‘Stupid Motherf*cker’: Sheila Jackson Lee Berates Staff in Leaked Audio

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, speaks as the House Judiciary Committee holds a hearing
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Olivia Rondeau

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) has been caught on a leaked audio recording berating her staff in an angry tirade littered with profanity and abusive language, calling them “fuckups” with no brains.

Jackson Lee, a Hillary Clinton-endorsed candidate for the mayorship of Houston, Texas, has been serving as the representative for her state’s 18th Congressional District since 1995. Over the years, she has built a reputation for being one of the “meanest” people in Congress, Fox News reports.

HOUSTON, TX - JUNE 4: Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) gives Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton a hug after her speech at the Inaugural Barbara Jordan Gold Medallion at Texas Southern University on June 4, 2015 in Houston, Texas. Clinton received the Barbara Jordan Public-Private Leadership Award at Texas Southern University and in her remarks, urged swift action to restore the Voting Rights Act and replace the provisions struck down by the Supreme Court. She also spoke about the destructive impact of restrictive laws in states like Texas, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Ohio that make it harder for voters to access the voting booth and cast their ballots (Photo by Thomas Shea/Getty Images).

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) gives then-Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton a hug after her speech at the Inaugural Barbara Jordan Gold Medallion at Texas Southern University on June 4, 2015 in Houston, Texas (Thomas Shea/Getty Images).

In a recording obtained by ​​Texas newspaper Current Revolt and published on Saturday, she can be heard referring to her staffers as “fat ass stupid idiots” and “big ass children fucking idiots” who “serve no goddamn purpose.”

The tape, which is less than two minutes long, contained an emotional blowup regarding an event that apparently should have been added to Jackson Lee’s schedule:

Sheila Jackson Lee: “Uh, you took a piece of paper from that woman, uh, regarding, uh, something that was owned by Ducantell. Where is it? What, what date was it?”

Staffer: “Oh, Jerome took it upstairs. I’ll have to call to pick it up when I switched out the papers. I’ll call him.”

Sheila Jackson Lee: “I don’t want you to do a goddamn thing. I want you to have a fucking brain. I want you to have read it. I want you to say, ‘Congresswoman, with such and such date.’ That’s what I want. That’s the kind of staff that I want to have. So some stupid other motherfucker did it. And, and I don’t have the information. Nobody sent me the information. I need to, uh, ensure my, um, schedule and, uh, you know, if, if Boo Boo did it, shit ass did it, fuck face did it. And nobody knows a goddamn thing in my office. Okay? Nothing. I gave it to you. Your job was to get it on the calendar, imprint it in your brain, or send me the information back saying, ‘Congresswoman, I made sure that the Ovide Ducantell event that you gave me, uh, for a so-and-so date at seven is on the fucking calendar.’ Not to, oh, Jerome has it.

“Okay. So when I called Jerome, he only sitting up there like a fat ass stupid idiot talking about, uh, what the fuck? He doesn’t know. Okay? Both of y’all are fuckups [inaudible]. It’s the worst shit that I could have ever had put together. Two goddamn big ass children fucking idiots serve no goddamn purpose. Ain’t managing nobody. Nobody’s respecting them. Nobody gives a shit about what you’re doing, and you ain’t doing shit. And this is an example of it. I gave it to Jerome. This is not child’s work.”

The audio, which has since made rounds on social media, has garnered backlash on the congresswoman.

“Why is the mainstream media ignoring the audio of Sheila Jackson Lee berating her staff?” GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel asked on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel speaks during a news conference at the Republican National Committee in Washington, DC, on November 9, 2020 (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).

“She’s running to be the mayor of the fourth largest city in the country. She’d oversee more staff than she ever has in Congress. But the media gives her a pass because she’s a Democrat.”

“It’s her love language,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) joked.

“Many people swear but berating, insulting & bullying your staff is never ok,” citizen journalist Kristi L. Talmadge wrote.

“If somebody ever screamed at me like this, I’d lose my mind on them, grab my stuff & walk right out the door…Should the House Ethics Committee address Rep Sheila Jackson Lee’s behavior here?”

While the congresswoman has yet to address the recording, this is not the first time she has been accused of unacceptable behavior toward staff members. 

In a 2011 article from the Daily Caller, it was reported that Jackson Lee used abusive language to refer to staffers, even going so far as to demean one young woman in front of her visiting parents.

“They were really excited to come to the congressional office. They’re small town people, so for them it was a huge deal. They were actually sitting in the main lobby waiting area….[Jackson Lee] came out screaming at me over a scheduling change. Called me a ‘stupid idiot. Don’t be a moron, you foolish girl’ and actually did this in front of my parents, of all things,” the former staffer told the outlet.

The powerful Democrat was also accused of demanding her staff work into the early hours of the morning and forcing them to drive her everywhere, regardless of how short the distance.

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