On Wednesday, the feud renewed when Greene and AOC were leaving the House chamber. Greene reportedly yelled “Hey, Alexandria!” twice. Greene chased down Ocasio-Cortez and launched into a tirade about the “radical socialist” and her support for Antifa, a violent extremist group that Greene called “terrorists.”
“You don’t care about the American people,” Greene shouted. “Why do you support terrorists and antifa?”
While AOC did not immediately respond, she did provide a statement through her spokesperson Lauren Hitt.
“Representative Greene tried to begin an argument with Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and when Rep. Ocasio-Cortez tried to walk away, Congresswoman Greene began screaming and called Rep. Ocasio-Cortez a terrorist sympathizer.”
“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. One Member has already been forced to relocate her office due to Congresswoman Greene’s attacks.”
Speaker Pelosi even weighed in on the kerfuffle with her own announcement.
“This is beneath the dignity of a person serving in the Congress of the United States and is a cause for trauma and fear among members,” Pelosi said, “especially on the heels of an insurrection, on which the minority in the committee yesterday denied ever happened.”
Pelosi should know herself that AOC isn’t exactly the model of civility when it comes to Congressional behavior.
In November 2018, Ocasio-Cortez led a sit-in by environmental extremists outside of Nancy Pelosi’s office. “We are busting down the doors,” she threatened.
Speaking of the House Sergeant at Arms, Marjorie Taylor Green has hit back with a statement calling for the investigation of Pelosi’s role in deliberately weakening Capitol security ahead of the expected pre-planned attack on the Capitol building on January 6th.
We need to investigate why @SpeakerPelosi did not have 10K National Guard at the Capitol on Jan 6th like Pres Trump requested on Jan 5th since it was warned ahead of time by intelligence there was something planned and pipe bombs were found at the RNC and DNC on Jan 5th.
Cont’d.
— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) May 14, 2021
“We need to investigate why @SpeakerPelosi did not have 10K National Guard at the Capitol on Jan 6th like Pres Trump requested on Jan 5th since it was warned ahead of time by intelligence there was something planned and pipe bombs were found at the RNC and DNC on Jan 5th,” Greene wrote on Twitter.
We need to investigate why @SpeakerPelosi did not have 10K National Guard at the Capitol on Jan 6th like Pres Trump requested on Jan 5th since it was warned ahead of time by intelligence there was something planned and pipe bombs were found at the RNC and DNC on Jan 5th.
Cont’d.
— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) May 14, 2021
“That was a very serious and grave action taken to ignore the President’s request for NG troops at the Capitol,” Greene continued. “Ignoring a clear threat to the Capitol and all the lives involved. There needs to be accountability for that.”
Greene distorts what happened, but that doesn’t change the fact that the president did want more National Guard troops, and requests by the now-resigned Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund and the Commanding General of the National Guard in D.C. for more security went inexplicably unheard.
In April, it was confirmed that a “stand down” order was effectively issued for Capitol Police and National Guard to have a light presence at the January 6th meeting of the Electoral College.
“An order to hold back heavy riot-control weapons left Capitol Police at a grave disadvantage as front-line officers, vastly outnumbered, fought to protect Congress from a violent mob Jan. 6,” the Washington Post reported.
“Inspector General Michael Bolton told the House Administration Committee that a deputy assistant chief of police instructed officers not to use the weapons — including stingballs and 40mm launchers — out of concern that ‘they could potentially cause life-altering injury and/or death, if they were misused in any way’,” the Post said.
“Bolton did not identify the chief, but he said that had officers employed such measures, ‘it certainly would have helped us that day to enhance our ability to protect the Capitol’,” the report continued.
The New York Times also reported on the development, identifying the official’s position as an “assistant chief.” Obviously, the assistant chief would not have the authority to make such a decision on his own.
While the arguing between Greene and AOC constitutes little more than political bickering, the bottom line is that unanswered questions about Speaker Pelosi’s role in failing to authorize the House Sergeant at Arms to request more security demand to be answered.