Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) speaks to reporters following her town hall event in Cobb County, Georgia.
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00:00You know, we aren't going to be intimidated by funded Democrats that want to come in and scream and yell.
00:08A town hall is information for our constituents, and this is not a political rally.
00:13This is not a campaign rally, and town halls are extremely important.
00:17I'm glad they got thrown out.
00:19That's exactly what I wanted to see happen, and this is, Democrats have protested in violent ways for years.
00:26There's Antifa, BLM, and many more about violence against Tesla, firebombing Tesla dealerships, keying Teslas, and we aren't going to tolerate it anymore.
00:36We're unapologetic about that.
00:38Congresswoman, why did you choose to take questions the way that you did, you know, submitting them beforehand instead of taking them live for the audience?
00:45Well, it's the way I've always done it.
00:47See, you guys haven't been to my town halls before.
00:49I've held many town halls throughout the years of being in Congress, and we always have people write down their questions.
00:56The problem is it's difficult to read everyone's handwriting.
00:59So normally they write down a question and they put them in a fishbowl for me, and I usually have to put on my reading glasses and read them.
01:05But it was much easier to have them type out their questions on the form when they signed up for the town hall.
01:13Just wondering when you saw the response and the fact that the police had to get involved.
01:19You didn't move.
01:19You were definitely a staple up there.
01:21But what was your reaction just to seeing that all play out the way it did, especially in front of some of the people who came here to support you and wanted to hear your message?
01:29My reaction is it shouldn't be that way.
01:32America overwhelmingly voted in November for President Trump, Republican control of the House and the Senate, and how people should handle their businesses in the voting booth.
01:42There's no reason for screaming, yelling, ridiculous, outrageous protesting.
01:49That disrupts the entire event for every single person that is there.
01:53And, you know, one of the most important things I do is offer constituent services.
01:58And that was exactly what I wanted to be able to promote and talk about tonight.
02:03From a safety standpoint, you even mentioned the fact that you had to let this place secret for a little bit.
02:08The idea that there are so many people who had to have this increased police presence, does that leave you deterred at all when you know that there are people who are out there with all these thoughts about what they would want to do on these rallies?
02:21No, I know.
02:21You know, I don't like that.
02:23But, no, I'm not deterred.
02:24My job is a representative of the people that voted, my district.
02:30And I have to represent the entire district.
02:33And that means I have a job to do.
02:34And that job is extremely important.
02:36No, I'm not deterred.
02:38But I will tell you guys, and this is a story that I think is extremely important, I have the most death threats in Congress.
02:45And at times, I have more death threats than even Speaker Johnson.
02:49And it shouldn't be that way.
02:50And as we just saw Governor Shapiro's mansion attacked with arson, it shouldn't be this way for any elected leader, no matter what political party they're representing.
03:03And to begin your response, Steve, there's been a lot of coverage on the stocks that are advising and made in the days before and the day of the announcement that these cares were being paused.
03:12Is there anything that you knew ahead of time?
03:15Can you at least respond to the criticism that's been published?
03:17You know, I think that criticism is laughable.
03:21President Trump has been talking about tariffs for decades.
03:24President Trump announced April 2nd is when he was putting tariffs in place.
03:28I have a fiduciary agreement with my portfolio manager.
03:31I don't place my buys and sells.
03:34That's something that the portfolio manager does for me.
03:37And he did a great job.
03:38Guess what he did?
03:39He bought the dip.
03:40And that's what anybody that has any financial sense does when they know the market's going to be going down.
03:45That was obvious to everyone, and President Trump had announced tariffs long before.
03:52That wasn't anything, that wasn't a secret.
03:55Big, big public information.
03:57Congressman Green, do you think it was a proportionate response to have police tase somebody who was just brewing at you from the crowd?
04:04They weren't approaching you.
04:05They weren't anywhere near you.
04:07Just, what are your thoughts on that?
04:08Yeah, like I said before, this isn't a political rally or a protest.
04:11I held a town hall tonight.
04:13You know who was out of line?
04:14The protesters.
04:15There was a place designated outside for the protesters because we support their First Amendment right.
04:22So, you know who was out of line?
04:24The protesters.
04:25The place did a great job.
04:26I'm very thankful for that.
04:27I hope the concern is real.
