White House slams Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for saying she would have ‘won’ on Jan. 6

The White House and some Democratic lawmakers on Monday harshly condemned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s comments that she would have “won” the Jan. 6 Capitol attack had she planned it with former Trump aide Steve Bannon. .

At a dinner hosted by the New York Young Republican Club on Saturday, Greene, R-Ga., protested that her critics had falsely accused her of masterminding the Capitol attack, then bragged of how she thought the riot would have been different if she and Bannon staged it, according to a video clip of her remarks posted to Twitter by a group called Patriot Takes, which describes itself as dedicated to policing the right-wing extremism on the web.

“I want to tell you something: if Steve Bannon and I had organized this, we would have won, not to mention he would have been armed,” she said, according to the clip.

Greene faced a swift backlash from the White House and Democratic lawmakers over her remarks.

In a statement shared with NBC News, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Greene’s comments were a “slap in the face” to law enforcement and the families of those who died as a result of the attack on the Capitol.

“It goes against our core values ​​as a country for a member of Congress to wish the carnage of January 6 had been even worse and to brag about having achieved an armed insurrection against the United States government. “, said Bates. “This violent rhetoric is a slap in the face to the Capitol Police, the DC Metropolitan Police, the National Guard and the families who lost loved ones in the attack on the Capitol.”

“All leaders have a responsibility to condemn these dangerous and heinous words and to defend our Constitution and the rule of law,” he continued.

Greene pushed back against White House condemnation of her remarks, which she described in a statement as “sarcasm.”

“The White House needs to learn how sarcasm works. My comments made fun of Joe Biden and the Democrats, who have made me a political target since Jan. 6,” Greene said, accusing Democrats of smearing his character in the past, which according to her, led to threats against her.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, whom House Democrats elected to lead the next Congress, said Greene “promotes violence and armed insurrection.”

“When are so-called moderate Republicans like George Santos, Mike Lawler and Anthony D’Esposito going to call her out?” Jeffries tweeted on Monday, referring to New York Republicans recently elected to Congress.

Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, decried Greene for reflecting “the opposite of all American values” and slammed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, during an appearance on “ Morning Joe” from MSNBC on Monday. McCarthy previously promised to restore Greene’s committee assignments after the House voted last year to remove her from the panels in response to heavy-handed rhetoric against Democratic lawmakers.

“What we do know is that he has no values, he’s just a power-hungry, you know, Washington, DC-ite who would do anything, including align himself with anyone. ‘one like Marjorie Taylor. And I think that’s a very scary combination for this country,” Gallego said, adding that he “can’t work with insurgents” like Greene.

NBC News has reached out to McCarthy’s office for comment.

Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., a progressive, also reacted to Greene’s comments in a quote-tweet of a video with Greene’s comments: “Tell us more… and then what?”

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-California, said Greene’s comments “disrespected law enforcement and the families of the victims.”

“What I want to know is how you would have made the insurrection succeed. Did you hang Mike Pence? Shot at police? Attacked senators with space lasers? ” Venue tweeted.