Marjorie Taylor Greene facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Marjorie Taylor Greene
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Official portrait, 2022
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 14th district |
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| Assumed office January 3, 2021 |
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| Preceded by | Tom Graves |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Marjorie Taylor
May 27, 1974 Milledgeville, Georgia, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse |
Perry Greene
(m. 1995; div. 2022) |
| Children | 3 |
| Residences | Rome, Georgia, U.S. |
| Education | University of Georgia (BBA) |
| Signature |  |
Marjorie Taylor Greene (née Taylor; born May 27, 1974), also known by her initials MTG, is an American far-right politician, businesswoman, and conspiracy theorist who has been the U.S. representative for GA's 14th congressional district since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, she was elected to Congress in 2020 following the retirement of Republican incumbent Tom Graves, and reelected in 2022.
Greene has promoted antisemitic, white supremacist, and far-right conspiracy theories, including the white genocide conspiracy theory, QAnon, and Pizzagate. Other extremist conspiracy theories she has promoted include government involvement in mass shootings in the United States, baseless allegations of murder against the Clinton family, and 9/11 conspiracy theories. Before running for Congress, she supported calls to execute prominent Democratic Party politicians, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. As a congresswoman, she equated the Democratic Party with Nazis, and compared COVID-19 safety measures to the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust, later apologizing for this comparison. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Greene promoted Russian propaganda and praised Vladimir Putin. Greene identifies as a Christian nationalist.
A strong supporter of former president Donald Trump, Greene aided and supported Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 U.S. presidential election and has since supported Trump's false claims of a stolen election. She called for the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election in Georgia to be decertified, and was part of a group of Republican legislators who unsuccessfully challenged votes for Joe Biden during the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count, even though federal agencies and courts overseeing the election found no evidence of electoral fraud. Days after Biden's inauguration, Greene filed articles of impeachment alleging abuse of power. On February 4, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to remove her from all committee roles, in response to her statements and endorsements of political violence. Eleven Republicans joined the unanimous Democrats in the vote. She was appointed to new committee roles in January 2023. In June 2023, Greene was expelled from the conservative House Freedom Caucus after insulting Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, another member of the caucus.
Early life and education
Greene was born in Milledgeville, Georgia, on May 27, 1974, the daughter of Robert Taylor. She graduated from South Forsyth High School in Cumming, Georgia, in 1992, and the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1996.
Early career and activism
In 2002, Greene's father sold Taylor Commercial, an Alpharetta, Georgia-based general-contracting company that he had founded, to Greene and her husband, Perry. The couple are its vice president and president, respectively.
Greene was listed as the chief financial officer of Taylor Commercial from 2007 to 2011, but a 2021 Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation determined that she had no significant presence at the company. In 2011, Greene stepped down as the company's CFO and began CrossFit training.
By 2012, Greene was working as a part-time coach at an Alpharetta CrossFit gym. In August 2013, she co-founded a CrossFit gym, CrossFit Passion, in Alpharetta, along with Travis Mayer, a CrossFit athlete, before leaving the business in early 2017. In a 2015 interview, Greene said that when she and Mayer founded the gym, they knew little about how to run a business.
In 2021, Greene said that she became politically engaged during the 2016 Republican presidential primaries. Beginning in 2017, she wrote 59 articles as a correspondent for the now defunct American Truth Seekers, a conspiracy news website, and beginning in January 2018, 27 articles for Law Enforcement Today, a pro-police fake news website. In 2017, Greene visited Washington, D.C. to protest against a Republican gun control compromise.
Greene was a top official of the Family America Project, a conservative group founded in January 2018. She was a moderator of the organization's Facebook group.
