Former Republican congressman Rep. Ken Buck (Colo.) said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is getting her “talking points from the Kremlin” as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) faces a revolt from hardline Republicans over a Ukraine aid package.
In an interview with CNN on Monday, Buck pushed back on former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) assertion that Greene is a “serious legislator,” pointing to her various stunts in Congress such as filing articles of impeachment against Joe Biden the day after he was sworn in as president.
“My experience with Marjorie is, people have talked to her about not filing articles of impeachment on President Biden before he was sworn into office, on not filing articles of impeachment that were groundless made on other individuals in the Biden administration,” Buck told CNN, according to a clip highlighted by Mediaite.
He continued: “And she was never moved by that. She was always focused on her social media account. And Moscow Marjorie is focused now on this Ukraine issue and getting her talking points from the Kremlin and making sure that she is popular and she is getting a lot of coverage.”
Greene has filed a motion to vacate the chair after Johnson struck a deal with Democrats on a bipartisan spending package that averted a government shutdown last month.
She said the motion was a warning and didn’t give a specific timeline for a vote to remove the speaker, but the Georgia congresswoman suggested to CNN last week that Johnson moving ahead with the Ukraine aid bill is her red line.
“I’m not saying I have a red line or a trigger, and I’m not saying I don’t have a red line or trigger,” Greene said. “But I’m going to tell you right now: funding Ukraine is probably one of the most egregious things that he can do.”
Buck retired early from Congress last month. Before he left, Buck signed a discharge petition to force a vote on the $95.3 billion foreign aid bill with assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan that was passed on a bipartisan vote in the Senate in February.
“We’ve got to fund Ukraine and help people who are yearning for freedom,” Buck told reporters at the time.
