U.S. House Democrats have moved to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., of her committee assignments due to her past support for QAnon and other extremist conspiracy theories. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI |
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Feb. 3 (UPI) -- House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy accused the Democrats on Tuesday of attempting a "partisan power grab" through seeking to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments as punishment for spreading conspiracy theories, suggesting that the Republican Party will not censure the freshman lawmaker.
The House minority leader condemned comments Greene has made or endorsed questioning school shootings, calling for violence against political leaders and spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories but said the Democrats "are choosing to raise the temperature" by pursuing a resolution to remove her from committee assignments.
"In the end, this resolution continues to distract Congress," he said.
Meanwhile, some GOP members are attempting to push for Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., to be stripped from her committees concerning comments she has made some say played into anti-Semitic tropes, a move some Democrats have dismissed as a false equivalency.
Omar, in a statement on Wednesday, accused the Republican Party of attempting to whitewash "the actions of the violent conspiracy theorists."
The Democrat-controlled House Committee on Rules on Wednesday voted to advance the measure to strip Greene of her committee roles for a floor vote on Thursday.
House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., remarked in his opening statements that the rules committee has never had a hearing like this before as "we have never had a member like this before."
"She has encouraged violence against members of this institution, going so far as advocating for putting a bullet in the head of the speaker of the House of Representatives ... This is truly sick stuff," he said, calling Greene's comments part of a larger pattern of endorsing violence and conspiracy theories.
Hoyer said they had hoped the Republican Party would have dealt with this situation before it got to this point. In an earlier statement, Hoyer said he had spoken with McCarthy, R-Calif., and there was no alternative but to move forward with the resolution as his ask for Republicans to demote Greene had been unsuccessful.
"For whatever reason, they don't want to deal with this, and that is unfortunate," Hoyer said during the committee. "And so we are taking this step."
Democrats had hoped McCarthy would have censured Greene's extreme views as he did with Republican Iowa Rep. Steve King, who was removed in 2019 from committee posts after defending White supremacism in media interviews.
Greene, who was elected in November, ran as an outsider and was welcomed by Trump supporters in the House after she had embraced QAnon conspiracy theories and picked fights with student survivors of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting.
CNN reported that Greene supported posts calling for the assassination of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and said the FBI was part of the "deep state" working against then-President Donald Trump.
Greene defended herself saying other people ran her social media accounts.
"Many posts have been liked. Many posts have been shared. Some did not represent my views," she said in a tweet.
In January, the freshman congresswoman had her Twitter account temporarily suspended after tweeting falsehoods about Georgia election officials who affirmed that President Joe Biden had won the state's electoral votes in the presidential election.
Greene was promoted by House Republicans, in spite of her newcomer status, to positions on the House's prestigious Education and Labor and Budget committees.
On Monday, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., proposed removing Greene from her committee assignments for the remainder of this Congress.
On Tuesday, Pelosi announced fines for congressional lawmakers who refused to walk through Capitol metal detectors installed after the Jan. 6 siege. Greene and Colorado freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert had both refused to pass through the detectors.
On Wednesday, Greene complained that Pelosi was targeting her.
"White, Woman, Wife, Mother, Christian, Conservative, Business Owner. These are the reasons they don't want me on [Education and Labor Committee]," Greene said. "It's my identity and my values."
She also bragged Tuesday that she had fundraised $160,000 "to send a message to the Democrat mob."
