Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s characterization of her argument Wednesday with New York’s U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman has her critics accusing her of distorting the facts and using veiled racist language.
Greene, speaking Thursday morning at a previously scheduled news conference, answered a question about Bowman by saying she felt physically threatened by the confrontation. She said Bowman, who is Black, had a history of aggression.
A video of the confrontation shows Greene smiling throughout much of it and then walking away after telling the former high school principal, “You’re not very smart.”
At her Thursday news conference, she also equated his calling her a white supremacist — which he did last month — to calling a person of color the “n-word.”
The Wednesday spat between Greene, R-Rome, and Democrat Bowman was witnessed by dozens of reporters and caught on video. The two were fired up, but civil and even laughing at times. The moment went viral and ended up on multiple evening newscasts.
After Bowman caught wind of Greene’s characterization of their confrontation, he said her comments were “reckless and dangerous.”
“She’s not even using a dog whistle, she’s using a bullhorn to put a target on my back,” he said.
Today Rep. Marjorie Greene R-GA said she felt 'threatened' by Rep. Jamaal Bowman D-NY after their verbal faceoff yesterday on the House steps. Bowman called her comments 'reckless and dangerous.' "She's using a bullhorn to put a target on my back." pic.twitter.com/6ed4yEmG5G
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) May 18, 2023
On Thursday, Greene detailed the five impeachment efforts she’s working through the House against five separate members of the Biden Administration, including President Joe Biden, which the White House called “a shameless sideshow political stunt.”
Separately, Greene also voted earlier this week with the GOP majority not to vote to expel disgraced New York U.S. Rep. George Santos from the House, despite his multiple recent felony indictments.
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
LISTEN UP. Former President Donald Trump is headed to Georgia next month and we’ve got the latest details in today’s edition of the Politically Georgia podcast. We’re also covering why a state Capitol spending fight could be about more than money; what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is up to; and who’s up and who’s down for the week in Georgia politics.
Listen at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher
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PACKING UP. The Cobb County GOP headquarters has hosted some of the biggest recent moments in Republican politics, even as the party’s dominance in the growing suburban county has slipped away.
The low-slung Marietta strip mall space was the site of Brian Kemp’s campaign launch for governor in 2017. Kelly Loeffler made one of her first public appearances as a newly appointed U.S. senator there.
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Everyone from Marco Rubio to Nikki Haley, Newt Gingrich, Haley Barbour and Ronna Romney McDaniel has made an appearance.
But activists will soon be bidding farewell to the easy-to-miss office space. The Cobb GOP’s leaders, a pro-Donald Trump faction that engineered a takeover of the chapter a few years ago, told supporters this week the lease will expire on May 31 and no deal has been struck for another one — and it’s all Joe Biden’s fault.
An email to members blamed “Joe Biden’s inflationary construction materials” for high quotes on a proposed renovation that fell through. For now, activists are looking for new places to rent.
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CLOSE RACE? A few weeks ago, a poll conducted by the GOP firm Public Opinion Strategies showed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a better position than Donald Trump in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup against President Joe Biden among Georgia voters.
A new poll released Friday by the firm continued to show very tight races in a potential November 2024 showdown. Less than three percentage points separated Biden and DeSantis, Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence in one-on-one contests. That’s within the poll’s margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.
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Credit: Christina Matacotta for the AJC
Credit: Christina Matacotta for the AJC
FOREIGN POLICY. Gov. Brian Kemp isn’t the only high-profile Georgian with an overseas trip happening.
His two-time rival Stacey Abrams is among the participants this weekend at the Bilderberg Conference in Lisbon, which is often described as a “secretive group of elite power brokers.” She also attended the conference in 2019.
Abrams is listed on the program as the CEO of Sage Works Productions, her film and television production company, rather than her latest announced role as senior counsel of Rewiring America.
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Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
GUN VIOLENCE. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath hosted a Capitol Hill news conference Thursday morning to highlight Americans affected by gun violence.
Warnock spoke about the fact that both Martin Luther King Jr. and his mother, Alberta Williams King, were killed by gunmen. Mrs. King was killed in the sanctuary of Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Warnock is now senior pastor.
