Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Testifies in Hearing Regarding her Reelection
Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene testified on Friday in a hearing that looks to challenge her ability to seek reelection this year, on the basis that she was a participant in the insurrection on the nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021. This is what happened.
The hearing came about through a nonprofit based in Atlanta, Georgia, known as Free Speech for the People. This is a group led by a team of lawyers that are looking to get Greene removed from the ballot because of her involvement in both the days leading up to the Capitol attack as well as her comments following that day. Their arguments surrounded section 3 of the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits any person from returning to their seat in office following their involvement in any kind of insurrection.
There are several pieces of evidence that the lawyers for the nonprofit tried to use to make their case. They played a video from the early days of January 2021, in which Greene stated that they couldn’t allow for the peaceful transfer of power to President Biden, and urged people to come to the Capitol as Republicans planned to object to the certification of the vote. A tweet from January 5 was also shown, in which Greene stated that the next day would be “a 1776 moment”, which they say is code for political violence within some far-right groups. Greene stated that the video was taken out of context and that she had never heard of the connection to violence in the 1776 moment statement.
Greene also responded to many questions with an apparent lapse in memory, stating that she could not recall information several times. One of the most prominent examples of this was when she was asked whether she sent a text message to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows suggesting that former President Trump should declare martial law. Greene respondedthat she had no recollection of that text message.
The claim from Greene’s lawyers is that she was not at all a participant in the attack on the Capitol. Instead, she is a victim in the whole situation just like all other lawmakers. They also say that this attempt to get Greene removed from the ballot is a violation of the voting rights of those in her district. Her team argues that the voters should be allowed to choose who they want and that if she is to be removed, it should be through the vote of the people.
There is no clear indicator at this point as to who is going to prevail in this case. There is a deadline of Thursday for briefings to be filed, and then the judge hopes to have a ruling within the next seven days after. In that ruling, the judge will make recommendations to Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, about whether or not to remove Greene from the ballot. It will then be up to Raffensperger to decide what to do, and since he is also up for reelection this year, it remains unlikely that he would take any chances by removing her. No matter which way the ruling goes, the case is likely to be appealed to a higher court.
