Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was asked Wednesday about calls for her removal from Congress, but the reporter who raised the question was rebuffed by the Georgia Republican and threatened with arrest.
Meredith Aldis, a reporter for an NBC affiliate in Chattanooga, Tennessee, tried to ask Ms. Greene about her possible expulsion from Congress during a town hall event held in nearby Dalton, Ga.
The question was cut short by the congresswoman, however, and Ms. Aldis and the rest of the Channel 3 news crew were quickly ordered to leave the event by Mrs. Greene’s staffers and then sheriffs.
Ms. Greene, who has represented Georgia’s 14th Congressional District for under a month, has faced growing calls for her removal from office over revelations about her past social media activity.
Prior to running for Congress, it emerged Tuesday, Ms. Greene “liked” several Facebook posts about killing prominent Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom she also has called a “traitor.”
“What do you have to say about the videos and the posts that–,” the Channel 3 reporter attempted to ask Mrs. Greene during the town hall event the following night.
“I’m talking to my constituents,” Mrs. Greene interrupted. “We’re not having a press, this isn’t a press conference.”
Ms. Greene’s staffers then ordered the TV crew to leave and waved over two uniformed deputies from the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office, the reporter said during an evening newscast later.
“When we presented our credentials and explained we were invited to cover the event, we were told that if we stayed on the property we’d be arrested and charged with criminal trespassing,” Ms. Aldis said.
Channel Three also released video in which a person it identified as a sheriff’s deputy could be heard off-camera discussing criminal trespassing with the news crew, prompting the reporters to promptly pack up and leave.
Reached for comment Thursday morning, the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office referred The Washington Times to representatives for the GOP congresswoman.
Nick Dyer, a communications director for Mrs. Greene, told The Times that media were not allowed to ask questions during the town hall and claimed the reporter “interrupted the event and caused a scene.”
“Perhaps Ms. Aldis didn’t appreciate the questions being asked because they didn’t fall in line with the narrative she wanted to portray,” Mr. Dyer told The Times in an emailed statement.
Mr. Dyer also accused Channel Three’s broadcast journalist of having “conducted a stunt,” and he argued The Times was “rewarding their activism” by reporting about her being threatened with arrest.
In addition to having previously expressed support for executing several Democrats, Mrs. Greene also promoted several baseless, fringe conspiracy theories prior to her successful campaign for Congress.
Mrs. Greene, 46, gained notoriety while campaigning for having pushed the QAnon conspiracy theory movement, as well as baseless claims about tragedies including the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Rep. Jimmy Gomez, California Democrat, announced Wednesday night that he planned to introduce a resolution to expel Mrs. Greene from Congress. Such an expulsion resolution requires a two-thirds supermajority to succeed.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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