Marjorie Taylor Greene calls CNN’s Jim Acosta a ‘liar’ over ‘martial law’ questions

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called CNN’s Jim Acosta a ‘liar’ and told the journalist to ‘stop harrassing me’ as he trailed her on Capitol Hill Thursday asking the Republican lawmaker about her ‘martial law’ texts.  

‘Your problem is, you’re just one of those liars on television and people hate it. They can’t stand the liars on television,’ Greene said at one point. ‘Do you know why people do not like you? Because you’re a liar,’ she said at another.

Acosta was pressing Greene on a text message she sent to then White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on January 17, 2021 – three days before President Joe Biden was to be sworn-in – in which she mentions that during a private chat with members of Congress ‘several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall (sic) law.’ 

‘I don’t know on those things. I just wanted to tell him,’ she continued. ‘They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next. Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!’ 

Last Friday Greene gave testimony as part of a lawsuit filed by Georgia voters to try to prevent her re-election, Greene said she didn’t recall the martial law text. 

At a press conference Thursday, she also didn’t recall what members of Congress were discussing such a thing. 

‘You don’t seem to recall a lot, what’s going on there?’ Acosta asked Greene, as they walked near the House office buildings on Capitol Hill. 

Greene laughed and accused Acosta of not presenting her in an accurate light on his CNN show. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (right) called CNN’s Jim Acosta (left) a ‘liar’ and told the journalist to ‘stop harrassing me’ as he trailed her on Capitol Hill Thursday asking the Republican lawmaker about her ‘martial law’ texts

‘Well, we’re just trying to get some answers. Did you send a text asking for the president to declare martial law, did you do that?’ Acosta asked. 

Greene responded, ‘You know, I don’t recall those being my text messages.’ 

She then suggested that if they were, Acosta was reading them wrong. 

‘It actually says, if you read it correctly Jim – your problem is you’re lying again right now – it says I do not know on those things. That’s what that text message actually says,’ Greene said. 

Acosta pressed Greene on ‘why even bring up martial law?’ 

The exchange, which was being filmed and was quickly shared online, then consisted of the two bickering about what the text message said.

‘Let’s read it,’ Greene insisted.

‘But you’re saying you don’t recall it,’ Acosta said. 

‘I don’t know if that’s my text message or not, but if you want to talk about a text message, read the text message. Do something real,’ Greene said. 

'I don't know if that's my text message or not, but if you want to talk about a text message, read the text message. Do something real,' Greene (right) told Acosta (left)

‘I don’t know if that’s my text message or not, but if you want to talk about a text message, read the text message. Do something real,’ Greene (right) told Acosta (left)

Acosta then read the text, with Greene pointing out that it said, ‘I don’t know on those things.’ 

‘You’re accusing me of something and then when you read the actual words it tells another story, it tells the truth,’ Greene said, calling Acosta a ‘liar’ several times. 

Acosta then slightly changed topics asking if she’d comply with a subpoena if one was issued from the House select committee on January 6. 

‘Stop harrassing me,’ the congresswoman said. 

Acosta noted that he was merely asking questions ‘politely.’  

Acosta then tried to nail down comments Greene made about Catholics. 

Greene recently told Michael Voris, a far-right Catholic activist, that she was for stripping moderate groups such as Catholic Relief Services of federal funding over their refugee resettlement initiatives. 

Greene said ‘Satan’s controlling the church, the church is not doing its job,’ which received condemnation from a number of Catholics. 

‘Why don’t you read my statement for your viewers,’ Greene told Acosta. 

‘It’s the church leadership I was referring to when I invoked the Devil,’ she had said, noting she left the church ‘to protect my children from pedophiles,’ a reference to the Catholic priest scandal.  

Also at Thursday’s press conference, Greene said she’d like to invite Elon Musk to Capitol Hill after his Twitter takeover – and would assemble a group of ‘brilliant’ people banned from the network to have a conversation with him.

‘I don’t know Mr. Musk, but I do invite him to come talk with me in Washington, D.C. I would be happy to put together a roundtable of all the most brilliant people who have been unjustly banned from Twitter and he can see for himself the urgent necessity of doing right by them,’ Greene told reporters outside the Capitol. ‘Which we all hope he will as he has stated he believes in free speech. 

Greene said to the crowd: ‘We don’t need to be told what we can and can’t say online by nutcases in San Francisco or other places.’

She told DailyMail.com she hasn’t officially made the ask to Musk, but did name some of her ideal attendees. 

‘There would be a lot of people I’d love to invite to this roundtable. I see someone standing behind you right there – Milo Yiannopoulus – I think he’d be a great person to have there,’ she said. 

