Marjorie Taylor Greene, the freshman Republican from Georgia who has a history of beliefs in QAnon conspiracy theories and of doubting mass school shootings, was stripped of her committee assignments in a vote by the House.
Lawmakers voted 230-199 to remove Greene from the committees as a sanction for her incendiary comments. Eleven Republicans joined with Democrats in favor of the resolution.
Greene has drawn extensive media attention since she was sworn in to Congress, but her views got extra focus last week as news outlets reported on her “likes” of Facebook posts that advocated violence against members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Another video surfaced in which she was shown berating David Hogg, one of the survivors of the Parkland, FL, school shootings.
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Republicans, while condemning Greene’s views, argued that the vote was setting a dangerous precedent for the future, in which the majority party could sanction members it did not like. But Democrats said that the action was necessary because House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) refused to take any action against Greene after meeting with her on Wednesday. He had assigned her to the House Education and Labor Committee and the Budget Committee.
“The Republican conference chose to do nothing, so today the House should do something,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), contrasting it to the way that the GOP handled the case of Steve King in 2019. In 2019, Republican party leaders removed King, who represented a district in Iowa, after he questioned why white supremacy was considered offensive. King lost a primary challenge last year.
Greene appeared in the House chamber earlier on Thursday to say that “I was allowed to believe things that weren’t true, and I would ask questions and talk about them….If it weren’t for the Facebook posts and the comments that I liked in 2018, I wouldn’t be standing here today and you couldn’t accuse me of anything wrong.” She said that she “walked away” from believing in QAnon and that she believes that “school shootings are absolutely real.”
“These were words of the past, and these things do not represent me, they do not represent my district, and they do not represent my values,” she said.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: “A lot of Americans don’t trust our government…I was allowed to believe things that weren’t true…and that is absolutely what I regret because if it weren’t for the Facebook posts & comments that I liked in 2018, I wouldn’t be standing here today.” pic.twitter.com/TLfVmvbvqn
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 4, 2021
But several hours later, in his own speech on the floor, Hoyer said that he heard “no apology” from Greene, and that there has been no contrition about “liking” threats of violence against members of Congress.
Hoyer pointed to poster board showing one of Greene’s social media posts from September, which featured a picture of herself with an assault rifle next to headshots of three liberal Democrats, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, who often as referred to as “the squad.’ Below the photo was Greene’s line” “Squad’s worst nightmare.”
Hoyer said that it was “indisputable” that the Facebook post was a threat to incite violence.
A number of lawmakers have shared, in great detail, their experiences of being in the House during the Jan. 6 siege and, in the aftermath, their continued concerns over their safety.
WATCH: @LeaderHoyer during debate on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA): “I urge my colleagues to look at this image.”
Rep. Hoyer then walks image around House floor to be seen by other members.
Full video here: https://t.co/C3wOr1lJZi pic.twitter.com/j8G91hO49K
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 4, 2021
This article is auto-generated by Algorithm Source: deadline.com
