House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) met with QAnon-promoting Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on Tuesday night, finally relenting to growing pressure for GOP leadership to address the conspiracy-laden mess kicked up by the freshman lawmaker that has quickly spiraled out of control.
Following criticism for a failure to take swift action, McCarthy’s nearly two hour meeting with the conspiracy theorist GOP lawmaker waded through a history of incendiary remarks and falsehoods that have been sharply criticized by Democrats and some Republicans who have pushed for her removal from House committees.
According to Politico, McCarthy offered Greene a handful of options to remedy the future embarrassment of GOP that included denouncing QAnon and delivering a public apology for espousing harmful conspiracy theories and endorsing violence against Democrats. Alternatively, Greene could opt to remove herself from the panel to spare her colleagues a vote on the matter. Awaiting removal from committees by her peers could be a third option.
Officials told CNN that McCarthy gave no indication that Greene showed remorse or contrition for her past remarks.
McCarthy’s meeting with Greene was reportedly followed by a late-night meeting to discuss removing Greene with a steering panel that designates committee posts. Sources told Politico that the panel reached consensus that a House vote on this issue would be catastrophic and should be avoided at all costs.
Desperate to save the GOP from an intensifying mess around Greene’s bogus theories, McCarthy reportedly told the panel that he would potentially try to convince House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) to back off a House floor vote to remove her from the Budget Committee if he removes Greene from the Education and Labor Committee.
McCarthy’s belated meeting with Greene comes as a group of House Republicans are deliberating whether to punish the Georgia congresswoman for dangerous comments she made before she was elected.
Greene has come under fire for suggesting the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting was a “false flag” operation and according to a recent CNN report has previously endorsed the execution of FBI agents and Democratic lawmakers.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a blistering rebuke of the QAnon-aligned lawmaker on Monday declaring that “looney lies and conspiracy theories” are a “cancer” to the GOP.
His comments were followed by similar ones from Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) who said that the GOP needed to “make it very clear that she does not represent us in any way.”
“Our big tent is not large enough to both accommodate conservatives and kooks,” he said.