In February 2019, Greene visited the U.S. Capitol and congressional offices. In a livestream video Greene posted on Facebook, she is seen outside Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's office, calling through the mail slot for Ocasio-Cortez to unlock the door and "face the American citizens that you serve". When visiting the offices of Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, Greene falsely claimed that they were not "official" representatives because they were sworn in to Congress on the Quran. In the videos, Greene said that she wanted Omar and Tlaib to instead be sworn in on the Bible and accused them of supporting Islamic law.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2020
Primary election
Having originally announced her intention to run in GA's 7th congressional district, Greene instead began her campaign in the 6th district, where she resided, on June 4, 2019. She stated her commitment to balance the federal budget and restrain Congress from using its constitutional power to spend new money into existence, adding: "If we look at our country as our household, we're going to go under foreclosure because we're overspending." Greene also criticized her expected primary opponent, former U.S. representative Karen Handel, for supporting large omnibus spending bills and a series of electoral losses: "She's lost seven races in her entire political career... She steps down from seats that she does win so she can campaign for something else. Basically I would call her [a] professional campaigner, but she loses."
On December 13, 2019, Greene announced that she was shifting her campaign to the 14th district after incumbent Tom Graves announced he would not run for reelection there. The district includes much of Northwest Georgia, stretching from the Georgia side of the Chattanooga metropolitan area to the exurbs of Atlanta. Members of the House are constitutionally required to live in the state they represent, but not necessarily in the same congressional district. Hence, although Greene had long lived in Milton, in the 6th district, there would have been no legal barrier to Greene running for the 14th. Still, she said she intended to move to the 14th if she ran there. She subsequently bought a home in nearby Paulding County, which is in the 14th. By the time she was sworn in in January 2021, Greene reported having moved to Rome, also firmly in the 14th.
On February 29, 2020, Greene spoke at a gun rights rally in Villanow hosted by Silent No Longer, a group campaigning to make Walker County a Second Amendment sanctuary. At the rally, she held up a banner for American Patriots USA – a far-right group attempting to further its influence with Georgia Republicans. Greene posed for photos with Chester Doles, a 5th-generation Ku Klux Klansman, Grand Klaliff leader, and founder of APUSA; Doles has nearly a dozen assault arrests and served two separate prison sentences in Maryland.
Greene campaigned as a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump but was not endorsed by him. She ran on the slogan "Save America, Stop Socialism!" In the days before the primary, Facebook took down a Greene video for violating its terms of service.
Greene finished first in the June 9 primary. Trump tweeted, "A big winner". Because no candidate received a majority of the vote, she faced neurosurgeon John Cowan – a Trump supporter Greene labeled a RINO – in a runoff election.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Marjorie Taylor Greene | 43,892 | 40.3 | |
| Republican | John Cowan | 22,862 | 21.0 | |
| Republican | John Barge | 9,619 | 8.8 | |
| Republican | Clayton Fuller | 7,433 | 6.8 | |
| Republican | Bill Hembree | 6,988 | 6.4 | |
| Republican | Kevin Cooke | 6,699 | 6.2 | |
| Republican | Matt Laughridge | 6,220 | 5.7 | |
| Republican | Ben Bullock | 3,883 | 3.6 | |
| Republican | Andy Gunther | 1,220 | 1.1 | |
| Total votes | 108,816 | 100.0 | ||
Runoff election
In a July 14 runoff debate, Cowan questioned Taylor Commercial's acceptance of Paycheck Protection Program money in relation to Greene's opposition to congressional appropriations of relief funds during the pandemic and also Taylor Commercial's donations to Greene's political campaign. Taylor Commercial received $182,300 in PPP funding from the Small Business Administration during the COVID-19 pandemic. SBA filings declared Taylor Commercial expected to save 12 jobs with the funds. Around two months after her company received the PPP loan, Greene donated $450,000 from her company to her campaign.
Greene won the August 11 runoff. On the day after her runoff victory, Trump tweeted his support for her, calling her a future Republican star.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Marjorie Taylor Greene | 43,813 | 57.1 | |
| Republican | John Cowan | 32,982 | 42.9 | |
| Total votes | 76,795 | 100.0 | ||
General election
Greene was considered an overwhelming favorite to win the seat in the general election, as the 14th district typically votes heavily Republican. In 2017 The Cook Political Report ranked the district the 10th-most Republican in the country.
On September 19, 2020, Greene appeared at a gun rights rally in Ringgold, Georgia, where the Georgia III% Martyrs provided security. During the rally, Greene had Chester Doles – with whom she had posed for a photo earlier in the year – ejected, and U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler made a brief appearance.