“This was before the automatic weapons that we’re now seeing on our streets; there would have been a whole lot more carnage were that to happen today,” Warnock said. “And so, I feel a deep sense of moral urgency. We all have a moral obligation not to turn away.”
Ashbey Beasley and her son survived last year’s July 4th parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois. She also spoke.
“I want you to think of how a 6-year-old should move on from this, because every day we expect kids to move past experiences with gun violence,” she said. “We expect them to go back to schools that have been put through lockdown. We expect them to go back to learning in classrooms where they have piled up desks to barricade doors. We expect kids to go on with life after surviving mass shootings.”
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- The U.S. House is done for the week, returning Monday.
- The Senate is also finished for the week, and members are on recess through Memorial Day, barring potential votes on a debt ceiling deal.
- President Joe Biden is in Hiroshima, Japan, for the G-7 Summit.
- U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff will hold a news conference in Albany to highlight grant funding for Dougherty County Schools’ mental health services.
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Credit: Southern Poverty Law Center
Credit: Southern Poverty Law Center
CONFIRMED. Nancy Abudu, the civil rights attorney who has worked at the Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union, was confirmed Thursday by the U.S. Senate for a seat on the federal appeals court based in Atlanta.
Abudu will become the first Black person to to fill a Georgia-based seat in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which also hears cases from federal courts in Florida and Alabama. She will replace former Judge Beverly Martin.
We told you in Thursday’s Jolt that a procedural vote was held up for hours this week while Democrats waited for a colleague to return to the city to break a tie. Thursday’s confirmation vote was anti-climatic in comparison.
The final vote was 49-47 with all Senate Democrats in favor except West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, who voted “no” with Republicans. Four senators did not vote.
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Credit: Rick McKay/Cox
Credit: Rick McKay/Cox
NO DEAL. The U.S. House and Senate adjourned for the week without a clear path forward on lifting the debt ceiling, but leaders are continuing to meet with White House representatives.
Meanwhile, Democrats and left-leaning groups are becoming increasingly vocal about concerns that President Joe Biden might agree to too many cuts to the federal budget to appease Republicans.
A coalition of Georgia advocacy groups, including Care in Action and the Black Male Initiative Fund, will hold a rally in Atlanta this afternoon to advocate for an increase of the debt limit without tying it to reductions in government spending.
The coalition will also begin running digital ads in Atlanta, Savannah, Macon and Augusta suggesting voters call Gov. Brian Kemp and encourage him to speak out against the cuts U.S. House Republicans approved as part of their debt limit proposal.
U.S. Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta, was among the lawmakers this week to speak out against the GOP-passed proposal. Scott, who serves as the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, released a statement criticizing Speaker Kevin McCarthy for backing additional work requirements for people in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps.
“Taking food away from low-income households under the guise of ‘work requirements’ does not create jobs,” Scott said. “It does not encourage work. It only serves to make life harder for people raising children, people with disabilities, and low-wage workers who might lose a job or have unpredictable and inconsistent hours.”
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Credit: Christina Matacotta for the AJC
Credit: Christina Matacotta for the AJC
HOLDUP. If you are traveling internationally this summer, the U.S. State Department wants you to check your passport now to make sure it won’t soon expire.
But U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, wants to know why passport applications are taking so long to process in the first place. In a letter signed by nearly 200 House members, Williams said her staff is being inundated with requests from constituents whose applications are taking months to approve.
Our colleague Kelly Yamanouchi reports Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified in a Congressional hearing earlier this year that the department is getting 500,000 applications a week for a passport, up 30-40% from last year, as a part of the post-pandemic travel boom.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
DOG OF THE DAY. As professional scribblers, your Jolters love a play on words more than just about anybody. Add a puppy to the mix and we’re elated.
So imagine our delight when we met little Howie Dewitt McDaniel in our incoming email. The cleverly named corgi puppy now calls Barrow County Economic Development Administrator Ben McDaniel his person.
McDaniel and his wife recently introduced Howie Dewitt to their three kids, while also playing the Montell Jordan classic, “This is How We Do It.” McDaniel family, we salute you. That’s how it’s done.
Send us your animals of any political persuasion — dogs, cats, geese, etc., to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us on Twitter @MurphyAJC.
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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
