Following the State of the Union Address, Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY) sent a blistering letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), faulting his failure to hold Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to account for her violation of House rules in the chamber the previous night.
Greene, a far-right lawmaker known for having pushed QAnon conspiracy theories, showed up to the State of the Union wearing a red MAGA hat and a T-shirt bearing the name of Laken Riley, a University of Georgia student believed to have been killed by a Venezuelan man who entered the U.S. illegally. As Morelle noted, this is against House rules.
"As you know, official resources of the House — including the House Chamber — may not be used for campaign political purposes," wrote Morelle. "However, as noted extensively in public reporting, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) wore a hat with a political campaign slogan during the address. Appallingly, according to Ms. Greene herself, she was approached by the Sergeant at Arms who asked her to take the hat off because it violated the rules of decorum. She refused."
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Greene allegedly told the Sergeant at Arms, "You can hold me out of here. Go ahead and try it, but I'm not going to take this hat off."
"Her refusal to remove the hat was juvenile and showed immense disrespect — not just to the President himself, but to the office of the presidency and the House as an institution," Morelle's letter continued. "That her impertinence extended to a nonpartisan House officer simply trying to perform their duties and maintain order is beyond the pale."
This is not the first time Greene has flouted political rules. An exclusive Raw Story investigation in January revealed that she was fined $12,000 for improperly sharing an ad from the Stop Socialism Now PAC on her Facebook and Twitter campaign accounts in December of 2020.