January 29, 2021

Rep. Cori Bush told Joy Ann Reid on Friday night about a very disturbing encounter she had with QAnon whackjob Marjorie Taylor Greene in the halls of the House of Representatives. Greene refused to wear a mask, although I am confident she would proudly wear a pointy white-hooded robe. Further, Bush explained why she decided to move her office - and her reasoning is totally sound. She called Greene out for being a straight up white supremacist - and said that she is worried for her and her staff's safety having their office so close to Greene's.

BUSH: So I turned around and it was Marjorie Taylor Greene without a mask on. and so -- and so I looked and I'm like -- I didn't say anything at first. I looked at my team and I'm like, she does not have on a mask. Let's keep walking. I thought about it, you're putting me at risk, you're putting my team at risk, everybody else in this tunnel is at risk. Just the day before we found out that our colleagues had contracted COVID after being on lockdown with this same person and other people who were unmasked. so, no, i'm a nurse. i take care of my community. i take care of my people. You will not put us at risk like that. So I moved out of the way.

I saw my little brother, John Bowman, down the hall and as she's passing, I'm like, you know, look, she does not have on a mask. So I said "put on a mask" and then she started to, you know, go off some more. She's on her phone like live streaming. My point with that, Joy, was that she has the audacity to be walking through this space on her phone showing people that she was bucking the system, showing people that she was not going to adhere to the rules of the House and so I wanted it to be on her live stleem we are saying put your mask on and then her team turned around and her too, but then her team is yelling "stop inciting. stop inciting violence Black Lives Matter." What does Black Lives Matter have to do this? Put on a mask and save lives?

REID: Yeah. I just want to point out to the audience that on January 12th the House leadership, the Speaker, announced there is a mandate that on the floor of the House members must wear a mask. What was the policy as of -- as you were walking through? Was it -- I mean, as you said, you had just known that several members had been diagnosed with COVID after locking down on January 6th with Republicans who refused to wear masks. Marjorie Taylor Greene was one of the people who was mocking Lisa Blunt Rochester trying to give them masks and she was mocking them. This is while they were being locked down. This is not the video. It's cut 2 that I wanted to show. We'll pull that back. There it is. There it is. There she is mocking other members. so at the time that you were confronted by her or she's yelling in the hallway, wasn't it generally accepted that people should be wearing masks in the tunnel?

BUSH: Yes. We're supposed to wear masks but the fine, I believe the fine --

REID: Gotcha. now she went on Twitter when my colleague, Tiffany Cross, tweeted at her that she may want to go on the Cross Connection, which is Tiffany's show which airs tomorrow, and explain herself. She then accused you of lying about the interaction and she posted a piece of video. Now I want to just for the audience let you know that we're not playing the full video because before the part we're showing she's ranting and raving about Black Lives Matter, about you, about members of Black Lives Matter being a part of Congress and then this happens. Here she is. This is the video where you describe where we only see her face because she's live streaming showing her own face as she's walking. you can see she doesn't have a mask on and here's what she said.

(VIDEO)

REID: She is claiming that that disproves your account. What is your reaction?

BUSH: It actually -- it actually says exactly what I said. She was walking behind me, correctly behind me. You know, and she's yelling into the phone directly behind me. I moved out of the way because now you're a threat. You know, you are a threat to me and then you don't have on a mask. You don't care enough about us to put on a mask. I said -- now mind you by the time you heard my voice, she was further down the tunnel. We're in the tunnel so of course it's echoing. But you could hear me saying put on a mask.

What happened? She put on a mask, but I was not -- and let me say this, too. We're here with staff, team members, Congress members yelling at other Congress members. Where did you hear that happen at? That doesn't happen. For her to turn this around to be a Black Lives Matter issue, that's not what it was. You should care enough about your colleagues and if you don't believe in that, if you don't believe we should have safety, if you don't believe that this is a true health crisis with 400,000 people in this country have lost their lives, if you won't, if you will not honor that and respect those families and respect the people in your community, 750,000 that you are supposed to protect, that you are supposed to serve and protect, if you won't do that, then let go of this job. It is not for you.

She can say whatever she wants to say, but the thing is she did not have on a mask in that tunnel and I absolutely spoke up and it's not just about her, Joy, this is anybody. Any Congress member who will not wear a mask. I'm going to speak up. Lisa spoke up. If many of us, we will speak up, not just about that. We don't want you bringing your guns on the House floor. We don't want you bringing your guns into your office. We don't want you to evade security and try to run through the metal detectors. No. Abide by the rules so that we can do the jobs. We moved our office, Joy, not because I'm scared of her. Not because I think I can't -- like I'm oh, my gosh. that's not why I moved my office. I moved my office because I am here to do a job for the people of St. Louis. They deserve that. What I cannot do is continue to look over my shoulder wondering if a White Supremacist in Congress by the name of Marjorie Taylor Greene or anyone else, because there are others, that they are doing something or conspiring against us. Our focus has to be on St. Louis and the work that we can get done and also my team deserves better. They should not have to come to work and have to wonder if that door is going to open, that does not have a peephole, if that door is going to open and it is somebody that does not want to do them well.

Rep. Cori Bush is definitely my favorite new member of Congress. Her constituents from St. Louis are lucky to have such a fierce and strong woman representing them.

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