Reporters spotted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) trailing and shouting after Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the House this week, but it was hardly the first time she had tried getting in the New York congresswoman’s face.
Greene filmed a visit she made to Ocasio-Cortez’s offices on Capitol Hill in February 2019, CNN’s KFile reported Friday. KFile also posted a copy of the video to YouTube after it was deleted from Facebook.
In the video, Greene and several others wander around Capitol Hill and ask where to find the congresswoman’s office. Once there, they see that the door is locked, so they resort to shouting through a brass mail slot and drawing in the congresswoman’s guest book. It is unclear whether the congresswoman, whose name Greene mispronounces, was actually in her office.
“I do not support your socialist policies, and I do not support your murderous abortion policies,” Greene, who was a businesswoman at the time, says in the video.
“You need to stop being a baby, and locking your door, and come out and face the American citizens that you serve,” she says. “If you want to be a big girl, you need to get rid of your diaper and come out and be able to talk to the American citizens.”
Less than four months later, Greene threw her hat into the ring to represent Georgia’s 6th Congressional District.
The video also shows a man in a read hat approaching the mail slot and talking through it.
“Tag, you’re it! ... Can you come out and play?” he says, before laughing and turning away.
Greene is then seen drawing then-President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall in Ocasio-Cortez’s guest book. Alongside her is Anthony Aguero, a conservative activist who took part in the Capitol riots on Jan. 6.
Ocasio-Cortez represents New York’s 14th District, which includes parts of the Bronx and Queens in New York City. She has been a target of death threats and harassment from far-right members of the Republican Party since being elected in 2018.
Ocasio-Cortez responded to the newly unearthed video over Twitter, writing that if “the shoe were on the other foot” and she were filmed roaming Congress with friends who later participated in the Capitol insurrection, “the GOP would be calling for my expulsion.”
“The fact that Kevin McCarthy, the House @GOPleader, stripped Justin Amash of all committee seats for criticizing Trump, but has worked to protect this person from consequences (including pretending he doesn’t see it) tells you this is happening with the support of GOP leadership,” she wrote.
Former Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan quit the Republican Party in 2019 after a very public feud with GOP leadership over Trump and his policies.
Separately, Ocasio-Cortez told NBC reporter Julie Tsirkin that Greene “needs some help” from a “proper professional.”
Although voters booted Trump from the White House, the former president continues to hold a firm grasp over the GOP. House Republicans voted this week to oust Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) — who has refused to go along with Trump’s lies about the 2020 election being stolen — from her leadership position. They replaced her Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who Trump had endorsed for the No. 3 spot.
Greene, who was sworn into office in January, has been repeatedly criticized for behavior not befitting a member of Congress, including past violent and antisemitic comments and sustained support for conspiracy theories. She has spoken out in support of QAnon, the conspiracy theory that suggests an elite pedophile ring is controlling the country but could be stopped by Trump.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy met with her for around 90 minutes in early February, shortly before House Democrats led a vote to strip Greene of her committee assignments and shortly after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell offered veiled criticism of her “loony lies.”
The video unearthed by CNN this week is similar to one Greene posted to her Facebook page in March 2019. In it, she harasses teen gun control activist David Hogg on a street in Washington, D.C.
Hogg became an activist after a gunman killed 17 people at his school in Parkland, Florida, in February 2018. In her video, Greene can be seen yelling questions at the teen as he ignores her and continues walking.
Late Wednesday afternoon, two Washington Post reporters spotted Greene following after Ocasio-Cortez as she left the House chamber. The Georgia Republican reportedly shouted at her colleague and accused her of supporting “terrorists,” a term apparently used in reference to anti-racism activists.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Greene’s behavior “egregious” and said Thursday that the incident might rise to the level of a House ethics complaint.
Greene has been trying to schedule a public debate between herself and Ocasio-Cortez to discuss the Green New Deal, a progressive proposal to fight climate change while providing jobs in the U.S. Last month, Greene boasted that she had read “all 14 pages” of the proposal.