Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says Marjorie Taylor Greene is the Republican who's really in charge of the party and McCarthy is doing her bidding
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez discussed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's power in the GOP.
- She said that Greene was actually more powerful than House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she believes that controversial Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is a more powerful member of the Republican House caucus than House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
In an interview Sunday with MSNBC host Jen Psaki, Ocasio-Cortez discussed the outsized influence she believes that hard right firebrand Greene has over the GOP.
"Speaker McCarthy, in order to become Speaker, had to cut some deals we still don't know the details on. Do you think he's actually running his caucus? Or do you think someone else is?" asked Psaki, President Joe Biden's former press secretary.
"He's not," Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, said. "I think you've got Marjorie Taylor Greene running the caucus."
"Every time something irks her, she communicates that McCarthy is doing her bidding. And — and I think that this is something that is quite clear. I think that Speaker McCarthy is stuck between having to please the most racist and heinous elements of his party with having to maintain a majority. And he is choosing to side with the extremists."
McCarthy in his campaign to be elected House speaker in January secured the backing of Georgia congresswoman Greene, a popular member of the Republican hard right with a history of pushing conspiracy theories and an influential social media presence.
Her support came as other members of the House Republican hard right, including Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, sought to block McCarthy's nomination.
According to reports. Greene managed to extract significant concessions from McCarthy in return for her support. In a New York Times interview January McCarthy heaped praise on Greene, saying he'd "always take care of her."
Ocasio-Cortez is among the most prominent members of Congress' progressive caucus, and has repeatedly clashed with Greene.