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.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

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.

Featured Fact-check

Instagram posts

stated on November 24, 2024 in an Instagram post

“Rachel Maddow MELTS DOWN over Elon Musk posting memes about buying MSNBC.”

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. 

We rate this post False.