Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) called for Congress to hold hearings into the prospect of expelling Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from Congress as she faces blowback for past comments calling for violence against Democrats.
Greene has drawn Democrats’ ire since she campaigned for her Georgia House seat, when past comments denigrating Muslims and Jews and supporting the QAnon conspiracy theory drew national headlines. But she’s found herself in hot water with both parties this week when it was revealed that she’d supported Facebook posts that called for executing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and FBI agents.
“I think they should hold hearings to expel her. I mean, look at what she has done,” Khanna said on CNN. “Who does that? In what environment can you put that stuff out on social media and still have a job? She has really crossed the line. I do not take it lightly to be calling for something like that, but she has crossed the line in a way that is very disturbing.”
Democrats have called for an array of punishments against Greene, including stripping her of her committee assignments. Reps. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.) and Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) said Friday they plan to introduce legislation next week formally censuring Greene.
Among the social media posts that have come under scrutiny are a 2018 message in which she said that the “stage is being set” in response to a post calling for the assassinations of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Obama.
Greene in January 2019 also allegedly liked a Facebook comment that stated, “a bullet to the head would be quicker,” to remove Pelosi from office.
Expelling a member from the House requires a two-thirds majority vote, an unlikely scenario given Democrats’ narrow majority. However, even some in the GOP have expressed alarm at her comments.
“These comments are deeply disturbing and Leader McCarthy plans to have a conversation with the Congresswoman about them,” a spokesperson for Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said this week.
Greene fired back at her critics in a statement to supporters Friday, saying Democrats and “the Fake News media” are trying to “take me out.”
“I will never back down. I will never give up. Because I am one of you. And I will always represent you,” she said. “I take these slings and arrows gladly for you. I take them for our America First movement so that we can save our country and stop socialism. I knew this day would come, it was only a question of when.”