- Reps. Matt Gaetz and MTG slammed Ted Cruz for calling the Capitol riot a "violent terrorist attack."
- Gaetz taunted Cruz and said he can "bend over" for the GOP establishment, but "they'll never love you."
- Gaetz and Greene have repeatedly floated conspiracy theories about the riot and downplayed the violence.
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz on Thursday criticized their colleague Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas for calling the January 6, 2021 Capitol siege a "violent terrorist attack."
Gaetz mocked Cruz, saying that he can "bend over" and "bend a knee" to the Republican establishment but that they'll "never love you."
"We are approaching a solemn anniversary this week," Cruz, who was one of more than a dozen GOP senators who objected to the certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election victory, said at a Senate Rules hearing on Wednesday. "And it is an anniversary of a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol where we saw the men and women of law enforcement demonstrate incredible courage, incredible bravery, risk their lives to defend the men and women who serve in this Capitol."
Insider asked Gaetz and Greene to react to Cruz's comments, and both said they vehemently disagreed with the Texas senator's characterization of the deadly riot as a terror attack.
"I think Senator Cruz is smart enough to know, since he's an attorney, that no one's been charged with terrorism, just like no one has been charged with insurrection," Greene said. "I think that was very irresponsible of him to call them terrorists, and I completely disagree."
Gaetz tacked on: "The establishment will never love you, Ted. You know, you can bend over and bend a knee for them, but they're just not going to love you."
He added, "I think that was maybe an effort by the good senator, who we agree with on many, many things, to recast himself in the eyes of some of the folks in your profession, but we didn't find it particularly factual or sincere."
—Acyn (@Acyn) January 6, 2022
Earlier Thursday, Gaetz and Greene appeared on former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon's podcast, where Gaetz praised the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol as "patriotic Americans" and baselessly claimed some of them were "trapped" into participating in the siege.
"We're actually going to go walk the grounds that patriotic Americans walked from the White House to the Capitol, who had no intent of breaking the law or doing violence," he added on the podcast.
Gaetz's claim that those who stormed the Capitol on January 6 had "no intent of breaking the law or doing violence" is untrue.
Groups of Trump supporters were caught on video calling for the execution of then Vice President Mike Pence; prosecutors said some rioters went to the Capitol armed with stun guns, pepper spray, flagpoles, baseball bats, zip ties, and handcuffs; more than 100 law enforcement officers were injured as a result of the violence; and hundreds more are traumatized from the mob frenzy.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said this week that the Justice Department's investigation into the events at the Capitol and their aftermath is "one of the largest, most complex, and most resource-intensive investigations in our history."
To date, more than 700 people have been arrested in connection to the riot, and more than 300 have been charged with felonies.