GOP lawmaker apologizes to CBC chair for allegedly telling her to ‘kiss my a–‘

Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) apologized to Congressional Black Caucus chair Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) after he allegedly told her to “kiss my a–” in response to her request for him to wear a mask before taking a train inside Capitol Hill.

“This afternoon, I met with Congresswoman Beatty to personally apologize. My words were not acceptable and I expressed my regret to her, first and foremost,” Rogers said in a statement on Tuesday.

Roger’s apology came after Beatty accused him on Twitter of telling her to “kiss my a–” when she told him to put on a mask before heading to the House floor for votes.

“Today, while heading to the House floor for votes, I respectfully asked my colleague @RepHalRogers to put on a mask while boarding the train. He then poked my back, demanding I get on the train. When I asked him not to touch me, he responded, ‘kiss my a–,’” Beatty wrote.

“This is the kind of disrespect we have been fighting for years, and indicative of the larger issue we have with GOP Members flaunting health and safety mandates designed to keep us and our staff safe,” she added.

Lawmakers are required to wear masks inside the House chamber, but some Republicans have chosen to defy the mask mandates and accrue hefty fines instead, including Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Andrew Clyde (Ga.) — who both have close to $150,000 in combined mask fines as of mid-January.

An impromptu press conference was held by members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who expressed their outrage over the incident.

“This was harassment of a woman, a black woman, and a woman in leadership because he put his hands on her, he told her to kiss a part of his body,” Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) said.

“And I can tell you, being a little black girl from the east side of Detroit, I would not take that standing or sitting,” Lawrence said. “And I’m not going to take it standing or sitting for one of our own to be disrespected.”