Marjorie Taylor Greene Defends Insurrectionists While Refusing to Back January 6 Commission

Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:59 pm

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has announced she will not support a bipartisan commission to investigate the events of January 6.

In a speech on the House floor, Greene defended the insurrectionists who stormed the United States Capitol in a bid to overturn the results of an election countless agencies have stressed was both free and fair and continued to propagate the lie generated by former President Donald Trump that the election was “stolen.”

“The question that comes to mind is this: What about all the riots that happened during the summer of 2020 after the death of George Floyd? What about the damage caused to federal buildings, churches, people’s businesses and innocent people that were killed? Is that not an insurrection?” she said, adding that insurrectionists have been “abused” in jail while calling for “justice” for the death of Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by Capitol Police as she attempted to breach the Capitol.

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Earlier, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced he would also oppose the commission.

“Given the political misdirections that have marred this process, given the now duplicative and potentially counterproductive nature of this effort, and given the Speaker’s shortsighted scope that does not examine interrelated forms of political violence in America, I cannot support this legislation,” McCarthy said, accusing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of not negotiating in good faith.

The House of Representatives reached a bipartisan agreement last week to form the commission, which would include a panel of 10 members with half of them appointed by Democratic congressional leaders, including the chair, and half by Republicans, including the vice-chair. 

Alan Herrera

Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.