Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz Get Heckled Off the Stage While Defending Capitol Rioters

By Ryan Bort, Rolling Stone

28 July 21

Greene has been publicly harassing people she opposes for years. On Tuesday, the tables were turned

ep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has made a career out of publicly harassing her imagined enemies. She got a dose of her own medicine on Tuesday when her joint press conference with Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) was broken up by protesters, one of which was armed with a very loud, very shrill whistle.

The presser outside the Department of Justice was primed to offer some counter-factual counter-programming to the January 6th hearing down the road at the Capitol, during which Capitol Police officers detailed the horror of what they experienced defending the building from rioters who beat them with batons, hurled racial slurs, and threatened to kill them with their own guns. The four G’s of the disinformation apocalypse were out to advocate for the rioters, arguing that they have been mistreated by the DOJ.

But the lawmakers were met by a large group of protesters. One toted a large, inflatable particular ex-president holding a signed that read “Pedophiles for Trump,” a reference to the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into whether Gaetz sex-trafficked a 17-year-old girl (Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing). Another held a board that read “Traitors + Rapists Sit Down.” Another would not stop blowing a whistle through his Covid mask. “First of all, to the guy who’s blowing the whistle, we are not deterred,” Greene said upon taking the podium.

Thirty seconds later, protesters crowded behind the podium and the press conference was called off. The whistle did not stop blowing.

Salon’s Zachary Petrizzo collected some more footage from the scene:

“The Intolerant Left has shut down the patriotic press conference by @mtgreenee, @RepMattGaetz, @replouiegohmert, @RepGosar, @RepAndyBiggsAZ, & @RepBobGood!” Right Side Broadcasting Network wrote in a tweet that was retweeted by Gaetz. “The Left won’t let us get the answers that we demand!”

It’s fitting that the press conference was called off while Greene was speaking. The conspiracy theorist has a long history of aggressively trolling those with whom she disagrees. In 2019, she followed Parkland High School shooting survivor David Hogg in Washington, D.C., verbally harassing him about his support of gun control. It took Greene until early this year to admit the Parkland shooting actually happened, after previously having claimed it was staged.

Greene has used similar intimidation tactics since joining Congress. In May, The Washington Post reported that she trailed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) out of the House Chamber, yelling “Hey, Alexandria!” and asking why she supports Black Lives Matter, which she falsely labeled a “terrorist” group. A few months earlier, Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) tweeted about a similar encounter. “A maskless Marjorie Taylor Greene & her staff berated me in a hallway,” Bush wrote. “She targeted me & others on social media. I’m moving my office away from hers for my team’s safety.”

After the press conference to defend the Capitol rioters was shut down, Greene was whisked down the sidewalk, trailed by protesters shouting at her. She didn’t address them, just like Hogg didn’t address her in 2019. “He’s a coward,” Greene said then of the school shooting survivor. We doubt she’ll be applying the term to herself after her silent escape on Tuesday.