MAGA Congressman Brandon Gill (R-TX) made a Democrat cry during a wild hearing moment on Wednesday, June 3. Or, at least, she claimed that his question about Somali migrants was so mean and “hurtful” that she wanted to cry, croaking up what looked like a few alligator tears as she whined about the question.
For reference, the question came as part of a task force that Rep. Gill is leading that is looking into the alleged Medicaid fraud in Ohio. Rep. Gill alleges that not only has a massive $1.2 billion in tapxpayer funding been stolen by fraudsters in the state, but that “many” of the scammers in Ohio are Somali migrants, “just like in Minnesota.”
That focus on Somalis then led to the squabble and tears later on in the hearing, with Ohio state Sen. Nickie Antonio (D) whining about the question he asked her and trying to use tears to get out of answering it, with that absurd response being caught and shown on live TV thanks to CSPAN.
Rep. Gill, kicking the feud with the Democratic state lawmaker off, asked, quite simply, “Has Somali immigration been good for Ohio?” That question, one that seems simple enough to answer given the massive amount of fraud that Somali scammers have been accused of committing, quite upset her.
Responding, she claimed to have almost cried because of it. “You know, that’s really outside of my purview… I’m processing your question, and I have to say that I, I was almost brought to tears just now,” Antonio said. Continuing, she insisted, “Because the rate and the level of hateful rhetoric — based on false information — is shocking! Is shocking to me.”
The two lawmakers then started bickering with each other. Gill, for his part, pointed to fraud and welfare use amongst the Somali population. He noted that a whopping 72% of Somali migrants are on welfare, and added, “They’re defrauding your state at an astounding rate.”
State Sen. Antonio, for her part, refused to acknowledge the crime and fraud problem, and instead insisted that it was mean to bring it up and so she wouldn’t be answering his questions about it. She snapped, “The lack of even humanity — to group a group of people together, I am shocked and appalled by the behavior here right now.”
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Rep. Gill, for his part, took to X after the exchange to argue that Democrats are pro-fraud. “Ending fraud should be a bipartisan priority. Democrats fought us on the DOGE committee. They fought us in today’s hearing. Apparently, they aren’t concerned with combatting fraud,” he said in one post.
In another such post, he vowed, “We want to find fraud wherever it is and put the bad guys behind bars. In Ohio alone, we believe $1.2 billion of our tax dollars went to fraudsters. We see it. We’re going after it.” He also retweeted a post about his question that led to tears, which said, “Brandon Gill and Matt Walsh are geniuses at the art of asking questions that are very, very simple yet very important.”