The Congressional Black Caucus on Tuesday denounced comments by Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who accused Democrats of “worshipping” George Floyd, a Black man killed at the hands of Minneapolis police four years ago.
“This is outrageous even for @RepMTG,” the lawmakers said in a post by X. “George Floyd should not have died. Reps should have the decency to recognize his humanity.”
The caucus’ comments came after Greene posted a video to X of her answering questions from NBC News in a Capitol hallway about her defense of former President Donald Trump. In the video, Greene described Floyd as a “convicted felon” who Democrats “still worship.” Her comments came days after Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records, and came as she criticized Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who suggested some Republicans “blindly worship” a convicted felon during a congressional hearing on the origins of COVID-19.
Raskin apologized to Dr. Anthony Fauci, who testified before the committee on Monday, saying his Republican colleagues treated him “like a convicted criminal.”
“In fact, you probably wish they would treat you like a convicted felon. They treat convicted felons with love and respect. Some of them blindly worship convicted felons,” Raskin said.
“Jamie Raskin is accusing us of worshiping Trump. Worshiping a ‘convicted felon,'” Greene told NBC News in the video.
When asked about the fact that Trump will be convicted, Greene replied, “Yeah, yeah, so is George Floyd and everyone — including you in the media — worships George Floyd. Democrats worship George Floyd. We had riots over George Floyd and this f**king country burned down.”
“I’m tired of the Democrat shenanigans claiming Republicans worship Donald Trump,” Greene said in a post accompanying the video. “I worship God! Democrats still worship a convicted murderer, George Floyd.”
Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds. Chauvin was convicted of murder and Floyd’s death sparked a national reckoning on racism and police brutality.
A spokesman for Green did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.
Trump was convicted Thursday of 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with repaying his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, for hush money paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 campaign. Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case and has denied allegations by Daniels that she had a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006. Sentencing in the case is scheduled for July 11.
