Most of Michael Cohen's appearance before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday was spent in two ways: one, with Democrats asking questions about his misdeeds in service to Donald Trump, often without delivering much in the way of clarity. And two, with Republicans badgering him about all the other crimes he committed that weren't in service to Trump. The latter seemed to only emphasize that the president employed lying criminals in business and his campaign. But at a few points, the topic was breached of the allegations of racism Cohen made against his former boss.

The first flashpoint came when Republican Mark Meadows, one of Trump's closest allies in Congress, brought out longtime Trump Organization employee Lynne Patton—now at the Department of Housing and Urban Development—to, in effect, prove that Trump isn't racist.

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OMG -- @RepMarkMeadows displays a black Trump admin official, Lynne Patton, to push back on Cohen's claim that Trump is racist.



"Ask Ms Patton how many black people are executives at the Trump Organization? The answer is zero," Cohen says. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/UV915dYEbV — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 27, 2019

This was a fairly insane interaction from the drop, not least because—whether it's due to committee rules or Meadows's choice—Patton wasn't given the chance to speak for herself. She stood next to Meadows somewhat awkwardly as he spoke for her. Then there's the basic fact that employing a person of color does not mean someone is absolved of all charges of racism.

This caused a stir on social media and the cable networks during the following break in proceedings, but it didn't really get aired in the committee room until it was time for Rashida Tlaib, freshman congresswoman from Michigan, to take her five minutes.

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Rep. Rashida Tlaib condemns what she calls a "racist act" by Rep. Mark Meadows, and things go off the rails...



"I am not calling the gentleman, Mr. Meadows, a racist, for doing so, I'm saying that, in itself, it is a racist act." https://t.co/oEziZtsEZd pic.twitter.com/hLfSWs7Ulb — Yahoo News (@YahooNews) February 27, 2019

Tlaib suggested it is racist for someone to use a black woman "as a prop" to disprove an accusation of racism. This caused a volcanic eruption from Meadows, who interpreted Tlaib's comments as directly calling him a racist. After an intervention from Chairman Elijah Cummings, Meadows eventually said his piece, discussing his nieces and nephews—who he said are people of color—and his personal relationship with Cummings. He also appeared to suggest it was racist for Tlaib to call Patton's appearance racist. Tlaib eventually clarified that she was saying it was "a racist act," not calling Meadows a racist directly.



In other news, here's Mark Meadows on the campaign trail in 2012.

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Here's Mark Meadows, who just sidetracked the entire House Oversight Committee to assure him he's not racist, saying that "2012 is the time we are going to send Mr. Obama home to Kenya or wherever it is" pic.twitter.com/90L1xnWf6v — Steve Morris (@stevemorris__) February 27, 2019

This does not appear to be the only time Meadows "flirted with birtherism," according to Roll Call, which reported Meadows backed away from the rhetoric—and acknowledged Barack Obama is an American citizen—in an interview.

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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