AOC says GOP is ‘beholden to QAnon’ as Marjorie Taylor Greene row escalates

Democrat rebukes Republican leader for silence and says ‘no consequence means that they condone it’

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has accused the Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy of being controlled by QAnon-supporting members of Congress, as a row over congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene escalates.

Mr McCarthy was rebuked by the New York congresswoman on Wednesday, when she told MSNBC that the Republican had no power over “white supremacists” and QAnon supporters in the House.  

“Kevin McCarthy answers to these QAnon members of congress, not the other way around,' said Ms Ocasio-Cortez. “That is frankly something that needs to be said”.

The criticism comes after a spokesperson for Mr McCarthy said he would speak with Ms Greene this week, after the QAnon-supporting member of congress became surrounded by controversy.

“When you see someone like the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy of the Republican party, respond to white supremacist vitriol coming from his own members, not with censure, like they did with with Representative Steve King of Iowa, not with being stripped of committees without any consequence, you have to wonder who actually has that power,” said Ms Ocasio-Cortez.

Ms Greene has been widely condemned in recent days. She has also been vocal about the Second Amendment.

She was revealed to have harassed David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland School shooting, in a video that went viral on Wednesday. He has since called on Mr McCarthy to publicly denounce Ms Greene.

“My message to Kevin McCarthy is, take all of her committee assignments away,” said Mr Hogg. "Also, don't support her when she runs for re-election again and try to get her primaried. If you say this is not your party, actually call it out and hold her accountable.”

Asked about the congresswoman’s behaviour, Ms Ocasio-Cortez told MSNBC that Ms Greene’s presence in the GOP was a sign that “white supremacist sympathisers sit at the heart and at the core of the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives.”

“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.”

The New York congresswoman spoke after Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat congressman for California, announced on Wednesday that he will put forward a House resolution to call for Ms Greene’s expulsion from Congress.