Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) blasted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Wednesday after the far-right lawmaker went on a lengthy tirade about Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), who pulled a fire alarm in a Capitol Hill building earlier this year.
The House voted to censure Bowman on Thursday over the September incident, which he has said was an accident.
In a rant on the chamber floor urging colleagues to vote for his censure, Greene had accused him of triggering the alarm on purpose to try to block a vote on short-term government funding legislation, comparing Bowman to people who’ve been criminally charged over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
“He was intentionally playing his part to obstruct an official proceeding. By the way, this is the same thing that has been used against Jan. 6 defendants,” Greene said.
“This is an outrage and this is a disgrace on this institution and this body,” she added, suggesting that Bowman should be in jail and calling his actions “a slap in the face to voters.”
McGovern noted that this argument is a bit rich coming from Greene.
“It is really rich to get a lecture from someone about civility who stood on this House floor and screamed and interrupted the president of the United States during his State of the Union,” he said.
“Or somebody who continues to circle the wagons and cheer on the insurrectionists who attacked this Capitol violently on Jan. 6,” he added.
“I was the last person off the House floor on that day and I saw what happened, and for people to come down here and defend those actions — it is pathetic and disgusting.”
Greene has repeatedly stood by those who were arrested over the Capitol attack, and was reportedly high-fiving and shaking hands with such prisoners during a visit to a Washington, D.C., jail earlier this year.
On the subject of civility (or lack thereof), Greene also once called a colleague a “nasty little bitch,” gave a speech at a white nationalist conference, and showed naked photos of the president’s son at a committee hearing.
Bowman pleaded guilty in October to a misdemeanor charge for pulling the alarm in the Cannon House Office Building, prompting an evacuation.
He agreed to pay a $1,000 fine and serve three months of probation. The charge is expected to be dismissed from his record after that time.
Bowman has apologized for the incident, claiming that he activated the alarm by mistake while rushing to the vote and thought it would open a door.