No action taken against Republican who indicated support for executing Pelosi
Republican leadership in the House of Representatives took no immediate action against Marjorie Taylor Greene after the Georgia congresswoman was revealed to have indicated support for executing Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
On Wednesday morning, the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, had said only that he “planned to have a conversation” with Greene.
The congresswoman’s committee assignments have not yet been announced. Greene has said she will sit on the education panel.
On Tuesday, CNN reported actions by Greene on social media in 2018 and 2019. In one, she “liked” a comment on a discussion of how to remove Pelosi, the House Speaker, which said “a bullet to the head would be quicker”.
Greene also liked comments about executing FBI agents for being part of the “Deep State”. That conspiracy theory holds that bureaucrats and intelligence agents worked to thwart Donald Trump. A key propagator, the former White House strategist Steve Bannon, has said the theory is for “nut cases”.
CNN also reported that in 2018, in an answer to a commenter on her own post about the Iran nuclear deal who asked “now do we get to hang” Obama and Clinton, Greene wrote: “Stage is being set. Players are being put in place. We must be patient. This must be done perfectly or liberal judges would let them off.”
On Wednesday, Clinton said: “This woman should be on a watch list. Not in Congress.”
Greene replied: should be in jail.”
Among other comments made by Greene before she was elected unopposed in Georgia’s 14th district last year include: the 9/11 attacks were a US government operation; the Parkland school shooting was staged; and Clinton and her aide Huma Abedin sexually assaulted and murdered a child, drank their blood, cut their face off and wore it as a mask.
CNN also reported previous comments by Greene accusing Pelosi of
“Actually, you treason and implying she should be executed for opposing Trump immigration policies.
In a statement, Greene did not deny the actions or comments but said CNN was trying “to cancel me and silence my voice”.
“Cancel culture” or “silencing”, the supposed negation of rightwing voices in mainstream media and academia, is a new shibboleth of post-Trump conservatism.
Senior House Republicans including McCarthy condemned Greene before she won her seat. Leadership has taken action against members who expressed extreme views. Steve King of Iowa, repeatedly reprimanded for racist remarks, was stripped of committee assignments and lost a primary.
King predicted McCarthy would use him as an example to keep Greene in line. But Greene has entered Congress in a party beholden to Trump, even after he stoked the 6 January attack on the Capitol in which five people died, one a police officer struck with a fire extinguisher, and lawmakers hid from rioters hoping to kidnap or kill them.
In November, McCarthy said the press should give new members like Greene “an opportunity before you claim what you believe they have done and what they will do”. Greene has defended Trump over the Capitol attack, which she said she condemned, though she also falsely sought to apportion blame to Democrats and “Antifa/BLM terrorism”, referring to anti-fascist and Black Lives Matter protesters.
The attack resulted in Trump’s second impeachment, though on Tuesday 45 Republican senators voted against even holding a trial.
Amid fallout from the CNN report, a spokesman for McCarthy told Axios: “These comments are deeply disturbing and Leader McCarthy plans to have a conversation with the congresswoman about them.”
On Wednesday, footage resurfaced of Greene harassing David Hogg, a Parkland survivor who campaigns for gun control reform, on a Washington DC street. Greene posted the video to YouTube on 21 January 2020.
Hogg wrote: “It’s so frustrating that we have people like Greene in Congress that would rather spread conspiracies about mass shootings than confront the reality people are dying every day from gun violence.”
At the White House, press secretary Jen Psaki was asked if the Biden administration had any response or thought Greene should be subject to disciplinary action.
“We don’t [have comment],” Psaki said. “And I’m not gonna speak further about her, I think, in this briefing room.”