Rep.-elect Marjorie Greene (R-GA), a right-wing conspiracy theorist and QAnon supporter, said she would play along in President Donald Trump’s wildly unsuccessful effort to overturn the election results by objecting to the Electoral College vote during a join congressional session early next month that will reaffirm the win of President-elect Joe Biden.
Greene tweeted a link to the Epoch Times, a far-right, Trump-friendly news organization that cited her decision to object to the Electoral College votes that were cast on Monday in several states, including her own.
“President @realDonaldTrump has always fought for us,” Greene wrote to justify her decision on Friday afternoon. “Now is the TIME to fight for him!”
President Trump lavished praise on Greene when she won her GOP primary in August, touting her as a “rising star” in the Republican Party. He even defended her candidacy as she raised eyebrows for tweeting bizarre theories from a group flagged by the FBI as a domestic terror threat. Greene later urged an “offense” against progressive women of color in the House in a gun-slinging photo that was later removed from Facebook.
Hours after her initial tweet, Greene said she was looking for a GOP senator to back the effort:
I’m looking for a Senator to join myself, @RepMoBrooks & @RepBarryMoore.
RT and tag your Senator to let them know where you stand. https://t.co/aWpOKP7d7J
— Marjorie Taylor Greene ?? (@mtgreenee) December 18, 2020
Greene’s move would follow what is expected to be a futile attempt by Sen.-elect Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who suggested on Thursday he may back Trump’s election gambit in the Senate when both chambers convene on Jan. 6.
The traditionally routine ceremony will take place at midday in accord with federal law, as sealed certificates from each state that contain a record of their electoral votes are opened and counted. Vice President Mike Pence is expected to oversee the session.
Tuberville floating the idea of challenging the Electoral College vote defies Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) warning to Republican senators during a GOP caucus call earlier this week. On Tuesday, McConnell implored his colleagues not to join in any House objection, saying they would have to vote it down and it would be “terrible.”
The President praised Tuberville in a tweet on Thursday, saying that “more Republican Senators should follow his lead” in an effort to steal an election that he decisively lost.
In another post, Trump attacked McConnell and GOP senators who have finally lined to adhere to the rules of democracy by accepting loss, saying the Republican leaders “have to get tougher, or you won’t have a Republican Party anymore.”
The effort by Tuberville, Greene and a handful of others is all but certain to fail. Even if Greene and a GOP senator signed onto an objection in writing, both chambers would then have to agree to it by a simple majority vote. But even one of Trump’s most reliable allies, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who spent months propping up Trump’s election fraud claims and spent Wednesday airing grievances about the election, has “no plans” to join a House challenge to the results, his spokesman, Austin Altenburg told the Associated Press.
