House Votes to Strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of Committee Posts

The House has adopted a resolution to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from two committee posts over her past comments and actions.

A Thursday vote on the Democratic-backed resolution was 230–199, largely on party lines. Three lawmakers did not vote. Eleven Republicans joined Democrats in voting “yes” to remove Greene from the committees.

They were: Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), Chris Jacobs (R-N.Y.), John Katko (R-N.Y.), Young Kim (R-Calif.), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), Chris Smith (R-N.J.), and Fred Upton (R-Mich.).

Greene had been assigned to the House Budget Committee and the House Education and Labor Committee.

Republican leadership in the House opposed the vote, saying it could set a dangerous precedent for punishing lawmakers over comments made before taking office. But Democrats said the action was necessary, alleging a failure in Republican leadership after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) did not move to remove Greene from her committee posts. McCarthy on Wednesday denounced her past comments.

Greene, a first-term lawmaker who supports former President Donald Trump, hours before the vote took time to clarify some of her past comments and actions. She said that her statements about school shootings and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks do not reflect her views today.

Greene had speculated that the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks were a false flag and alleged that deadly U.S. school shootings were staged, among other popular conspiracy theories.

Media outlets and Democrats have also accused Greene of being a supporter of QAnon. Its proponents, who follow clues from cryptic messages posted to anonymous imageboards, allege that some of the most powerful people in the world are part of a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles and cannibals who have engaged in child sex trafficking and ritual abuse.

Reports also claimed that Greene had “liked” a Facebook comment suggesting that “a bullet to the head” of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “would be quicker.”

Greene in her speech on the House floor said that the statements she made “were words of the past.”

“I was allowed to believe things that weren’t true, and I would ask questions about them and I would talk about them, and that is absolutely what I regret,” Greene said, adding that she stopped supporting QAnon in 2018. Greene added that she is a “very regular American” who entered politics after Trump ran for office in 2016.

On Wednesday, Greene said on Twitter that Democrats were engaged in a “mob cancel campaign” and that mainstream media outlets were refusing to air her rebuttals.

“They are only set out to destroy Republicans, your jobs, our economy, your children’s education and lives, steal our freedoms, and erase God’s creation,” she wrote.

Greene called for election integrity in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. After the Jan. 20 inauguration of President Joe Biden, Greene filed articles of impeachment against him.

Republicans argued on the House floor that the way Greene was removed from committees violated her due process.

“Representative Greene is not being given the courtesy of a referral to the Ethics Committee, the body empowered to investigate the conduct of members. She’s not being given the same due process that was given to others before facing punishment by the House. Why should the majority not do that before they strip her of her committees? Today’s resolution raises serious questions for this institution,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said.

Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) said his Republican colleagues “purport not to support Representative Greene’s conduct and instead rely on process,” adding: “This is an effort for her to be shielded from this egregious language and action.”

The last congressperson to be stripped of their committee assignment was Republican congressman Steve King in 2019 after he questioned, in a media interview with the New York Times, why Western civilization was considered offensive and was being associated with white supremacy. He is no longer in Congress.

Update: This article was updated to better clarify past comments from Steve King.

Correction: This article was adjusted to correct a name of a House Rep. who voted to remove Greene from the committees. The Epoch Times regrets the error.

Jack Phillips and Reuters contributed to this report.