Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called freshman Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s “loony lies” a “cancer” on the GOP as House Democrats move to have her removed from her positions on two committees.
“Loony lies and conspiracy theories are cancer for the Republican Party and our country,” McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement released to The Hill late Monday.
“Somebody who’s suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.’s airplane is not living in reality. This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party.”
Greene, who was elected in November to represent a northwest Georgia congressional district, immediately shot back at McConnell.
“The real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully. This is why we are losing our country,” Greene said on Twitter.
House Democrats on Monday warned House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that they would move ahead with legislation to remove Greene from the Education and Budget committees unless he yanks her first.
The bill says, “Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene should be removed from her committee assignments in light of conduct she has exhibited.”
The rookie representative has come under intense criticism following reports that she had liked social media posts about killing former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
She has also embraced conspiracy theories pushed by the QAnon movement that the school shootings at Sandy Hook, Conn., and Parkland, Fla., were staged events.
Greene defended herself in an interview on One America News Network on Monday evening.
She blamed the “bloodthirsty media” for attacking her with the same playbook they used against former President Donald Trump for four years.
“What you see is they’re bringing out little pieces of things and then they’re twisting them into the story that they want the public to believe about me,” she said.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said he would vote to remove Greene from the committees.
“I’d certainly vote her off committee. In terms of eviction, I’m not sure because I’m kind of in the middle. I think a district has every right to put who they want there. But we have every right to take a stand and say, ‘You don’t get a committee.’ And we definitely need to do that,” Kinzinger said Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) hit back at Greene over the weekend when she touted getting support from Trump in a phone call.
“I’m so grateful for his support and more importantly the people of this country are absolutely 100% loyal to him because he is 100% loyal to the people and America First,” she said in a Twitter posting.
Romney responded: “Lies of a feather flock together: Marjorie Taylor Greene’s nonsense and the ‘big lie’ of a stolen election,” he said on Twitter.