Marjorie Taylor Greene

Greene began her 2020 candidacy in Georgia's 6th congressional district. On December 13, 2019, she shifted her campaign to the 14th district after incumbent Tom Graves announced he would not run for reelection there.[31] The district includes much of northwestern Georgia, from the Chattanooga metropolitan area to the fringes of Atlanta. On March 2, 2020, the Georgia Republican Party contributed $5,220 to her campaign treasury.[32]

Greene campaigned as a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump. She ran on the slogan "Save America, Stop Socialism!"[33][34] In the days before the primary election, Facebook took down a Greene video for violating its terms of service. In the video she held an AR-15 style rifle and warned "antifa terrorists" to "stay the hell out of Northwest Georgia".[33]

Greene finished first the primary election and faced John Cowan in the runoff election.[35] In a July 14 runoff debate sponsored by the Walker County Republican Party, Greene claimed that she was "all about making jobs here in America" and had "created thousands of jobs in the United States" as a business owner.[36]

Greene won the runoff on August 11. She was considered an overwhelming favorite to win the seat in the general election, as the 14th district typically votes heavily Republican.[37] The 14th has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+27, making it the nation's 10th-most Republican district and the third-most Republican district in the Eastern Time Zone. Among Georgia's congressional districts, only the neighboring 9th district is more Republican. Since the 14th's creation in 2012, no Democrat has won more than 30% of the vote.[38] Trump carried the 14th with 75% of the vote in 2016, his eighth-best performance in the nation.[39] On the day after Greene's runoff victory, Trump tweeted his support for her, describing Greene as a "future Republican Star" who "is strong on everything and never gives up – a real WINNER!"[40]

Greene was expected to face Democratic IT specialist Kevin Van Ausdal, but he withdrew from the race on September 11, 2020. This left Greene unopposed in the general election.[41][42][43]

On September 3, 2020, Greene shared a meme to her Facebook page depicting herself holding an AR-15 style rifle next to a collage of pictures of Democratic representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. She wrote that it was time for "strong conservative Christians to go on the offense against these socialists who want to rip our country apart". The caption underneath the images read "Squad's worst nightmare".[44] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described the meme as a "dangerous threat of violence" and Omar demanded that the meme be deleted after claiming it had triggered death threats.[45] In response to questions from Forbes about whether the meme was a threat, a Greene campaign spokesperson called the suggestion "paranoid and ridiculous" and a "conspiracy theory".[46] Facebook deleted the meme the following day for violating its policies on inciting violence, prompting Greene to claim that Democrats were "trying to cancel me out before I've even taken the oath of office".[47]

In the general election, Greene won with 74% of the vote. Van Ausdal, whose name remained on the ballot, took 25%.[48] Greene became the second Republican woman to represent Georgia in the House. The first, Karen Handel, was elected to represent the 6th in a special election in 2017,[49] but was defeated for a full term in 2018. Thus, Greene became the first Republican woman elected to a full term from a Georgia district.

Prominent Republicans who supported Greene in her candidacy included U.S. Representatives Jim Jordan and Andy Biggs and Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows.[50][51][52][53] Meadows's wife, Debbie Meadows, is the executive director of RightWomen Pac, which endorsed Greene and contributed $17,500 to her primary campaign. Other donors include Barb Van Andel-Gaby, the chair of board of the Heritage Foundation, and L. Lin Wood, an attorney and fellow conspiracy theorist.[54] Greene also received support from the House Freedom Fund, a political action committee and the campaign fundraising arm of the House Freedom Caucus.[51]

Greene being sworn in by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy

On her first day in office, Greene wore a face mask onto the House floor reading "Trump Won", when in fact Trump lost the 2020 U.S. presidential election to Joe Biden.[57] During the counting of electoral votes, Greene raised an objection to counting Michigan's electors. However, the objection was not signed by a member of the U.S. Senate and therefore was invalid.[58]

In response to the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021, Greene called for an end to violence and for support for President Trump.[59][60] She refused to wear a face mask while sheltering in place during the riot, and during the debate to impeach Trump she tweeted, "Democrats must be held accountable for the political violence inspired by their rhetoric." This prompted Democratic representative Jason Crow (D-Colo.) to call her "morally bankrupt", "depraved" and "frankly dangerous".[60]

