'There Was No Apology': House Removes Greene From Committees

GEORGIA — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was removed from her position on two House committees following a House vote Thursday. The action follows backlash, criticism and calls for Greene’s resignation due to the Republican’s history of supporting controversial conspiracy theories, including QAnon, and her social media support for threats of violence against House leaders.

Greene, the representative of Georgia’s 14th District, was set to serve on the Education and Labor Committee and the Budget Committee. Some representatives, including California Rep. Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat, have pushed for her expulsion from Congress altogether.
In Thursday's vote, 221 Democrats voted in favor of removing Greene from her committees, and 11 Republicans voted for the resolution as well. No Democrats and 199 Republicans voted in opposition.

The Republican congresswoman came under fire in the last several weeks after some of her controversial social media posts and comments resurfaced. Those included endorsing conspiracy theories alleging that mass school shootings — such as at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida — were staged, and that the 9/11 terror attacks were an “inside job.” She also liked social media comments promoting violence against other members of Congress, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) said a “stern conversation” — a reference to House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy’s statement that he would “have a conversation” with Greene about her comments — was not enough in this scenario.

“We aren’t talking about expulsion here today, though some think that that is warranted, but that’s not what we’re talking about," McGovern said. "We’re talking about deciding whether someone who has encouraged violence against members should be given a platform on a standing committee.”

In a speech Thursday, Greene walked back her previous statements about school shootings, saying they are “absolutely real” and cited an example — which could not be independently confirmed — of her own experience in a school shooting.

“I understand how terrible it is, because when I was 16 years old in 11th grade, my school was a gun-free school zone, and one of my schoolmates brought guns to school and took our entire school hostage for hours,” Greene said. “I know the fear that David Hogg had that day, I know the fear those kids have. And this is why — I say this sincerely with all my heart because I love our kids, every single one of your children, all of our children — I truly believe that children at school should never be left unprotected.”

A series of Republican legislators — including Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN), the Ethics Committee Ranking Member; McCarthy (R-CA); Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA); and Rep. Andrew Clyde R-GA) — spoke during the one-hour debate on Greene's committee removals; most of them condemned and denounced the controversial and conspiracy-laden views Greene expressed in the past.

But most of them still echoed the comments of Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) about the dangerous precedent a resolution like this would set. Some, including McCarthy and Walorski, called the resolution a "partisan power grab."

"I offered [House Majority] Leader [Steny] Hoyer the path to lower the temperature and address these concerns in a productive way. I offered to remove Representative Greene from [the] Ed[ucation] and Labor [Committee]. But it was rejected," McCarthy said. "Privately, I've had calls from many Democrats acknowledging that what they're doing is wrong. They understand that this partisan power grab is not only cynical, it's hypocritical."

Greene, donning a face mask that read “Free Speech,” addressed the chamber Thursday in a 10-minute speech. She discussed how she found QAnon at the end of 2017 and said throughout 2018 — the same year some of her comments and posts in question came from — she was “allowed to believe things that weren’t true” after diving deeper into QAnon.

“Throughout 2018, because I was upset about things and I didn’t trust the government really, because the people here weren’t doing the things that I thought that they should be doing … and I want you to know that a lot of Americans don’t trust our government, and that’s sad,” Greene said. “The problem with that is though, is that 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 also said she stopped believing QAnon conspiracy theories later in 2018, and that she never mentioned QAnon during her campaign; however, in an article posted on WSB-TV in August 2020, Greene did not confirm or deny that she was a supporter of QAnon.

“Later in 2018 when I started finding misinformation, lies, things that were not true in these QAnon posts, I stopped believing it,” Greene said. “And I want to tell you, any source of information that is a mix of truth and a mix of lies is dangerous, no matter what it is saying or what party it’s helping.”

She supported former President Donald Trump's false campaign that he won the election and that ballots were stolen or changed to give the presidency to President Joe Biden.

Cole said during the hearing on Greene’s removal that a Democrat-controlled House removing a Republican representative — the party minority — from her committee assignments sets a dangerous precedent for the House any time the majority changes.

He offered an amendment to the House rules that any resolution proposing to remove a member from a committee assignment would not be allowed unless offered by or with the concurrence of the leader of the party of the legislator in question.

“This speaks to a norm of basic fairness that today’s resolution does not comply with. In the past, the majority has never attempted to exercise a veto over a minority’s committee assignments, nor has the minority ever attempted to do the same to the majority,” Cole said. “But the majority’s actions today threaten that norm and threatens to set off a new round of escalating partisan punishment anytime the majority changes hands.”

Greene also received backlash after a video from March 2019 went viral last week, showing Greene — before she was a member of Congress — following behind David Hogg, a Parkland school shooting survivor, on his way into the U.S. Capitol while repeatedly asking him how he was getting meetings with senators and a series of questions related to gun rights. Hogg continued walking and never addressed Greene.

She called Hogg a coward at the end of the video and claimed his gun violence activism is funded by George Soros, a billionaire philanthropist who has been a main subject of far-right conspiracy theories. Hogg took to Twitter on Thursday to share his thoughts on Greene's removal from her House committees.

Apologize and prove you're really not like the rest of the Republican Party by agreeing to do something about gun violence even if it's not related to gun control it could like supporting more research funding for the CDC and NIH

Show you are different @mtgreenee
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) February 4, 2021

Marge- you're not the victim here
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) February 4, 2021

In her speech, Greene also backpedaled her promotion of the conspiracy theory that 9/11 was fake.

“I also want to tell you 9/11 absolutely happened. I remember that day, crying all day long watching it on the news. It’s a tragedy for anyone to say it didn’t happen, and so that I definitely want to tell you, I do not believe that it’s fake,” Greene said.

Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), Ethics Committee chairman, said while Greene walked back her previous inflammatory statements, an apology was still missing. Deutch's congressional district includes Parkland.

"She came to the floor today and she acknowledged that 9/11 happened; she acknowledged that school shootings are real; she acknowledged that she learned some things about QAnon that she didn't know before. There was no apology," Deutch said. "There was nothing to address any of the pain and hurt that she's done to my constituents and gun violence survivors in every part of this country, and the families who lost loved ones."

RELATED: Marjorie Taylor Greene: 'I'm Sorry For Saying All Those Things'