Marjorie Taylor Greene Defends Singling Out GOP 'Traitors' Over Infrastructure Vote

GOP Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene defended her decision to call out the 13 House Republicans who voted in favor of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, despite the threats that they have been receiving.

The Georgia lawmaker previously shared the names and the contact information of the 13 GOP members on Twitter on November 6 after the legislation passed, calling them "traitors" for breaking party ranks by helping Democrats pass the bipartisan bill.

In a Twitter thread on Saturday, Greene defended her decision of sharing her fellow Republicans' contact information and said that she also receives threatening calls—but from "the deranged left, not Republicans."

"However, the calls will continue and primaries will ensue. Republicans in the House and the Senate need to learn a lesson," she said.

"Stop helping Democrats destroy our economy, take away our freedoms, enslave us in crippling debt, and corrupt our society with immoral policies," Greene added.

The 13 Republicans who voted in favor of the bill include Don Bacon of Nebraska, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Andrew Garbarino of New York, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Nicole Malliotakis of New York, David McKinley of West Virginia, Tom Reed of New York, Chris Smith of New Jersey, Fred Upton of Michigan, Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and Don Young of Alaska.

Those Republicans have been receiving threatening calls and messages from people who were angered by the passage of the bipartisan bill.

Upton said that random callers contacted his office and left aggressive messages that included death threats.

"I have a colleague, as you know, that put out the phone numbers of the 13 of us that voted that way," Upton said, according to The Washington Post. "I'd be glad to defend that vote. We've been working really since last spring on a bipartisan bill."

As reported by The Detroit News, Upton said the messages began after Greene posted his and the other Republicans' contact information.

During an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Monday, Upton shared a voicemail he had received from a random caller who said: "I hope you die. I hope everybody in your f***ing family dies. [You] f***ing piece of sh*t traitor."

"I'll tell you it's a terrible way—we have seen civility really downslide here. I'm concerned about my staff. They are taking these calls," Upton told CNN. "These are very disturbing, adult language. To say the least, that truly is frightening."

Upton has previously said that the infrastructure bill has become a "political football."

"I regret that this good, bipartisan bill became a political football in recent weeks. Our country can't afford this partisan dysfunction any longer," he wrote on Twitter on November 5.

Other GOP members including Kinzinger, Bacon, and Malliotakis have also received threatening messages, according to The New York Times.

A random caller reportedly told Kinzinger to slit his wrists and "rot in hell," while another caller told Bacon's office that he hoped that the Nebraska Republican would slip and fall down a staircase.

"He did not receive any threats except for 'I hope he falls down stairs and hurts himself' or something similar," a spokesperson for Bacon's office told Newsweek.

In another Tweet on Saturday, Greene called out Kinzinger and asked him to "bow" to his "queen, the Speaker of the House of Hypocrites," referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The Republican support that helped pass the bipartisan bill with a final vote of 228-206 has sparked criticism among party members as some hard-right Republicans have threatened to remove the 13 GOP members last week.

Newsweek contacted the offices of Kinzinger, Upton and Malliotakis for comments but did not hear back before publication.

Update 11/19/21, 9:17 a.m. ET: This story has been updated to include comments from Representative Don Bacon's office.