- Democrat lawmaker interrupts Marjorie Taylor Greene’s transphobic rant to raise assault weapons ban The Independent
- Nashville congressman responds to radical trans group: Turning shooter into ‘martyr’ is ‘beyond disturbing’ Fox News
- March 29, 2023: Nashville shooter had ’emotional disorder,’ small arsenal, AI, Pence, Taiwan, Biden Reuters
- Trans activist calls Nashville school ‘right-wing institution’ day after mass shooting WZTV
- We must reject the transphobic narrative around Nashville The Independent
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: Greenes
Why 2 Largely Black Cities May Land in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s District
POWDER SPRINGS, Ga. — Less than a 30-minute drive from Atlanta, Powder Springs embodies the changes reshaping Georgia politics. Shops and restaurants owned almost entirely by Black proprietors line its downtown center and are frequented by a growing population of young and racially diverse residents. The suburban city elected its first Black mayor in 2015, and the county where it sits, the former Republican stronghold of Cobb, voted for President Biden by 14 percentage points in 2020.
There is one other big change: Powder Springs, a majority Black city, may soon be represented in Congress by Marjorie Taylor Greene.
That development, the result of new district maps drawn by Georgia state legislators, was part of a Republican drive to blunt Democrats’ power. But for residents, the prospect of Powder Springs and another predominantly Black suburb, Austell, being represented by perhaps the most far-right Republican in Congress is raising questions that go beyond partisan politics. Some say they have little trust that Ms. Greene will pay them the same attention and respect that she gives to her white, Republican constituents and fear their voice in Congress won’t speak for them.
“It’s about having someone that’s going to take your phone calls, who’s going to work on your behalf, who’s going to care what happens to your children, who is going to care about making sure you get to your job,” said State Representative David Wilkerson, a Black Democrat who lives in and represents the communities now drawn into Ms. Greene’s congressional district. “That’s what people are looking for.”
The newly drawn 14th Congressional District is a result of a tactic called “cracking,” the practice of breaking up blocs of voters and scattering them across multiple districts to dilute their voting power. It is common and legal under federal law, unless found by a court to be deliberately used to prevent voters of the same race from electing a representative of their choice.
Ms. Greene, who is best known as a bomb-thrower on social media, has said little about how she would represent the communities new to her district if she wins re-election in November. She did not respond to requests for comment.
In November, she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she was unhappy that her district was made slightly less Republican, calling the redistricting process a “fool’s errand that was led by power-obsessed state legislators.” Rather than add Democrats to her district, she said, lawmakers “should have fortified G.O.P. districts for the long term instead.”
Ms. Greene won her seat by more than 50 percentage points in 2020 and her district will remain bright red under the new maps. It will still stretch through Georgia’s predominantly white and rural countryside all the way to its mountainous Tennessee border. Powder Springs and Austell, with their combined population of under 25,000 people, will stand as a lone blue corner in a sea of red in the new 14th District.
To be sure, plenty of Democratic voters around the country are represented by Republicans, and vice versa. But some voters see Ms. Greene’s brand of Republicanism as a particular affront. The congresswoman has followed the QAnon conspiracy theory and questioned whether the Sept. 11 attack and school shootings were real — comments that got her ousted from congressional committees by the Democratically led House.
She is facing a legal challenge to her candidacy after a group of Georgia voters sued to remove her from the ballot. The group argues that her comments in the days leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including calling the day “our 1776 moment,” helped incite the riot. Ms. Greene testified that she was referring to “the courage to object” to the election results but was not calling for violence.
What to Know About Redistricting
In February, Ms. Greene spoke at a rally hosted by a prominent white supremacist. She later defended her attendance, calling criticisms an attempt to “cancel” her.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene represents the antithesis of what we believe,” said Robert Richards, a former Army pilot and Baltimore police officer now working as a senior federal government executive. He has lived in Powder Springs since 2016. “Her rhetoric, her demeanor, her discourse in Congress, her discourse, quite frankly, as an American, is just something that is just reprehensible.”
For more than a decade, Powder Springs and Austell have been represented by Representative David Scott, a Black Democrat whose district included parts of Atlanta and its surrounding suburbs. Mr. Scott’s new district now includes a larger share of the suburbs south of Atlanta.
Most people engage with their lawmakers on routine matters, such as a fast-tracked passport renewal, Social Security benefits claims, Veterans Affairs queries or locally targeted legislation. Ms. Greene’s ability to legislate has been limited by her being stripped of committee duties. Much of the legislation she has sponsored is aimed at making political points, such as the “Fire Fauci Act” and a resolution to impeach President Biden. But none of the bills she has sponsored this legislative session are specific to the 14th District.
At a March rally she hosted in her district, she boasted about having voted down every single piece of legislation backed by Democrats.
Mr. Wilkerson, the state lawmaker, said he was most concerned about a possible cutoff in communication between his office and Ms. Greene’s in Washington to address constituent issues. He said he had not heard from her office since passage of the new maps last fall.
Henry Lust, a Powder Springs city councilman, said, “Our cities are growing, we have significant developments that are being put on the table and starting to be implemented. We have a bright future. We do not want to see that bright future derailed.”
Ms. Greene has also alienated some conservatives. She has drawn five Republican challengers for Georgia’s May 24 primary. One, a small-business owner, Jennifer Strahan, has run as a no-drama conservative — helping her garner support from several Republican leaders in the district, including four out of five of the commissioners in one of its largest counties. She says she would reconnect the district to Washington.
How U.S. Redistricting Works
Card 1 of 8
What is redistricting? It’s the redrawing of the boundaries of congressional and state legislative districts. It happens every 10 years, after the census, to reflect changes in population.
“By restoring service to this and not being so focused on being a social media celebrity, it allows us to bring value back to people,” Ms. Strahan said, noting that she and Ms. Greene do share “some overlap” in their beliefs as conservatives. Ms. Strahan trails Ms. Greene in fund-raising and has struggled to raise her profile.
In Powder Springs and Austell, some residents are organizing to try to flex what political muscle they have. DeBorah Johnson, the chairwoman of the Austell Community Task Force, a typically apolitical community group, has led a drive to encourage more Cobb County voters to cast ballots in next month’s primary election. Ms. Johnson said she found the congresswoman’s comments about the Jan. 6 attack particularly concerning.
