Marjorie Taylor Greene says Matt Gaetz, others need to apologize

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said in an interview on Fox Business on Tuesday that Rep. Matt Gaetz and the others who voted to boot Rep. Kevin McCarthy owe everyone an apology.

“The eight Republicans who joined Democrats and ousted Kevin McCarthy, they need to apologize and we need to heal our conference in order to move forward,” the Georgia Republican said.

On Oct. 8, Greene accused Gaetz, R-Fla. of leaving the GOP in a weakened position after ousting McCarthy, reports The Hill. “I want to remind everyone that we barely control the majority of the House, and that’s only one-third of the federal government,” Greene said. “What happened last week, I completely disagree with. It was eight Republicans joining with all the Democrats in the House and basically throwing the gavel on the floor and saying it’s now up for grabs for everyone that wants it.”

Greene was a strong supporter of McCarthy during his 15 rounds of voting before he became the speaker in January, causing clashes with other members of the Freedom Caucus. The caucus kicked her out earlier this summer for a public spat with Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo. In September, Greene told reporters she was glad she was no longer a member of the “burn-it-all-down” caucus.

Related

• Marjorie Taylor Greene calls her former Freedom Caucus colleagues the ‘burn-it-all-down’ caucus

• 4th time’s a charm? House Republicans pick new speaker nominee late Tuesday

Still no speaker

The GOP-controlled House of Representatives is on its fourth nominee in three weeks, but still has no speaker. First were Reps. Steve Scalise and then Jim Jordan. On Tuesday, Rep. Tom Emmer was the nominee for about four hours, then saw his candidacy torpedoed by former President Donald Trump. Now, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana is the nominee, but he is still many votes away from the 217.

A staunch ally of Trump, Johnson signed an amicus brief alongside more than 100 House Republicans supporting a Texas lawsuit that aimed to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. He also objected to election results from Arizona and Pennsylvania on Jan. 6, 2021.

Gaetz said Tuesday that ousting McCarthy was worth it to get Johnson. “To everyone who said I didn’t have a plan: This guy has been sitting next to me for seven years on the House Judiciary Committee,” he told reporters. “I hope my mentorship has rubbed off.”

Gaetz went on to praise Johnson as a “transformational leader” who is “broadly respected in the caucus.” “We adore him, and I think he’s gonna do a great job for the country and for the right reasons,” he said.

Wednesday morning, Gaetz told Steve Bannon, “If you don’t think that moving from Kevin McCarthy to MAGA Mike Johnson shows the ascendance of this movement and where the power in the Republican Party truly lies, then you’re not paying attention.”

Greene says she will only support a speaker that fully supports Trump. Trump was originally Greene’s choice for speaker. Earlier this month, she said that if Trump became the speaker of the House, every day in the House would be like a Trump rally and would be “the House of MAGA.”

When Greene was asked Tuesday when the House was going to have a speaker again, she said that 2023 is not the first time the House has been speaker-less.

On Tuesday, she said she believed “more names” would come back in to the speaker’s race.

Holly Richardson is the editor of Utah Policy