After receiving criticism from high profile Republicans, including Senator Lindsey Graham, for praising the Pentagon leak suspect, Marjorie Taylor Greene responded to the South Carolina lawmaker by tweeting an altered photo of Graham holding a Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light beer can.
The Bud Light jab comes amid conservatives shunning Bud Light for nearly two weeks after influencer Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender woman, posted on social media that Bud Light had sent her a personalized beer can with her face on it. The can was sent to Mulvaney in celebration of her first anniversary since she transitioned. Conservatives took Anheuser-Busch’s support of Mulvaney personally and have been boycotting the product. Several celebrities, including musician Kid Rock, and supporters of Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake were among those who voiced their criticism.
Graham on Sunday issued a warning against defending Jack Teixeira, the suspect in the Pentagon documents leak, not long after Greene praised the 21-year-old National Guard member for allegedly leaking classified intelligence records. Graham said that a member of Congress justifying Teixeira’s actions puts America in a “serious danger.”
“For any member of Congress to suggest it’s OK to leak classified information because you agree with the cause is terribly irresponsible,” the GOP senator said.
Newsweek reached out via email to Greene and Graham for comment.
Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air Force National Guard’s 102nd Intelligence Wing, was arrested on Thursday by the FBI for sharing the documents on a Discord chat group. Many of the documents include highly sensitive material, such as details about the military capabilities of Russia and Ukraine, and information related to the Middle East and Asia. Teixeira is expected to face charges under the Espionage Act.
The Pentagon called the leak a “deliberate, criminal act,” according to Reuters, but Greene appeared to defend Teixeira on Thursday on Twitter, saying Teixeira was a victim of “the Biden regime” for being a “white, male, christian [sic], and antiwar.”
Former Representative Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, ended her silence on Twitter to condemn Greene over her support of Teixeria.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene makes clear yet again that she cannot be trusted with America’s national security information and should not have a security clearance of any kind” Cheney said in her first Tweet since late March. Cheney has long been a critic of the Georgia lawmaker.
While defending the leak for “exposing the truth,” Greene suggested the U.S. government is gearing up to censor Americans by “coming after our personal data online,” and claimed that someone is setting up Teixeira. She baselessly blamed the Biden Administration.
Greene, who also claimed many see Teixeira as a hero, wasn’t the only public figure to praise him, Fox News host Tucker Carlson also defended Teixeira and alleged that the leaks prove that U.S. troops are “fighting Russian soldiers” in Ukraine, without providing evidence.
“The news media are celebrating the capture of the kid who told Americans what’s actually happening in Ukraine,” Carlson said on his show.
