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By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In the latest sign of rising tensions in the U.S. Congress, a Democratic lawmaker said on Friday she planned to relocate her office from Capitol Hill for security reasons after being “berated” by a outspoken conservative Republican MP.
Democrat Cori Bush, an ordained pastor from Missouri, described clashes with Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, whose office is located near Bush’s in one of the House of Representatives’ three large office buildings. Both are first-term House members who took office this month.
The incidents are further evidence of contention among lawmakers after a January 6 riot in which supporters of former Republican President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol, halting official certification of President Joe’s electoral victory Biden and resulting in the deaths of five people.
Bush wrote on Twitter that she was moving her office after Greene “berated me in a hallway” and “came up from behind me loud and unmasked.” Public health experts have recommended masks to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
Greene accused Bush of “lying” about it and called on Twitter Bush, who is black, “the leader of the terrorist Mafia of St. Louis Black Lives Matter.” Greene is white.
The non-governmental Republican Jewish Coalition said it was working with Republican House leaders “regarding the next steps in this matter,” but did not elaborate.
In a statement, the organization said it was working against Greene’s 2020 election because it “promoted bizarre political conspiracy theories” and posed for photos with a white supremacist leader and “refused to admit a mistake “in doing so.
Greene first gained national attention for his interest in the QAnon conspiracy theory which falsely claims top Democrats are part of a child pedophile ring. CNN reported that before coming to Congress, Greene expressed support for the execution of Democrats, including Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Greene also promoted Trump’s false claims that he won the November election.
Pelosi said on Thursday that new security measures may be needed “when the enemy is in the House of Representatives”.
Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy has been under pressure to take action against Greene and said he would have a “conversation” with her. An aide to McCarthy called Greene’s comments about killing Democrats “deeply disturbing.”
House Republican No.2 Steve Scalise, who was seriously injured in 2017 when a gunman opened fire on Republican lawmakers in Virginia, added that “there is no room for comment “like Greene’s.
Separately, first-term Republican MP Lauren Boebert was warned this month by law enforcement that she would face criminal penalties if she illegally carried a gun. Boebert has sworn to take his Glock pistol to the Capitol.
Boebert also mocked a gun control activist who survived a fatal 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan; editing by Andy Sullivan and Alistair Bell)
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