Marjorie Taylor Greene forced to admit she called for Pelosi to get death penalty

‘Oh no, wait, hold on now’

Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was left scrambling to avoid committing perjury on Friday after an attorney representing voters seeking to disqualify her from this year’s election ballot confronted her with video of past statements in which she accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of “treason” and suggested the California Democrat should be executed.

Speaking at an administrative hearing before a Georgia judge, attorney Ron Fein promised “direct evidence” that will show Ms Greene used “hashtags and memes and ways of communicating among internet subcultures” to express support for the worst attack on the Capitol since 1814, and said Ms Greene herself will be “the most powerful witness in establishing that she crossed the line into engagement of insurrection”.

“You'll hear her words of course on the stand, what she says and what she doesn't say. You'll also hear what she said in the past ... some of that will be in somewhat coded or veiled language, but you'll also hear in some cases, the mask falls and she shows us exactly what she intended,” he said.

And when it came time to question her, he delivered on that promise.

After Ms Greene was sworn in as a witness, attorney Andrew Celli asked her if she had ever called Ms Pelosi a “traitor to our country”.

The Georgia Republican replied immediately: “No, I haven’t said that”.

After a moment, the attorney asked for an exhibit to be called up for viewing, at which point Ms Greene interjected: "Oh no, wait, hold on now! I believe that by not securing the border that violates her oath of office”.

The video, which was taken during a 2019 political rally in Washington, showed her doing exactly what she initially denied.

In it, Ms Greene addresses a crowd regarding Ms Pelosi, who she said was “guilty of treason”.

“She took an oath to protect American citizens and uphold our laws. And she gives aid and comfort to our enemies who illegally invade our land. That's what treason is,” she said.

“And by our law, representatives and senators can be kicked out and no longer serve in our government — and it's a crime punishable by death”.

Asked again if she had said those words, Ms Greene admitted that she had.

The challenge to Ms Greene’s candidacy was brought on behalf of a group of Georgia voters by the non-profit group Free Speech for People, which describes itself as a “catalyzing leader in the country challenging big money in politics, confronting corruption in government, fighting for free and fair elections, and advancing a new jurisprudence grounded in the promises of political equality and democratic self-government”.

The group has filed challenges against several pro-Trump members of Congress who were vocal in their support for Republican attempts to overturn the election which culminated in the 6 January insurrection.

A prior legal challenge against North Carolina Representative Madison Cawthorn has stalled after a Trump-appointed federal judge ruled that the part of the 14th Amendment to the US constitution which states that “no person shall be a Senator or Representative 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, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof,” was essentially nullified by an amnesty law meant to lift the disqualification against persons who supported the pro-slavery confederacy during the American Civil War.

But a Georgia federal judge allowed the challenge against Ms Greene to proceed last week, leading to Friday’s hearing.

In his opening statement, Mr Fein argued that Ms Greene “played an important role” even if she didn’t lead or participate in the violent attack on the Capitol by encouraging the pro-Trump mob to see the events of 6 January as similar to those of 1776, the start of the US war of independence from Great Britain.

“Instead of violence against a foreign empire, as we saw in 1776,” he said, Ms Greene “encouraged and helped facilitate violent resistance to our own government, our democracy and our Constitution”.

“And in doing so, she engaged in exactly the type of conduct that triggers disqualification under under section three of the 14th Amendment, which is to say she engaged in insurrection,” he said.