Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) joined C-SPAN’s Washington Journal on Thursday and was asked by host Greta Brawner about recent allegations leveled against him by fellow Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
“I have to ask you before you go about this back and forth with your colleague, Marjorie Taylor Greene, claims you got physically aggressive with her. Can you explain what happened?” Brawner asked.
“So I actually went up to her. I had a disappointing conversation with somebody else, the disappointment. I came up to her, I placed my hands on her shoulder, said, ‘At least you and I can have an honest conversation,’” McCormick replied, offering his take on the incident.
“That’s all I said. You know, it’s funny, I, on a daily basis, I’m an ER doc, I believe in the power of touch. I give people hugs. I shake people’s hands,” he continued, adding:
If you look at the floor on any given day. Just look at C-SPAN, look at the floor and see how much touching there is. Everybody touches everybody. Never. You know, I’m not going to touch her again, that’s for sure. I’m sorry she took offense to that, but it certainly wasn’t meant aggressively. It was meant actually as a compliment. That’s what’s so frustrating about this. I’m not sure I’ve seen the story evolve. It’s it’s you know, it was on the floor in front of people. I consider myself a very friendly, gregarious person.
I want to get along with my colleagues. Obviously, I don’t call people names on the floor. I don’t go around insulting people. Other people do that. I don’t. I think that’s beyond my reputation. I don’t think that’s anything I would ever do on the floor. I play rugby, I’m a Marine, I’m an aggressive guy in certain circumstances, but certainly not on the floor of the House of Representatives where I want to get along with people, if you look at my rhetoric, if you look what we’ve passed, when I did the censorship on Rashida Tlaib, 22 Democrats voted for that. Why? Because I have good relationships and because I can talk to people and we can we can actually solve things. I’m not there to make enemies. I’m there to make friends.
In early December, CNN reported that Greene had complained to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) that McCormick “grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her” and later told CNN directly that she viewed his behavior as “serious.”
Watch the full clip above via C-SPAN.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
