The US house of representatives, on Friday, voted to punish Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for pushing QAnon conspiracy theories, thereby expelling her from committee assignments.
The House voted 230 to 199 over near-unanimous Republican opposition to removing Greene from the Education and Budget Committees with 11 Republicans siding with Democrats. The move will diminish Greene’s ability to shape legislation and work with other lawmakers but remains a member of Congress and will still be able to vote.
Democrats said the move was a necessary response to counter the violent rhetoric and misinformation that helped instigate the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, since GOP leaders declined to sanction her.
Greene defended herself ahead of the vote in a speech on the House floor and attempted to distance herself from the dangerous and debunked QAnon conspiracy theory, which she has previously embraced. She did not apologize over the course of the roughly eight-minute speech, but portrayed her previous comments as “words of the past” that “do not represent me.” She warned that lawmakers were creating a “big problem” if they chose to “crucify” her for “words that I said, and that I regret, a few years ago.”
QAnon is a disproven and discredited far-right conspiracy theory alleging that a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping, cannibalistic paedophiles are running a global child sex-trafficking ring and plotting against former U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been fighting the cabal.
