Rashida Tlaib Asks Conservative Witness ‘Are You a Conspiracy Theorist?’

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) took aim at a conservative witness during Tuesday’s House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy panel on vaping, asking the woman if she was a “conspiracy theorist” after catching her winking at a Republican lawmaker across the room.

Vicki Porter, who was able to quit smoking using e-cigarettes, served as a witness at the “Don’t Vape” hearing but faced open hostility from Tlaib, who purportedly became suspicious after catching Porter “winking” at a Republican lawmaker and responded by attempting to grill her on ideology:

WATCH: Rep. Rashida Tlaib badgers a conservative witness during vape hearing:

– asks her if she's a "conspiracy theorist"

– alleges she's involved in a "conspiracy" because she winked at Rep. Grothman

– claims she is lying about quitting smoking with the use of vapes pic.twitter.com/XFgQplaSgJ

— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) September 24, 2019

“Ms. Porter, I was reading because I want to know more about you and your beliefs, and I respect that we all have different beliefs, but you call yourself a converted conservative and reformed Marxist? Are you a conspiracy theorist?” Tlaib asked.

“I think my politics are entirely irrelevant to this hearing,” Porter said.

Tlaib pivoted the conversation, asking Porter why she winked at one of her colleagues, emulating the wink and gesturing to the right.

“Oh OK. Why were you winking at one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle? You winked,” Tlaib said, implying a sinister motive.

Porter immediately told the far-left “Squad” member that she winked because she knows Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI), referring to him as a “friend.”

“Because I know Glenn Grothman,” Porter explained. “He introduced me. He’s a friend of mine.”

The conversation took a bizarre turn, with Tlaib stating that she thought there was “like a conspiracy thing going on” behind the scenes.

“Oh, I understand. I didn’t know what the winking was. I thought maybe there was like a conspiracy thing going on. I didn’t know,” Tlaib said.

Porter questioned Tlaib’s assertion, asking, “You think there’s a conspiracy in this hearing, ma’am?”

“No. no. I actually think people are speaking truth here and you can provide information–” she began before Porter asked if she could address the “truth.”

At that point, Tlaib implied that Porter was lying.

“Well, the truth for you is very different for the majority of people in this room who do believe that children are being targeted by vaping,” the Minnesota lawmaker stated, spurring a brief back and forth.

“You’re still smoking ma’am. You’re still smoking,” Tlaib added.

“I’m not smoking, and I’m not lying under oath,” Porter shot back.

At another point in the hearing, Tlaib asserted that scientists said “secondhand smoke is worse than directly smoking cigarettes”:

Another weird moment from @RashidaTlaib: She says scientists know that “secondhand smoke is worse than directly smoking cigarettes” pic.twitter.com/IG6VP4D8A8

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 24, 2019