Greene filed articles of impeachment against Joe Biden alleging abuse of power on January 21, 2021, the day after Biden's inauguration.[11] In an interview with Greg Kelly of Newsmax, she claimed Biden is "willing to abuse the power of the office of the presidency and be easily bought off by foreign governments, foreign Chinese energy companies, [and] Ukrainian energy companies".[61]

On January 27, 2021, Representative Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), announced he had drafted a resolution to expel Greene from the House following reports that she had previously called for violence against Democrats online.[62] Massachusetts representative Jake Auchincloss also called for Greene's resignation or expulsion due to her threats of violence against fellow lawmakers.[63] On January 28, 2021 with the revelations of Greene's threats against Democratic members of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke of an "enemy within the House of Representatives" and the need to increase security measures, seemingly alluding to Greene and other Republican members such as Lauren Boebert who wanted to bring a gun onto the House floor.[64] Pelosi also criticized the House Republican leadership for placing Greene on the Education Committee after Greene had questioned the authenticity of deadly school shootings around the country.[65]

On January 29, 2021, Representative Nikema Williams (D-Ga.) and Representative Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) authored a censure resolution against Greene for making threatening comments to her congressional colleagues. The resolution included a call for Greene's resignation.[66]

Greene was briefly a member of the Committee on the Budget and the Committee on Education and Labor, before she was removed from all committee assignments on February 4, 2021 for incendiary remarks she had made before her election.[67]

Since February 4, 2021:

• None[12]

Prior to February 4, 2021:

• Committee on the Budget[68]
• Committee on Education and Labor[69]

• Freedom Caucus[70]

Greene opposes abortion.[34] In an August 2020 interview with Fox News, she indicated her support for defunding Planned Parenthood.[73]

Greene participated in a pro-Second Amendment rally in Ringgold, Georgia, in September 2020. At the rally, she said she would "always" protect the rights of gun owners and would not vote for any laws making it harder for people to possess guns.[74][75] She declared, "The government will never tell me how many guns I can own, and how many bullets I am allowed to fire if someone were to attack me or my kids."[76] The Washington Post reported that the Georgia III Percent Martyrs provided security for this event while "wearing camouflage, body armor, radios and in one case a battle ax".[53]

During her 2020 election campaign, she announced her intention to give away an AR-15 style rifle.[77]

In July 2020, Greene said on Twitter that "children should not wear masks", rejecting recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health professionals.[78] She described restrictions imposed in the United States Capitol in response to the coronavirus pandemic, including face mask requirements, as "Democrat tyrannical control".[79] She opposes any form of mandatory mask-wearing, compulsory vaccination, or lockdowns in response to the pandemic. She described mask-wearing as "oppressive" on Twitter, prompting a response from Anthony Fauci, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, who described Greene's stance as "disturbing".[72] Greene refused to wear a mask in a secured room with other members of Congress during the storming of the United States Capitol.[80]

Greene opposes the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and described it as a "radical Marxist" group.[34] In a video, she compared BLM activists to white nationalist participants at the Unite the Right rally which took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. She ended one of her videos commenting: "The most mistreated group of people in the United States today are white males."[81]

In a recording obtained by Politico, Greene said that "anyone that is a Muslim that believes in Sharia law does not belong in [the U.S.] government". She contended that Black Americans "are held slaves to the Democratic Party". Her comments on black people, Muslims, and Jews were denounced by Republican House leaders, a spokesman for National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Tom Emmer, and the Republican Jewish Coalition.[81] Greene stated that the 2018 midterm elections, in which Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, two Muslim women, were elected to Congress, was part of "an Islamic invasion of our government".[71]

In February 2019, Greene and a group of her supporters walked through a congressional office building with the stated intent of making Omar and Tlaib (who had taken their ceremonial oaths of office using Qurans) retake their oaths on Bibles. Greene falsely claimed that an oath-taking on the Bible was required by law; the Constitution in fact specifically provides that "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."[82][83]

Greene is a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump; on January 4, 2021, she called for the results of the election in Georgia to be "decertified".[84] When asked if doing so would affect her own seat and that of other Georgia Republicans (all of whom were elected on the same ballot), Greene said, "We're just talking about the President's race."[84]

