House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday characterized Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s run-in with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as “verbal assault and abuse” and suggested an ethics probe was warranted.
She said Ms. Greene’s conduct — allegedly running after Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and shouting questions at her outside the House chamber — makes other members of Congress fearful.
“It’s so beyond the pale of anything that’s in keeping with bringing honor to the House or not bringing dishonor to the Congress,” said Ms. Pelosi, California Democrat. “It’s so beyond the pale that you wonder that it’s probably a matter for the Ethics Committee.”
However, Mrs. Pelosi said she would not order such a probe.
“This is beneath the dignity of a person serving in the Congress of the United States. And it is a cause for fear and trauma among members, especially on the heels of an insurrection,” she said
Ms. Greene, Georgia Republican, responded on Twitter that it’s Ms. Ocasio-Cortez who should be investigated.
“Actually, @SpeakerPelosi the Ethics Committee should look into @AOC for putting Trump admin staff and supporters on lists to destroy their lives and prevent future employment,” Ms. Greene wrote. “She threatened the livelihoods of Americans for simply being Republicans.”
She was referring to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s support last November for the “Trump Accountability Project,” a leftwing effort block anyone who worked to elect Mr. Trump, staffed his government or funded his campaign from being able to find jobs.
“BTW, there was no screaming,” Ms. Greene added.
Ms. Greene also mocked the height of Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican who has sided with Ms. Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter.
“While I may not agree with @AOC on issues, I’ve never seen her confront a colleague like this. The house was created to debate emotional issues professionally, and it seems some just want attention or cannot handle their emotions,” he wrote in response to Ms. Greene‘s Thursday morning tweet.
“Since you are short on understanding little Adam, I asked @AOC to debate me,” she wrote Mr. Kinzinger, who is 5-feet, 9-inches tall.
Ms. Greene confronted Ms. Ocasio-Cortez as she exited the House chamber Wednesday, according to The Washington Post.
According to the report, Ms. Greene called out twice, “Hey Alexandria.” When Ms. Ocasio-Cortez did not stop, Ms. Greene picked up her pace and began shouting at her and asking why she supports Antifa.
Ms. Greene also shouted that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, a leader of the far-left group of young Congress members known as “The Squad,” was failing to defend her “radical socialist” beliefs by declining to publicly debate her, according to the report.
“You don’t care about the American people,” Ms. Greene reportedly shouted. “Why do you support terrorists and Antifa?”
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat, did not stop to answer but threw her hands up in the air in exasperation and said something reporters could not hear.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez in a statement to the newspaper, said, “We hope leadership and the Sergeant at Arms will take real steps to make Congress a safe, civil place for all Members and staff — especially as many offices are discussing reopening.”
The statement then made a reference to Rep. Cori Bush’s allegation in May that Ms. Greene berated her while not wearing a mask in the hallway of a House office building. Ms. Bush, Missouri Democrat, moved her office away from Ms. Greene‘s, citing the security of herself and her staff.
Ms. Greene quickly became a controversial figure when she joined Congress. The Democratic-led House stripped her of committee assignments in February, saying the Georgia Republican’s past promotion of conspiracy theories and violence against elected officials crossed a line.
Democrats, for example, cited Ms. Greene‘s “liking” of a comment on social media in 2019 that said “a bullet to the head would be quicker” to remove House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Ms. Greene has tweeted several times about the incident, and appeared the confirm the confrontation in a post late Wednesday afternoon, “Just talked to @AOC again.”
“You chickened out bc you are too scared to debate me about your Socialist Green New Deal,” the tweet said. “You are also a hate-America terrorist sympathizer. #JihadSquad. Members of Congress do NOT support terrorism & shouldn’t be afraid to debate their legislation.”
Ms. Green remained defiant on Thursday. She tweeted: “@AOC ‘Ms. Defund The Police’ wants to call the police for security bc she’s afraid of debating with me about her socialist GND,” Ms. Green wrote on Twitter Thursday morning.
“AOC is a fraud & a hypocrite,” Ms. Green tweeted.
• Kery Murakami can be reached at kmurakami@washingtontimes.com.
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