Democratic Representative Robert Garcia of California explained to CNN's Brianna Keilar why he called billionaire Elon Musk a "dick" during a House Oversight Committee hearing on Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
During the hearing, Garcia trolled Musk while also taking a swipe at the subcommittee’s chair, Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene. Drawing from Greene’s own actions—when she displayed Hunter Biden’s explicit photos during a July 2023 House Oversight Committee hearing—Garcia chose to follow her lead.
He said:
“I find it ironic, of course, that our chairwoman, Congresswoman Greene, is in charge of running this committee. Now, in the last Congress, Chairwoman Greene literally showed a dick pic in our oversight congressional hearing, so I thought I’d bring one as well."
Garcia then displayed a photo of Musk in a tuxedo, prompting laughter from some in attendance, before adding:
“Now this, of course, we know, is President Elon Musk. He’s also the world’s richest man."
"He was the biggest political donor in the last election. He has billions of dollars in conflicts of interest, and we know that he’s leading a power grab also abided by and encouraged by Donald Trump, and, of course, the chairwoman, Congresswoman Greene.”
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Garcia later appeared on CNN, where Keilar asked him the following question:
“Do you think that calling Elon Musk a ‘dick’ is effective messaging for confronting what is a potentially an irreversible transformation of the U.S. government?”
Garcia responded:
"Well, he is a dick and I think he's also harming the public in an enormous way. What I think is really important and what the American public wants is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight. This is an actual fight for democracy, for the future of this country."
"And it’s important to push back on the chairperson of this committee. Marjorie Taylor Greene talks about having decorum, about bipartisanship. This is the person that lies more than anybody else in the entire Congress."
"And so, if she is going to make a mockery of hearings, I want to make sure that us as Democrats are bringing that same level of energy. After those comments, we went into exactly what Elon Musk is trying to do dismantling the Department of Labor, dismantling the Department of Education, dismantling all of our consumer protection agencies.”
He then addressed Keilar’s point about “effective messaging”:
"It's important to get the attention of the American public and call Elon Musk out for what he is, and to make people know that Marjorie Taylor Greene is not a serious legislator, and she shouldn’t be treated as such.”
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Many agreed with Garcia's point.
He's just playing Republicans' game.
