"Liar" and "insignificant" were among the choice words Republican Rep. Tom Marino told "Fox & Friends" that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called him on Friday during a discussion about the border funding bill.
During Friday's debate in the House, Marino questioned why Democrats did not move forward on the issue in the years they held a majority in both houses of Congress. He said that prompted Pelosi, who was Speaker of the House during that period, to charge over to the Republican side of the aisle and take issue with his comments.
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"I was talking about how the Democrats are making immigration a political issue when, in fact, they had in 2009 and 2010 complete control of the House, the Senate, and the White House. And, they did virtually nothing to address the border issue," Marino said Monday.
"She came up to me wagging her finger and saying that I was a liar — a liar. And, I simply said, 'No, I do my research. I have my facts straight. Perhaps you should try that,'" the Pennsylvania congressman added.
The discussion continued after the two left the House chambers, Marino said. That was when Pelosi told him he "wasn't important, in so many words."
"An insignificant person, yes. She was wagging her finger, and I am insignificant. She told me that twice," he said. "She was visibly shaken."
Marino said when he worked as a prosecutor he had been "threatened by drug dealers and organized crime and murderers." Compared to that, he called the encounter with Pelosi "a walk in the park." However, verbal assaults such as Pelosi's, Marino said, were something that he wasn't "going to put up with."
"I don't talk to people like this. My father told me to be a gentleman. I was a gentleman during this whole incident," he said. "I'm a street fighter, and I'm not going to continue to have someone belittle and make statements that aren't true."
There were some members of Congress who "think they are royalty," Marino said, adding that when Pelosi spoke to him, she was also making the comments "to my constituents and the middle class, hard-working people across the United States."
It was a "breach of protocol" for Pelosi to cross to the Republican side, Marino said, adding there were other avenues she could have taken if she disagreed with his comments.
"If she wanted to say something, she could have asked me if I would yield, and she could speak. Or, she could have my words taken down, but there was nothing to take down," he said.
The House passed the bill on Friday that would give President Barack Obama $694 million to address the crisis along the southern U.S. border. The Senate failed to advance a separate border bill before members left for their summer recess.
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