Yiannopoulos was banned from Twitter in 2016 over his engagement in the racist and targeted abuse of comedian Leslie Jones, who is black. 

‘Alex Jones would be another person,’ Greene went on. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Thursday that she'd like to invite Elon Musk to Capitol Hill after his Twitter takeover - and would assemble a group of 'brilliant' people banned from the network to have a conversation with him

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Thursday that she’d like to invite Elon Musk to Capitol Hill after his Twitter takeover – and would assemble a group of ‘brilliant’ people banned from the network to have a conversation with him

'I see someone standing behind you right there - Milo Yiannopoulus - I think he'd be a great person to have there,' she told DailyMail.com, suggesting Yiannopoulus, who was banned from Twitter in 2016, would be among those she'd invite to meet with Elon Musk

‘I see someone standing behind you right there – Milo Yiannopoulus – I think he’d be a great person to have there,’ she told DailyMail.com, suggesting Yiannopoulus, who was banned from Twitter in 2016, would be among those she’d invite to meet with Elon Musk 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she was 'cautiously optimistic about the prospects for Twitter now that Elon Musk (pictured) has taken over'

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she was ‘cautiously optimistic about the prospects for Twitter now that Elon Musk (pictured) has taken over’ 

Jones was banned from Twitter in 2018, with the company saying he engaged in ‘abusive behavior.’ 

He’s widely known as a right-wing conspiracy theorist.  

‘We’ll put together a great list of people who have been just almost deleted from public life due to this type of censorhip and I think Elon Musk will enjoy talking to them,’ Greene said. 

Greene’s personal Twitter account got suspended in January after she repeatedly posted content that violated the company’s policy on COVID-19 misinformation. 

She still has access to her Congressional account.  

Greene told reporters Thursday she wanted her personal Twitter account reinstated. 

‘On my Congressional Twitter account, for all of us here, we’re not allowed to talk about our campaigns or ask for money, say, to defend ourselves in court from political attacks and things like that. So it’s important to me to have my personal Twitter account,’ she explained. 

‘I am cautiously optimistic about the prospects for Twitter now that Elon Musk has taken over,’ she also said.

Greene’s main reason for hosting a press conference was to tout legislation – the 21st Century Free Speech Act – that she’s introducing alongside Sen. Bill Hagerty, who’s sponsoring the same bill in the upper chamber. 

The bill would scrap Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and replace it with ‘reasonable, non-discriminatory access to online communications platforms’ that would treat so-called Big Tech as a ‘common carrier,’ similar to an airline or FedEx, Greene said. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also said she'd invite Infowars' Alex Jones, who was banned from Twitter in 2018, to meet with Elon Musk about the social media network for a panel discussion at the U.S. Capitol

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also said she’d invite Infowars’ Alex Jones, who was banned from Twitter in 2018, to meet with Elon Musk about the social media network for a panel discussion at the U.S. Capitol 

Milo Yiannopoulos (right) trails Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (center) as she heads back into the Capitol Building after her Thursday afternoon press conference. Greene named Yiannopoulos as one of the 'brilliant' people banned on Twitter she would like to have Elon Musk meet

Milo Yiannopoulos (right) trails Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (center) as she heads back into the Capitol Building after her Thursday afternoon press conference. Greene named Yiannopoulos as one of the ‘brilliant’ people banned on Twitter she would like to have Elon Musk meet 

Reporters gather outside the U.S. Capitol Building Thursday afternoon for a press conference with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who wanted to tout legislation she's proposing to get rid of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act

Reporters gather outside the U.S. Capitol Building Thursday afternoon for a press conference with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who wanted to tout legislation she’s proposing to get rid of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act 

Greene said that illegal activity like child trafficking would remain unlawful – but suggested it would make it more difficult for tech companies to patrol misinformation. 

‘I don’t believe in this whole misinformation thing that the Democrats are wanting to push on people,’ she said, adding that it was ‘their term for silencing free speech.’ 

‘For example, parents’ ability to say I want to protect my daughters in their bathrooms and in their sports – that can be considered hate speech or misinformation, or people’s ability to say – I don’t want the government forcing me to take a vaccine,’ Greene said. ‘I’d like to have full control over my own health and choose if I would like to use my own natural immunity against the biological weapon of COVID-19.’

‘People that said things like that were permanently banned on social media,’ she noted.

She said that anti-trans and anti-vax opinions weren’t ‘misinformation.’ 

‘That’s people expressing their own views, their own opinions and that’s their freedom of speech and they have the right to make those decisions and Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, no other big tech company has the right to remove them for saying things like that,’ Greene said.  

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