Marjorie Taylor Greene thrown off committees for spreading conspiracy theories
A fiercely divided House tossed US politician Marjorie Taylor Greene off both her committees in an unprecedented punishment that Democrats said she had earned by spreading hateful and violent conspiracy theories.
Underscoring the political vice the newly-elected Georgia Republican’s inflammatory commentary has clamped her party into, nearly all Republicans voted against the Democratic move but none defended her lengthy history of outrageous social media posts.
Eleven Republicans joined 219 Democrats in backing Ms Greene’s ejection from her committees, while 199 GOP lawmakers voted “no”.
The chamber’s near party-line vote was the latest instance of conspiracy theories becoming pitched political battlefields, an increasingly familiar occurrence during Donald Trump’s presidency.
He faces Senate trial next week for his House impeachment for inciting insurrection after a mob he fueled with his false narrative of a stolen election attacked the Capitol.
Thursday’s fight also underscored the uproar and political complexities that Ms Greene — a master of provoking Democrats, promoting herself and raising campaign money — has prompted since becoming a House candidate last year.
— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) February 4, 2021
Addressing her colleagues, Ms Greene tried to dissociate herself from her “words of the past” on Thursday.
Contradicting past social media posts, she said she believes the 9-11 attacks and mass school shootings were real and no longer believes QAnon conspiracy theories, which include lies about Democratic-run pedophile rings.
But she did not explicitly apologise for supportive online remarks she has made on other subjects, as when she mulled about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi being assassinated or the possibility of Jewish-controlled space rays causing wildfires.
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