Axios reporter Andrew Solender posted Wednesday that Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden (WI) was apoplectic during an intelligence briefing to House members on Israel.
Van Orden, who has a history of irate outbursts including one directed at the high school teenage pages, was "acting belligerent" toward the intelligence staff that works under President Joe Biden's administration, Politico reported.
Multiple officials in the room said that he cursed at the briefers and called the presentation "pathetic." Other members booed at his attacks, one calling it "offensive and inappropriate."
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"Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), shouted 'shame on you' in response to Van Orden’s verbal affront — prompting Van Orden to drop an f-bomb toward the Minnesota Democrat, who is Jewish," said Politico.
“He was rude and attacked the presenters. I thought they had very substantive things to say. But he just had this blanket attack saying that ‘this is the worst information I've ever had,’” Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) told the site. “And basically attacking them for being incompetent.”
After Van Orden's temper tantrum, Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) stepped in to apologize for his behavior.
During the House Democrats' meeting Wednesday, the members discussed the matter and positively identified that it was Van Orden.
After Van Orden screamed at Senate pages in July, Senate leaders in both parties chastised him for his profanity-laced tirade. He then played the victim, saying that he was being "threatened" with bad press after his outbursts.
After the incident, a Wisconsin newspaper editorial called for his ousting while detailing a pattern of rage by the Republican official.
"The Republican congressman from Wisconsin’s 3rd District is no stranger to landing in controversy over his questionable judgment and outbursts," said the op-ed. "In one culture-warrior moment he allegedly ripped into a young library helper, angry over a book display on gay topics. And then there was his presence in the crowd at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, though Van Orden has said he did not enter the building."
"Adults should know better," the editorial continues. "Particularly adults who put themselves forward as leaders in a national forum. As for Van Orden’s clumsy attempt to justify his own bad behavior by blaming it on kids, that says a lot more about him than it does about the teen-agers. If he felt the kids should get up, surely he could have found a more acceptable way to express himself."
