Verbal jousting? Sure. Jostling blows? No. Fight didn’t break out in House hearing

U.S. House of Representatives committee hearings can get heated, but this one didn’t come to blows, as a recent Facebook post suggested.

"F.ight BREAKS as Swalwell tries to OUTSMARTS Jim Jordan with SHAMEFUL interuption in questioning," reads the grammatically incorrect description of a video shared in a May 6 post.

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The hearing was in June 2018 when then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. Most of the tension in this hearing stems from questioning by U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, about the Justice Department’s investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

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U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif, is among multiple committee members who urged the committee’s chair to allow Rosenstein time to answer Jordan’s questions. But those brief interjections passed quickly as Rosenstein and Jordan’s testy exchange continued. 

Verbal sparring? Sure. But no one threw a punch, and certainly not because Swalwell tried to outsmart Jordan. 

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