Greene was expected to face Democratic IT specialist Kevin Van Ausdal, but he withdrew from the race on September 11. This left Greene unopposed in the general election, which she won with 74% of the vote. Van Ausdal, whose name remained on the ballot, took 25%. She later mocked Van Ausdal's appearance and got into an argument with former Republican senator Jeff Flake on Twitter.
In the days after the election, Greene made deceptive claims that her husband Perry's Floyd County voting record revealed voter fraud, writing on social media that when her husband went to vote early, he was told he had received an absentee ballot despite not requesting one. Floyd County chief elections clerk Robert Brady told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that nothing happened to the missing ballot, and that it was canceled according to procedure, adding that: "he [Perry Greene] signed an affidavit on [October] 23rd and he was allowed to vote. [...] He only voted one time."
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Marjorie Taylor Greene | 229,827 | 74.7 | |
| Democratic | Kevin Van Ausdal | 77,798 | 25.3 | |
| Total votes | 307,625 | 100.0 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
Endorsements
Prominent Republicans who supported Greene in her candidacy included Donald Trump; U.S. representatives Jim Jordan, Andy Biggs, and Matt Gaetz; Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk; and Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows. Meadows's wife, Debbie Meadows, is the executive director of RightWomen Pac, which endorsed Greene and contributed $17,500 to her runoff campaign. Other donors included Barb Van Andel-Gaby – the chair of board of the Heritage Foundation – and attorney L. Lin Wood, who later promoted conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election. Greene also received support from the House Freedom Fund, a political action committee and the campaign fundraising arm of the House Freedom Caucus. The Georgia Republican Party contributed $5,220 to her campaign treasury on March 2, 2020.
2022
In September 2021, the Federal Election Commission asked Greene's 2022 reelection campaign treasurer, her husband, to provide information about $3.5 million of unitemized campaign contributions from undisclosed donors received in the first half of 2021. By federal law, only individual contributions under $200 are allowed to be unitemized or have donor identity withheld. Greene received more donations than any other House Republican in the first three months of 2021.
Greene defeated Jennifer Strahan in the Republican primary.
Greene is facing a legal challenge to her eligibility based on her alleged involvement in organizing and promoting the 2021 United States Capitol attack, based on the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which bars people who have engaged in insurrection from serving in Congress. Greene was re-elected, defeating Democratic challenger Marcus Flowers.
Tenure
On her first day in office, Greene wore a face mask onto the House floor that read "Trump Won", despite Trump having lost the 2020 U.S. presidential election to Joe Biden. During the counting of electoral votes, Greene raised an objection to counting Michigan's electoral votes. The objection was not signed by a member of the U.S. Senate and therefore was rejected.
In response to the January 6 United States Capitol attack by Trump supporters, Greene called for an end to violence and for support for Trump. She refused to wear a face mask while sheltering in place during the riot, and during the debate to impeach Trump she tweeted: "Democrats must be held accountable for the political violence inspired by their rhetoric." This prompted Democratic representative Jason Crow to call her "morally bankrupt", "depraved" and "frankly dangerous".
In a series of tweets following the attack on the Capitol, Greene falsely suggested that the rioters were members of antifa dressed as Trump supporters. Greene made these claims even though Anthony Aguero, a conservative activist and close associate of hers, was one of the people who stormed the Capitol. She also retweeted a clip from Fox News host Tucker Carlson, in which Carlson – citing Revolver News, a right-wing news website – claimed that agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation might have organized and participated in the attack. Later that month, Greene asked Trump to issue her a pardon for her efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Greene has supported efforts to impeach Joe Biden. On January 21, 2021, the second day of Biden's presidency, Greene filed articles of impeachment against him, citing alleged abuse of power as the reason for impeachment. In an interview with Greg Kelly of Newsmax, she perpetuated the Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory alleging that Biden had been bought off by foreign interests. By September 2022, Greene had introduced five different resolutions to impeach Biden.