“She felt like that was just something that should have been swept up under the rug and not considered a riot,” Ms. Johnson said. “That was big in my eye.”
A handful of residents, including Mr. Richards, are plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Georgia’s new maps. The lawsuit, filed in December, argues that the new lines are drawn specifically to dilute Black voters’ influence, and violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by not allowing for an additional majority-Black district in south Cobb County. The case is unlikely to be decided before the primary election.
In early April, hundreds of Cobb County residents gathered for the “Taste of Mableton,” a first-of-its-kind spring festival, featuring food trucks, live performances and booths for dozens of community groups. Set up in the shadow of a large billboard for Mr. Scott, the event aimed to strengthen ties between residents of the small community, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic kept many distant.
Mention of Ms. Greene’s new territory next door was met with nervous laughter and eye rolls among those at the festival who were aware of the change. Those learning of it for the first time responded with outrage and confusion.
Elliott Hennington, a community leader who is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, described the redrawn district as “disgraceful” and “very disrespectful” to the voters now part of it.
“They were shocked, surprised,” he said in an interview behind the Austell Community Task Force booth. “People are just redistricting just to fit their own needs without getting input or buy-in from people in the area — the people who would like to be represented in a fair and equitable manner.”
Lawsuit to stop Marjorie Taylor Greene’s reelection run can proceed, judge says
The organization also filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of North Carolina voters to prevent Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) from running for reelection because of his alleged role in the storming of the Capitol but was initially unsuccessful.
The challenges claim that the lawmakers’ actions violate a provision of the 14th Amendment and thus make them ineligible to run for reelection.
The rarely cited provision of the amendment states that no one can serve in Congress “who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.”
The amendment was ratified shortly after the Civil War. The provision in question was meant to prevent lawmakers who fought for the Confederacy from being reelected to Congress.
Greene, 47, has been accused of frequently using language to incite violence on the U.S. Capitol, including referring to efforts to challenge the results declaring Biden the winner of the 2020 election as “our 1776 moment.” She denies that she played a role in the event that led to the deaths of five people and injuries to 140 members of law enforcement.
Greene filed a lawsuit earlier this month requesting that a judge block Georgia officials from enforcing the state law being used by Free Speech for People in its challenge, arguing that it is unconstitutional. Greene also “vigorously denies that she aided and engaged in insurrection to obstruct the peaceful transfer of presidential power,” her lawsuit says.
While expressing her disappointment with the lawsuit, Greene suggested Monday night on Fox News that Republicans could look into retaliatory efforts to disqualify Democratic lawmakers from reelection
“The Republican Party needs to fight harder,” she told television host Tucker Carlson. “If you can challenge any representative’s candidacy or elected officeholder, I bet we could round up some Republican voters who did not like Kamala Harris funding rioters — criminal rioters — out of jail or [Representatives] Ilhan Omar or Cori Bush or Maxine Waters in inciting riots.”
“I think there’s another way to play this game,” Greene added.
Vice President Harris did not provide funding to get rioters released from jail. But following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, a Black Minneapolis resident, by a police officer, Harris — then a senator from California — tweeted information about the Minnesota Freedom Fund, an organization that helped provide cash for bail for those protesting racism and police violence.
Just weeks after Floyd’s death, it raised an astonishing $35 million, in part because of tweets such as the one by Harris.
Georgia will begin mailing absentee ballots next week for its May 24 primary.
Judge Amy Totenberg, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia by President Barack Obama, denied Greene’s request for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order in a 73-page ruling, saying that the lawmaker did not meet the “burden of persuasion.”
“This case involves a whirlpool of colliding constitutional interests of public import,” Totenberg wrote. “The novelty of the factual and historical posture of this case — especially when assessed in the context of a preliminary injunction motion reviewed on a fast track — has made resolution of the complex legal issues at stake here particularly demanding.”
Any Georgia voter eligible to vote for a candidate can challenge that candidate’s qualifications by filing a written complaint within two weeks after the deadline for qualifying, according to state law. The secretary of state has to notify the candidate of the challenge before requesting a hearing before an administrative law judge. The judge goes on to hold a hearing before presenting findings to the secretary of state before the state official determines whether the candidate is qualified.
James Bopp Jr., a lawyer for Greene, did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Ron Fein, legal director of Free Speech for People, told The Washington Post that his organization looks forward to questioning Greene under oath about her involvement in the Jan. 6 attack.
“It’s rare for any conspirator, let alone a Member of Congress, to publicly admit that the goals of their actions are preventing a peaceful transfer of power and the death of the president-elect and Speaker of the House, but that’s exactly what Marjorie Taylor Greene did,” he said in a statement. “The Constitution disqualifies from public office any elected officials who aided the insurrection, and we look forward to asking Representative Greene about her involvement under oath.”
Greene was recently mocked by late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel for contacting U.S. Capitol Police over his jokes about her — the same police she refused to honor last June when she voted against awarding them the Congressional Gold Medal for defending the Capitol and lawmakers during the insurrection. Greene had called some in her party “pro-pedophile” for supporting the confirmation of Justice-designate Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.
The outcome of Greene’s case so far stands in stark to that of Cawthorn. Proceedings were set to begin in North Carolina to determine whether Cawthorn participated in or supported the insurrection, but he successfully sued in federal court to block the proceedings.
Cawthorn’s lawsuit doesn’t contest the facts of his involvement in the Jan. 6 rally on the Ellipse and he has previously denied that he participated in the riot. His lawsuit pushed back on whether a state could review the qualifications of a federal candidate.
Richard Myers II, whom Trump appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, ruled in Cawthorn’s favor, allowing the lawmaker’s name to appear on the primary ballot. Efforts to appeal the ruling were filed last week. If Cawthorn wins his primary race, Free Speech for People plans to appeal Myers’s ruling. It argues that the judge improperly blocked the group from intervening to defend the federal case and that there is no reason under federal law why the challenge shouldn’t move forward.
