Thread by @dsamuelsohn

Even some of Greene's GOP colleagues shied away from answering questions about that interaction. For their part, Democrats sounded like they were flabbergasted.

"I was relieved before this," said Rep John Yarmuth, who as Budget chair would have had to work with Greene had she not lost her work assignments. "As far as I can tell, she's here for all the wrong reasons. She is here just to make a show of herself. She's here for the theater."

On Thursday, a day after her exchange with Green, @AOC told Insider in a brief interview that she hadn't spoken with the freshman Republican again. When asked to detail what happened, the progressive Democrat threw up her hands and replied, "I mean, this is who she is."

Rep. Brendan Boyle: "You have crazy extreme voices like Marjorie Taylor Greene & unfortunately others especially on the far right who now want to emulate her but the amount of attention they get relative to their actual impact on legislation or policy is completely out of whack"

Boyle also lamented how stripping Greene of her committee assignments appeared to have done little to detract her. "In many ways, it's an imperfect tool because it's not like it's taking away something she cared that much about," the Pennsylvania Democrat said.

Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat of California, said she was "absolutely" relieved she wouldn't be working on the House Budget Committee with Greene. But as Insider began to ask additional questions, she put up her hands up and said, "No more."

A progressive House member refused to be interviewed on the matter. "I do not want my name and this woman's name ever associated together, so I would rather not say anything," she told Insider.

Some Republicans were hesitant to discuss the latest incident involving Greene and Ocasio-Cortez. Rep. Michael Burgess, a Republican of Texas, told Insider he had not seen any news articles about it.

When asked about what he thought of not being able to work with Greene on the House Education and Labor Committee, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, a Republican of North Carolina, said this week that he did not take questions from reporters in the halls of Capitol Hill.

Insider caught up with Cawthorn again outside the Capitol a day later. He clarified he "almost always" didn't do hallway interviews. Asked whether he wanted to defend Greene, he turned around & headed away from the Capitol. "That was a really good try, though," he said.

Rep. Glenn Grothman, a Republican from Wisconsin, would have worked with Greene on both her House committees had she not been removed from them. He told Insider he thought it was good for members to be unafraid of leadership and special interests and compared Greene to Trump.

"There has always been a lack of free spirits in Congress," Grothman said. "And if a free spirit gets in here who is not afraid of leadership or the special interests — you might not agree with her on individual issues, but it's always good for the institution."

He added: "Everybody follows the leader. Marjorie is not a follow-the-leader type of person."

Check out the full @leonardkl story here w/ a @thisisinsider subscription: businessinsider.com/mtg-marjorie-t…