‘You’re a joke’: Marjorie Taylor Greene clashes with critics over Jewish space lasers and alleged pro-Trump killer

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox

Get our free Inside Washington email

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

GOP Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene sparred with Liz Cheney and Jamie Raskin on Thursday at the House Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington DC. “You’re a joke!” Ms Greene yelled at Ms Cheney before getting the same insult in return.

Ms Greene asked Mr Raskin, a Democrat who was the lead prosecutor in the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, when he would investigate Black Lives Matter protest violence.

Mr Raskin replied: “Like with Kyle Rittenhouse who went and killed two Black Lives Matter protesters?”

Mr Rittenhouse is accused of shooting three people during a protest against police brutality in August 2020. The then-17-year-old, who had posted pro-Trump messages on social media, allegedly left his home in Antioch, Illinois, to go to Kenosha in Wisconsin, after a call from militia to help protect businesses in the wake of the police shooting of a Black man.

“This is a joke,” Ms Greene said in response to Mr Raskin’s comment. Ms Cheney – an anti-Trump Republican – replied to Ms Greene calling her “a joke” and told her that she should go back to focusing on Jewish space lasers, a conspiracy theory the Georgia Republican referenced a few years ago that was widely mocked.

“There are too many coincidences to ignore” wrote Ms Greene in November 2018 in her Facebook post, repeating theories about “lasers or blue beams of light causing the fires”, in a conspiracy being linked to the Rothschild banking dynasty.

“I never said that! You’re done. You’re a joke!” Ms Greene shouted at Ms Cheney, returning the same insult, according to CNN. "Why don’t you go investigate something that matters to the American people?”

Mr Raskin added a final swipe at Ms Greene’s laser post: “She denied that she'd ever said that and blamed that on the mainstream media.”

Following the clash, Ms Greene told The Hill: “I told them they’re a joke. This whole thing is a waste. They don’t care about the American people, the national security crisis at the border, our nearly $30 trillion debt.

“They just want to go on and on about the riot and then lie to everyone and call it an insurrection.” 

Five people died at the 6 January 2021 Capitol attack, more than 130 police officers were injured and four officers called to the riot died by suicide within the weeks following the attack.

Donald Trump directed supporters to “fight like hell” for his false claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” by the Democrats. More than 600 people have been charged over their involvement in the riot.

Ms Cheney is working to make Mr Trump’s close aides testify about the hours leading up to the Capitol attack, while the former president has filed a lawsuit to block the release of Capitol riot records.