Thread by @jbendery

Greene still trying to do clean-up from all the things she's said/amplified in the past.

"These were words from the past and they do not represent me. They do not represent my values."

"I believe in God with all my heart."

"Jesus died on the cross to forgive me for my sins"

Greene wraps up by saying she's really opposed to abortion and that the media "is just as guilty as QAnon" by feeding lies and dividing people.

Dem Rep. Jim McGovern is up now. He's... not sure where to begin.

"To equate the media to QAnon is beyond the pale."

She advocated "putting a bullet to the head of Speaker Pelosi."

"She called a student survivor of the Parkland massacre 'very trained, like a dog.'"

"I did not hear a denouncement or apology" for saying political opponents should be violently dealt with, or for anti-Semitic and Islamophobic remarks posted over and over again, says McGovern.

"Her campaign has profited off of these hurtful remarks and dangerous statements."

Rep. Austin Scott is up, a fellow Georgia Republican, trying to defend Greene but going off on a weird tangent.

"You've got a math problem in passing your agenda!" he says as his time runs out.

McGovern is back, asking how anyone can support Greene keeping her committee seats given that she "advocated a bullet to the head of the Speaker of the House."

"That doesn't bother you?" he asks the room.

"Is there anything that is so awful that will give you pause?"

"We heard 10 minutes of whataboutism and comparing journalists to violent QAnon extremists, basically saying it's not her fault," McGovern says of Greene's floor remarks. "It's everybody else's fault."

"Quite frankly we were hoping you'd do it," McGovern says to GOP re removing Greene from committees.

"But a political decision was made that it was advantageous not to alienate certain types of voters in this country, even if they advocate...for the ideas Ms Greene has put fwd."

McGovern says he's talked to a number of House Republicans who are privately "very uncomfortable and very offended" by what Greene has said.

"But apparently not offended or uncomfortable enough to take action."

House GOP Whip Steve Scalise is up. He says he's been "clear for a long time" that Greene's comments were "completely inappropriate."

But now, Greene has "actually held herself to account, he says, because she just said "Jesus died on the cross."

What... is happening.

McGovern notes Greene is *still* fundraising off of the dangerous things she's said and off of the criticisms she's gotten for saying them.

"Read her social media," he says. "I mean, come on."

This is a truly insane House debate.

Greene: I am a mom. A regular American. Also abortion is bad and the media is as bad as QAnon.

Dems: WTF you called for assassinating Pelosi and QAnon is a dangerous cult.

GOP: She said this stuff before tho and also Jesus died on a cross.

The House is now voting on the previous question, a procedural step.

The resolution they're getting to, to remove Greene from House committees, won't get a final vote til later this afternoon.

Things Greene said:

"I'm a very regular American."

School shootings are "absolutely real."

9/11 "absolutely happened."

Abortion is the "worst thing" the US has ever done

Media is "just as guilty as QAnon of presenting truth & lies to divide us.”

"None of us are perfect."

So Greene's floor speech was simultaneously aimed at debunking dangerous conspiracies she previously pushed + trying to normalize herself.

No apologies in there tho.

Dems not budging on their push to strip Greene from committees, of course.

McGovern: "Serving on a committee is not a right. It is a privilege."

Not clear yet how many, if any, Republicans will vote with Dems on this.

As we're waiting on this vote...

Here's Greene just last week, lashing out at CNN as "the enemy of the people" after it ran a story featuring some of her social media posts calling for executing Democratic politicians -- as recently as 2018 and 2019.

https://twitter.com/mtgreenee/status/1354136407128813571

Here's the CNN story she's mad about. It shows her posts fueling conspiracy theories about Trump being in an imagined battle against a cabal of Democrats and celebs who abuse children.

She also "liked" a comment about executing Pelosi + FBI agents. cnn.com/2021/01/26/pol…

An hour later, the House votes 218-210 -- along party lines -- to move forward with debate on removing Greene from all committees.

A Republican just made a motion to adjourn for the day, to avoid dealing with this anymore.

So now they're voting on that, which will fail.

Because a lot of members are voting by proxy due to COVID, this vote to adjourn is going to take a while.

Which is why Republicans called for it. They're trying to drag out the clock and avoid holding a final vote on booting Greene from her committee seats.

GOP Rep. Jackie Walorski -- who last month voted to *overturn the election* based on the same lies that *fueled a Capitol insurrection* before she voted -- just criticized Dems for stripping Greene from committees b/c it is bad for "collegial and bipartisan" relations.

Okay.

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy says the effort to strip Greene from committees is "dangerous" + that Dems have "acted to undermine the people's House at every turn."

McCarthy voted to overturn the election based on the same lies that fueled a Capitol insurrection hours earlier.

Right after the election, Kevin McCarthy also went on TV and falsely claimed that Trump won. And he told Trump's supporters to keep up "this battle." huffpost.com/entry/trump-fr…

The House is now voting to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee seats.

So far, one Republican is voting with Dems: @RepKinzinger

And... the House resolution to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee seats has passed, 230-199.

11 Republicans voted with Dems.

Every Democrat voted yes.

Greene just lost her seats on 2 committees: the Education and Labor Committee, and the Budget Committee.

The 11 House Republicans who just voted with Dems to strip Greene of her committee seats:

Diaz-Balart
Fitzpatrick
Gimenez
Jacobs
Katko
Kim of CA
Kinzinger
Malliotakis
Salazar
Smith of NJ
Upton

Two members didn't vote tonight.

Reps. Ron Wright (R-Texas) and Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio).

What's interesting to me about the 11 GOPers who sided with Dems here is the crossover between those who did (and did not) vote to overturn the election in Jan.

As in, those who voted to perpetuate lies/conspiracies about fraud who now voted to say it's not ok to do that.

Of the 11 GOPers who voted to strip Greene from committees tonight:

Diaz-Balart, Gimenez, Jacobs and Malliotakis voted to overturn the election last month.

Fitzpatrick, Katko, Kim of CA, Kinzinger, Salazar, Smith of NJ and Upton did not.