The House Freedom Caucus stripped Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) of her caucus membership, according to Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), a member of the caucus’s executive board.
Harris indicated to reporters Thursday that the final “straw” for Greene, who has been cooperating with House leadership as she seeks to pass legislation, was when she called fellow member Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) a “little bitch” on the House floor last month.
“I think the straw that broke the camel’s back was publicly saying things about another member in terms that no one should,” Harris told Politico and CNN.
Greene had lobbed the insult at Boebert while charging that Boebert had “copied” her by filing her own impeachment articles against President Joe Biden after Greene had already done so.
The testy remarks were first reported in the Daily Beast, which also reported that one lawmaker confirmed Boebert, in fact, opposed kicking Greene out of the group.
While the caucus tends to break from its policy of having in-person votes by conducting votes in chat messages, on June 23, it held an in-person vote to oust Greene.
Harris confirmed to Politico and CNN that the vote had occurred, but it remains unclear what the final vote tally was.
Asked if she was formally removed from the caucus, Harris told the outlets, “As far as I know, that is the way it is.”
The caucus has otherwise been mostly silent on the record about what transpired. A caucus spokesman provided a formal response that the caucus “does not comment on membership or internal processes,” despite members giving such details to mainstream media behind the scenes.
It remains unclear if chairman Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) has spoken directly with Greene to inform her of what Harris characterized as her ejection from the group.
Greene has become a key ally to House leadership as the conference attempts to unify around legislation with a razor-thin majority.
Greene is cosponsoring a bill with GOP Conference chairwoman Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to expunge former President Donald Trump’s impeachments, a move that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) also supports.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene arrives before former President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago estate hours after being arraigned in New York City, April 4, 2023, in Palm Beach. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
The outspoken Georgia Republican also backed McCarthy becoming speaker, saying during the contentious 15-ballot race that McCarthy’s detractors had no alternative viable plan for a different speaker.
She voted alongside a handful of other Freedom Caucus members, including one of the groups original founders Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), in support of raising the debt ceiling in exchange for Republican-backed spending cuts.
“I think all of that mattered,” Harris told Politico and CNN when asked if some of those points had factored into the decision.
In a lengthy statement provided to Breitbart News, Greene did not address her status with the caucus but said that she serves “Northwest Georgia first” and that she serves “no group in Washington.”
Read her full statement below:
In Congress, I serve Northwest Georgia first, and serve no group in Washington.
My America First credentials, guided by my Christian faith, are forged in steel, seared into my character, and will never change.
I fight every single day in the halls of congress against the hate-America Democrats, who are trying to destroy this country.
I will work with ANYONE who wants to secure our border, protect our children inside the womb and after they are born, end the forever foreign wars, and do the work to save this country.
The GOP has less than two years to show America what a strong, unified Republican-led congress will do when President Trump wins the White House in 2024. This is my focus, nothing else.
Both Greene and Jordan, two of the most high-profile members to split with the group on the debt ceiling bill, are also currently far and away the two most successful fundraisers in the Freedom Caucus, which has grown to roughly 40 members since Jordan and eight others launched it in 2015.
They along with Reps. Warren Davidson (R-OH), Troy Nehls (R-TX), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), and Mark Green (R-TX) joined about two-thirds of the conference in supporting the debt bill, one of the most consequential legislative packages this Congress, indicating fractures in the Freedom Caucus.
“If everybody thought the same, then you have a lot of duplication that’s unnecessary. So, I see that as a strength,” one caucus member, Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX), told Punchbowl News in response to reports of internal tensions.
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