On January 27, 2021, Representative Jimmy Gomez announced he had drafted a resolution to expel Greene from the House after reports that she had previously called for violence against Democrats. Representative Jake Auchincloss also called for Greene's resignation or expulsion due to her threats of violence against fellow lawmakers. On January 28, with the revelations of Greene's threats against Democratic members of the House, Pelosi spoke of an "enemy within the House of Representatives" and the need to increase security measures, stating that this referred to "members who want to bring guns on the floor and have threatened violence on other members of Congress" – alluding to Greene and other Republican representatives, such as Lauren Boebert, who wanted to bring guns onto the House floor. Pelosi also criticized the House Republican leadership for placing Greene on the Education Committee after Greene had questioned the authenticity of deadly school shootings around the country.
On January 29, 2021, Representatives Nikema Williams and Sara Jacobs introduced a resolution to censure Greene for making threatening comments to her colleagues and to call for her resignation. On March 19, Gomez formally introduced his resolution to expel Greene, with the support of 72 Democrats and no Republicans. It is considered unlikely to gain the required two-thirds majority needed to pass.
The Washington Post reported in May 2021 that two of its reporters observed Greene aggressively confront Ocasio-Cortez outside the House chamber, loudly asking why she supported antifa and Black Lives Matter, which Greene falsely characterized as terrorists. Ocasio-Cortez did not respond and called on House leadership to ensure that Congress remains "a safe, civil place for all Members and staff".
Later in May, Greene voted against the January 6 commission, a proposed commission which would have investigated the attack on the Capitol. During a speech she made against establishing a commission, Greene called for justice for Ashli Babbitt, a Trump supporter who was fatally shot by a Capitol police officer when she stormed the Capitol and attempted to break into the House chamber.
Also in May, Greene and Gaetz initiated a nationwide "America First Tour", beginning in The Villages, Florida. Throughout the tour, the two repeated unsubstantiated claims of fraud purported to have occurred during the 2020 election. Later in July, a scheduled rally in Laguna Hills, California, was canceled after the venue withdrew.
In June 2021, Greene was one of 21 House Republicans to vote against a resolution to give the Congressional Gold Medal to police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6. When Pelosi announced the creation of the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, Greene declared her interest in being seated on it.
In August 2021, after the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack requested that over 30 telecommunications companies retain phone records related to the attack, including those of Greene and several other members of Congress, she promised that companies that complied would be "shut down".
In February 2022, Greene spoke at a conference hosted by white supremacist Nick Fuentes, where Fuentes called the January 6 attack "awesome" and praised Putin and Hitler. When criticized for her attendance, Greene denounced these criticisms as "identity politics" and an attempt to "cancel" her, and labelled critics "Pharisees".
On June 22, 2023, Greene and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik introduced a pair of resolutions to expunge both of Trump's impeachments. The next day, Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy leant his support to the resolutions.
In June 2023, Greene was expelled from the Freedom Caucus by a vote of its members. ..... It was the first time the group ever voted to expel one of its members. While the remark towards Boebert was given as the primary reason for Greene's expulsion, Greene had also gone against some caucus positions and had allied herself with Speaker McCarthy, who was opposed by many in the caucus during the speaker election.
Committee assignments
Greene was briefly a member of the Committee on the Budget and the Committee on Education and Labor before she was removed from all committee assignments on February 4, 2021, for incendiary remarks she had made before her election. She was appointed to new committee roles in January 2023.
For the 118th Congress:
- Committee on Homeland Security
- Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement
- Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations
- Committee on Oversight and Accountability
- Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation
- Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce
- Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Caucus memberships
- Election Integrity Caucus
- Republican Study Committee
- Second Amendment Caucus
Greene had also been a member of the House Freedom Caucus, but was voted out in mid 2023.
Political positions
After she won the 2020 Republican primary runoff election, Greene wrote on Twitter: "The GOP establishment, the media, & the radical left, spent months & millions of dollars attacking me." She has expressed support for Donald Trump and declared her intention to push Republicans further to the right.
