Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is facing criticism after she was caught on video appearing to kick a teen gun control activist outside the United States Capitol building.
18-year-old Marianna Pecora, the communications director for the Gen Z advocacy group Voters of Tomorrow, and Santiago Mayer, the organization's founder, confronted Greene about gun violence, taking her to task for refusing to support comprehensive gun control amid a spate of high profile mass shootings.
Video of the confrontation was posted to Greene's official Twitter account after she complained about "foolish cowards" who "want the government to take away guns and the rights of parents to defend their children in schools."
At one point in the video, Greene made a motion with her leg. Pecora stumbled forward as Greene’s communications director Nick Dyer warned her that she "can't block members of Congress."
You can see Greene's post below.
Pecora also posted footage of the encounter, which shows Greene's motion from another angle, to her own Twitter account, noting that Greene "just kicked me."
Pecora later responded to Greene's tweet, saying that it is not unreasonable "to expect members of Congress to not kick an 18 year old citizen."
Some people encouraged Voters of Tomorrow to file charges against Greene.
Mayer later told The Washington Post that he and Pecora have not yet discussed whether they'll press charges against Greene, adding that Pecora was fine, if somewhat shaken by the experience.
Pecora told reporters that it's "really disheartening to think that a bunch of kids can hold themselves with better composure than a sitting member of Congress."
She said that Voters of Tomorrow had brought their concerns to members of Congress from both sides of the aisle and that Greene was the only one who had not "taken us seriously and had, like, really productive conversations with us."
@lpeterp/Bluesky
@FPWellman/X
@bobsbeatgmail.com5/Threads