Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and other Republicans urged supporters of former President Donald Trump not to heed his call to protest his looming potential indictment.
Trump, who is facing a Justice Department investigation into his role in inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, published a Truth Social tirade over the weekend encouraging MAGA diehards to "protest" his potential arrest for his role in hush money payments made in 2016 to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
"IT'S TIME!!!" he wrote over the weekend. "WE ARE A NATION IN STEEP DECLINE, BEING LED INTO WORLD WAR III BY A CROOKED POLITICIAN WHO DOESN'T EVEN KNOW HE'S ALIVE, BUT WHO IS SURROUNDED BY EVIL & SINISTER PEOPLE WHO, BASED ON THEIR ACTIONS ON DEFUNDING THE POLICE, DESTROYING OUR MILITARY, OPEN BORDERS, NO VOTER I.D., INFLATION, RAISING TAXES, & MUCH MORE, CAN ONLY HATE OUR NOW FAILING USA. WE JUST CAN'T ALLOW THIS ANYMORE. THEY'RE KILLING OUR NATION AS WE SIT BACK & WATCH. WE MUST SAVE AMERICA! PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!"
Greene, typically a staunch advocate of Trump and his antics, pushed back on the former president's suggestion.
"There are a lot of concerns about protests because of people like Ray Epps and Scaffold Commander. There are a lot of reasons to believe there were feds or fed assets instigating the riot at the Capitol on January 6th," the Georgia congresswoman said in a statement made to The Daily Beast on Sunday.
She added, however, that she adamantly believes that Trumpers should be allowed to peacefully protest without "federal agents [who] infiltrate political movements and attempt to incite political violence."
Greene affirmed her belief that "we don't need to protest" in a Saturday Twitter post, claiming that "Communist Democrats" are already "sealing their own fate."
"We don't need to protest about the Communists Democrat's planning to arrest Pres Trump and the political weaponization of our government and election interference," Greene wrote. "These idiots are sealing their own fate in 2024 because the silent majority has two feelings right now about the current regime. Fear and anger. That is the most powerful combination when election time comes. And the Democrats are driving that force with their own corrupt actions."
We don’t need to protest about the Communists Democrat’s planning to arrest Pres Trump and the political weaponization of our government and election interference.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) March 18, 2023
These idiots are sealing their own fate in 2024 because the silent majority has two feelings right now about the… https://t.co/LQJbh559bT
Greene has advanced fraudulent claims that the insurrection was in fact a "Fed-surrection" carried out by the federal government, suggesting that federal agents encouraged the mob to infiltrate the Capitol.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., also cautioned Republicans against participating in any sort of protest spurred by the former president's online invective. During a Sunday press conference at the House GOP's annual retreat in Orlando, Florida, McCarthy told reporters,
"I don't think people should protest this, no," he said during a Sunday press conference at the House GOP's annual retreat in Orlando, Florida, according to Axios. The Republican lawmaker also came to Trump's defense, however, quickly adding, "And I think President Trump, if you talk to him, he doesn't believe that either."
"Nobody should harm one another in this. ... We want calmness out there," McCarthy said. "I do not believe there should be any violence [in response] to this."
