Marjorie Taylor Greene confronts Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez outside House chamber, Washington Post reports
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene confronted Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez outside the House chamber on Wednesday afternoon, according to an account from The Washington Post.
Ocasio-Cortez left the House chamber late Wednesday afternoon ahead of Greene, who shouted “Hey Alexandria” twice to get her attention.
Two Washington Post reporters witnessed the exchange and reported Ocasio-Cortez did not stop. Greene caught up with Ocasio-Cortez and began shouting at her and asking why she supports antifa, a far-left activist group, and Black Lives Matter, falsely labeling them “terrorist” groups.
“You don’t care about the American people,” Greene shouted, the Post reported. “Why do you support terrorists and antifa?”
Greene shouted at Ocasio-Cortez that she was failing to defend her “radical socialist” beliefs by declining to publicly debate her. Ocasio-Cortez did not stop to respond to Greene and only turned around once and threw her hands in the air.
CNN has not independently verified this account, but audio clips of the incident were provided to CNN by the Capitol Hill press pool that confirmed portions of the language Greene used. Greene and Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Greene also tweeted about the encounter, writing on Wednesday, “Just talked to @AOC again. You chickened out bc you are too scared to debate me about your Socialist Green New Deal. You are also a hate-America terrorist sympathizer. #JihadSquad Members of Congress do NOT support terrorism & shouldn’t be afraid to debate their legislation.”
This is not the first time Greene, a freshman Georgia Republican who was stripped of her committee assignments because of incendiary and violent past statements, has had run ins with her Democratic colleagues in the House.
Democratic Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri moved her office away from Greene following a heated exchange in January where Bush confronted Greene about not wearing a mask in a hallway on Capitol Hill.
The fallout led House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to take the extraordinary step of ordering Bush’s office to be moved away from Greene, following a request from Bush.
CNN also reached out to Pelosi for comment on Greene.
Greene also faced backlash when she posted an anti-transgender sign outside of her office, directly across the hall from Illinois Rep. Marie Newman, whose daughter is transgender.
This story has been updated with additional developments Thursday.
