Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) revealed on Friday that she's relocating her office after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R- Ga.) confronted her and berated her staff without wearing a mask in a hallway this month.
Bush tweeted this week that she was changing offices for the safety of her staff and personal security. The offices of both representatives are located on the ground level of the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C., according to Business Insider.
Bush told Insider that the incident took place after the Capitol Building insurrection on Jan. 13, as she was en route to the floor to vote. She said that Greene approached her from behind "ranting loudly,” while not wearing a face covering.
A maskless Marjorie Taylor Greene & her staff berated me in a hallway. She targeted me & others on social media.
I'm moving my office away from hers for my team's safety.
I've called for the expulsion of members who incited the insurrection from Day 1. Bring H.Res 25 to a vote.
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) January 29, 2021
After asking that Greene adhere to social distancing guidelines and put on a mask, Bush said that Greene "responded by berating her.” Then, a member of Greene's staff demanded that Bush "stop inciting violence with Black Lives Matter."
Bush, who recently became Missouri’s first Black congresswoman, was an activist working toward police reform in St. Louis before being elected to Congress, as Blavity previously reported.
Last summer, Bush joined a group of protesters who marched for police reform in a wealthy area of St. Louis during national police reform demonstrations. The group of protesters was met by lawyers Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who were recorded on camera pointing firearms at them, according to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Since Bush’s Friday announcement, Greene has come forward on social media to accuse Bush of lying, tweeting a video that she said was of the same encounter Bush described. The video Greene provided showed her live-streaming with her phone, speaking with her mask pulled down.
After someone interrupted her rant, shouting from down the hall that Greene should wear a mask, she replied, "don't yell at people," and accused them of bringing “COVID-positive” people into the building.
"This is arguing with my Democrat colleagues, supposed colleagues. This is how it is now in America. You're witnessing what we're having to live through," Greene said.
Rep. @CoriBush is the leader of the St. Louis Black Lives Matter terrorist mob who trespassed into a gated neighborhood to threaten the lives of the McCloskey’s.
She is lying to you. She berated me.
Maybe Rep. Bush didn’t realize I was live on video, but I have the receipts. https://t.co/CJjnI3ZTjC pic.twitter.com/ZMLGOGjxKw
— Marjorie Taylor Greene ???????? (@mtgreenee) January 29, 2021
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi intervened in the dispute and had Bush moved to a new office after being made aware of the situation, according to Punchbowl News. Pelosi's aide said that Bush's office assignment change "was by the direct order of the Speaker upon request."
Bush confirmed to Insider that her office is being moved out of Longworth to a new building that has yet to be disclosed.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) backed her peer in a post on Twitter, criticizing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for "losing control of his caucus" and allowing threats to "go unchecked."
.@GOPLeader has a responsibility to ensure his members do not harm others.
He is losing control of his caucus & allowing these threats to go unchecked, while looking the other way as members like @CoriBush feel so unsafe that she must move offices just 3 weeks into her 1st term. https://t.co/MfkGgM4JWU
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 29, 2021
Greene recently liked posts on Facebook stating that FBI agents and Democrats, including Pelosi and former President Barack Obama, should be killed, according to CNN.
In 2018, Greene spewed anti-Semitic views in a Facebook post suggesting that the horrific California Camp Fire was caused by a laser from space that was associated with the Rothschild company, progressive news outlet Media Matters reports.
Bush expressed that it would be in the best interest of Congress to pass a resolution she introduced in the wake of the Capitol riot to investigate and potentially remove members like Greene who promoted former President Donald Trump's conspiracies about the 2020 presidential election.
"In the context of Taylor Greene's repeated endorsements of executing Democratic politicians before taking office, Taylor Greene's renewed, repeated antagonization of the movement for Black lives in the last month directed towards me personally is cause for serious concern," Bush said.
