A member of the House Freedom Caucus said Thursday that the group’s decision to expel Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from the pro-Trump coalition last month was motivated in part by their disagreement with Rep. Lauren Boebert.
“A vote was taken to remove Marjorie Taylor Greene from the House Freedom Caucus for some of the things she’s done,” said Freedom Caucus board member Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.). When asked if she was formally out, he replied: “As far as I know, that is the way it is.”
It’s the first time Greene’s status inside the conservative movement has been officially confirmed. POLITICO was the first to publish the vote, though it wasn’t immediately apparent if she had been dismissed. It happened less than two days after Greene and Freedom Caucus member Boebert engaged in an argument on the floor during which Greene called the Colorado Republican a “little bitch.” Greene verified the altercation after it was originally reported and continued, adding another derogatory term.
Although the two have frequently disagreed, Harris said that particular argument has been taken into consideration by the conservative group.
“I think the way she referred to a fellow member was probably not the way we expect our members to refer to other fellow, especially female, members,” Harris said Thursday. The Maryland Republican declined to say how he voted but called the decision to remove her “an appropriate action.”
It’s the first time the conservative caucus has expelled a member of its own, and it shows how angry they are with Greene. She sided against many Freedom Caucus members this year by supporting Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s bumpy run for the speakership as well as his debt settlement with President Joe Biden. The group is currently going through a post-Trump crisis, and some members worry that they may end up getting too cozy with the party elite.
Harris said, when asked if her backing of McCarthy and the debt agreement factored into the decision to expel her from the group, “I think all of that mattered.”
“I think the straw that broke the camel’s back was publicly saying things about another member in terms that no one should,” he said.
A Freedom Caucus representative declined to comment on Greene’s situation, pointing out that the organization doesn’t discuss its members or internal operations in public. An inquiry for comment was not immediately answered by a Greene spokeswoman.
Greene frequently shows up for the group’s weekly off-campus gathering. She would no longer be able to attend, though, because that closed-door meeting is only open to members.
She is not the first person to leave the organization, but it is the first time a formal vote to do so has been taken. Former Michigan representative Justin Amash resigned from the organization in 2019 and the Republican Party soon after. “One other member a couple of years ago,” Harris said, “who we probably would have asked to leave, but we just decided not to.”
Additionally, it could not end there. Targeting a few other members besides the Georgia Republican, who detractors accuse of failing to uphold group standards by being inactive, has been discussed. Prior to the vote to impeach Greene, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, told POLITICO that he had turned down those purge requests.
“The speaker’s race, there was some difference in opinion. The debt ceiling, there were differences of opinion. And we had to get 80 percent on any major issue that we take positions on,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a Freedom Caucus member, previously told POLITICO, referring to the threshold needed for the group to take a unified stance. “On some big issues, we have not been able to get there.”
As they attempt to pressure McCarthy and other leadership members to deviate from the levels outlined in the debt deal and to hold the line when he ultimately needs to engage with the White House and Senate Democrats, the group is currently at the core of the battle for government spending.
Even while they are mostly in agreement that they want to cut spending, the group has been debating in private what their plan of action should be after reaching an agreement with McCarthy to break an impasse that had paralyzed the House floor for a week.
Harris, though, contended that there were no other “large divisions” left after firing Greene and commended Perry.
“This wasn’t even a speed bump,” Harris added.
The post MTG Voted Out Of House Freedom Caucus – She’s Will NOT Like Why appeared first on The Republic Brief.
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