If Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, is punished for hateful and conspiratorial social media posts made before she got to Congress, a Minnesota Democrat should face sanctions for comments made while in office that are anti-Israel and borderline anti-Semitic, a group of House GOP lawmakers say.
Rep. Brian Babin offered a resolution Tuesday to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee over a series of incendiary past remarks. The move by Babin, a Texas Republican, is a direct response to Democrats' threat to remove Greene from her committees if House Republican leaders fail to do so.
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With Republicans in the minority, the resolution won't pass or even be considered on the merits. But it's an effort to put House Democratic leaders on the defensive over the Greene situation. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, is moving to strip the first-term lawmaker of her committee assignments unless House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other top Republicans act.
Greene is under fire for, among other things, repeatedly indicating support for executing prominent Democratic politicians in 2018 and 2019 before being elected to Congress.
Omar, who was first elected in 2018, has become one of the most virulent critics of Israel. Some of her comments have been interpreted as anti-Semitic.
“Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel,” Omar once wrote. After being elected, she explained her view of why Congress backs Israel: “It’s all about the Benjamins baby.”
Hoyer, though, pushed back at any equivalence between Greene and Omar.
“There's absolutely no analogy to any member on our side of the aisle, period. Any analogy that they try to make is a specious one,” Hoyer told the Washington Examiner. “Greene, and unfortunately a number of others, are in a class by themselves in the context of an insurrection of violence being perpetrated against the House — against democracy and against the counting of the presidential election. There's no precedent for this.”
When asked by Capitol Hill reporters if Democrats were opening up a Pandora's box by potentially stripping a minority party member of her committee assignments, Hoyer responded, "I think that is a risk. The problem we have is, I don't remember ever serving with anybody like Greene. There's a picture of Greene with an automatic weapon, which you've probably seen. It says, 'This is XXX's worst nightmare.' I'm not sure what that implies. There are a lot of members very concerned about their personal safety."
He added, "And we live in an extraordinary time. So, our members believe that a statement has to be made about members who pose a threat, and clearly, she articulated that threat in that picture."
Greene’s 2019 Facebook posts show her liking a comment, prior to her tenure in Congress, posted on her page saying that "a bullet to the head would be quicker" in trying to get Pelosi removed. CNN reported a speech she posted to Facebook, where she reportedly stated, "And it's a crime punishable by death is what treason is. Nancy Pelosi is guilty of treason."
Greene made statements related to school shooting conspiracy theories and held a previous belief in QAnon, which she has since walked back.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs and fellow Freedom Caucus member Jim Jordan defended Greene on Tuesday. In a statement, Biggs said Democrats, such as California Rep. Maxine Waters, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and Omar, who made provocative statements in the past, were never punished by the Democratic Caucus.
“Many members of the radical left in Congress have advocated for violence, anti-Semitism, anti-law enforcement, and other sentiments that have violated rules of decorum and principles of American decency. The left, and their allies in the mainstream media, have ignored and buried these egregious statements, while projecting their sins upon Republicans,” Biggs said. “The American people are repulsed by this hypocritical double standard and overt attempt to remove Republicans from power.”
