Attorney General Eric Holder's hearing before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday grew heated, as members of Congress grilled him on everything from the Justice Department's obtaining of Associated Press phone records to President Barack Obama's Labor Secretary nominee, Thomas Perez.
But the most unusual exchange came when Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) questioned Holder over the FBI's investigation into Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Gohmert accused Holder and the Department of Justice of unfair targeting of Christian groups while failing to thoroughly investigate Tsarnaev, and said the FBI "blew it" by not following up after Tsarnaev had become "radicalized."
"Because of political correctness, there was not a thorough enough investigation of Tamerlan to determine this kid had been radicalized," Gohmert said, raising his voice at Holder.
Holder strongly refuted those charges and defended the FBI.
"You don't have access to the FBI files," Holder said. "You don't know what the FBI did. You don't know what the FBI's interaction was with the Russians. You don't know what questions were put to the Russians, whether those questions were responded to. You simply do not know that. ... I know what the FBI did. You cannot know what I know."
Gohmert grew irate, charging that Holder had challenged his personal character and continually tried to get a word in despite objections from other members of the Judiciary Committee.
He then rambled something that sounded like he was accusing Holder of "casting aspersions on my asparagus."
Watch the clip below, via Mediaite:
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