The House passed a resolution on Thursday that removes repatriated Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene from its designated committees.
The final vote count was 230-199 and 11 Republicans voted in favor of the resolution: Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, John Katko of New York, Nicole Malliotakis of New York, Fred Upton of Michigan, Carlos Gimenez of Florida, Chris Jacobs of New York, Young Kim of California, Maria Salazar of Florida, Chris Smith from New Jersey and Mario Diaz Balart from Florida.
Greene, an advocate of Trump’s baseless allegations of electoral fraud, was condemned by Democrats and many Republicans for embracing various conspiracy theories in videos and social media activities before taking office this year.
In posts and videos from 2018 and 2019 reviewed by CNN, Greene appeared to endorse violence against prominent Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and suggested that the shootings in Sandy Hook and Parkland were staged as “flag” operations false “. They’ve already been knocked down.
The action to expel her from the House Education and Work Committee, as well as the House Budget Committee, came after Republican leaders refused to withdraw on their own after pressure from Democrats to do so. Thursday’s vote forced Republicans to denounce Greene’s conduct.
Greene defended himself in a speech before the vote and expressed regret for some of his earlier comments – which some considered doing too little, too late.
“Those 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,” said Greene of his previous posts and interactions on social media.
“I am very grateful for this opportunity, and I will tell you why. I believe in God with all my heart, and I am very grateful for being humble, for being reminded that I am a sinner and that Jesus died on the cross for me. forgive – to forgive me for my sins, “she said.
“It is something that I am absolutely delighted to say to all of you today. I think it is important that we all remember, none of us are perfect. None of us are,” she said.
Greene also said that he believes “9/11 happened for sure” and “school shootings are absolutely real and all the children lost, these families are sorry for that”.
But she also tried to blame “cancel culture” for her problems and the media for how she did, saying, “the big media companies can take small pieces of words that I said, that you said, any of us, and can portray ourselves as someone we are not. “
Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Had previously condemned Greene’s previous statements, but has not taken disciplinary action.
Pelosi told reporters on Thursday that he is “deeply disturbed” that Republican leaders have decided not to remove Greene from their committees.
“This is so unfortunate,” she said. “You would think that the Republican leadership in Congress would have some sense of responsibility towards this institution.”
Pelosi also defended his party for acting against Greene and said it is because of Republican inaction that Democrats are moving ahead with the vote on Thursday.
“If any of our members threatened the safety of other members, we would be the first to remove them from a committee,” said Pelosi. “That’s it.”
McCarthy met with Greene on Tuesday night to discuss the committee’s duties and even called the Republican Party Steering Committee – which assigns seats to the committee – to discuss the matter. But in the end, he decided not to act.
McCarthy rejected Democrats’ calls for Greene to be removed from committees and blamed Democrats for rejecting his proposal to put her on the Small Business Committee.
Greene did not deny making comments on social media or recorded videos, but said other people had access to her accounts in a statement posted on Twitter.
Some Democrats have introduced measures to censor Greene on the floor of the House and even expel her from the House, which would be an extraordinary step that would require the support of some 70 House Republicans.
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans loudly criticized the freshman House speaker, and McConnell even issued a rare statement on Monday blasting his “crazy lies and conspiracy theories.
Although House Republicans widely condemned Greene’s comments, some members said they were reluctant to punish Greene for comments made before she was elected to serve in Congress.
Greene, who faced intense criticism, apologized to members on Wednesday night for supporting QAnon’s conspiracy theories and for his earlier comments on school shootings during a private meeting throughout the conference, according to sources. His expression of regret for previous positions was appreciated by some members in the room.
The battered congressman received a standing ovation in about half the conference, according to a source in the room.
She had already said she would not apologize, tweeting on Saturday: “I will not give up. I will never apologize. And I will always keep fighting for people.”
Despite the private apology to his colleagues, Greene did not explicitly apologize for his public conduct, despite bipartisan calls for her to do so.
Benjamin Siegel of ABC News contributed to this report.