Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is still smarting after she was silenced and barred from speaking at Wednesday’s House Homeland Security Committee hearing by a fellow Republican, Chairman Mark Green of Tennessee.
Mr Green ordered a series of incendiary statements by the second-term congresswoman to be “taken down,” or officially stricken from the hearing’s official record, after she broke House rules by calling Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a “liar” while questioning him on the Biden administration’s border policies.
After a prior motion to silence her for accusing California Democrat Eric Swalwell of having carried on “a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy” was tabled by the panel’s GOP majority, Ms Greene laid into Mr Mayorkas with a series of accusations about his purported responsibility for fentanyl overdoses among American youth.
After she asked him “how long” he would “continue this outrage,” the former prosecutor turned Cabinet secretary attempted to defend his department’s performance. He told Ms Greene that he could “assure” her that the department is “not letting it go on” and is “fighting” the trafficking. But before he could finish, Ms Greene interjected again, shouting at the top of her lungs.
“You’re a liar. You are letting this go on (and) the numbers prove it. You can’t lie about the fact, Secretary Mayorkas, while you live in denial and sit over there with this attitude that you’re doing everything right ... you are killing Americans with your policies,” she said.
After Ranking Member Bennie Thompson asked for that statement to be sticken, Mr Green asked if Ms Greene would withdraw her statement.
She refused, and Mr Green immediately ruled that she’d violated the rules and ordered the words stricken from the record.
A day later, she told CNN she had complained to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over the incident, and described herself as “surprised and angered” by Mr Green’s decision to actually enforce the House rules to her detriment.
She claimed Mr McCarthy “agreed with [her]” and implied the House Speaker did not believe the body’s decorum rules should have been used to keep her from speaking.
She also said she had a conversation about the matter with Mr Green after the hearing.
“He basically said that we have two different styles so we have a disagreement still about what took place yesterday, but, you know, I am still new to committees so I will make sure I am following the rules, which I do think is important, but at the same time I am still going to keep pushing,” she said.
Mr Green told CNN in a separate interview that he didn’t concur with Ms Greene’s claim that the House Speaker had sided with the Georgia Republican in the dispute.
He described her actions as a clear violation of House rules.
“I had a conversation that was maybe a little different with him,” he said, adding that he and Mr McCarthy “didn’t really get into the details” of the incident.
He also said Ms Greene “understands” the rules and “will comply” with them going forward.
