Mitch McConnell says Majorie Taylor Greene's 'loony lies' and QAnon conspiracies are a 'cancer' on the party and calls Liz Cheney 'courageous' for voting to impeach Trump
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell denounced QAnon congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday, calling her 'loony lies' a 'cancer for the Republican Party.'
He didn't specifically name the freshman lawmaker to The Hill, but referenced several of the bizarre conspiracy theories the far-right Georgia congresswoman has pushed.
'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,' said McConnell.
'This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party.'
It came as McConnell also threw his support behind Rep. Liz Cheney for her 'courage' in voting to impeach President Donald Trump last month.
Cheney has faced efforts to push her from her third-ranking spot in the House GOP leadership after she voted for Trump to be impeached on the charge that he was guilty of inciting the deadly insurrection on the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
Yet influential Republicans, including McConnell, are beginning to speak out in her defense.
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell (pictured) denounced QAnon congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday while voicing his support for Rep. Liz Cheney
McConnell called Greene's (pictured left) 'loony lies' a 'cancer for the Republican Party' while stating that Cheney (pictured right) had 'courage' for voting to impeach Trump
'Liz Cheney is a leader with deep convictions and the courage to act on them,' McConnell said in a statement to CNN.
'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.'
Greene immediately pushed back on McConnell's comments on Twitter, writing that 'the real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully'.
'This is why we are losing our country,' she added.
McConnell's statement on Green comes as House Democrats are mounting an effort to formally rebuke the newly-elected congresswoman, who has a history of making racist remarks, embracing conspiracy theories and endorsing violence directed at Democrats.
It also puts pressure on House Republican leaders to discipline her, despite Greene boasting on Monday that she would soon be visiting Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
On Saturday, she had also claimed that she enjoyed a 'great call' with the former president and that he fully supported her.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is set to meet with Greene on Tueday yet he is not anticipated to act given her support from Trump, who still holds enourmous sway with Republican voters.
A spokesperson for the Republican leader declined to comment on Monday.
Democrats have teed up action Wednesday to send a resolution to the House floor that would strip Greene of assignments on the House education and budget committees, if McCarthy doesn't do so first.
'It is my hope and expectation that Republicans will do the right thing and hold Rep. Greene accountable, and we will not need to consider this resolution,' said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.
'But we are prepared to do so if necessary.'
Greene immediately hit back at McConnell's comments on Twitter, as pictured
House Democrats are mounting an effort to formally rebuke the newly-elected, far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, pictured above on January 6
Some Democrats have called for going further and expelling Greene from the House - an unlikely outcome that would require backing from Republicans, since expulsion requires a two-thirds vote. Another option is censure.
Democrats' willingness to act against a member of the opposing party underscores their desire to confront far-right politicians, like Greene, who are closely aligned with some of Trump's fringe supporters, including extremist groups that were involved in the violent Capitol insurrection.
It also shines a light on the GOP's reluctance to punish Trump supporters in their ranks for fear of alienating some of the former president's most ardent voters.
'If Republicans won't police their own, the House must step in,' said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is sponsoring the measure to remove Greene from the committees.
In a tweet over the weekend, Greene sounded a defiant tone.
She also said she had spoken to Trump and was 'grateful for his support.'
'I will never back down and will stand up against the never ending blood thirsty mob,' she tweeted.
On Monday, she tweeted that Democrats, if they move forward, will come to regret the 'precedent they are setting,' arguing that it would be 'used extensively against members on their side once we regain the majority after the 2022 elections.'
Greene's views were in the spotlight even before she joined the House last month.
The Georgia Republican has expressed support for QAnon conspiracy theories, which focus on the debunked belief that top Democrats are involved in child sex trafficking, Satan worship and cannibalism.
Facebook videos surfaced last year showing she´d expressed racist, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim views.
Top Republicans denounced her at the time, hoping to block her from capturing the GOP nomination in her reliably red congressional district in northwest Georgia.
But after she won her primary, they largely accepted her. Since then, even more of her past comments, postings and videos have been unearthed, though many were deleted recently after drawing attention.
She 'liked' Facebook posts that advocated violence against Democrats and the FBI. One suggested shooting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the head.
In response to a post raising the prospect of hanging former President Barack Obama, Greene responded that the 'stage is being set.'
In an undated video posted online, Greene floated a conspiracy theory that falsely suggests that the 2017 mass shooting that killed 58 people at a country music festival in Las Vegas could have been a false flag operation to build support for gun control legislation.
'How do you get avid gun owners and people that support the Second Amendment to give up their guns and go along with anti-gun legislation?' Greene said in the video.
'You make them scared, you make them victims and you change their mindset and then possibly you can pass anti-gun legislation. Is that what happened in Las Vegas?'
She also 'liked' a Facebook post that challenged the veracity of a 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Another video captured her confronting Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (center) previously appeared alongside President Donald Trump (left) at a Dalton, Georgia rally on January 4 on behalf of two Republicans senators who lost their run-off races the next day to Democrats Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock
After her election, she seized on Trump's false claims that the election was stolen and cheered on his supporters the day before the Capitol was stormed.
'It's our 1776 moment!' she posted on the conservative friendly social media platform Parler.
Last week, Pelosi pressed for House Republicans to take action against Greene.
'Assigning her to the education committee, when she has mocked the killing of little children' in Newtown, 'what could they be thinking, or is thinking too generous a word for what they might be doing?' Pelosi said of Republican leaders.
'It's absolutely appalling.'
Although it's not certain he will take action against Greene, McCarthy has punished members of the House Republican caucus before.
Former Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, was stripped of all his committee assignments after expressing support for white supremacists in 2019.
Wasserman Schultz acknowledged Monday that it had long been left up to leaders to remove members of Congress of their own party of their committee assignments. But she said Republicans' reluctance to take action left Democrats with little choice.
'Rep. Greene's appalling behavior both before her election and during her term has helped fuel domestic terrorism, endangered lives of her colleagues and brought shame on the entire House of Representatives,' Wasserman Schultz said.
'Based on her actions and statements and her belligerent refusal to disavow them, she should not be permitted to participate in the important work of these two influential committees.'
As for Cheney, a cross-section of GOP lawmakers is rushing to her defense after calls for her to be pushed out over her impeachment vote, as well as former President George W. Bush.
Donald Trump Jr. last week called into a Wyoming rally attended by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, a close Trump ally, that demanded Cheney be defeated in the next primary.
According to CNN, President Trump has himself focused on efforts to remove Cheney from her leadership position.
Nine other House Republicans voted to impeach Trump last month.
While supporting Cheney's decision, McConnell himself sided with other GOP Senators last week in voting to dismiss the Senate impeachment trial on constitutional grounds.
CNN reports that McCarthy has not spoken to Trump since December 15.
No comments