04:29And actually, Americans have been tightening their belts for years.
04:33And the past four years just hit a height that we had inflation at the highest rates that we had not seen for four years.
04:42And, yes, I think this is something the American people understand better than Washington, D.C.
04:47I'm just hoping that all of us can get it right in our job in Congress.
04:51You paused the night when you read that question from the parent who talked about fentanyl.
04:56When you're reading that, what was just your overall reaction?
05:00You could tell it touched you, but can you just speak about that when you need people who have those sort of stories?
05:05Yeah, that question was something else.
05:09It was heartbreaking.
05:11And it literally shook me from the inside.
05:14I'm a mother.
05:15I have three children.
05:16I mean, all of us that are parents can't imagine being in that woman's position.
05:21But it's a story that's been told over and over.
05:24And I serve on the Homeland Security Committee.
05:27And to me, this isn't a political party issue.
05:29It's an American issue.
05:31We have a drug crisis in this country.
05:34And it's got to be something that all of us care about together.
05:37And the drug crisis has come across the border by cartels.
05:41And that woman, you know, I was hoping she was sitting there.
05:46I don't know if she showed up or not.
05:48But I just wanted to hug her because I've heard it too many times.
05:52And we just pray it stops.
05:55We pray that border security will stop it.
05:57So, not every single resident in your district is a Democrat or Republican.
06:03How do you react to people who are unhappy with President Trump's policy when you leave them out?
06:08Well, you know, I'm one Republican that's oftentimes outspoken against my own party.
06:15So, I can understand people's perspective when they aren't really happy with either party.
06:20Let's face it, $36 trillion in debt, you kind of wonder how Americans are happy with anybody, right?
06:26But my job is to represent each person in my district and explain to them, here's what the Trump administration is doing, and also show them the results.
06:38And that's why I showed economic numbers that have only happened in less than three months of President Trump's administration.
06:45Congresswoman, can you talk about the decision to hold this town hall, even if some members of Congress are being advised not to, if safety reasons?
06:51Yeah, that's something I've answered a couple of times.
06:54So, we planned this town hall because this is the newest part of my district.
06:59Redistricting had just happened, and in November, Ackworth, which is new to my district because of redistricting, elected me for the first time.
07:09And so, I always hold in-person town halls throughout the year.
07:12So, I planned this to be my first town hall because I wanted to come to the city of Ackworth and just introduce myself to them and also get acquainted with everyone.
07:22Considering?
07:22It had been planned since January.
07:23Considering how it worked out, we had six to ten people escorted out, three arrests.
07:29Would you do anything different next time?
07:30You know, we also have to recognize that the majority in the room were standing and cheering when those people were thrown out.
07:36And again, it was the protesters who were out of line.
07:39I talked to someone who came out because he is in this part of the district, wanted to hear what you had to say for the first time.
07:46He said he didn't feel listened to.
07:48Can you respond to that?
07:49Well, I can't respond to that because I didn't talk to him.
07:54So, I don't understand what his statement is about.
07:57Congresswoman, on the stock issue, can you just confirm – and thanks for taking our questions.
08:01You bet.
08:01Can you just confirm that you didn't have prior knowledge of the pause, the President Trump's pause on tariffs, and that you didn't have any conversations with your portfolio manager about that?
08:12Oh, yeah.
08:12No, no conversations whatsoever.
08:14And President Trump, I think he's done a wonderful job with how he's been handling tariffs.
08:18What we didn't know is he was starting them on April 2nd.
08:22That was announced for the whole world to know.
08:25And so, I think he's doing a great job negotiating for America.
08:29You've been talking about the – being new to Ackler.
08:34The three precincts around Ackler actually supported your appointment in the November election.
08:42Was there a – was this a deliberate decision to come to an area where you may not be as wildly supported as a district?
08:52It was a deliberate decision to come to a new part of my district.
08:57I've said that from the beginning.
08:58We planned it back in January.
09:00We've met with city officials today, the mayor.
09:03We've met with business owners today.
09:06This is just part of my job.
09:08And so, there was nothing more to it than this is the new part of my district.
09:12And I feel like they haven't met me yet, so I should come here first.
09:15Do you think you're swaying them?
09:18I got a lot of support tonight.
09:20And I think what has swayed them is the work that we do in Washington.