Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene stripped of positions on House committees

February 4, 2021 14

WASHINGTON (UPI) — The House on Thursday voted to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee positions over past comments she made promoting executing Democratic lawmakers and conspiracy theories.

In a 230-199 vote, Greene’s House colleagues voted to oust the newly elected Georgia Republican from the education and budget committees.

The vote was largely divided along party lines with 11 Republicans joining Democrats in their vote to remove Greene from the committees. Lawmakers took issue with her past comments that included calling for violence against political leaders — including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — as well as questioning school shootings and spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

Following the vote, Greene announced on Twitter she would hold a press conference on Friday at 11 a.m.

In remarks on the House floor before the vote, Greene expressed regret for the statements, some of which she claimed were made by people running her social media accounts. She said she believes the Sept. 11 terror attacks “absolutely happened” and that school shootings were “absolutely real.”

“I was allowed to believe things that weren’t true and I would ask questions about them and talk about them and that is absolutely what I regret,” she said.

Greene was also known for supporting QAnon conspiracy theories but on Thursday said she stopped believing those theories when she “started finding misinformation, lies, things that were not true” in those posts.

“Any source of information that is a mix of truth and a mix of lies is dangerous,” she said.

Thursday’s vote came after House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said the party would not take action to punish Greene despite condemning her statements.

In a statement after the vote, Pelosi chastized McCarthy for refusing to take action against Greene, saying the party had “made it abundantly clear where their allegiances lie.”

“McCarthy’s failure to lead his party — and House Republicans’ refusal to reject QAnon adherents — has effectively handed the keys to the Conference over to Greene,” she said. “Unfortunately, this is just the latest step by House Republicans on a slippery slope towards conspiracism and intolerance, as evidenced by their shameful votes on Jan. 6 when nearly 60% of their conference voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election and throw out the will of voters even after the deadly insurrection.”

Written by Daniel Uria

United Press International

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