WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives voted to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her roles on two House committees on Thursday, while 11 Republicans voted with Democrats for her removal.
The 230–199 vote came after CNN dug up Facebook posts from 2018 and 2019 in which Greene called for the execution of Democratic politicians.
It looked like an almost partisan vote before a block of Republicans voted against Greene at the same time that the voting period was ending. The Republicans who voted to remove Greene from his roles on the committee were representatives Adam Kinzinger, Brian Fitzpatrick, Carlos Gimenez, John Katko, Chris Jacobs, Young Kim, Nicole Malliotakis, María Salazar, Chris Smith, Fred Upton and Mario Diaz-Balart.
Greene became a national figure by becoming the first person to be elected to Congress who had been a follower of QAnon, a mass illusion fueled in online circles that Donald Trump is fighting a secret war against a conspiracy of sex offenders. Satanic children who secretly control the American government.
In 2018, she expressed doubts that an “alleged plane” crashed into the Pentagon on September 11. She agreed with a comment on Facebook that the shooting at the Parkland school that left 17 people dead was a “planned shooting with a false flag”. She personally confronted one of the survivors, David Hogg, while launching conspiracy theories. (Seven of the Republicans who voted to remove Greene from their committees represent New York, New Jersey or Florida in Congress).
Greene will remain a member of Congress, but after Thursday’s vote she will no longer serve on the Education and Labor Committee or the Budget Committee, reducing her power in the House.
Before the vote, Greene delivered a speech denouncing – although not apologizing – his previous comments about QAnon and school shootings. She said she first came across the QAnon conspiracy in late 2017, when searching online for information outside of TV news.
“I could believe things that were not true and I asked questions and talked about them,” she said. “And this is absolutely what I regret, because if it weren’t for the Facebook posts and comments I liked in 2018, I wouldn’t be here today and you couldn’t point a finger and accuse me of something wrong because I lived a very good. “
Greene said she left QAnon in late 2018, something she argued before, despite sharing pro-QAnon articles and echoing QAnon conspiracy theories since. During her speech on Thursday, she compared QAnon and the media, saying the press is “as guilty” as the delusional conspiracy theory to “present truths and lies, to divide us”.
Her speech went from contrition to challenge – she condemned Democrats, the media and abortion – to claim that she believes in basic principles of reality, saying “school shootings are absolutely real” and “I also want to tell you that 11 of September happened absolutely. ”
Greene asked that her previous comments and likes on Facebook not be accused of her.
“I have never said anything like that since I was elected to Congress. They were words from the past and these things don’t represent me, they don’t represent my district and they don’t represent my values, ”she said.
Republicans took the floor to condemn Greene’s earlier comments, but defend his right to move on. Congressman Tom Cole said the matter should be referred to the Ethics Committee, where Greene would have due process and the right to tell his side of the story. Republicans warned that removing a minority member from a committee seat by Democrats would set a dangerous new precedent, where every time there is a new majority party, they nullify the rights of the minority.
Democrats lobbied, noting that, recently, in 2019, Greene liked a comment about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, getting “a bullet in the head.” Recently, on Sunday, Greene tweeted that the people who criticized her and Donald Trump are pedophiles.
“I didn’t hear an apology for the incredibly dangerous and painful remarks she made. I haven’t heard an explanation as to why she is still raising funds with these terrible things here, ”said Representative Jim McGovern. “Equating the media to QAnon is over the limit.”
On Wednesday night, Republicans had an unrelated vote on getting Congresswoman Liz Cheney out of her party leadership position because she voted for Donald Trump’s impeachment for inciting the January 6 Capitol riots. Cheney resisted, with 61 Republicans voting for her to lose her leadership role and 145 voting for her to keep it.
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