Following the second impeachment of Donald Trump, Greene introduced an article of impeachment against Joe Biden on January 21, the day after he took office; nobody co-sponsored Greene's proposal.[85][86][87]

In an interview with gun activist Chris Dorr on October 27, 2020, a week before election day, Greene told viewers: "The only way you get your freedoms back is it's earned with the price of blood."[88] On January 29, 2021, The New York Times detailed Greene's support for and past ties with extremist militia groups, including the Three Percenters and the Oath Keepers, some of whose members participated in the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol.[75]

In a January 2019 Facebook video, Greene said: "it's a crime punishable by death is what treason is. Nancy Pelosi is guilty of treason." Greene made the video to promote a petition made to the White House for the impeachment of Pelosi for treason, due to Pelosi's opposition for the border wall, as well as alleged sanctuary policies of Pelosi's that "are serving illegals and not United States citizens". In February 2019 Facebook live-streamed videos, Greene suggested that Pelosi would "suffer death or she'll be in prison" for "treason", without discussing a trial. Greene then suggested that Democratic Representative Maxine Waters was "just as guilty of treason as Nancy Pelosi".[8]

Greene's Facebook account in 2018 and 2019 expressed support for the execution of leading Democrats including former president Barack Obama, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as support for the execution of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, reported CNN in January 2021.[8][89] For example, when another poster asked in April 2018: "Now do we get to hang them ?? Meaning H & O???", Greene's account responded: "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."[8] Greene did not deny the authenticity of the reported content, instead responding that the CNN article was "focused on my time before running for political office", that "teams of people manage my pages", and that CNN had reported on content that "did not represent my views".[8][89] The progressive advocacy organization People For the American Way formally called for Greene to face expulsion from the House of Representatives over her comments, a process that would require support from two-thirds of the House in order to succeed.[90]

Greene was a top official of the Family America Project, a conservative group founded in January 2018. She was a moderator of the organization's Facebook group which included death threats against Democrats, bigotry directed at the Obamas and support for multiple conspiracy theories, including the claims associated with John Birch Society that the United States government had been infiltrated by communists.[91]

Greene has said there are links between Hillary Clinton and pedophilia and human sacrifice[20] and, in 2017, speculated the Pizzagate conspiracy theory was real.[4] Greene claimed Clinton murdered her political enemies in a revival of the "Clinton Kill List" conspiracy theory.[6] In one of her own videos, posted to YouTube in 2018, Greene suggested the death of John F. Kennedy Jr., in a plane crash in 1999, was a "Clinton murder" because he was a possible rival to Hillary Clinton in the election for a New York senate seat.[52]

Another Facebook post in 2018 showed Greene agreeing with a conspiracy theory known as Frazzledrip,[96] that asserts a video exists of Hillary Clinton and her assistant Huma Abedin murdering a child in a satanic ritual and Clinton later ordered a "hit" on a police officer to cover it up.[97][98][99] In response, Greene dismissed Media Matters' findings as the work of "Communists [sic] bloggers".[100]

Greene supported the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, saying in videos posted in 2017 on Facebook that the theories were "worth listening to".[5][92] She stated in a video, "There's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles out, and I think we have the president to do it."[101]

According to her author biography page, Greene wrote 59 articles for the now-defunct conspiracy theory website, American Truth Seekers, including one linking the Democratic Party to "Child Sex, Satanism, and the Occult".[6][4] When Greene stood as a candidate for the House of Representatives in 2020, she distanced herself from that conspiracy theory and said she had not referred to "Q" or QAnon during her campaign. She said she no longer had a connection with it and mentioned, in an interview for Fox News in August 2020, having found "misinformation".[102]

In a 2017 video posted to Facebook, Greene expressed doubt that the perpetrator of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, a large-scale incident she believes was intended as an attack on the right to bear arms, acted alone.[103][6] Greene claimed that the August 2017 Charlottesville white nationalist rally, in which a counter-protester was killed in a car attack, was an "inside job".[104] She believes the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand were a "false flag" for the same end.[15]

