Cori Bush says she’s moving office away from GOP extremist over safety concerns

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The Democratic representative Cori Bush said she is moving her office away from that of Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene due to safety concerns after Greene and her staff berated her and refused to wear masks.

“I’ve worked fast food. I’ve worked in childcare. I’ve worked in healthcare. I’ve never been in a work environment like this before,” Bush said in an interview with MSNBC’s Joy Reid on Friday evening.

Earlier in the day, Bush, a freshman representative from Missouri, had said in a statement that staff working for Greene, the newly elected Georgia congresswoman who supports the pro-Trump, antisemitic and racist QAnon conspiracy theory, had yelled after her in the underground tunnel connected to congressional office buildings: “Stop inciting violence with Black Lives Matter”.

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Bush told MSNBC she is moving her office, “not because I’m scared” of Greene, “because I am here to do a job for the people of St​ Louis”.

“What I cannot do is continue to look over my shoulder wondering if a white supremacist in Congress, by the name of Marjorie Taylor Greene … is conspiring against us,” she said.

Calls for Greene to be expelled from Congress or be censured have grown in recent days, amid reports that she has endorsed calls for violence against political opponents. In past social media posts uncovered by CNN, Greene indicated support for executing Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. In a 2018 Facebook post reported by MediaMatters, she echoed conspiracy theories that the wildfires that ravaged California that year were caused by a laser from space triggered by a group of Democratic politicians and companies for financial gain. And in a 2019 confrontation with survivors of the Parkland mass shooting documented on tape, she appeared to accost the students and later echoed conspiracy claims that mass shooting survivors and family members of victims are “crisis actors” and the attacks that killed their loved ones were staged as a plot to pass gun control laws.

Greene has accused Bush of leading a “terrorist mob” because she was a prominent Black Lives Matter activist.

The incident between Bush and Greene occurred on 13 January, and is a sign of growing strife in Congress following the pro-Trump riot that left at least five people dead. With Donald Trump facing an impeachment trial in the Senate for inciting the violence, many Republican leaders have avoided taking a clear stance against colleagues who egged on or encouraged the riot.

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The House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, is reportedly planning to meet with Greene on Monday to discuss her altercation with Bush. Still, the California Democrat Jimmy Gomez earlier this week announced plans to introduce a resolution to oust Greene as a rebuke of her calls for violence against lawmakers. Survivors of the Parkland shooting have also called on representatives to censure Greene, and March for Our Lives – the student-led gun violence prevention advocacy group that formed in the aftermath of Parkland, issued a one-word statement directed at Greene: “Resign”.

The non-governmental Republican Jewish Coalition said on Friday it is working with lawmakers “regarding next steps in this matter” and noted that it opposed Greene’s 2020 election because “she repeatedly used offensive language in long online video diatribes” and “promoted bizarre political conspiracy theories”.

Two-thirds of Congress would have to vote to expel Greene, which is unlikely to happen given that Republicans control slightly under half the seats.

Greene is not the only first-term Republican member-facing scrutiny: Lauren Boebert of Colorado was warned that she could face criminal penalties if she carries out her publicly stated desire to bring her Glock into Congress.

Several Republicans have complained about the metal detectors installed at the Capitol following the deadly attack earlier this month. The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, announced fines for members ignoring metal detectors or refusing to wear face masks amid the pandemic.

Reacting to video that Greene released following Bush’s allegations, Bush said: “She had the audacity to be walking through this space on her phone showing people that she was not going to adhere to the rules of the House,” Bush said. “Put your mask on.”