According to the lawyers working to disqualify Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress, the Georgia Republican used a “codeword” to encourage violence during the 2021 Capitol riot.
“The day before the attack, she signaled to her followers a codeword that meant to storm federal buildings and supposedly overthrow tyrants,” Ron Fein, the attorney who will question Ms Greene, told MSNBC on Wednesday. “So, we are going to ask her about all of that and more.”
Mr Fein is the legal director of the non-profit Free Speech for People, which represents a group of voters seeking to block Ms Greene from running for reelection. Their case hinges on one section of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which states that “no person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress … shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the country.
According to Mr Fein, that’s exactly what Ms Greene did.
“Even before we ask a single question, we know four things already,” Mr Fein said. “One is that she called for Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden to be executed for treason. She told her followers that they couldn’t allow a peaceful transfer of power. She worked with the planners of some of the events of January 6th.”
And then there’s the codeword.
“This is our 1776 moment,” Ms Greene told Newsmax on 5 January, 2021.
In its lawsuit, Free Speech for People says “1776” was a “codeword for violence.” As Ms Greene spoke it, pro-Trump demonstrators were gathering in Washington, DC for the following day’s rallies, where they planned to protest the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory. Ultimately, those protests turned violent.
“Greene’s references to ‘1776’ … had a specific meaning to her intended audience,” the lawsuit says. “Specifically, her remarks had the intent and effect of signaling to her supporters that she was calling not for peaceful protest, but for violent resistance, to a peaceful transfer of power to the president-elect, in defiance of the Constitution.”
After the riots, Ms Greene publicly condemned the violence, and has denied playing any role in the attacks. The Independent has reached out to her office for comment.
But the congresswoman was not the only one to publicly use the term “1776” in the leadup to the insurrection. Ali Alexander, an organizer of one of the rallies, tweeted it on 30 December, 2020, as he fumed over reports that congressional leaders planned to scuttle the certification objections.
“If they do this, everyone can guess what me and 500,000 others will do to that building,” wrote Mr Alexander, who has since been banned from Twitter. “1776 is *always* an option.”
The Independent has reached out to Mr Alexander’s lawyer for comment.
Rep Lauren Boebert, another fiercely pro-Trump Republican, also tweeted the number on the morning of 6 January.
“Today is 1776,” she wrote just hours before the attacks.
The Independent has reached out to Ms Boebert’s office as well.
Mr Fein is scheduled to question Ms Greene at a court hearing on Friday, after a judge denied her request for an injunction. The congresswoman is furious.
“They’re actually putting me on the witness stand on Friday,” Ms Greene complained to the right-wing network OAN. “I am the first Republican member of Congress that is going to be forced to take the witness stand under oath, and defend myself against a lie and something I never did … I cannot believe that I’m being forced to do this.”
