A Democratic lawmaker has spilled the tea on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s cringey performance at a recent classified briefing, which included a North American Air Defense Command general, about the Chinese spy balloon.
A source had earlier told the media that the “irrational” Georgia Republican had pitched a fit during the briefing. Greene herself had even boasted about her behavior at the presentation earlier this month. “I tore ’em to pieces,” she bragged to The Hill. “I chewed them out.”
But Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen, who was on the scene, served up more details. He said he deliberately stayed until the end of the briefing so he could witness Greene in action because “I knew it would be a shitshow.”
“She’s unbelievable. ... She made a total, absolute fool of herself,” when she let loose, Cohen said in an interview on the “Beyond Politics” podcast earlier this week. (See the YouTube version below. “She didn’t know what she was talking about,” he added.
Cohen called it “typical” for Greene, and referred to her other wild comments in the past, including her insistence that California wildfires were sparked by a “Jewish space laser.”
Greene berated the officials at the briefing, telling them, “You embarrassed the president of the United States. You let this balloon fly over the United States. We didn’t know what was in that balloon,” Cohen recounted. “It could have been nuclear material. It could have been radiation ... and you let it fly over our country for eight days?” she added.
Greene shouted, “That was just bullshit. And I don’t believe anything you’re telling us,” Cohen recounted.
The balloon actually flew over the U.S. for four — not eight — days. And officials at the briefing had just explained that the balloon wasn’t taken down earlier because of concerns about possible risks to people on the ground, according to Cohen. That’s why authorities waited until the balloon was over the ocean before it was shot down off the Carolina coast.
When one of the officials attempted to respond to Greene’s comments, she shouted at him, Cohen recounted. “He said, ‘Ma’am, I didn’t interrupt you and I appreciate your not interrupting me.’ And she shut up,” Cohen added. “But she’s unbelievable.”
Greene could not immediately be reached for comment.
In other outlandish behavior, Greene notably heckled President Joe Biden during his recent State of the Union address. She shouted “liar” when Biden chided Republicans for strategizing to erode Social Security. In fact, several Republicans are doing just that.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) could be seen behind Biden on national TV shushing Greene.