The newly elected first vice-chair of the Georgia GOP — Brian K. Pritchard — ripped U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene during an extraordinary 20-minute segment of his online show Friday. “I’m through with her. I’m through,” he said.
Although Greene continues to be closely aligned with former President Donald Trump, Pritchard’s are the first significant negative comments about Greene from a state GOP leader since her alliance with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and her recent split with the House Freedom Caucus.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene now says she likes being a ‘free agent.’ Well guess what Marjorie, have at it,” he said, comparing Greene’s fight with U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., to “a high school girl who went to the bathroom to smoke.”
Credit: Screenshot
Credit: Screenshot
In Georgia, Pritchard said Greene has lost touch with her constituents and thrown her fellow Republicans under the bus.
“I know people in her district that she should be communicating with, the grassroots coordinators of her district that she should be in tune with, that she now tells to please speak with my staff,” he said.
Pritchard particularly took issue with Greene’s recent comments about Freedom Caucus members like his congressman, U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens. She said that unlike them, she does not live in “conservative fantasy land.”
“If your member of Congress voted against the debt ceiling. Everything coming out of this woman’s mouth is a direct shot at your member of Congress,” he said.
Pritchard said that Greene has “turned her back on MAGA and turned her back on the people of the 14th District” and hypothesized that she is trying to moderate her image in order to run for U.S. Senate in 2026.
“I’ve had it. I tried, But this is it,” he said. “Every single [expletive] thing that comes out of your mouth is an attack on my congressman. Who do you think you are?”
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Credit: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
Credit: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
MORE MTG. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene voted for the annual defense policy bill Friday, even after she said she would oppose the measure after her amendments to cut funding to Ukraine failed.
Greene told reporters after the vote that she had a change of heart after speaking with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who asked her to serve on the conference committee that will negotiate a final version of the bill — melding the House’s far-right influenced one with the Senate’s more moderate version.
Her about-face will surely add fuel to those who criticizing Greene’s cozy relationship with McCarthy. He hosted a fundraiser for her last week — her first Washington-based event.
Greene continues to be one of the House’s most prolific fundraisers, especially among small, grassroots donors, raking in over $1 million during the fundraising period covering April through June.
The Rome Republican also hasn’t shifted rhetorically. During her speech at this weekend’s Turning Point Action Conference she railed against President Joe Biden’s economic agenda and accused Democrats of being pedophiles.
To cap her week, conservative rapper Kurt Jantz, who goes by “Forgiato Blow,” released his latest single, an ode to “MTG” and her anti-transgender crusade. Greene was on set for the entire video, posing alongside the rapper on a golden throne and on the back of a red vintage convertible.
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CLYDE CASH CRUNCH. U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde’s national profile has risen immensely since he joined a group of conservatives who opposed Kevin McCarthy becoming House Speaker, stretching the ordeal out for nearly a week in January.
In June, many of those same members shut down the House floor for days after Clyde said that Republican leaders had threatened to punish him for his debt limit stand. Although Clyde didn’t actively participate in the mutiny, he became a symbol of the hardliners’ opposition to leadership.
Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
And throughout the past few months, Clyde has successfully ushered to the floor several bills to overrule decisions made by the District of Columbia’s local government. One, rolling back the city’s new criminal code, was even signed into law.
Despite the Athens Republican’s successes in Washington, it does not appear to have translated to the type of robust fundraising we see with the delegation’s other firebrand: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome.
Clyde reported raising just $74,415 during April, May and June, and that he spent even more: $95,219. He ended the quarter with just $16,137 in cash on hand, which is the lowest among members of Georgia’s delegation.
A far-right lawmaker who has avoided corporate PAC dollars, Clyde has never been known as a prolific fundraiser. But he even lags freshman Reps. Mike Collins and Rich McCormick, who raised $105,613 and $271,554, respectively. Each has nearly $300,000 in cash on hand.
In the meantime, Republican Herschel Walker is still sitting on a mountain of campaign cash following his Senate loss.
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WSJ ON WILLIS. As we approach the window when Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis predicted she’ll have news on a potential indictment of former President Donald Trump, interest in the prosecutor continues to intensify.
The Wall Street Journal ran a lengthy profile over the weekend of the “workaholic” DA who they predict is on a collision course with Trump:
“Our office has very few cases that are no-billed," she said, meaning a grand jury has declined to indict. She added later, “I refuse to fail."
Willis said she is at her desk by 6:30 a.m. and stays until at least 7 p.m. She has asked staff to split shifts to keep up with her. The obsessive work ethic has hurt her family life, she said.
A longtime prosecutor, she once described herself as “one of the best murder prosecutors in this country." Former co-workers said she is a stickler for preparation in cases and excellent in persuading juries.
“You look at her and she doesn't come across as the ice queen," said Clint Rucker, a criminal-defense attorney who worked closely with Willis for years in the DA's office. “And then she opens her mouth, she roars. And it catches people off guard. I love to watch it."
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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
FEWER LICENSES. The number of new gun license applications fell roughly 60% after the new law allowing Georgians to carry concealed handguns without first getting a state license went into effect, Channel 2 Action News found.
From the story:
Examining the data from the GBI, Channel 2 Action News focused on the number of license applications from July to December of 2021 and 2022, accounting for the passage and enactment of the licensing change.
In the July to December 2021 period, there were 74,816 applications.
During the same stretch of time in 2022, there were just 30,054, a 59.8% drop in applications.
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- The House has evening votes scheduled; the Senate returns Tuesday.
- U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff has two events in Georgia: a news conference in Augusta to discuss federal funding he secured for the Head Start Program. He’ll later be in Milledgeville to discuss resources to expand access to preschool.
- President Joe Biden has no public events scheduled.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
NEW DIRECTOR. In a specially called meeting over the weekend, the Department of Public Safety’s board unanimously voted to confirm Christopher Hosey as the new Georgia Bureau of Investigation director.
Gov. Brian Kemp tapped Hosey, the agency’s assistant director, to lead the agency after Mike Register announced last month he’ll leave the GBI and return to his former position as Cobb County’s public safety director.
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Credit: File photo
Credit: File photo
BOTTOMS’ NEW ROLE. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has been tapped by President Joe Biden for a new role serving on the President’s Export Council.
The council serves as an advisory board to the White House on domestic and international trade. Bottoms will fill one of the 28 seats on the advisory board set aside for non-government officials with expertise in business and industry, agriculture or labor.
Bottoms, who recently finished a stint working at the White House running the Office of Public Engagement, has yet to announce a new full-time gig.
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DOG OF THE DAY. In a first for the Jolt, today’s Dog of the Day is a 12-way tie between Officer Rex and the eleven other new recruits for the state of Georgia’s K-9 unit, who got their badges at the Governor’s Mansion last week.
Rex is a three-year-old German Shepherd rescue whom first lady Marty Kemp spotted in a Georgia shelter. He and his canine colleagues now call Georgia’s 10.8 million residents their people. Along with their badges, the first lady also awarded them all with a box of treats for being very good dogs.
Send us your dogs of any political persuasion and cats on a cat-by-cat basis to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us on Twitter @MurphyAJC.
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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
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