Cawthorn is facing a tight primary race. He falsely claimed in a recent fundraising appeal that “the left” and the media were behind the accusations he made in March that senior Republican lawmakers had invited him to participate in an “orgy” and that he had witnessed members of his party using cocaine.
La. state senator, Ronald Greene’s mother monitoring case developments
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Louisiana State Senator Cleo Fields says he will, “wait and see” what other developments come out of a federal probe into the 2019 death of Ronald Greene.
“There’s a lot that is yet to be known,” said Fields, who also serves on a state senate committee formed for Louisiana State Police (LSP) oversight. “Quite frankly, I’m going to wait and see what else comes out, if anything.”
Fields spoke to WAFB one day after reporters revealed a text message sent to Governor John Bel Edwards (D-LA), just hours after Greene died in police custody.
The text comes from a contact saved with the first name Kevin and the last initial R. At the time, Kevin Reeves served as superintendent for Louisiana State Police.
“A violent, lengthy struggle took place,” states the message. It also shows someone responding, “Thank you” from Edwards’ phone.
For nearly two years, investigators said Greene’s death happened because his car crashed in a high-speed chase. But, the text appears to show they knew that account was possibly untrue.
The governor is now in the spotlight because he did not publicly refute those claims from investigators.
RELATED: Text messages show Gov. Edwards knew of Ronald Greene’s in-custody death, but stayed silent
A spokesperson in Edwards’ office told the Associated Press, “the governor does not direct disciplinary or criminal investigations,” and said it would not be appropriate for him to do so.
Fields said it is the responsibility of state leaders to do what they can to get the case resolved.
“Obviously the governor has a responsibility, and we as lawmakers have a responsibility, but more importantly we all hold a deep responsibility to this family,” said Fields. “This mother was told that her child was killed by a single-car accident and we all now know that was not the case. This family needs closure. This mother has suffered long enough.”
Greene’s mother spoke to WAFB Friday, Jan. 28. She said the latest developments fueled feelings that the case was being brushed aside to prevent negative press.
“There’s no way you can pretty up these words. It was horrific. It was known by all. By all,” said Mona Hardin, Greene’s mother. “I tend to go back to when I first met the governor and all Louisiana officials. I just remember how they received me. This was at the viewing of Ronnie’s video, and how they were so sorry, they were going to do their best to uncover and because things are in the beginning stages of the investigations, all those words popped up. But, I knew it was a lie. I knew it back then. It wasn’t heartfelt, I felt that.”
At the time, in 2019, Edwards was in the middle of a close re-election race.
Eugene Collins, an advocate working with Greene’s Family, said he hopes to hear Edwards confirm that his political agenda didn’t motivate his initial silence surrounding the case.
“The way this state has treated that family, it’s just downright disrespectful,” said Collins. “Just looks like the governor chose politics over transparency in this case. That is what it seems like. If that’s not the case, I really want to hear from our governor what it was.”
Edwards later acknowledged missteps taken by LSP during the deadly encounter.
The Associated Press reported that FBI agents questioned people about how much Edwards knew about the case, citing unnamed law enforcement sources.
“Investigators have focused in part on an influential lawmaker saying the governor downplayed the need for a legislative inquiry,” according to the report. The report goes on to say agents wanted to know more about a conversation between Edwards and Louisiana House speaker Clay Schexnayder (R-LA).
RELATED: THE INVESTIGATORS: LSP calls release of body camera video in Ronald Greene case ‘premature’
“Schexnayder said this week that the governor told him there was no need for further action from the legislature because ‘Greene died in a wreck.’ The speaker said he never moved forward with the investigation to avoid interfering with the federal probe,” the report states. “The governor’s spokesperson acknowledged he briefed the legislative leadership on his “understanding of the Greene investigation” and said his remarks were consistent with his public statements.”
Schexnayder did not return attempts to verify that reporting. A spokesperson for the U.S. Justice Department also could not be reached for comment.
A spokeswoman for Edwards’ office told WAFB the text message was a “standard communication. She also said Edwards is not under investigation by the FBI.
The U.S. attorney who oversaw part of a civil rights probe into the case said Edwards never tried to influence the investigation.
Greene’s death occurred in May of 2019. Officials said he refused to pull over for a traffic stop and led troopers on a chase across northern Louisiana.
The chase ended when Greene’s vehicle crashed into a tree, documents state.
Video of the encounter with law enforcement after Greene was restrained, was withheld for more than two years.
It shows members of law enforcement beating, kicking, and dragging a handcuffed Greene while he was face down on the ground.
At one point Greene is hit with a stun gun and threatened that he would get more if he did not cooperate.
“I’m scared. I’m scared,” yelled Greene.
The beating was so brutal that some of the troopers can be heard on the video complaining about it as they cleaned blood from their hands.
The new head of LSP, colonial Lamar Davis, says he’s committed to resolving the case and disciplining any troopers who operated outside of LSP’s policies.
Several probes are underway into the troopers involved in Greene’s arrest. It’s unclear when findings from the case will be presented to a federal grand jury.
Click here to report a typo.
Copyright 2022 WAFB. All rights reserved.
Twitter permanently suspends Marjorie Taylor Greene’s personal account
Twitter suspended a personal account for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after “repeated violations” of the Covid-19 misinformation policy, the company said Sunday.
“We permanently suspended the account you referenced (@mtgreenee) for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy,” Twitter said in a statement. “We’ve been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy.”
Greene, R-Ga., appears to still have access to her professional account, @RepMTG, but Twitter did not say what was tweeted to earn a permanent suspension.
Greene said, in a statement Sunday through her office, that she was suspended for tweeting statistics from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. Anyone can report an adverse event to VAERS, which operates under the Department of Health and Human Services, and the agency says it is “not designed to determine if a vaccine caused a health problem.”
“Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth,” Greene said. “That’s fine, I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies.”
Twitter’s policy was enacted in March last year, implementing a strike system for violations. A single strike may not incur an action, but the company will place locks on an account that repeatedly violates the policy.
Five or more strikes will result in a permanent suspension, according to the company’s website.
Greene was suspended multiple times in 2021 for violations to the company’s policies.
In January last year, Greene was issued a suspension for making false claims about widespread voter fraud in Georgia. She was also temporarily suspended in July and August for violating the Covid-19 policy with tweets regarding vaccines.
