Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene silenced after calling Homeland Security Secretary a 'liar'
WASHINGTON — After accusing a colleague of having an extramarital affair and calling the Homeland Security Secretary a 'liar,' the head of the Homeland Security Committee moved to silence Northwest Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) on Capitol Hill Wednesday.
The drama unfolded during a meeting of the House Homeland Security Committee meeting on Capitol Hill.
EXTRAMARITAL AFFAIR ACCUSATIONS
Rep. Greene followed Rep. Eric Swalwell (D) of California in questioning. Rep. Swalwell seemed to reference Greene and others in discussing efforts to defund the FBI, according to the Hill.
Greene responded by saying "That was quite entertaining, from someone that had a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy and everyone knows it."
Democrats immediately moved to strike Greene's words, saying it violated House rules on making attacks based on personality. But Greene declined to withdraw them.
Watch the full exchange below:
Axios reported in 2020 that Christina Fang, an operative for China’s Ministry of State Security, got close to Swalwell before his election to Congress in 2012, and that she maintained her closeness with Swalwell after his election, even working on his reelection campaign in 2014, and placing an intern in his office. Axios reported that Swalwell cut ties with Fang after the FBI's briefing and is not accused of any wrongdoing.
CALLING SECRETARY MAYORKAS A 'LIAR'
Just a few minutes later, Rep. Greene confronted Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during questioning, raising her voice when talking about fentanyl.
"China is poisoning America's children... how long are you going to let this go on?" Rep. Greene said.
Secretary Mayorkas began, "Congresswoman, I assure you that we are not letting this go on."
But Rep. Greene interrupted, saying "No, I reclaim my time, you're a liar. You are letting this go on."
Shortly after that, a Democratic committee member moved to 'take down' Greene's comments.
Committee Chairman Rep. Mark Green (R-Tennessee) agreed, apparently not realizing that 'taking down' comments is not the same as 'striking' comments from the record.
While the latter would have allowed her to continue to question Mayorkas, the former meant that Greene was no longer recognized to speak at the hearing.
Rep. Green did say that calling a witness a liar was out of bounds in a congressional committee hearing.
Watch the exchange below:
After the dramatic events ended, Rep. Greene took to Twitter, saying Rep. Swalwell 'stills [sic] makes all kinds of ridiculous accusations every day in Congress about me, my colleagues, and President Trump."
She repeated the unproven claim, saying, "We all know it’s true, Eric Swalwell had a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy. And I’ll never retract that."
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Editor's note: The original version of this story incorrectly reported that Greene's silencing was by a committee vote. In fact, the decision to silence her was by Committee Chair Rep. Mark Green (R-Tennessee).
