Marjorie Taylor Greene Accused of Kicking Teen Activist on DC Sidewalk
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was accused of kicking a gun-control activist in Washington on Thursday, September 15, and posted video to her Facebook calling the group of protesters “cowards” and “idiots.”
Video posted to the congresswoman’s Facebook and Twitter accounts shows the encounter between Greene and between members of a youth activist group, Voters for Tomorrow, outside the Capitol Building on Thursday afternoon. Several activists advocating for gun control walk close to Greene and her staffers. Greene is heard telling one of them, “You’re a coward.”
A female activist who later identified herself as Marianna Pecora, the Deputy Commissions Director of Voters of Tomorrow, is seen walking in front of Greene when the congresswoman appears to make contact with her, causing Pecora to stumble. “Excuse me,” Greene says.
Pecora, who posted another video of the incident on Twitter, later tweeted: “I am still having trouble believing it, but @RepMTG kicked me.” Pecora also said she is 18 years old.
Greene posted the video to Facebook, where she reiterated claims she made to the activist group that “gun-free zones kill people.”
“You have to be an idiot to think gun control will create a utopian society where criminals disarm themselves and obey the law,” Greene wrote in the post. Credit: Marjorie Taylor Greene via Storyful
Video Transcript
- --way.
- You are getting--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: No, I'm not. I'm protecting children.
- --kids getting shot in school. You are helping--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: No. No, I'm not.
- --kids get shot in school. [LAUGHS]
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: No. You're a--
- You're helping--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: You're a coward, is what you are.
- How am a coward?
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: You know what?
- You're the one running away.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: The Second Amendment is--
- You're the one running away.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: No. Gun rights protect--
- [LAUGHS]
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: That stops people from killing.
- Oh, yeah. What does gun rights do for all the kids who keep--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: You know what?
- --getting shots in school?
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: You are-- you're such a coward.
- How am I a coward?
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: You're scared of guns.
- Am I scared of guns?
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: You're scared of legal gun owners that are there to protect our kids in school. Shame on you.
- How--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: You know what?
- Shame on me?
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Yeah, go move to another country where they take away your guns.
- Yeah.
- I want to live in a country where kids don't get shot.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: No, you're not being a great American.
- I want to live in a country--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Go!
- --where kids don't get shot. I don't think you like that.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Good. Good. You know what?
- So you like--
- You need to [INAUDIBLE].
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: That's why you can give up your Second Amendment rights.
- So do you like--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: But [INAUDIBLE] I will [INAUDIBLE] Second Amendment rights.
- So do you like living in a country where kids keep getting shot in schools?
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: No.
- [INAUDIBLE] we need access to the sidewalk.
MARIANNA PECORA: You're not voting for--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: [INAUDIBLE].
MARIANNA PECORA: You're not voting for [INAUDIBLE].
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Aren't you the purist guy?
MARIANNA PECORA: You are not voting for--
- Yeah, you're the guy that said that the insurrection was just a group of tourists, right?
MARIANNA PECORA: --gun prevention, gun violence prevention?
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: No. Yes, I-- you want to know who I'm voting for?
- Yeah, that was you. That was you. I recognize your face.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: I am voting for the Second Amendment. [INAUDIBLE] Second Amendment.
- Just to be clear--
- I have no idea what you're talking about.
- How does the Second Amendment prevent gun violence? [LAUGHS] The Second Amendment, how does the Second Amendment prevent gun violence?
- You're the one that believed that the insurrection [INAUDIBLE]--
MARIANNA PECORA: Huh?
- You need to step out of the way.
- [INAUDIBLE].
- You're blocking a member--
MARIANNA PECORA: Oh, my god! [LAUGHS]
- --of Congress.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: [INAUDIBLE] way. Excuse me.
- Excuse me, ma'am. Excuse me, ma'am.
- You're blocking a member of Congress. You need to stay away.
- [INAUDIBLE] citizens talking to members of Congress.
- You can't block members of Congress.
- We're not blocking.
- You, literally, cannot do that.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: [INAUDIBLE].
[CHATTER]
- I have a question. I was in Boulder during the Colorado shooting at the supermarket where 10 people were murdered on the street.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: You know what? I support people to protect themselves with their guns. OK?
- Why [INAUDIBLE] the children that keep getting shot.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: You know what? Murder is illegal. Murder is illegal.
- But shouldn't we--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: No. You know what?
- Shouldn't Americans have the right to go to the grocery--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Americans should have the right to defend themselves.
- --without any fears of being murdered?
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Americans should have the right to protect themselves. Gun-free zones is where people die. Gun-free zones is what causes people to die.
- People died in a grocery store [INAUDIBLE]
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Yes, gun-free zones.
- Yeah, oh--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Gun-free zones. Look at that.
- Was the Texas--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Gun-free zones kill people.
- Was the Texas grocery--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Gun-free zones kill people.
- Was the Texas grocery store a gun-free zone?
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Gun-free zones kill people.
- It was not. It was not. And it's an open carry state.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Like I said, you guys should move to some country where you can't have guns.
- OK. So you're telling me to move--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Yes.
- --out of the country?
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: The whole world--
- That is your official position as a member of Congress.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: --is an all-you-can-eat of government.
- OK.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Move to one that fits your belief.
- I just want to be clear.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: But right here, in America--
- [INAUDIBLE]--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: --we are gonna defend our Second Amendment right.
- Your official position as a member of Congress is that I should move out of the country.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: But you have a free choice. Go somewhere else. We have the Second Amendment here. We love it.
- [INAUDIBLE]--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: You know what? We will always protect our Second Amendment.
- --is that I should move out because I don't want kids getting shot in school.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: I'm gonna protect our Second Amendment. It's great.
- I guess I'm not interested in talking to you--
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: You want to know why? Because I'll always defend myself.
- --because you think the insurrection was a tourist group.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: I'll defend my home, especially from people like you.