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Twitter suspension; mask mandates: COVID news
4 tips to convince kids to wear masks during COVID-19
Here are 4 tips on how to get your kids to wear masks during the coronavirus pandemic.
ProblemSolved, USA TODAY
Even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended vaccinated individuals did not need to wear masks indoors two months ago, experts now are calling for people to “vax it and mask it.”
Los Angeles County this weekend mandated masks indoors, though the county sheriff announced he wouldn’t enforce it. Other California counties also recommended masks indoors. Arkansas, Missouri and New York are weighing mask mandates as cases spike in those states.
And the American Academy of Pediatrics issued recommendations Monday for the 2021-22 school year that include everyone older than age 2 wearing masks, regardless of vaccination status.
“Instead of vax it OR mask it, the emerging data suggest CDC should be advising to vax it and mask it in areas with (rising) cases and positivity until we see numbers going back down again,” former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said on Twitter.
The weekly rolling average for cases in the United States has nearly tripled in the last month. The pace of deaths also is up sharply — 24.7% from its low point two weeks ago.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on NBC News that there may be contexts in which local officials need to make decisions different from national ones.
“There are areas of this country where about a third of people are vaccinated. They have low vaccination rates. And there are areas that have more disease,” Walensky said.
“Those masking policies are not to protect the vaccinated, they’re to protect the unvaccinated,” she said.
Also in the news:
►Twitter said Monday it suspended the account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for 12 hours for violating its policy after posting two misleading tweets about COVID-19.
►Costco will continue to hold special operating hours for members 60 and older and vulnerable shoppers, reducing them to two days out of the week.
►The United States upgraded its travel warnings for Britain, Indonesia and three other destinations.
►Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan tested positive for COVID-19 after being fully vaccinated earlier this year, according to a release from his office Monday. The Republican is quarantining at home after experiencing “mild flu-like symptoms,” according to the release.
►A federal judge is allowing Indiana University to continue with its COVID-19 vaccine requirement for all students and employees. Eight IU students sought to block the requirement.
►With COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations up sharply over the last month in Alabama but still far below when the pandemic was at its worst early this year, school officials said vaccines won’t be required in the fall and local systems can decide whether to require masks or other precautions.
►Canada will reopen to fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents starting Aug. 9.
📈Today’s numbers: The U.S. has had more than 34.1million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 609,233 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 190.8 million cases and 4 million deaths. More than 161.4 million Americans — 48.6% of the population — have been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
📘What we’re reading: At a time when the infection rate has doubled, many remain unvaccinated and the delta variant is vastly more contagious than the original, it’s important to recognize vaccines aren’t flawless.
Keep refreshing this page for the latest news. Want more? Sign up for USA TODAY’s Coronavirus Watch newsletter to receive updates directly to your inbox and join our Facebook group.
New cases linked to the highly infectious delta variant are on the rise and disproportionately affecting unvaccinated populations, creating a precarious situation across several Southern states. In many of these states, health workers continue to battle rampant vaccine hesitancy and misinformation that have resulted in some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.
In the last two weeks, health officials across the region have issued warnings to alert the public about the prevalent spread of the delta variant, which spreads more easily.
“It feels very reminiscent of where we were in an early part of the pandemic,” said Mississippi’s state epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers. “It feels like we’re in the same situation now with the delta variant.” Read more here.
— Maria Clark, Melissa Brown and Sarah Haselhorst, The American South
Americans increasingly struggled to pay their medical bills during the pandemic because of being infected with COVID-19, losing income or losing employer health insurance coverage, a new survey shows.
More than a third of insured adults and half of uninsured adults said they had an issue paying for a medical bill. The national survey conducted by the Commonwealth Fund between March and June 2021 asked 5,450 working-age adults about how the pandemic affected their health insurance coverage and medical debt.
“They suffered ruined credit ratings. They were unable to afford basic life necessities like food, heat or their rent,” said lead author Dr. Sara Collins, Commonwealth Fund’s vice president for health care coverage, access, and tracking.
This trend has become a chronic problem in the U.S. health system, she said. Read more here.
— Taylor Avery
Health officials say misinformation continues to hinder vaccination efforts and are calling on social media companies to do more to address it.
“They’re killing people,” President Joe Biden said when asked by NBC News what his message is to platforms such as Facebook. “The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people.”
In a statement, Facebook said the company won’t be “distracted by accusations which aren’t supported by the facts.” Biden clarified Monday his comments were directed at those spreading falsehoods about the vaccine on social media platforms.
Health experts agree more needs to be done to combat misinformation online and debunked some of the biggest myths about the COVID-19 vaccine circulating on social media. Read more here.
— Adrianna Rodriguez
Former top aide accuses Boris Johnson of mishandling COVID-19 threat last year
Dominic Cummings, a former top aide to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson accused Johnson of being dismissive of the threat of COVID-19 last year.
Since leaving his job in November, Cummings has launched attacks on his former boss through blog posts, tweets and testimony to lawmakers, accusing Johnson of failing to act quickly against the coronavirus and causing thousands of unnecessary deaths.
The latest accusations came in a Tuesday BBC interview during which Cummings said Johnson resisted a second lockdown in fall 2020 because “the people who are dying are essentially all over 80.”
Cummings said Johnson’s attitude in fall 2020 “was a weird mix of, partly ‘It’s all nonsense and lockdowns don’t work anyway’ and partly ‘Well this is terrible but the people who are dying are essentially all over 80 and we can’t kill the economy just because of people dying over 80.’”’
Johnson’s office did not deny Cummings’ allegations but said “since the start of the pandemic, the prime minister has taken the necessary action to protect lives and livelihoods, guided by the best scientific advice.”
A positive case of a virus after vaccination against that virus is called a “vaccine breakthrough case.” They’re rare, but they’re expected.
The vaccines developed against COVID are effective, but they’re not 100%.
According to the CDC, the effectiveness of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are 94-95% after the second shot, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was 66.3% effective at preventing infection. Even in a best-case scenario, that’s at least 5 out of every hundred vaccinated people potentially vulnerable to infection.
