Desiree Fairooz, a woman who laughed when Republican Senator Richard Shelby (AL) introduced now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions by saying his record of “treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well-documented,” is now on trial for laughing at such a blatant lie. Huffington Post reports:
Fairooz was seated in the back of the room, and her laugh did not interrupt Shelby’s introductory speech. But, according to the government, the laugh amounted to willful “disorderly and disruptive conduct” intended to “impede, disrupt, and disturb the orderly conduct” of congressional proceedings. The government also charged her with a separate misdemeanor for allegedly parading, demonstrating or picketing within a Capitol, evidently for her actions after she was being escorted from the room.
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The hypocrisy of the U.S. Capitol Police officer who arrested Fairooz and the prosecutors trying her case is easy to find. Fairooz’s lawyer has footage of other times folks laughed during Sessions’ hearing—and didn’t get arrested.
Samuel Bogash, a lawyer representing Fairooz, showed a video of the audience laughing at another part of the hearing, when Sessions joked about disagreements with his wife. But [assistant U.S. attorney Jason] Covert argued that it was appropriate for the audience to laugh when Sessions made a joke about his marriage but not when Shelby claimed Sessions had a long record of “treating all Americans equally.”
If it’s truly about Fairooz’s laughing, then this is completely ridiculous. Where are conservative “free speech” advocates now? Conservatives like to mock liberals for being “special snowflakes” yet they’re throwing down the hammer on someone who wouldn’t politely laugh at the Racist Keebler Elf’s jokes.
Watch a video of the arrest below: