Leaked audio refuted House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s claim that he never considered asking President Trump to resign after the Jan. 6 insurrection. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, facing disqualification from running for reelection over alleged support for the insurrection, was forced to confront her own incendiary remarks in court.
ATLANTA (AP) — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was hostile during testimony Friday in a hearing on her eligibility to run for reelection, saying she did not remember liking and making various social media posts surrounding the attack on the U.S. Capitol last year and accusing an opposing lawyer of speculating and twisting her words.
Watch the proceedings in the player above.
Voters in the Georgia congresswoman’s district have said Greene helped facilitate the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection that disrupted certification of President Joe Biden’s victory, making her ineligible for reelection under a rarely cited section of the 14th Amendment dealing with “insurrection or rebellion.”
But Greene — who, the day before the Capitol riot, proclaimed on TV that this is “our 1776 moment” — testified that she has never endorsed violence.
Greene is set to appear on the Republican ballot for Georgia’s May 24 primary and has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump. The administrative law judge overseeing the hearing is not the ultimate decider of Greene’s candidacy since he must present his findings to Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who then must determine whether Greene is qualified.
Greene has repeatedly denied aiding or engaging in an insurrection and has filed a lawsuit alleging that the law the voters are using to challenge her eligibility is itself unconstitutional.
But Ron Fein, a lawyer for the voters who filed the challenge, said Greene took an oath and then broke it by engaging in an insurrection. While Greene wasn’t on the steps of the Capitol, she nevertheless played an important role in stoking Republican fury ahead of the attack, Fein said.
Unlike the Civil War and other insurrections that involved military uniforms and tactics, he said, “The leaders of this insurrection were among us, on Facebook, on Twitter, on corners of social media that would make your stomach hurt.”