In a 2018 interview, Greene expressed support for a conspiracy theory that a plane did not hit the Pentagon during the September 11 attacks, referring to "the so-called plane that crashed into the Pentagon", and saying that "it's odd there's never any evidence shown for a plane in the Pentagon", despite an abundance of evidence.[105] On another occasion, at a conservative conference in 2018, she said 9/11 was part of a plot by the United States government.[6] Following a report on her comments by Media Matters for America in August 2020, Greene said on Twitter: "Some people claimed a missile hit the Pentagon. I now know that is not correct."[6][105] She has claimed Seth Rich, the Democratic National Committee staff member, was murdered by the MS-13 street gang on behalf of Barack Obama.[106] According to Greene, Obama is secretly a Muslim; in actuality, Obama is a Christian.[52][107]

In a February 2019 interview, Greene suggested that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had been replaced in public appearances by a body double.[108] A QAnon-related conspiracy theory espoused that Ginsburg had secretly died years earlier, and that the body double was used by Democrats to conceal that her death had occurred and to hold on to her Supreme Court seat during Trump's presidency so that she could be replaced by another liberal Justice.[108] Ginsburg actually died later on September 18, 2020; that occurred during Trump's presidency, as did the appointment of Ginsburg's replacement.[108][109]

In a 2018 Facebook post found by Media Matters in January 2021, Greene agreed the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, was an organized "false flag" operation. In another post, she agreed that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was also a false flag operation. In another Facebook post later in 2018 she wrote: "I am told that Nancy Pelosi tells Hillary Clinton several times a month that 'we need another school shooting' in order to persuade the public to want strict gun control."[110][111] The survivors of shootings, such as Fred Guttenberg, David Hogg, and Cameron Kasky, have condemned Greene's remarks and demanded her resignation from Congress.[112][113] Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland shooting and a gun control advocate, has been called "#littleHitler" by Greene.[8] She denounced Hogg as an "idiot" who is trained "like a dog" while being interviewed for a gun-rights group in Georgia in 2019.[114] A video from March 2019[115] shows Greene following and taunting Hogg accusing him of using children for his cause. Following the encounter, she called him a "coward" and falsely claimed he is funded by George Soros.[116][117] The website Snopes found the video uploaded by Guttenberg and others was the second incident in which Greene targeted Hogg. Both incidents occurred on March 25, 2019, and Greene live-streamed the first to her Facebook account. The second video was uploaded to Greene's YouTube account in January 2020.[115]

WRCB-TV reporter Meredith Aldis was threatened with arrest on January 27, 2021, when she tried to ask a question at a town hall event about a video in which Greene is seen harassing David Hogg.[118]

Soon after these comments came to light, Representative Jahana Hayes (D-CT), whose district includes Sandy Hook, circulated a letter to the House Republican leadership urging them not to seat Greene on the Education Committee.[119] In a statement to NBC News, Hogg expressed his view that Greene should be removed from Congress, and declared that "[b]y not expelling Marjorie Taylor Greene, Minority Leader McCarthy has endorsed her".[114]

In 2018, Greene shared a video, With Open Gates: The Forced Collective Suicide of European Nations repeating the antisemitic white genocide conspiracy theory that "Zionist supremacists" are conspiring to flood Europe with migrants to replace the 'native' white populations. The video, uncovered by Media Matters for America, said that those supporting refugees are using "immigrant pawns" to commit "the biggest genocide in human history". In sharing the video, Greene wrote that: "This is what the UN wants all over the world".[120] She also falsely called George Soros, a Jewish businessman and Holocaust survivor, a Nazi.[121] She promoted the conspiracy theory that Soros' family collaborated with the Nazis in Hungary and is "trying to continue what was not finished".[81]

In January 2021, various media outlets reported that in November 2018, Greene's Facebook account shared a conspiracy about the deadly Camp Fire in California, suggesting that it could have been caused by "space solar generators" in a scheme involving California governor Jerry Brown, companies PG&E, Rothschild & Co and Solaren.[122][123][124] The Rothschild family, a supposed "international cabal of Jewish bankers", has been the target of numerous antisemitic conspiracy theories since at least the 19th century.[125] Although Greene did not use the term in her Facebook posting, this was characterized by the press as a "Jewish space laser" and ridiculed on social media as such.[126][127] Fred Guttenberg however did not consider Greene's postings to be a joking matter in a comment to the Los Angeles Times, saying "She denies that my daughter died in Parkland … and yet, because my last name is Guttenberg, because I am Jewish, she thinks I shoot lasers at forests and start fires."[128]

