House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is blasting House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for not taking action to punish Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.) over her past controversial comments.
Democrats had urged McCarthy to take action against Greene, who has espoused conspiracy theories such as Q’Anon and appeared to signal that she supports killing prominent Democratic politicians.
The full House will vote on Thursday to decide whether to strip Greene of her committee assignments to the House Committee on Education & Labor and House Committee on Budget.
In a statement on Wednesday, Pelosi wrote, “After several conversations and literally running away from reporters, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Q-CA) made clear that he is refusing to take action against conspiracy theorist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.”
The statement took an extra jab at McCarthy by replacing the abbreviation of the Republican Party with “Q” in an apparent reference to Greene’s adherence to the Q’Anon conspiracy theory.
“McCarthy’s failure to lead his party effectively hands the keys over to Greene – an anti-Semite, QAnon adherent and 9/11 Truther,” she added.
The California Democrat noted that several Congressional Republicans have urged McCarthy to take action against Greene.
However, after meeting with the freshman congresswoman, McCarthy did not appear likely to take action against her.
In a statement addressing the meeting, McCarthy said, “Past comments from and endorsed by Marjorie Taylor Greene on school shootings, political violence, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories do not represent the values or beliefs of the House Republican Conference. I condemn those comments unequivocally. I condemned them in the past. I continue to condemn them today. This House condemned QAnon last Congress and continues to do so today.”
“I made this clear to Marjorie when we met. I also made clear that as a member of Congress we have a responsibility to hold ourselves to a higher standard than how she presented herself as a private citizen. Her past comments now have much greater meaning. Marjorie recognized this in our conversation. I hold her to her word, as well as her actions going forward.”
He said that he understands Greene’s comments “caused deep wounds to many” and claimed he offered “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,” he added.
While the House is poised to strip Greene of her committee assignments, she sees an upside, as IJR reported.
“They don’t even realize they’re helping me. I’m pretty amazed at how dumb they are,” she told The Washington Examiner.
She explained, “It doesn’t hurt me at all I think it’s going to give me more time on my hands, I think, which is fantastic because then I can gain more support, I can help really get Republicans running in these primaries and elections in 2022.”
Still, as Pelosi noted, several Congressional Republicans have urged their colleagues to distance themselves and the party from Greene, as IJR reported.
