During a GOP conference on Wednesday, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene apologized to her fellow Republican lawmakers for her past remarks, which included endorsing violence against Democratic leaders and espousing conspiracy theories about mass shootings, as reported by The Hill . During the closed-door meeting, Greene told her colleagues that she did believe that school shootings were real and apologized for supporting the QAnon conspiracy in the past.
Greene’s reported private behavior is quite different from the public persona she has displayed while facing the growing controversy. She had previously refused to back down from her past claims and bragged about how much money her notoriety allowed her to raise, boasting she received $175,000 in donations on Wednesday, as reported by CBS News .
Since entering Congress, Greene has been the center of controversy. Democrats have called for action to be taken against her for her previous behavior, including pushing conspiracy theories about the 9/11 terror attacks and the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Her social media activity also showed she supported comments calling for the killing of Democratic politicians and made anti-Semitic comments on Facebook.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy released a statement prior to Greene’s apology, announcing that he won’t commit to punishing the Georgia lawmaker for her past actions and criticizing Democrats for putting forward a resolution that would remove her from her committee assignments.
“I understand that Marjorie’s comments have caused deep wounds to many and as a result, I offered Majority Leader Hoyer a path to lower the temperature and address these concerns. Instead of coming together to do that, the Democrats are choosing to raise the temperature by taking the unprecedented step to further their partisan power grab regarding the committee assignments of the other party,” McCarthy wrote.
He continued by writing that during his meeting with Greene, they spoke of her previous comments, and she will be held accountable for her words and actions in the future. However, McCarthy did not reveal what the future will be for her assignments on the Education and Labor Committee and Budget Committee. The House Republican Leader said that he offered to move her to the Small Business Committee from Education and Labor, but the compromise was refused by Democrats. The House will conduct a final vote on her removal from the committees on Thursday.
During the meeting, Republicans criticized Greene’s comments while also suggesting that complaints against her should be addressed by the House Ethics Committee instead of a floor vote. There was also support for McCarthy’s claims that Democrats were taking advantage of being the majority party and exceeding their power.
