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Marjorie Taylor Greene: GOP leader McCarthy to take action on conspiracy comments

McCarthy plans to have conversation with Ms Greene about ‘deeply disturbing’ comments

Oliver O'Connell
New York
Thursday 28 January 2021 01:47 GMT
Man tells Marjorie Taylor Greene 'you are a joke' after pretending to take a selfie with her

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Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy will speak with Marjorie Taylor Greene about the series of inflammatory social media posts apparently made before she took office that came to light this week.

CNN says it found comments and likes made from the Georgia representative’s Facebook account that included apparent calls for the execution of senior Democrats, as well as endorsements of disturbing conspiracy theories linked to QAnon.

Ms Greene later issued a statement suggesting other people than her had access to her social media accounts and not all of the interactions represented her views: “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.”

A member of the GOP leader’s office told Axios that Mr McCarthy is aware of the reports and intends to discuss the issue with Ms Greene.

“These comments are deeply disturbing and Leader McCarthy plans to have a conversation with the Congresswoman about them,” said Mark Bednar, a spokesperson for Mr McCarthy.

Any repercussions for Ms Greene will be viewed in the context of actions Mr McCarthy took when former Republican representative for Iowa Steve King made public statements about white supremacy.

Mr King was stripped of committee assignments in 2019 after publicly asking why terms such as “white nationalism” and “white supremacy” were now considered “offensive”. 

Ms Greene’s online comments from 2018 and 2019 were reported by CNN on Tuesday. In one she reportedly said: “A bullet to the head would be quicker” to remove Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

She also apparently liked other posts that talked about executing FBI agents, who she regarded as part of the “Deep State” working against Donald Trump.

Media Matters reported on a post endorsed by Ms Greene regarding a conspiracy theory in which Hillary Clinton murdered a child in a satanic ritual and ordered police to cover it up.

In an April 2018 Facebook post Ms Greene wrote about Barack Obama’s Iran deal, with a commenter asking her, “Now do we get to hang them? Meaning H &O???,” in an apparent reference to Mr Obama and Hillary Clinton.

“Stage is being set. Players are being put in place. We must be patient. This must be done perfectly or liberal judges would let them off,” she replied.

Mr King predicted that Ms Greene would be an issue for Mr McCarthy in a 2020 interview, and that he would be used as an example to keep her in check.

He told The Dispatch: “He’ll hang the sin that he committed against me out in front of her like the sword of Damocles."

Ms Greene added that Facebook posts from “random users” were being used “to try and cancel me and silence my voice.”

Read more: Follow live updates on the Biden administration

“They are coming after me because I’m a threat to their goal of Socialism. They’re coming after me because they know I represent the people, not the politicians."

Ms Greene has a history of promoting bizarre conspiracy theories and making wild accusations including that the Parkland high school massacre was a false flag event and that 9/11 was perpetrated by the US government.

Shortly after Joe Biden was sworn in as president, Ms Greene filed articles of impeachment against him. She was also suspended from Twitter for 12 hours for violating rules relating to the 6 January assault on the US Capitol by pro-Trump rioters.

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