Rep. Jasmine Crockett on Sunday called Sen. John Fetterman a hypocrite for his criticism of a video that his fellow Democratic lawmakers participated in recently.
Mr. Fetterman, Pennsylvania Democrat, has lobbed remarks of disapproval toward the more liberal members of his party from time to time, including condemning their push for a government shutdown and participation in an influencer’s video game that inspired the “CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER” clip that was roundly mocked.
Ms. Crockett, Texas Democrat, returned fire on CNN’s “State of the Union,” saying Mr. Fetterman is not one to talk since he refuses to wear suits on the Senate floor and wears his signature hoodie and long shorts instead.
“This is a guy that doesn’t seemingly want to own a suit. I’m not really sure, but I don’t show up in hoodies when I’m going on the floor,” Ms. Crockett said. “And so the idea that you would say that we could not have a moment in which an influencer asked us to do this?”
Ms. Crockett said she participated in the video because she felt it was important that people see that lawmakers like her were real.
“Even if that means that there is a moment to laugh, that’s okay, especially since it seems like we’re doing more crying than anything,” she said. “But just know that we were not on the House floor jumping around at all, whereas Senator Fetterman is consistently walking around the Senate chamber [that way] — so I just don’t think that he’s necessarily the one to actually have an opinion about this.”
In 2023, then-Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, relaxed the dress code for lawmakers so the chamber’s sergeant-at-arms — the Senate’s official dress code police — would no longer enforce it on the Senate floor.
Mr. Fetterman publicly took issue on X with his more liberal colleagues’ behavior during President Trump’s recent address to a joint session of Congress. He said Democrats could have joined their GOP counterparts in acknowledging a 13-year-old boy with brain cancer and the family of a slain law enforcement officer.
He also ridiculed their “CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER” video set to the character selection music from the video game “Super Smash Bros.” as “bizarre.”
The video featured Ms. Crockett, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York, Judy Chu of California, Lauren Underwood of Illinois and Susie Lee of Nevada. Similar to the video fight games, each lawmaker is seen jabbing and weaving in their videos next to a list of their skills, political titles and tongue-and-cheek trivia.