There is some evidence that vaccination may make illness less severe in people who get vaccinated but still get sick, according to the CDC.
If you are around people who are immunocompromised or children too young to be vaccinated or live or travel in an area with low vaccination rates, you may want to hang on to your mask for a while longer.
Read a full explainer on breakthrough infections.
— C.A. Bridges, Palm Beach Post
Resurgent pandemic worries knocked stocks lower from Wall Street to Tokyo on Monday, fueled by fears that faster spreading variants of the coronavirus may upend the economy’s strong recovery.
Increased worries about the virus may seem strange to people in parts of the world where masks are coming off, or already have, thanks to COVID-19 vaccinations.
But the World Health Organization said cases and deaths are climbing globally after a period of decline, spurred by the highly contagious delta variant. And given how tightly connected the global economy is, a hit anywhere can quickly affect others on the other side of the world. Read more here.
Contributing: The Associated Press.
Georgia Rep. Greene’s history of dangerous conspiracy theories and comments
A CNN KFile review of both newly-uncovered and previously reported comments highlight the fringe nature of what Greene shared on and offline.
Greene defended herself ahead of the House vote in a floor speech Thursday as she tried to distance herself from her past conspiracy comments.
After Greene saw “things in the news that didn’t make sense to me,” she said she “stumbled across” QAnon at the end of 2017. She became “very interested” in the theory and began posting about it on Facebook because she “was upset about things” and felt she could not trust the government.
“The problem with that is, though, is 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 said.
“Because if it weren’t for the Facebook posts and comments that I liked in 2018, I wouldn’t be standing here today and you couldn’t point a finger and accuse me of anything wrong,” continued Greene, who went on to blame the media, including CNN, for her comments.
Here are some of the most extreme things Greene has done:
Greene repeatedly indicated support for political violence and execution of top Democrats and FBI agents
As CNN’s KFile previously reported, Greene repeatedly indicated support for executing prominent Democratic politicians — including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry — and FBI agents in 2018 and 2019 before being elected to Congress.
Greene created a White House petition to impeach Pelosi for “treason” after Pelosi did not vote to fund former President Donald Trump’s border wall in 2019. In newly found posts from 2019, she also wrote a “press release” and a previously unreported blog post promoting the petition and suggested that Pelosi could be executed for treason.
In other newly-uncovered tweets and posts, Greene also liked a call to put Pelosi to death. In one tweet, she said she hoped Pelosi would lose her memory sitting in prison.
Greene, in a statement, did not deny that she liked posts and replied to comments but claimed that many people have run her Facebook page. Greene did not specify whether she or a member of her team were behind the posts reviewed by CNN’s KFile.
“Over the years, I’ve had teams of people manage my pages. Many posts have been liked. Many posts have been shared. Some did not represent my views. Especially the ones that CNN is about to spread across the internet,” Greene said in a statement last week.
CNN previously reported that Greene posted on her candidate Facebook page in September 2020 an image of herself holding a gun alongside images of Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. The caption encouraged going on the “offense against these socialists” and was interpreted by observers as a threat against the politicians. The Facebook post was taken down for violating its policies.
Greene’s campaign told CNN in an emailed statement in September 2020 that those who think the picture incites violence “are paranoid and ridiculous.”
In other videos from 2019 and 2020, respectively, Greene encouraged protesters “to flood the Capitol” and endorsed political violence to defend freedom.
“The only way you get your freedoms back is it’s earned with the price of blood,” she said in the video from 2020.
While she was a congresswoman-elect and a sitting congresswoman this January, Greene fanned the flames of the Capitol insurrection by encouraging the big lie that Trump, and not Joe Biden, won the election and objected to the election certification process. Greene later denounced the violence at the Capitol but falsely blamed it on “BLM/Antifa violence” in a statement.
Greene promoted violent, deranged conspiracy theories online
Before she ran for Congress, Greene embraced violent, fringe conspiracies. Chief among them was the QAnon conspiracy theory — a discredited conspiracy that pits former President Trump in an imagined battle against a cabal of Satan-worshipping, child-abusing Democrats and celebrities — though in August 2020 she tried to distance herself from QAnon and claimed that “it doesn’t represent me.”
One of the most disturbing violent conspiracies Greene engaged with in May 2018 is the “Frazzledrip” conspiracy, which exists deep within conspiracy rabbit hole. The conspiracy baselessly contends that Hillary Clinton and former Clinton aide Huma Abedin were videotaped sexually assaulting a child and then ripping off the child’s face to wear as a mask in a Satanic blood sacrifice. The theory then alleges that Clinton ordered an assassination hit against the police officer who found the footage, named “Frazzledrip,” according to reporting from Media Matters.
Greene also peddled in 2017 the debunked “Clinton Kill List” or “Clinton Body Count” conspiracy, which alleges the Clintons have assassinated their associates. She spread false conspiracies the Clintons were involved in sextrafficking and peddled the cruel conspiracy that Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was not killed during an attempted robbery but murdered by Democratic actors.
CNN’s KFile previously reported that Greene in 2017 peddled the “Pizzagate” conspiracy, a debunked conspiracy alleging that Clinton and other Democratic Party leaders were running a human-trafficking and pedophilia ring out of a pizzeria in Washington, DC. In a blog post, she suggested that the White supremacist rally held in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, that killed one woman was an “inside job” to “further the agenda of the elites.”
Greene also endorsed 9/11 trutherism conspiracies and falsely claimed there was no evidence a plane crashed into the Pentagon, according to reporting from Media Matters.
After facing backlash from her plane comments, Greene said in August 2020, “Some people claimed a missile hit the Pentagon. I now know that is not correct. The problem is our government lies to us so much to protect the Deep State, it’s hard sometimes to know what is real and what is not.”
In her floor speech on Thursday, Greene said, “9/11 absolutely happened. I remember that day, crying all day long, watching it on the news. And it’s a tragedy for anyone to say it didn’t happen. So that I definitely want to tell you all, I do not believe it’s fake.”
Greene peddled conspiracies that mass shootings were false flags and “staged”
While Greene peddled violent conspiracy theories online, she often speculated if real-world violent events were part of a deeper conspiracy and were actually false flag operations, which refers to acts that are designed by perpetrators to be made to look like they were carried out by other individuals or groups.
