Marjorie Taylor Greene faces calls for ethics probe over explicit Hunter Biden photos

WASHINGTON (CN) — Lawyers for Hunter Biden on Friday petitioned the Office of Congressional Ethics to open an investigation into Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene after the far-right Georgia lawmaker displayed graphic photos of the president’s son during official House business.

At a Wednesday hearing of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, Greene — a frequent Biden family antagonist — used her allotted time to show graphic images of President Joe Biden’s son engaged in sex acts.

The explicit images came as the committee was examining allegations from a pair of whistleblowers that the Justice Department impeded an investigation into Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden’s face was the only one left uncensored in the photographs.

Although intervention from Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin stopped Greene from showing more explicit photos, Greene later further spread their reach — repeatedly reposting clips from the hearing on social media and linking the images in a campaign fundraising email.

Attorneys for Hunter Biden weren't impressed. In a letter to House Ethics Chair Paul Vinovich on Friday, Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Biden with the firm Winston & Strawn, complained Greene had "lowered herself, and by extension the entire House of Representatives, to a new level of abhorrent behavior" by displaying the photographs to other lawmakers.

He asked Vinovich to "immediately" review Greene's "defamatory statements," The Hill first reported, describing the incident as a "historic event" that was "beneath the dignity of the House of Representatives."

"None of [Greene's] actions or statements could possibly be deemed to be part of any legitimate legislative activity," Lowell said in the letter. Instead, he said, Greene was again using official government proceedings to "spew her unhinged rhetoric."

Greene's display of the explicit photos was not "legislative in nature" nor part of "real congressional business," Lowell added. Instead, it was "just the latest in Ms. Greene's consistent, dogged verbal and defamatory attacks against Mr. Biden, and members of his family."

The Office of Congressional Ethics is an independent arm of the House that investigates ethics complaints against members and can refer such matters to the House Ethics Committee. A spokesperson for the office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident.

In his letter, though, Lowell went even further — suggesting that beyond violating House ethics rules, the Georgia Republican may have violated federal and state law by disseminating the photos. If "even one minor was included among the email distribution" for her fundraising email, Greene may have violated federal statutes prohibiting the transfer of pornographic material to minors, Lowell argued.

In addition, Lowell argued, Greene may have also ran afoul of Georgia and D.C. state laws prohibiting certain displays of nudity. He argued the lawmaker’s conduct was not protected under the Constitution's "speech and debate" clause, a First Amendment provision that shields members of Congress from legal recourse.

“This transgression will result in more accountability to come,” Lowell said. A spokesperson for Greene’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.

This isn't the first time Greene has courted controversy — nor the first time Hunter Biden's attorneys have taken her to task for screeds against the president's son. In April, Lowell requested a similar ethics investigation after Greene made wild claims about Hunter Biden's involvement in a prostitution and human trafficking ring.

Greene also faced consternation from the House Ethics Committee in 2021 for violating congressional mask requirements during the Covid-19 pandemic — conduct for which she accrued a tab of more than $15,000 in fines, deducted from her annual salary. That's on top of a range of other controversies, including an incident from 2019 in which Greene liked a Facebook post suggesting that "a bullet to the head" would be a good way to remove then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat.

And yet in spite or perhaps because of this divisive rhetoric, Greene's star has continued to rise among elements of the Republican Party. She's positioned herself as a stalwart ally of former President Donald Trump, who has called her "beautiful" and "a warrior."

On Friday, Lowell urged Congress to finally take a stand against Greene's behavior. "Now, more than ever," the lawyer said, "the House has a duty to make loud and clear that it does not endorse, condone, or agree with her outrageous, undignified conduct."

Follow @BenjaminSWeiss

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