COVID-19
In September 2020, Greene wrote on Twitter that "children should not wear masks", calling recommendations by the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention and other public health officials "unhealthy for their psychological, emotional, and educational growth". She called restrictions imposed in the U.S. Capitol in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including face mask requirements, "tyrannical control" by Democrats. She opposed any form of mandatory mask-wearing, compulsory vaccination, or lockdowns in response to the pandemic. After Greene called masks "oppressive", National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci responded that her stance was "very disturbing" given the data on the seriousness of the outbreak. Greene and other Republicans refused to wear masks in a secured room with other members of Congress during the storming of the Capitol in January 2021; afterward, it was reported that several representatives tested positive for the virus, including Bonnie Watson Coleman, Pramila Jayapal and Brad Schneider.
Greene refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine, claiming there was no reason to because she is "perfectly healthy". By March 2021, the private sector had begun efforts to create vaccine passports to better enable those who had been inoculated to resume public gatherings, and some states and the federal government were considering such plans, though the Biden administration said participation would not be compulsory. Days later, Greene introduced a bill in the House, the We Will Not Comply Act, which sought to ban vaccine passports, as well as the Fire Fauci Act, which would eliminate Fauci's salary until his successor is confirmed by the Senate, although Senate confirmation is not required for Fauci's position as NIAID director. According to August 2021 financial disclosures, in 2020 Greene owned stocks in three COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, with at least $15,000 of stock in both Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, and at least $1,000 of stock in AstraZeneca.
Greene has been fined many times for not wearing a mask on the House floor. The first occasion was on May 18, 2021, when she was fined $500. Greene said she incurred a second fine of $2,500 after she again entered the House floor without a mask. By the end of October 2021, she had been fined 20 times for not wearing a mask on the House floor. According to House rules, subsequent fines were $2,500 each. Thus, with the 20th occasion, she had been fined a total of $48,000.
On June 4, 2021, Greene sent Biden a letter calling for an investigation into Fauci over his statements on the origin of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. In the letter, she called COVID-19 a "manufactured plague" caused by a "Chinese-made virus". Greene urged Biden to respond to the letter by June 31; June has only 30 days. Days later, she suggested that only a bioweapon could explain the existence and spread of the virus. Greene also said that she did not support the use of gain-of-function research to identify emerging diseases and develop vaccines and treatments.
In July 2021, Greene dismissed the COVID-19 variants, including the Delta variant, saying, "no one cares". She also posted misinformation about the virus.
On August 12, Greene admitted that COVID-19 is spreading, but falsely said that hospitals were not overwhelmed with afflicted patients.
2020 presidential election
Greene is a supporter of former president Donald Trump; on January 4, 2021, she called for the results of the presidential election in Georgia to be decertified. After Trump's second impeachment, she introduced an article of impeachment against Biden on January 21, the day after he took office; no one co-sponsored it.
During an interview with Steve Bannon on July 7, 2021, Greene rejected a conspiracy theory that suggested Trump would be reinstated as president in August 2021.
On October 22, 2021, Greene purchased shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company that had just merged with Trump Media & Technology Group for the purpose of funding Trump's planned social media app, Truth Social.
Foreign policy
During a speech at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference, Greene adamantly opposed foreign aid, saying: "I wanted to take my regular, normal person, normal, everyday American values, which is: We love our country. We believe our hard-earned tax dollars should just go for America, not for... China, Russia, the Middle East, Guam – whatever, wherever." This remark about Guam, which is a U.S. territory whose residents are U.S. citizens, prompted Guam delegate Michael San Nicolas to offer Greene Chamorro chip cookies in what he called "cookie diplomacy". Guam governor Lou Leon Guerrero told the Guam Daily Post that her office would be "more than happy to send Representative Greene's office a copy of Destiny's Landfall: A History of Guam".
In March 2021, Greene was one of 14 House Republicans to vote against a measure condemning the Myanmar coup d'état, for reasons reported to be unclear.
In June 2021, Greene was one of 49 House Republicans to vote to repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002.
In July 2021, Greene stated on Bannon's show that, if she had the authority to, she would kick out every Chinese person in the United States who is loyal to the Chinese Communist Party and impose strict tariffs on China. Also in July, Greene voted against the bipartisan ALLIES Act, which would increase the number of special immigrant visas for Afghan allies of the U.S. military during its invasion of Afghanistan by 8,000, while also reducing some application requirements that caused long application backlogs; the bill passed in the House by a vote of 407–16.