In 2018, she questioned whether the Parkland shooting that killed 17 people was a planned event and called Parkland survivor and activist David Hogg a “paid actor.” In a recently surfaced video from March 2019, Greene follows Hogg as he walks toward the US Capitol and can be heard making false and baseless claims as she asks him a series of questions related to gun rights and how he was able to meet with senators. Hogg continues to walk without addressing Greene.
At the end of the video, Greene calls Hogg a “coward” and claimed Hogg’s activism was funded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, who is often the subject of far-right conspiracy theories, and other liberals. “He can’t say one word because he can’t defend his stance,” she said.
In another video, she mocked Hogg as an “idiot” who “only talks when he is scripted.”
Greene also supported Facebook comments from 2018 that alleged the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed six adults and 20 children was a “staged” event.
She mused on Facebook whether the 2017 Las Vegas massacre — the deadliest mass shooting event in the United States that killed 58 people — was part of a massive conspiracy to enact gun control, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution report. Greene walked back her comments to the AJC and said she was only expressing bewilderment.
In a statement posted on Twitter following intense backlash to some of her comments, Greene acknowledged that 17 people died in the Parkland shooting and blamed “gun free” zones at schools for the tragedy.
After live bombs were sent to Democratic politicians and CNN in October 2018, Greene repeatedly liked and agreed with multiple comments that the terrorist act was a “false flag” operation staged by Democrats.
In one little-remembered Facebook post from September 2018, Greene claimed that the mythical figure “Q” — whom Greene had previously called a “patriot” –warned of false flags for school shootings.
She then questioned if a shooting at Kennesaw State University in Georgia that killed one person was “a failed op? What about hearing voices? Mental illness? Demon possession? Or military grade intelligence developed weapons like Voice of God technology,” which refers to a government-controlled device implanted in a person’s head.
“We don’t know, but I do believe all three of those exist,” she wrote.
Greene made similar unreported comments about the “Voice of God” conspiracy on Twitter in 2018.
In her floor speech Thursday, Greene affirmed that “school shootings are absolutely real and every child that is lost, those families mourn it.”
Greene spread anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic comments and conspiracies
On and offline, Greene frequently engaged with extreme anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim rhetoric. Some of the targets of her comments included her future colleagues in the House of Representatives, like Tlaib and Omar, and Obama, who Greene falsely said is Muslim.
“These are women that really would like to see Sharia in America,” Greene said in one since-deleted Facebook video, captured by CNN. Sharia refers to Islamic law, which is interpreted from the religious text of the Quran, and encompasses marriage, divorce, inheritance and punishments for criminal offenses.
“And as an American woman, as a business owner, as a mother, I have two daughters — I never want to see Sharia in America. And so I really want to go talk to these ladies and ask them what they are thinking and why they’re serving in our American government. They really should go back to the Middle East if they support Sharia. So let’s go talk to them. Definitely want to go talk to them.”
In a 2018 Facebook comment, captured by CNN, Greene responded “truth,” to a comment comparing Obama to terrorist Osama bin Laden. The comment came in response to a post where Greene said the Obama presidency was “flooding our country and government with Muslims that don’t like our American ways!!!!!”
In another video from 2019, saved by CNN’s KFile, Greene spoke about going into Omar’s and Tlaib’s offices and saying all Muslims want to take away women’s rights.
“Did you see the part where we went into Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib’s office?” Greene said. “I was like, so are you going to make me live under Sharia law? And I’m an American woman. Are you going to take away my equal rights?”
“They would in a heartbeat,” responds another rally participant.
“Yeah,” Greene responded. “They all, all, all Muslims. That’s the goal of Islam. The goal of Islam is Sharia, and they want to conquer. They want to conquer America and we’re not going to do it.”
Greene directed anti-Muslim rhetoric at the American Muslim Women Political Action Committee in 2018.
“Wtf is their mission??? To make sure every women is dominated by Islam, is covered in sheets, loses our freedoms, and has to have our vaginas mutilated???,” she wrote in 2018 on Facebook. Greene then liked a comment that the PAC was an “invasion” of our government. In another instance, Greene liked a comment saying “We don’t need gun control! We need Muslim control!”
In 2018, she liked a tweet from an account that pushes anti-Semitic conspiracies suggesting intelligence services for the nation of Israel killed President John F. Kennedy. In another post from 2018, Greene wrote a theory that the deadly wildfires in California that year were caused by a laser from space, possibly controlled by the Rothschild investment bank. The Rothschilds are frequent targets of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
Greene has also called Soros, the Democratic donor and philanthropist, a “Nazi” and peddled a conspiracy that Soros is a Jew who “turned in his own people over to the Nazis”; Soros is a Holocaust survivor.
This story has been updated to reflect the House’s vote to remove Greene from her committee assignments.
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s, Liz Cheney’s futures in balance as House GOP gathers for crucial meeting Wednesday
House Republicans will gather Wednesday afternoon for a conference meeting that comes as two of its members are in hot water for very different reasons, and they could face threats to their futures in the party.
Debate is expected at the meeting about the standing in the conference of Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. Cheney angered many of her fellow Republicans with a vote to impeach former President Trump, triggering a push by some of the Trump loyalists in the conference to remove her as the conference chair.
And intense focus is on Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., over Greene. The GOP leader Tuesday had his long-awaited, in-person talk with Greene — who’s shown little if any remorse for previously espousing conspiracy theories.
Democrats are moving to potentially strip Greene of her committee assignments if McCarthy doesn’t. That will be a topic of discussion in a separate Rules Committee meeting Wednesday. But some Republicans have alleged a double standard given past anti-Semitic affiliations of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and inciteful words from Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. A group of Republicans moved to strip Omar of her committee assignments Tuesday.
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., is under fire for her impeachment vote, and a number of House Republicans are supporting an effort to oust her as the GOP conference chair. (William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images)
GRAHAM BACKS CHENEY AMID ATTACKS OVER HER TRUMP IMPEACHMENT VOTE
Politico reported Wednesday that McCarthy is likely McCarthy will try to work out a deal with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., to get Democrats to back off a vote to remove Greene from committees, which would place House GOP members in a painful political position. If that doesn’t work, McCarthy is leaning toward removing Greene from at least the House Education and Labor Committee on his own, Politico reported — she is also on the Budget Committee.