In response, Solaren, a solar energy company, released a statement saying that it was "important to our government and industry partners and future customers, that Solaren set the record straight", and pointing out several fundamental problems with the conspiracy theory.[129] It pointed out that its space-based solar power system did not beam power using the visible light part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and so could not be observed as the "blue beams of light" referenced by the conspiracy theory; that the system does not use lasers, and so could not have been "laser beams"; that Solaren's power contract with PG&E had ended in 2015; and that by 2021, Solaren had not in fact launched any solar power satellites into space at all, let alone had had one in space in 2018.[129]

Greene's incendiary statements and promotion of conspiracy theories were condemned by Democrats. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) introduced a motion to remove Greene from all of her committee assignments,[63][130] declaring that "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... 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."[131] On February 1, 2021, House majority leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) gave House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and other Republican House leaders an ultimatum–unless they stripped Greene of her committee seats within 72 hours, the Democrats would bring Wasserman Schultz' resolution before the full House.[68][130] McCarthy has called some of Greene's comments "deeply disturbing".[132]

With Republican officials under mounting pressure to denounce Greene,[66] Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement to The Hill in which he attacked "loony lies and conspiracy theories" as a "cancer for the Republican Party".[133] The statement did not name Greene but reporting[131][134][135][136] described the statement as "unmistakably about"[137] and "clearly targeted" at Greene.[138] McConnell confirmed it the following day, referring to his comments on Greene and adding "I think I adequately spoke out about how I feel."[139] McConnell's statement said that "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. This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party."[133] Greene tweeted in response that "[t]he real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully. This is why we are losing our country."[134][135] Following McConnell's statement, several other Republican senators voiced criticisms of Greene.[140] Mitt Romney said that the Republican Party's "big tent is not large enough to both accommodate conservatives and kooks".[132] Kevin Cramer said that he would have "a hard time supporting ... [Greene] being on the Education Committee" in the light of "her positions on the school shootings being staged"; he added that "Real authority has moral authority."[140] Both Florida senators condemned the idea that the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting might have not have been real, with Marco Rubio stating that anyone arguing it was a false flag is "either deranged or a sadist".[114][140] Greene responded, "Too bad a few Republican Senators are obsessing over me, instead of preparing to defend President Trump from the rabid radical left. Focus on ending the witch hunt. Do your job!"[139][140] Greene also used the criticism to set a new fundraising goal, saying that she needed to defend her seat.[139]

McCarthy met with Greene on February 2 and then held meetings with the House GOP Steering Committee,[141] which is responsible for committee assignments for Republican members of the House. No decision was made that day[140] but Greene was a major topic of discussion for the Republican Congressional Caucus meeting on February 3, along with the fate of Congresswoman Liz Cheney following her vote in favor of the second impeachment of Donald Trump.[139] Greene retains the support of former-President Trump,[132] which presents McCarthy with a problem in managing the expectations of his party in dealing with the Cheney and Greene situations.[139]

As controversy grew about her previous comments, Greene removed her old social media posts,[142] and spoke before the House Republican Conference on February 3, 2021, to assert that her social media content did not reflect who she is. About half those in attendance rose and applauded after her comments. That day, the Democratic-controlled Rules Committee passed Wasserman Schultz' resolution to remove Greene from her committee assignments.[143] Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy indicated his conference would not act against Greene.[144][145] Speaker Nancy Pelosi chastised McCarthy for acquiescing to Greene, referring to him as "McCarthy (Q-CA)".[146] The following day, February 4, the full House voted to remove Greene from her committee assignments.[12] The vote was 230 to 199, with 11 Republicans joining all of the Democrats in voting for the resolution.[147]

Greene's statements were condemned by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Republican Jewish Coalition.[66]

Greene's Twitter account was locked for 12 hours on January 17, 2021. A Twitter spokesperson stated that Greene was sanctioned "for multiple violations of our civic integrity policy".[148] Twitter's action was based on a company policy it had used to remove thousands of QAnon-related accounts after the storming of the United States Capitol.[149] Prior to the suspension, Greene's posts included false claims about voting fraud and statements blaming electoral officials in Georgia for their failure to act on such claims.[148][150][151][149] On her return to Twitter the next day, she criticized the company: "Contrary to how highly you think of yourself and your moral platitude, you are not the judge of humanity. God is."[152]