Republican colleagues Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared to have a tense encounter at the House of Representatives chamber that was captured on camera during the vote to elect a new speaker.
Kevin McCarthy was finally elected the House speaker after 15 rounds of voting, clinching the gavel just after midnight on Saturday.
Video of chaotic scenes on the floor captured an apparent dust-up between Ms Boebert, who had been a part of a group of far-right Republicans delaying Mr McCarthy’s bid, and Ms Greene, who was supporting him.
“You need to stop,” Ms Greene seemed to tell Ms Boebert in footage in which the two lawmakers were not audible.
Videos shared widely on Twitter showed Ms Boebert responding to her, with speculation rife among commentators about the content of the conversation.
Social media users speculated through lip reading that Ms Boebert responded to Ms Green by saying, “Get the f*** out of my face.”
One of the clips of the conversation on Twitter has been viewed at least 45,000 times.
Several users also commented on the video and concurred that the lawmaker appeared to be saying that.
The two colleagues, who are on the same side of the political spectrum, allegedly do not share a warm relationship. It was reported earlier last year that the two had allegedly came to blows over Ms Greene’s appearance at a conference organised by white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
Mr McCarthy was elected after lawmakers reconvened on Friday night for the 14th and 15th time to determine the speakership, ending the Republican’s historic streak of failures and the longest election for the title in 164 years.
He won at last on a margin of 216-212, with the votes of fewer than half the House members.
Six lawmakers from his own party withheld their votes as they chose not to back him, while also not voting for another contender.
Earlier on Friday, Mr McCarthy suffered one final humiliation when representative Matt Gaetz withheld his vote on the 14th ballot prompting a scuffle in which fellow Republican Mike Rogers, a supporter of Mr McCarthy’s, had to be physically pulled away.
