U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has accused U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, a fellow Georgia Republican, of touching her in an aggressive and inappropriate way.
McCormick, the freshman lawmaker from Suwanee, insists the contact was a “friendly gesture” and that he meant no harm.
The exchange, first reported by CNN, is the latest example of the tensions within the House Republican caucus. It is also indicative of the simmering bad blood between Greene and McCormick after their competing efforts to censure Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan for inflammatory rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution confirmed much of CNN’s reporting, which describes a recent interaction between the two Georgia lawmakers on the House floor. The altercation happened days after the House killed Greene’s censure resolution and instead passed McCormick’s effort to reprimand Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in Congress.
The day of the incident, members were back on the House floor and McCormick told others he was trying to have a conversation with a Republican colleague from another state who had opposed his censure measure. That member refused to speak to him.
