AOC claims Kevin McCarthy 'answers to QAnon members of Congress and extremists' - as Democrats prepare resolution calling for expulsion of believer Marjorie Taylor Greene
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has accused the Republican leader of the House, Kevin McCarthy, of being controlled by QAnon-supporting members of Congress, claiming the party has had an influx of 'legitimate white supremacists' into its ranks.
The New York congresswoman appeared on MSNBC on Wednesday night and was asked about shocking behavior by Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Greene, who openly supports the QAnon conspiracy theory - the idea that Donald Trump was sent to save the world from a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles, working in the 'deep state' - has found herself in the spotlight for her social media posts.
The Georgia congresswoman, a vehement defender of the Second Amendment, claimed that the February 2018 Parkland school shooting was carried out by actors, in a bid to usher in gun control.
AOC appeared on MSNBC on Wednesday night to criticize McCarthy's response to Greene
Greene, a Georgia congresswoman who arrived in DC in January, has made provocative posts
CNN unearthed video of her following one of the teenage survivors on foot, yelling at him and accusing him of being part of a 'false flag' plot.
They also found numerous examples of Greene endorsing and openly calling for assassinating prominent Democrats on her social media feeds, among them Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi on treason charges.
In one case, she liked a comment that said 'a bullet to the head would be quicker' than removing Pelosi from her speakership. She also liked a comment about Pelosi that said 'through removal or death, doesn't matter, as long as she goes.'
Greene did not deny the chilling posts were genuine, but then claimed without evidence that unnamed others were managing her social media - and has since deleted them.
Greene can be seen hounding David Hogg, Parkland survivor, in 2018 for seeking gun control
Greene chased after him following a hearing in DC to discuss preventing school shootings
Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC, ridiculed McCarthy's promise to have a word with Greene, deriding it as feeble and insufficient, given her rhetoric.
'It increasingly seems, unfortunately, that in the House Republican caucus, Kevin McCarthy answers to these QAnon members of congress, not the other way around,' she said.
'I've seen Kevin McCarthy pull someone aside before for a talking to.
'And that representative that I saw him do that to was representative Ted Yoho of Florida.'
Yoho called AOC a 'f****** bitch' and 'disgusting' in front of reporters.
'What Kevin McCarthy did was that he pulled him aside to essentially excuse his behavior, to allow it, and to abet it.'
The 31-year-old said McCarthy was unwilling or unable to discipline his own party members, and had allowed a culture of racism and misogyny to flourish because it was politically beneficial.
'What is he going to tell them? Keep it up?' she said.
'Because there are no consequences in the Republican caucus for violence. There's no consequences for racism. No consequences for misogyny. No consequences for insurrection. And no consequence means that they condone it. It means that that silence is acceptance, and they want it because they know that it is a core animating political energy for them.'
Ocasio-Cortez spoke after Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat congressman for California, announced on Wednesday that he will put forward a House resolution to call for the expulsion of Greene for her open advocacy of political violence.
Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat congressman for California, said he wants Greene expelled
'Such advocacy for extremism and sedition not only demands her immediate expulsion from Congress, but it also merits strong and clear condemnation from all of her Republican colleagues. including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell,' Gomez said.
'Her very presence in office represents a direct threat against the elected officials and staff who serve our government, and it is with their safety in mind, as well as the security of institutions and public servants across our country.'
Greene's behavior before entering Congress, and her lack of remorse since, have sharply divided her party.
'Over the years, I've had teams of people manage my pages. Many posts have been liked. Many posts have been shared. Some did not represent my views. Especially the ones that CNN is about to spread across the internet,' Greene wrote on Facebook in anticipation of the story coming out.
She did not explain why, as a private citizen in 2018 - before launching her bid for Congress - she had 'a team' working for her on social media.
'They are taking old Facebook posts from random users to try to cancel me and silence my voice,' Greene wrote.
In a tweet, Greene, parroting Trump, called the CNN reporters who exposed her posts 'the enemy of the American people.'
Clinton responded to CNN's reporting by recommending that Greene should be on a terror 'watch list.'
'This woman should be on a watch list. Not in Congress,' Clinton tweeted Wednesday.
Greene then replied: 'Actually @HillaryClinton, you should be in jail. #LockHerUp.'
Greene has established herself as one of the most high-profile QAnon believers in Congress
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted and used Facebook to push back on CNN's reporting, suggesting the journalists were trying to 'cancel' her
Adam Kinzinger, a 42-year-old Illinois congressman, condemned Greene's actions.
'She is not a Republican. There are many who claim the title of Republican and have nothing in common with our core values,' he said.
He accused her of being a RINO - a Republican In Name Only.
'They are RINOS. She is a RINO,' he said.
McCarthy on Wednesday, in a call with his caucus, berated them for attacking each other.
He told members of his caucus to 'cut that c**p out,' adding: 'no more attacks to one another,' including on Twitter.
McCarthy's spokesman, Mark Bednar, said the House Minority Leader would speak with Greene.
Rep. Adam Kinziger said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene had 'nothing in common with our core values' responding to CNN's reporting that the Georgia lawmaker had expressed support for executing prominent Democrats
Kevin McCarthy said he would speak to Greene about her urging the killing of Democrats
'These comments are deeply disturbing and Leader McCarthy plans to have a conversation with the Congressman about them,' he told Axios.
McCarthy does have the ability to punish Greene should he decide her comments were serious enough to do so.
In 2019, McCarthy stripped former Rep. Steve King of his committee assignments for sharing white supremacist views.
King predicted in an interview with The Dispatch last year that McCarthy would use the threat of similar punishments to keep lawmakers like Greene in line.
'He'll hang the sin that he committed against me out in front of her like the sword of Damocles,' said King, who lost his seat following a June 2020 primary, at the time.
Gun control activist David Hogg recommended that punishment.
'Take her Committee assignments away,' he tweeted Thursday.
Hogg, who survived the Stoneman Douglas High School school shooting, also retweeted a video that had been going viral of Greene running after him on Capitol Hill asking him why he supported 'red flag laws that attack our Second Amendment.'
During the two-minute video, Greene charges Hogg with 'using kids as a barrier' and taking money from George Soros.
'If school zones were protected with security guards with guns, there would be no mass shootings, did you know that?' she tells Hogg.
Greene had previously labeled the Parkland shooting a 'false flag' operation.
At Wednesday's White House press briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki chose not to wade into the controversy.
Asked if she had a response, she replied: 'We don't. And I'm not going to speak further about her, I think, in this briefing room.'
A handful of House Democrats have spoken out and said Greene should resign.
'Words have consequences. @RepMTG should resign. If she doesn't, Congress needs to expel her. If you don't understand that calling for the murder of political rivals is a threat to democracy, you shouldn't be allowed to represent one,' tweeted Rep. Jake Auchincloss, a Democratic member in the same freshman class as Greene.