Responding to that news, Greene said in a tweet: “No matter what @GOPLeader does it would never be enough for the hate America Democrats.”
The movement to remove Cheney as the GOP conference chair is spearheaded by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who traveled to Wyoming last week to hold a political rally against Cheney.
“We are in a battle for the soul of the Republican party and I intend to win it,” Gaetz said. He was joined by phone by Donald Trump Jr., who said “it’s time to have a change at the top.”
Cheney is backed by a number of other members of the conference, however, including Reps. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas; Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y.; Chip Roy, R-Colo.; Tom Cole, R-Okla., and others. She also received tepid support from McCarthy.
But more recently some powerful Senate voices have backed Cheney, led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who usually does not insert himself into House affairs.
“Liz Cheney is a leader with deep convictions and the courage to act on them. She is an important leader in our party and in our nation. I am grateful for her service and look forward to continuing to work with her on the crucial issues facing our nation,” McConnell said in a statement Monday.
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., grabs the hand of a supporter following a rally against U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, outside the Wyoming State Capitol in Cheyenne. Gaetz spoke to hundreds, bashing Cheney after she voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and he called for a group effort in finding the right nominee to replace her when she is up for reelection in 2022. (Michael Cummo/The Wyoming Tribune Eagle via AP)
GOP LAWMAKERS SEEK TO REMOVE OMAR FROM COMMITTEES AS DEMS PRESS TO DROP GREENE FROM PANEL
McConnell has made clear his disdain for Trump after the former president’s post-election behavior. But one of the senators who’s been most involved in Trump’s impeachment defense also backed Cheney.
“I believe @RepLizCheney is one of the strongest and most reliable conservative voices in the Republican Party,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said. “She is a fiscal and social conservative, and no one works harder to ensure that our military is well prepared.”
He added: “Liz knows that a strong America is a safe America. She believes we must confront radical Islam and take the fight to them to ensure there are no more 9/11’s. In the eyes of many – Liz Cheney’s experience, leadership, and strength are invaluable to the Republican Party.”
The Republicans who are upset at Cheney over her impeachment vote said that her stance against Trump — who she said “summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack” — means she’s out of touch with the majority of the House GOP conference, which is still loyal to the twice-impeached former president.
“When Representative Cheney came out for impeachment today, she failed to consult with the Conference, failed to abide by the spirit of the rules of the Republican Conference, and ignored the preferences of Republican voters,” Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., who was among the first to call for her ouster as conference chair, said. “She is weakening our conference at a key moment for personal political gain and is unfit to lead.”
There’s expected to be major disagreements over what to do about Cheney at the Wednesday conference, who has been working the phones to whip support, multiple sources tell Fox News.
LIVE UPDATES: GRAHAM FOLLOWS MCCONNELL IN DEFENDING CHENEY AFTER HER TRUMP IMPEACHMENT VOTE
They add that Cheney will likely make her case at the meeting but is not expected to apologize for her impeachment vote. Instead, she’s expected to talk about the future of the Republican Party.
Meanwhile, it’s likely there will also be discussion about Greene’s future in the House GOP.
House Republicans have been largely silent on Greene, including and especially the leadership. Asked if any decisions were made at a House GOP Steering Committee meeting Tuesday night, Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., said “No, we’re still going to be working through some things.”
But some Senate Republicans this week, as they threw their support behind Cheney, also condemned Greene, citing past conspiratorial comments.
“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,” McConnell said Monday. “This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party.”
Former President Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., meet at Mar-a-lago Thursday.
(Save America PAC)
AS MCCARTHY SEEKS UNITY WITH TRUMP, GAETZ SLAMS CHENEY IN WYOMING AMID SPECULATION OVER PRIMARY CHALLENGES
Senate Republican Conference Chair John Barrasso of Wyoming, who has defended Cheney, on Tuesday compared Greene to former Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who the House GOP stripped of committee assignments over racist statements.
“I think our party has to make it very clear that she does not represent us in any way. Our big tent is not large enough to both accommodate conservatives and kooks,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, also said.
What likely won’t happen Wednesday is a vote to remove Cheney as the conference chair, which would require a petition that she step down with 20% of the conference — or 43 members — signed on to be submitted at the meeting. Then, it would require a two-thirds vote to suspend the rules — or McCarthy’s support — to get to an up-or-down vote on a resolution that Cheney step down.
Instead, it will probably be a longer process with a petition calling for a special conference meeting to consider such a resolution, with the same requirements, submitted after Wednesday. House conservatives say that they have well over 100 members willing to remove Cheney as conference chair.
If those circulating the petition against Cheney do get the requisite number of signatures, then the petition must be granted within 10 legislative days. At that meeting, the resolution could be either voted on immediately with two-thirds support or with McCarthy’s support, or it would be sent to a committee. That committee would later report the resolution with a favorable or unfavorable recommendation, which could then be passed by a simple majority vote.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) heads to the Senate floor before being called into session on Jan. 26, 2021, in Washington, D.C. McConnell made two unusual forays into House affairs this week with statements supporting Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and condemning Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., as a person “not living in reality.” (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
TRUMP PUSHES POLL SHOWING CHENEY WOUNDED IN WYOMING BY IMPEACHMENT VOTE
The resolution would be that Cheney should step down as the leader of the conference, not to actually remove her, so it would not actually have force. But it is not expected that Cheney would attempt to remain conference chair if the resolution passes.
Trump Jr. indicated at the Thursday rally that those interested in ousting Cheney may take their time in this process, warning that if too many Trump-supporting congressmen run for Cheney’s spot, she could keep her seat with the support of less than half of the conference.
“Let’s find exactly the opposite of her, and let’s back that person fully,” Trump Jr. said at the Gaetz rally. “But let’s not make that decision today. We have some time. Let’s find the right one, let’s not split this vote up and blow our opportunity to get rid of a RINO.”
What Republicans do about Cheney and Greene may also indicate the path it will take in the post-Trump era.
