Republican Representative-elect Anna Paulina Luna has said she was threatened by another member of the House of Representatives because of her opposition to electing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as speaker.
Luna spoke to Steve Bannon, former adviser to former President Donald Trump about an "inappropriate" phone call she had received from a female member of the House in a video shared to Twitter on Friday by PatriotTakes, which describes itself as "researchers monitoring and exposing right-wing extremism."
The recently elected congresswoman will be sworn in on January 3 when the new Republican majority will attempt to elect the next speaker. McCarthy is facing stiff opposition to his bid for the speakership from within his own party.
Luna is opposed to McCarthy's election and Bannon asked her about the reaction to her stance.
"I got a very inappropriate phone call on Thursday where basically another member—this was a couple of weeks ago, actually—another member had called me basically to whip votes for the speaker's race and ultimately ended up threatening me," Luna said.
"And I let that female member know that I wasn't going to basically be threatened," she went on. "I don't think that I need to put that person's name out there because I think that they are probably embarrassed about doing that."
"But the fact is, is that's not uncommon, I think, to have happen and ultimately I'm not going to be bullied," Luna said.
In response to the video, PatriotTakes added in another tweet: "There are only so many female members [of] the House conference. Was this MTG?" referring to Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. Some Twitter users also speculated that the person in question was Greene.
PatriotTakes later tweeted: "Which 'female member' threatened incoming Republican House member Anna Paulina Luna?" and many of the responses again named Greene.
However, Luna did not name the person who allegedly threatened her and she also named Greene among members of the House she respected during her conversation with Bannon.
In a statement issued to Newsweek on Saturday morning, Luna said: "The member that called me was NOT MTG. Marjorie came down and helped me in my primary and is also a fellow member of the Freedom Caucus. She would never do that to me."
Greene has offered her public support to McCarthy's bid to be elected speaker next week, putting her at odds with other House conservatives, including Representatives Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz.
Republicans will have 222 seats when the new House meets on January 3 but there is strong opposition to McCarthy among a minority of the incoming GOP members.
He will need 218 votes to secure election but McCarthy's allies are reportedly expecting multiple ballots in what could be the most hotly contested speaker's race since 1923.
McCarthy's team is reported to be looking at the new House rules package as a way to reach a deal with opponents and offer concessions to those who currently say they will not vote for McCarthy.
However, the rules package will not be passed until after a new speaker is elected and it's not yet clear how McCarthy will overcome opposition in the closely divided House where every vote is likely to count.
Update 12/31/22 10.10a.m. E.T.: This article was updated to include a statement from Anna Paulina Luna.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more
