Secretary of State Marco Rubio took Democrat members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to task in a hearing on Wednesday over their lines of questioning, including about his shoes, saying that the hearing was more of a “circus” than a committee hearing.

At one point in the hearing, Rep Sara Jacobs asked Rubio who won the 2020 election, to which he said he wasn’t there to talk about elections.

Jacobs claimed that Rubio couldn’t answer the question. Rubio responded, “I don’t answer the question, because the Secretary of  State, I do not participate in domestic political issues.” He later added, “you’re asking me to opine, just like I don’t do campaign rallies, I don’t do because as Secretary of State, we’re not supposed to. That’s been the long tradition of the department, and you should know that.”

Jacobs replied, “Mr. Secretary, it seems like you have an issue admitting facts. You can’t say that the president lost the 2020, just like you won’t admit President Trump is losing this reckless war of choice, and just like you couldn’t admit that the shoes the president bought you were too big. You clearly don’t know what winning means, and not because the facts are unclear to you, it’s because telling the truth would cost you your job, and the American people are entitled to a Secretary of State who tells them the truth even whent he president doesn’t want to hear it.”

Rubio replied, “I don’t know what shoes she’s talking about, what is she talking about?” He later added, “yeah. I don’t know about the shoes, I mean, he gave me some Florsheim shoes that are actually pretty good, they fit fine. I don’t know what she’s talking about.”

Jacobs chimed in, “Your shoes look very nice today, Mr. Secretary.” 

“How can you see them? They’re way down here,” Rubio replied. “We’re talking about shoes, are you guys kidding me? I mean, is this the Foreign Affairs Committee, or is this like a circus? What is this?”

Tran-identified male committee member Sarah McBride asked Rubio about Greenland, saying, “I assume you’re aware that Greenland is indeed part of Denmark?” Rubio said, “For now.” He later added that the US was in talks with Greenland and Denmark for the use of the Arctic territory for “collective defense.” 

Rep Sydney Kamlager-Dove also walked out of the hearing at one point after refusing to give him time to answer the questions she was asking. In the middle of Rubio answering a question in regard to the situation in Venezuela, Kamlager-Dove said, “I’m gonna reclaim my time.” She once again reclaimed her time a moment later, cutting off Rubio as he was once again attempting to answer her.

“Why am I here if I don’t get to answer any questions,” Rubio said as Kamlager-Dove spoke, once again saying she was reclaiming her time. Rubio said, “Do I get time? Cause you make these defamatory statements and no one can talk here. This is crazy.” 

“If you can’t call out corruption in this country, then how can you call it out in another country,” she asked. Rubio said, “well, I can’t say anything cause you won’t let me speak.” 

Kamlager-Dove continued on, with Rubio commenting, “these guys just get to talk and I don’t get to answer?” She called on him to prove that corruption isn’t happening, with Rubio replying as she continued on, “well how do I prove it if you don’t let me talk?”

“Can I reclaim my time yet?” Rubio later asked, with Kamlager-Dove responding, “you don’t have this time yet, I’m talking about your credibility and evidence, not your talking points,” with Rubio laughing. 

When she was told that her time had expired, she shouted before leaving the room, “giving contracts with no transparency is exactly the reason why you shut down USAID so practice what you preach.”

The hearing turned to fellow Floridian Maria Elvira Salazar, who praised Rubio and said he could have some of her time. Rubio said, “What is this? You don’t—you get asked questions for five minutes, and you don’t get time to answer. It’s not a hearing.” As Salazar was speaking, Rubio said, “why is she leaving, I’m gonna answer her questions.”