Donald Trump Jr. waits for President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump to arrive and board Air Force One for a final time at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. Trump Jr. last week joined a rally against Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., by phone. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Some members still want to hold tightly to the former president, who has indicated that he will fuel primary challenges to any members he sees as insufficiently loyal to him. That fear of a primary challenge, plus Trump’s loyal base, may guide many members’ actions, just as it did during Trump’s presidency.
But others worry that if the GOP accepts Greene while rebuking Cheney, it may keep the Trump base happy at the expense of its morality and any hope of winning moderates in future elections.
“I think we should have nothing to do with Marjorie Taylor Greene, and think we should repudiate the things she said and move away from her,” Romney said.
Fox News’ Kelly Phares, Chad Pergram, Jason Donner, Mike Emanuel and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
GOP Sen. Rob Portman calls on Republican leaders to ‘stand up’ against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s comments
“I think Republican leaders ought to stand up and say it is totally unacceptable what she has said,” the Ohio senator told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.” “I saw a couple videos over the weekend and one had to do with violence as I see it. There is no place for violence in our political dialogue. By the way there is no place for violence in our country. I mean, this is something we got to get away from. So yeah. I think people ought to speak out clearly.”
Asked if Greene, who has been appointed to the House Education and Labor Committee, should she be stripped of her committee assignments, Portman said the move could “send a message.”
“I assume that is something they’re looking at and I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens. And you know, I think that is the way to send a message,” he said. “The voters who elected her in her district in Georgia, you know, ought to be respected. On the other hand when that kind of behavior occurs there has to be a strong response.”
The comments from Portman, a longtime GOP lawmaker who announced early last week that he will not seek reelection after his term ends in 2022, come amid continued fallout over Greene’s past comments.
CNN’s KFile reported last week that Greene had repeatedly indicated support for executing prominent Democratic politicians in 2018 and 2019 before being elected to Congress. The congresswoman has a track record of incendiary rhetoric, including past remarks using Islamophobic and anti-Semitic tropes, as well as ties to the baseless and thoroughly debunked QAnon conspiracy theory.
Greene on Saturday boasted about a “great call” with former President Donald Trump and said she will “never apologize” as she faces continued backlash over her past remarks.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, on Sunday told Bash that he rejects “calls for violence and conspiracy,” nodding to Greene’s comments but not directly mentioning her name.
“I’ve seen the reporting that you’re referring to and if it’s accurate, what’s happening is absolutely unacceptable and (House Minority) Leader (Kevin) McCarthy will deal with it,” he said in a separate interview on “State of the Union.” “But I don’t think it’s just on our side, there have been extremes on both sides that have muddied the waters in terms of as to what’s happening right now.”
While many House Republicans have remained silent on Greene’s recent inflammatory comments and spreading of conspiracy theories, she hasn’t escaped criticism from all members of her party.
GOP Sen. Mitt Romney, a frequent Trump critic, reacted to Greene’s announcement of her call with the former President in a tweet of his own, saying: “Lies of a feather flock together: Marjorie Taylor Greene’s nonsense and the ‘big lie’ of a stolen election.”
On Saturday, CNN learned that McCarthy had canceled a Tuesday House GOP leadership meeting in advance of a meeting scheduled for Wednesday with all House Republicans amid the dust up over Greene’s controversial comments and views, McCarthy’s renewed loyalty to Trump, and questions about GOP conference chair Liz Cheney and the nine other members of the Republican caucus who voted to impeach the former President.
CNN previously reported that McCarthy plans to speak with Greene next week about her past comments and posts.
Portman on Sunday defended Cheney as “a great leader” amid a long shot effort by a group of House conservatives to oust the Wyoming representative over her vote to impeach Trump.
“Well, she is a friend. I’m biased. I think she is very smart and she plays a key role in our party particularly on Foreign Affairs so I would hope that they would not go down that road. I think it’s important to have her voice in the process and my sense is she has a lot of support in the Republican Conference,” Portman said.
“I’m in the Senate not the House and House members, as I used to be, hate to have senators tell them what to do. The truth is I think she is very valuable for the team and a great leader.”
CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi and Jamie Gangel contributed to this report.
Rep. Taylor Greene’s disturbing comments prompt McCarthy to respond
- Hundreds of posts and comments on Rep. Taylor Greene’s Facebook revealed disturbing past comments.
- A spokesman for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Axios he would have a conversation with Greene.
- The freshman lawmaker has endorsed conspiracy theories that mass shootings were staged.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s office said in a statement to Axios Tuesday night that he was aware of “disturbing” comments Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene had made and/or endorsed before being elected to Congress in 2020.
A review of hundreds of posts and comments on Greene’s Facebook page revealed her past support of and engagement with a number of far-right, QAnon conspiracy theories.
Greene repeatedly expressed support for assassinating leading Democrats on social media prior to her time in office, liking a Facebook comment in 2019 that said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should get a “bullet to the head.”
CNN reported that in February 2019, Greene broadcast a Facebook Live video from inside Pelosi’s office saying the Speaker will “suffer death or she’ll be in prison” for treason.
The freshman lawmaker also reportedly endorsed conspiracy theories that the Sandy Hook shooting, which killed 26 people, including 20 elementary school children, and the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that left 17 dead were both staged.
In 2018, Greene agreed with a Facebook commentator who suggested 9/11 was an inside job, according to the progressive group Media Matters for America.
“These comments are deeply disturbing and Leader McCarthy plans to have a conversation with the Congresswoman about them,” Mark Bednar, a spokesperson for McCarthy, told Axios.
This isn’t the first time McCarthy has had to deal with controversial remarks from among his ranks. In 2019, Iowa Rep. Steve King was stripped from his committee assignments after he publicly questioned why terms like “white nationalism” and “white supremacy” had become offensive.
King’s comments drew criticism from members of both parties, and McCarthy ensured that he would take action against King after having “a serious conversation.”
In an August interview with The Dispatch, King said he thought McCarthy’s “welcome” of Greene was a double standard.
After CNN reportedly reached out to Greene for comment, she tweeted a statement saying she’s had teams of people manage her social media pages over the years.
“Many posts have been liked,” she said. “Many posts have been shared. Some did not represent my views.”