Marjorie Taylor Greene silenced by committee after calling DHS Secretary Mayorkas 'a liar'

The Republican-led House Committee on Homeland Security on Wednesday struck comments from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and ended her time to speak after she called Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a liar.

The committee first declined to strike comments from Greene, who spoke after Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., at a hearing on budget requests from the Department of Homeland Security. Greene started her comments by accusing Swalwell of having an affair “with a Chinese spy.”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., earlier this year said he would not seat Swalwell on the House Intelligence Committee over his previous ties to a suspected Chinese spy, a move Democrats called political revenge.

Democrats on Wednesday failed in a push to strike the allegation against Swalwell, arguing it violated House rules.

But as Greene continued with her comments, she criticized Mayorkas for the spread of fentanyl in the United States

“I want to know from you, how many more people do we have to watch die every single day in America? How many more young people do we have to see die? How many more teenagers?” the Georgia Republican asked.

Mayorkas tried to respond to the lawmaker, saying, “let me assure you that we're not letting it go on,” before Greene said she was reclaiming her time in the committee and called Mayorkas “a liar.”

'Unacceptable'

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., sought to have Greene’s words taken down, saying “We have a history of being a bipartisan committee that works on solutions. Now we can disagree, but we’ve gotten to the point of the language that we're using is not the kind of language that historically we as members of this committee have used.”

Committee Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., approved the move, saying “identifying or calling someone a liar is unacceptable in this committee.” The chair then noted that Greene was no longer recognized.

Greene was previously stripped of her committee assignments after a series of menacing social media posts. She was reinstated after Republicans took back control of the House following the 2022 midterms, named to the Oversight and Accountability Committee as well as the Homeland Security Committee.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Marjorie Taylor Greene silenced for calling Mayorkas a liar in hearing