Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) (L), Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO).
Reuters (L) | Getty Images (R)
GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and her staff allegedly “berated” House Democrat Cori Bush of Missouri, who said Friday she’s moving her office away from Greene’s “for my team’s safety.”
Bush also said in a tweet that the Georgia Republican “targeted me & others on social media.”
An aide for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., confirmed to NBC News that Bush’s office had been reassigned. “This room assignment change was by the direct order of the Speaker,” the aide told NBC.
Bush, in reference to the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump, noted that she has “called for the expulsion of members who incited the insurrection from Day 1.”
In the wake of that invasion, Bush had introduced a resolution directing the House Ethics Committee to investigate whether any lawmakers who tried to overturn President Joe Biden‘s electoral victory “violated their oath of office” and “should face sanction, including removal from the House of Representatives.”
Bush’s statement implied that Greene should be included in that proposed investigation. Both Greene and Bush are newly elected representatives who were sworn into Congress earlier this month.
Later Friday, Greene from her personal Twitter account shot back that Bush “is lying to you. She berated me.”
Greene claimed to “have the receipts.” She attached to the Twitter post a video showing her walking down a hallway and speaking into a handheld camera. Below her chin was a black face mask emblazoned with the word “CENSORED” — the same type she had worn when speaking on the House floor in opposition to Trump’s second impeachment.
The 77-second video shows Greene criticizing Democrats who supported last summer’s wave of protests against police brutality and racial injustice, some of which broke out in violence.
An off-screen voice then calls out: “Follow the rules and put on a mask!”
Another voice is heard saying, “Stop inciting violence with Black Lives Matter.” Bush, the first Black congresswoman from Missouri and a Black Lives Matter activist, said in a statement that one of Greene’s staffers made that remark.
Greene, looking away from the camera, says: “You know what, yeah, don’t yell at people. You know what, you shouldn’t bring Covid-positive members in here! spreading Covid everywhere! Stop being a hypocrite!”
Bush, in a statement sent by her office, said the altercation took place on Jan. 13 in the underground tunnel that connects the Cannon House Office Building and the Capitol.
Bush said that Greene “came up from behind me, ranting loudly into her phone while not wearing a mask.”
“This took place one day after multiple of my House colleagues announced they had tested positive for COVID-19 after being in a room with Taylor Greene during the white supremacist attack on the Capitol,” the lawmaker said.
Bush said that “out of concern for the health of my staff, other members of Congress, and their congressional staff, I repeatedly called out to her to put on a mask,” at which point Greene and her staff “responded by berating me.”
“In the context of Taylor Greene’s repeated endorsements of executing Democratic politicians before taking office, Taylor Greene’s renewed, repeated antagonization of the movement for Black lives in the last month directed towards me personally is cause for serious concern.”
“All of this led to my decision to move my office away from Taylor Greene’s for the safety of my team. My office is currently being relocated from the Longworth House Office Building,” Bush said.
Bush and Greene have offices located on the same floor of the Longworth House Office Building, one of three buildings for House members on Capitol Hill.
Greene has expressed support for the radical pro-Trump conspiracy theory QAnon, whose believers had in some cases cheered on the break-in at the Capitol, which left five dead.
Greene has recently come under additional fire following reports she accosted a survivor of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting and liked social media posts calling for violence against Democrats.
On Wednesday, a news crew from NBC affiliate WRCB was reportedly removed from a town hall event and threatened with arrest after trying to ask Greene a question.
Pelosi blasted Greene and the “absolutely appalling” decision by top House Republicans to appoint Greene to the House Education Committee.
“What could they be thinking? Or is thinking too generous a word for what they might be doing?” Pelosi said Thursday at a news conference.
A spokesman for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Pelosi’s remarks.
