Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene abruptly walked out of a House committee hearing on Tuesday after being accused of hugging and high-fiving defendants in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Tuesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing became heated after Greene, a Georgia Republican, spoke for roughly five minutes about crime in Washington, D.C., while urging her House colleagues to “support the police.” Greene, a vocal ally of former President Donald Trump, referred to D.C.’s crime rate as an “absolute embarrassment to our country.”
“I’d also like to remind everyone that one of our own colleagues was carjacked months ago here in Washington, D.C.,” the congresswoman said. “We also just had a former Trump admin official [Mike Gill, formerly of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission] die because he was shot here in our nation’s capital, and many Hill staffers themselves have been attacked just walking the city streets. This is an ongoing crime epidemic here in our nation’s capital and it’s appalling.”
The reports on high-profile figures, which include Representative Henry Cuellar and President Joe Biden’s granddaughter falling victim last year to the uptick of crime in the capital prompted some right-wing lawmakers to accuse Biden and the Democratic Party of being soft on crime. The accusations intensified earlier this week when Gill died from a gunshot wound sustained in a carjacking. His death ignited outrage among conservatives, who argued that American cities are becoming “lawless” under Biden’s administration.
Newsweek reached out via email on Tuesday to Biden’s representatives for comment.
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While speaking during the committee hearing, Greene also lashed out at Democrats for criticizing Trump.
“I also heard President Trump come under attack once again because Democrats have nothing else to say to defend their own policies but attack President Trump,” she said.
At the end of her remarks, she was asked by the committee’s ranking member, Representative Jamie Raskin, if she would answer questions.
Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, is a frequent critic of Greene, with the two lawmakers often trading verbal jabs on the House floor.
Greene shot down Raskin’s questioning, responding to the Democrat: “No, I will not yield to one of your stupid questions that are always attacking me and attacking President Trump.”
Garcia, who was selected to speak following Greene’s comments, slammed the congresswoman over her remarks, accusing her of “coddling” those arrested in the January 6 attack.
“I want to remind the gentlelady that it was her that actually organized a trip to the D.C. jail to hug and high-five and sit with the insurrectionists that actually attacked our Capitol,” he said. “So, if we’re talking about the safety of D.C., and the Capitol, it is quite, I think, ironic.”
Midway through Garcia’s comments, Greene stood up and walked out.
In response to Newsweek’s request for an interview or comment on the congresswoman leaving the committee hearing, Greene spokesperson Nick Dyer said in an email Tuesday night, “Did you see what she said before? Or do you only pay attention to left wing twitter?”
Marissa Davis, Garcia’s press secretary, told Newsweek in an email on Tuesday night that the congressman will continue to call out Greene over her support for “domestic terrorists.”
“January 6th was a violent insurrection that claimed the lives of Capitol police officers. Congressman Garcia is not going to sit by and watch as Marjorie Taylor Greene claims to stand with law enforcement when he watched her cheer on the domestic terrorists that attacked our democracy and Capitol,” Davis said. “He’s going to call her out every time. As a member who takes his oath of office seriously, he will always fight to defend our Constitution and the integrity of Congress.”