Armed Republicans Were Ready for Jan. 6 Rioters: Marjorie Taylor Greene

During the siege on the U.S. Capitol of January 6, 2021, GOP House representatives reacted to the threat much differently than their Democratic colleagues, according to Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

One such difference, Greene recounts in her new book, includes a handful of Republicans who were armed with concealed weapons during the riot. As Greene writes, while Democrats “were simply going crazy,” Republicans were “ready to be good guys with guns” in the chance that a threat reached the House floor.

Greene, a Republican from Georgia, is releasing her new book, MTG, on November 21, and told reporters during a press call Monday that she is excited to have both her supporters and critics hear directly from her, instead of through the “character” presented in the media.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is pictured on October 13, 2023, in Washington, D.C. Greene shares details about her experience in the House chamber during the January 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol in her book that is set to release next month.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

“Since I’ve entered the scene in politics and in the House of Representatives, everyone has taken my words and twisted them and basically created a character of me and presented it, you know, on the main stage to the American people and said what my words really mean,” Greene said. “In this book, I’m telling you exactly what my words are.”

The book recounts a number of personal stories from her time in Congress, including being kicked off congressional committees during her freshman year, her fight to pass the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, and her experience in the House chamber on January 6.

“From the moment we became aware of the riots, the difference between the parties became crystal clear,” Greene writes in a sample of her new book that was shared with Newsweek. “While the Democrats reacted in weakness and cowardice, our nation’s Republican members of Congress earned my respect by responding with courage. Many of the Democrats were simply going crazy!”

“As supporters of the Second Amendment of the Constitution, some members carried concealed weapons and were ready to be good guys with guns, defending themselves and others if need be,” Greene continued. “Some created weapons from items around them, like the stand from a hand sanitizer dispenser or broken-off pieces of furniture on the House floor. They were ready to protect us and our House.”

The congresswoman also shares details of a conversation she had with Louisiana Representative Clay Higgins, who, according to Greene, told her that he would “stick right by” her side during the siege.

“He was one of the armed Republican members of Congress exercising his Second Amendment rights that day,” Greene wrote. “I’d never thought much about it before that, but we constantly deal with death threats, and it’s right and appropriate for members of Congress to be able to carry a gun, even on the House floor. Clay is a former member of law enforcement, and I trust men like him to protect themselves—and others—responsibly with a gun.”

Greene, who was sworn in to Congress just three days before the January 6 attack, has previously defended those facing federal charges from the day of infamy. The congresswoman has also said that she has a hard time accepting the fact that supporters of former President Donald Trump ransacked the Capitol, repeatedly claiming that members of “antifa”—an umbrella term for the far-left-leaning militant groups resisting neo-Nazis and white supremacists—led the charge on January 6.

In her book, she writes that while lawmakers were “hunkered down” in the House chamber that day, “we had no idea that Trump supporters got wrapped up in the Capitol breach, only that they were there peacefully protesting.”

Greene has also faced backlash for previously suggesting that if she had organized the riot on January 6, the rioters involved would have been “armed” and that she “would have won.” The congresswoman later said that the comment, which she made at an event at the New York Young Republican Club in December 2022, was sarcasm.

President Joe Biden’s administration condemned Greene’s statement a few days later, and White House Press Secretary Andrew Bates called the comment a “slap in the face” to the law enforcement who responded to the siege.

“It goes against our fundamental values as a country for a member of Congress to wish that the carnage of January 6th had been even worse, and to boast that she would have succeeded in an armed insurrection against the United States government,” the White House said in a statement regarding Greene’s comment.

Newsweek reached out via email Monday night to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for comment on the January 6 excerpts from Greene’s book.

MTG is being released by Winning Team Books, a publishing company co-founded by Donald Trump Jr., which, according to its website, publishes books by “authors who represent the Silent Majority, America First patriots, and liberty minded readers.”

Greene told reporters on Monday that her book will be sold at some rallies for Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign, as well as be made available at major sellers such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The congresswoman added during the press call that selling her book at Trump’s rallies “seemed like the perfect fit to me.”