AOC slams Gaetz ‘bad haircut, cheap suit, here on papa’s money’ after he invokes suicide of Jamie Raskin’s son

New York rep jumps to defence of Democrat colleague after low attack by Florida Republican

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has eviscerated Matt Gaetz for referring to the suicide of Jamie Raskin’s son in an attack on the 6 January committee member.

She described him as a “bad haircut in a cheap suit”, was only in Congress because of his father’s money, and was no comparison to Mr Raskin.

The Florida Republican representative said Maryland Democrat lawmaker Mr Raskin was in a dark place and “unable” to do his job because of his son’s suicide.

Speaking on Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s podcast, Mr Gaetz said: “The country shouldn’t have to go through all that with him.”

He continued by saying the trauma of losing a child had clouded Mr Raskin’s judgement.

“What I worry about with Raskin, in all seriousness — when people encounter trauma, they often associate a lot of the other things around that trauma with it, even if they don’t naturally or even rationally associate,” Mr Gaetz said.

Democrat New York Rep Ocasio-Cortez sprung to the defence of the Maryland congressman on Twitter, posting: “Rep Raskin is a greater statesman, Congressman, human being than most of us. History will remember him.”

She added a tribute to Mr Raskin’s son, who died on New Year’s Eve 2020, aged 25: “Tommy was a remarkable person and testament of his parents’ love.”

Turning her attention to Mr Gaetz, she tore into the Florida lawmaker: “Gaetz is a bad haircut in a cheap suit, a feat of mediocrity given that he’s here on papa’s money. Bye.”

In his fuller comments, Mr Gaetz said: “As a human being, our hearts go out to him. But I think that he takes that trauma and he associates it now with his work in the Congress to such an interwoven way that he’s unable to do the congressional experience outside of just the dungeon of that personal trauma.”

Both he and Ms Greene said they were in Congress to serve the people and for the love of country.

In a further jab at Mr Raskin, the Florida lawmaker said: “We’re not here out of a sense of grievance or hatred. We love America.”

He continued, referring to tonight’s public hearing of the Capitol riot committee on which Mr Raskin sits: “And I think it does cloud his judgment, and you could see that, that very darkness and that pain manifest on Thursday in a way that’s not particularly relevant to the challenges that we’ve talked about.”

Mr Gaetz concluded: “But it might be deeply relevant to what he’s going through. And the country shouldn’t have to go through all that with him.”

In October 2021 Reps Gaetz and Raskin clashed in a heated exchange at the House Rules Committee hearing over the criminal referral of Steve Bannon.

Mr Raskin grilled Mr Gaetz on whether he accepted Joe Biden won the 2020 election, while the Republican shot back that the Democrats’ obsession with 6 January was to hide their lack of progress in Congress.

Democrat Rep Raskin wrote candidly about his son’s battle with depression and the trauma of losing him in his book: Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy.