Florida Democratic Representative Maxwell Alejandro Frost, the youngest member of Congress, was threatened with removal from a House Oversight Committee hearing on Tuesday after he referred to President Donald Trump as a “grifter.”
Addressing the activities of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Trump has instructed to identify and slash expenditures from the federal government, Frost commented: “People like the grifter-in-chief, Trump, and President Musk are openly using their public offices to enriches themselves to the tune of billions of dollars.
“So if we wanna look at waste, fraud, and abuse – which I’m down to do – why is there complete silence on the other side of the aisle about looking at the complete grifter that is the President of the United States and the richest man on the Earth, which is looking into things like social security and different things like that?
“Why don’t we investigate the real corruption?”
The congressman’s remarks inspired mutterings of disapproval in the chamber and prompted the panel’s Republican chairman James Comer to advise him to “revise” his statement and address the president by his proper title.
Instead, Frost doubled down and repeated his references to the duo as “the grifter-in-chief” and “President Musk” respectively, the latter an allusion to the unchecked power the billionaire appears to wield in his capacity as “special adviser” to Trump.
After causing consternation among the opposition, Frost relented only partially by referring to Trump as “President of the United States Donald Trump, who’s engaged in the grifting of the American people.”
When that caused further upset, the representative dug his heels in, insisting: “I can say that Trump is grifting!
“What I will withdraw is calling him ‘grifter-in-chief.’ That is what I will withdraw.”
Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett attempted to come to Frost’s defense, only to find herself shouted down.
“Skip her! Go to the next one!” Comer yelled.
Frost later complained that it was “despicable” that Comer had tried to “silence” him, leading the chairman to threaten him with expulsion.
“Mister ranking member, I am going to have the sergeant at arms remove him if he doesn’t refrain!” he said.
Hailed as “the first Gen Z member of Congress”, Frost, a former Uber driver, was just 25 when he beat state senator Randolph Bracy and former U.S. representatives Alan Grayson and Corrine Brown in an August 2022 Democratic primary to succeed Val Demmings in representing Florida’s 10th congressional district.
He went on to beat Republican Calvin Wimbish by a 19 percent margin to take the seat the following November.
Frost previously complained about Musk’s influence last December – before Trump had even taken office – when the Tesla and SpaceX boss attempted to override House Speaker Mike Johnson’s proposed congressional spending bill by urging MAGA representatives not to support it.
“An unelected billionaire was crowned co-President by the Republican Party,” Frost responded on Musk’s own platform X at the time.
“No greater example of oligarchy. Where the ultra-wealthy run the show.”
The freshman congressman has also been vocal in attacking his state’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis, accusing him of engaging in “fascism” by “targeting queer students” on CNN in March 2023 and chanting “F*** Ron DeSantis” on stage at a Paramore gig in Washington, D.C., the following June.
