House Democrats call on GOP leadership to take ‘immediate action’ against Marjorie Taylor Greene

Lawmakers warn Kevin McCarthy that Georgia congresswoman’s ‘harassment’ campaign ‘could lead to violence against members of Congress’

A group of more than 30 Democrats in the House of Representatives has demanded “immediate action” from Republican leadership against US Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Georgia congresswoman whose “harassment of her colleagues has reached an unacceptable level”, they claim.

Democrats fear that her ongoing actions “could lead to violence against members of Congress”, they wrote.

The letter from US Rep Pramila Jayapal lists several incidents between Rep Greene and other members of Congress and staff since the freshman lawmaker entered office earlier this year, including US Rep Cori Bush moving her office after she was “berated” by the congresswoman over Covid-19 mask guidelines, and Rep Greene hanging a sign reading “There are TWO genders” outside her office to mock a congresswoman who is the parent of a transgender child.

Lawmakers also point to Rep Greene “repeatedly” lashing out at colleagues on social media, and her suggestions that “fellow members support terrorism, are anti-American, and don’t belong in Congress”.

The letter, dated 1 July, was signed by US Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who Rep Greene accused of supporting “terrorists and antifa” following the Republican congresswoman’s ongoing feud with the New York Democrat.

“These behaviors only appear to be escalating,” the lawmakers wrote, following Rep Greene encouraging a rally crowd to “lock her up” in reference to Rep Ocasio-Cortez.

House Democrats referenced House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s own remarks condemning Rep Greene’s previous behaviour, which included since-deleted social media posts that appeared to endorse killing elected officials and “false flag” conspiracies involving school shootings and the 9/11 terror attacks.

“Rep Greene’s conduct does not comport with what we expect from a member of the House of Representatives,” they wrote.

House Democrats are “extremely concerned that her conduct is creating an unsafe work environment for members” and that her actions “could lead to violence against members of Congress”.

Every day without action from GOP leadership “is a tacit endorsement” of her actions and “an invitation for her to continue – and escalate further,” they wrote.

In a statement, Rep Greene said she receives “constant harassment in public caused by the Democrat lies promoted by the media” and that “Democrats singled me out and kicked me off committees for doing nothing wrong, and the death threats haven’t stopped since”.

In February, House Democrats voted to remove her from her committee assignments following the discovery and publication of the social media posts and recently resurfaced videos before she was elected in 2020.

During the vote, the minority leader told House Democrats: “You’ll regret this, and you may regret this a lot sooner than you think,” adding that the GOP has a “long list” of Democratic targets.

The letter to Congressman McCarthy follows his attempts to organise his caucus, subject to a still-influential Donald Trump and his base, with the recent ousting of Trump critic Liz Cheney from her leadership post to his reported threats to strip GOP members of their committee assignments if they join House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s select committee to investigate the Capitol riot.