Stenographer snaps, rants on House floor
Updated: 2:06 p.m. ET, 10/17/2013
Washington (CNN) – Amid all the chaos of the last-minute deal in Washington, there was an unusual moment on the House floor moments after the bill passed.
A House stenographer and well-known employee calmly took to a microphone and began screaming.
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"Do not be deceived. God shall not be mocked. A House divided cannot stand," she said, according to a House GOP aide. After a few seconds, she was escorted out by the Sergeant-at-Arms, but an audio recording by Todd Zwillich of Public Radio International captured the rest of her rant.
"He will not be mocked, He will not be mocked, (don't touch me) He will not be mocked. The greatest deception here, is that this is not one nation under God. It never was. Had it been... it would not have been... No. it would not have been... the Constitution would not have been written by Free Masons... and go against God. You cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve two masters. Praise be to God, Lord Jesus Christ."
House members and aides were surprised and unsettled by the scene.
"I don't know, she just snapped," said a GOP aide.
CNN's Dana Bash spoke with several staffers who knew the woman well.
"She’s a well-known person, she’s a perfectly nice person, a good colleague, somebody who’s respectable and dependable, and this is very surprising to everybody who works with her," Bash reported on air.
"The Sergeant in Arms didn’t try to stop her because she works there and that’s where she’s situated," Rep. Peter King, R-New York, told Jake Tapper. "And she actually went up behind the podium where the president speaks from. They thought she was going to hand something to the speaker, and then they realized."
Officer Shennell S. Antrobus of Capitol Police told CNN she wasn’t arrested or charged and was transported to a local area hospital by DC Fire for further evaluation.
In terms of an ongoing investigation or further action about the stenographer, Antrobus said no such action will be taken.
"There is nothing more, from our end, that we are going to do," Antrobus said.
–CNN’s Deirdre Walsh, Steve Brusk, Dan Merica and Conor Finnegan contributed to this report.
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Apparently I can't question the existence in god here...but people can praise jesus christ! People really still believe in fairy-tales??
She is not a loon! She was a normal citizen who has just had enough!! She said what many of us want to say. I dont believe she is a Teaparty nut....why would you think that. She probably wasnt getting paid either. You try working for weeks and not getting paid.
I am a liberal and a Democrat...and a true Christian. This is a majority Christian country...not by law, or constitution as the right wing nuts like to say, but we are by choice. That lady was absolutely right about everything she said!! Where we went wrong...we let the people who claim to be Christian to steal the identify of being a Christian. They are really snake oil salespersons and have no Christian values at all. They worship money...they worship the Koch brothers. You cannot tell the poor to go screw themselve and ask for more money for the rich...all the time, and consider yourself a Christian. Period!!!
To all the people out there that don't understand – THERE IS SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE FOR A REASON!!! You people want to turn our country into something like Saudia Arabia or that of the Taliban. There is not difference between your extreme religious views in government and theirs. I for won would fight and kill you to prevent this from ever happening in our government.
oh well. thats politics
Those who make light of what happened are stupid at best and evil at worst...
Watching too much anti-Masonic stuff on the History Channel.
This is your brain. This is your brain on religion. Any questions?
Poor woman will probably lose her job over this... what she was doing was speaking out against the tyranny that many others want to do. This system is a big lie and most people won't realize it till later.... sad.
Those who have eyes, let them see. Those who have ears, let them hear.
She is a lonely voice and realized the 'Deal' is a deal with the Devil....
That's great! When are we going to lock up the other religious nutjobs in Washington? The day we start practicing the whole "Separation of Church and State", the better off this country will be.
They didnt shoot her!?!?!?
Leaving out the religious part, the woman did make a valid point. "A House divided against itself cannot stand". All of the division in the House has brought the country to a standstill, and put many people's lives in limbo. And that does not take into account the impact on the domestic and international markets. To sit there helpless while all of these grown men and women acted like children must have been excruciating. She might have been upset, but that doesn't mean she wasn't right.
after listening to Cruz for 20 hours straight i would lose it too.
Please show me where teh word democracy appears in the declaration or constitution,
Really odd that she should talk about the Freemasons. Very interesting indeed. Trying to warn the people. Brave and crazy at the same time.
She simply had an emotional breakdown, and are any of us really surprised? This country is more divided then I can ever remember in my lifetime and likely more divided then at anytime since the reformation of the parties after the Civil Rights Act came into being. Her Free Mason rhetoric makes me think that she is likely a heavy conservative, I mean they were a liberalistic organization of free thinkers and were not well liked in the more conservative circles of the US Politics but during the early years of America held the most power within our country's government and most of the founding fathers of our nation were members or had ties to the organization. And right now we as a nation are trying to bridge a wide ideological divide between the two parties with fewer moderates in Washington to do just that. Problem is that with each new generation the world becomes more liberal and so the right-wing is finding that fewer and fewer are coming to their cause of agree with their ideas and beliefs, they are clawing to survive in a time where they are literally falling from grace and power.
Let's not forget that this country was better off BEFORE god entered our lives on the currency and in school prayers during the late 50's. The founding fathers were mostly against religion, and to stop all the Christian groups from murdering each other, Religion was meant to stay out of government. With religion comes insanity, there's nothing else to explain such preposterous and dangerous beliefs. Have you seen that the safest, happiest countries are also the least religious?
She might have been use by some kind spirit.
Idiot. Cruz is Senate, this was House.
Incredible! The real truth was actually spoken in Washington... truly shocking. So much so the liars quickly got her away from the microphone... because only lying is ever permitted in front of the sheeple.
Now that is scary, thank goodness she was not armed. No telling what craziness she might have done.
This is what happens when you listen to Magic Sky Daddy.
This is news? The only remarkable thing is that after sitting there recording the intellectual musings of the group of people who have the highest unfavorability ratings in the country, that she didn't go postal on them.
Compared to what she went through, "enhanced interrogation" would be like a spa day with her girlfriends.
another religious nutbar ... one more reason that all people infected by religious brainwashing should be sent for psychiatric help to cure then of their affliction.