that are authorized

01:01to oversee individual sports on a national level have a certain obligation.

01:06One such duty is to provide support and encouragement for participation by women where separate programs

01:13for male and female athletes are conducted on a national basis.

01:18Another statutory duty is to promote a safe environment in sports that is free from abuse of any amateur

01:27athlete, including emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.

01:32Mr. Leifelt, as the board chair of USA fencing, surely you are aware of these legal requirements.

01:40That means you believe that forcing a woman to compete against a biological man promotes

01:46a safe environment that is free from emotional abuse.

01:49Is that correct?

01:50One moment.

01:51A point of order, please, Madam Chair.

01:52You're not—you're not—

01:53Madam Chair, I have a point of order.

01:56The document that you have up behind you is a misrepresentation of the actual post.

02:02It appears that you're trying to misrepresent a witness here who you used subpoena powers against.

02:08This is not—

02:08Ms. Stansbury, Ms. Stansbury, this is not a point of order.

02:12This is the actual picture that she has put and put on the board behind me.

02:14Ms. Stansbury, you're not recognized.

02:16Ms. Stansbury, you're not recognized.

02:18Ms. Stansbury, you are not recognized.

02:20Madam Chairwoman, you are misrepresenting the truth.

02:22You are misrepresenting the truth.

02:23This is not a point of order.

02:25Ms. Stansbury, this is not a point of order.

02:27Ms. Stansbury.

02:28Ms. Stansbury, you are misrepresenting the witnesses.

02:32Ms. Stansbury.

02:33Ms. Stansbury, you are misrepresenting policy.

02:34You are misrepresenting—

02:35Ms. Stansbury, you're not recognized.

02:37This—you're not recognized.

02:38That's not a point of order.

02:40You're abusing the rules of this committee.

02:42This is the post of Mr. Leifelt that he posted himself on his own social media.

02:49And that's exactly why we have it displayed here today, because Mr. Leifelt believes that he

02:54can take away the opportunities for women to compete in USA fencing.

02:59And he thinks this is game day to defend biological men.

03:04Now, we're going to return to my time as chair of this committee.

03:09Ms. Turner, refusing to compete against a man cost you a 12-month probation.

03:15Did you feel you were in a safe environment, free from abuse, when you were told you must

03:21compete against a man in an all-out competition?

03:26Ms. No.

03:27No.

03:28That wasn't free from emotional abuse.

03:30Ms. McNabb, when a biological man spiked a ball into your head, were you free from physical

03:36or emotional abuse?

03:38Ms. I was not.

03:40Ms. McNabb, did you feel you were placed in a safe environment?

03:44When you faced a biological male in a girls' volleyball game?

03:49Ms. No.

03:50I did not feel safe.

03:51Ms. Turner, were you safe when you were forced to go up against a biological male in your sport?

03:59Ms. No, I was not.

04:01Ms. Leifelt, do you think your perception of what constitutes a safe environment for women

04:07is more valid than that of a woman testifying here today?

04:11Congresswoman, thank you for your question.

04:14There was a study that was published in 2010 regarding the safety of sports in the Olympic

04:19movement.

04:20There were 51 sports that were assessed as part of that study.

04:23Ms. That's a yes or no question, Mr. Leifelt.

04:25Is that your perception?

04:26You're sitting next to a young woman who received a brain injury from a biological male.

04:31Is it safe to compete against biological males?

04:34Yes or no, Mr. Leifelt?

04:35What happened to Ms.

04:36Yes or no?

04:37What happened to Ms. McNabb was?

04:38I'll take that as a no.

04:39Mr. Leifelt, do you think forcing a woman to change in front of a man in a locker room

04:43is abusive?

04:44Yes or no?

04:46Congresswoman, I'm not sure I follow the question.

04:48Do you want your daughter to change in front of biological men in locker rooms?

04:52Yes or no?

04:54My daughter isn't really something that should be part of this area, respectfully.

04:58If you're not a quick no on that, we're going to take that as a no.

05:02We're going to switch gears to USA Fencing site selection policy.

05:05You're the chair of USA Fencing.

05:07You should be familiar.

05:08Mr. Leifelt, what does abortion have to do with fencing?

05:12Congresswoman, that policy was passed before I got on the board.

05:16However, when—

05:17You're the chair of the board now.

05:19What does abortion have to do with fencing, Mr. Leifelt?

05:21I'm on the board, you're correct.

05:23And I offered an amendment to that policy back in December, Congresswoman,

05:28that allowed for more flexibility at the city level.

05:32What, to get an abortion while you're at fencing competitions?

05:34I don't think so.

05:35And it also allowed for better convenience.

05:37So we enhanced the policy—

05:38More convenience to Planned Parenthood centers.

05:40Mr. Leifelt, why does USA Fencing state's abortion policies and LGBTQ policies

05:46in its site selection process to determine where tournaments are held?

05:50That's part of your site selection process, is abortion availability and states and cities that are friendly to LGBTQ policies.

06:02How is that part of USA Fencing?

06:04Congresswoman, we try to have tournaments in sites that are safe for all of our members, period.

06:09So you don't think red states are safe for fencing athletes?

06:14Red states are absolutely safe, and we regularly host tournaments there, including Texas, Ohio—

06:19No, your site selection policies are based on abortion availability and LGBTQ availability, not on fencing, not on your sport.

06:30Now, let's go a little bit further with this.

06:34Madam Chairwoman, your time has expired.

06:36You're not recognized, Ms. Crockett.

06:39Mr. Leifelt, you wrote a blog post where you said that one day your daughter—

06:44Madam Chair, on a point of order—

06:46This is my time, and I'm the chair of the committee.

06:48Well, no, that was your time. Your time is over, and now we're asking a week—

06:52The chair has discretion to assign time, and you know it's your—

06:54I've lost time. I have lost time.

06:55As long as we have that understanding, that's fine.

06:58I have lost time.

06:59I yield two and a half minutes to the chair lady.

07:01Mr. Leifelt, you wrote a blog post where you said that one day your daughter might compete against a transgender woman, a biological man.

07:11You said that if she did, you might win or she might lose.

07:15But whatever the result, you hope she doesn't care about the outcome,

07:20because the important thing is that both she and her opponent enjoy the match.

07:25That's what you wrote in your little trans manifesto.

07:28But you came here today to win, and you came here today to defeat women in their own sport.

07:37So as you stand here before this committee today, you are a man that would tell your daughter to lose and enjoy it to a biological man.

07:49My time has expired, and with that, I recognize Ms. Stansbury to defend all the trans.

07:56Point of order.

07:59Out of curiosity, is the chairwoman allowed to editorialize before every speaker on the Democratic side speaks,

08:08or is that part of her time, which we know that she went over?

08:12It's not a point of order.

08:14You're taking Ms. Stansbury's time.

08:16I know you're trying to be chair of oversight, but Ms. Stansbury is the ranking member.

08:19Chair would be better on this side. I do agree with that.

08:22It's Ms. Stansbury's time.

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