'We don't swear to an orange king': Jasmine Crockett rips Trump's 'hostile act' threat

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) spoke out against President Donald Trump after the White House said that an effort in Congress to force the release of files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein would be seen as a "hostile act."

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Crockett accused Trump of "weaponizing his idea of free speech to force folks and companies to become his political puppets to promote his propaganda."

She noted that Republicans had joined with the Trump administration to defund PBS and NPR.

"Trump has removed books discussing racial discrimination at U.S. military academies," Crockett said. "He's tried to strip funding to schools across the country if they don't remove materials that include discussions of racial discrimination or that promote diversity."

"It's Trump weaponizing the idea of free speech to force people, institutions, and companies to be his mouthpieces," she continued. "This ain't free speech, it's propaganda."

The lawmaker then tied the issue of free speech to the effort to obtain information about Epstein.

"And right now, as we're having these discussions, you know who's trying to shut down members from voting in the way that they want to vote?" she asked. "It's the president who literally said he would look at anyone who decided that they were going to vote to release the Epstein files as hostile."

"That sounds like a threat of — as it relates to all First Amendment protections, in addition to the fact that it's literally contravening our constitutional duty that we swore an oath to, because we don't swear to an orange king," Crockett added. "Instead, we have sworn an oath to the Constitution, and we were elected to represent the people that elected us."

Watch the video below.