Throughout the Russo-Ukrainian War, Greene has promoted Russian propaganda and praised Vladimir Putin. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, she criticized the "corrupt" Ukrainian government and argued against sending Ukraine weapons. She has suggested that Ukraine instigated the invasion by agitating Russia.
Greene has been critical of NATO. She was one of 18 Republicans to vote against admitting Sweden and Finland to NATO.
LGBT rights
On February 2, 2021, Greene co-sponsored the Old Glory Only Act, a bill to ban U.S. embassies from flying pride flags.
On February 24, 2021, Greene tried to block the Equality Act while it was being debated on the House floor. She proposed replacing it with a bill that would exempt nonprofit organizations, allow people to sue the federal government "if their religious rights are violated", and prevent trans women and girls from participating in women's sports.
In April 2021, Greene supported a bill by Representative Mary Miller that would bar schools from allowing transgender students to use facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their gender identity.
On June 1, 2022, Greene said that "an entire" pride month celebrating LGBT people "needs to end."
Race, religion, and immigration
Greene opposes the Black Lives Matter movement and has called it a Marxist group. After the murder of George Floyd, Greene posted on Facebook that his death "must be investigated and justice will be served". One year later, when Derek Chauvin was found guilty of Floyd's murder, Greene claimed the verdict was a result of jury intimidation by Black Lives Matter. Greene denounced the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a civil rights and police reform bill, as an "Anti-Police bill", erroneously claiming it would bar law enforcement from using facial recognition.
In a recording obtained by Politico, Greene said that Muslims who believe in Sharia law should not be in the U.S. government. Her comments on black people, Muslims, and Jews were denounced by Republican House leaders and a spokesman for National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Tom Emmer. Greene said that the election of Omar and Tlaib in the 2018 midterm elections was part of "an Islamic invasion of our government".
On April 16, 2021, it was reported that Greene and other House Republicans, such as Gaetz, Louie Gohmert, and Paul Gosar, were interested in launching an America First Caucus, and Gohmert confirmed Greene's involvement to reporters. According to a leaked seven-page document on the aims of the caucus, they believe that "America is a nation with a border, and a culture, strengthened by a common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions." The document also stated the caucus would "work towards an infrastructure that reflects the architectural, engineering and aesthetic value that befits the progeny of European architecture." Greene's office said on April 16 that the new caucus would be launched "very soon", but the next day her spokesman said it was still in an early planning stage and that Greene was not "launching anything". Greene disavowed the caucus and stated she was not involved, calling it a "staff level draft proposal from an outside group that [she] hadn't read".
In February 2022, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized Greene for attending the America First Political Action Conference, saying there was no place in the party for "white supremacists or anti-Semitism".
Greene has defended Christian nationalism and described herself as a "proud Christian nationalist."
Climate change
Greene rejects the scientific consensus that climate change is caused primarily by human activity, explaining her position as: "maybe perhaps we live on a ball that rotates around the sun, that flies through the universe, and maybe our climate just changes."
Evolution
Greene has said that she does not accept the scientific fact of evolution, calling it a "type of so-called science" and saying: "I don't believe in evolution. I believe in God."
Antisemitism
Camp Fire conspiracy theory
In 2018, Greene's Facebook account shared a conspiracy theory about the Camp Fire, a deadly Californian wildfire, suggesting that it could have been caused by "space solar generators" in a scheme involving California Governor Jerry Brown, companies PG&E, Rothschild & Co, and Solaren. The Rothschild family has been the subject of numerous antisemitic conspiracy theories since at least the 19th century; the theories allege they are an "international cabal of Jewish bankers". For these comments, Greene was condemned by the Republican Jewish Coalition, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and Christians United for Israel, with the latter group stating that Greene had promoted "wild anti-Semitic conspiracy theories". Meanwhile, Representative Jimmy Gomez and the Jewish Democratic Council of America called for Greene to be expelled from Congress.
Solaren, a solar energy company, noted several fundamental problems with the conspiracy theory, including that its space-based solar power system did not beam power using the visible light part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and so could not be observed as the "blue beams of light" referenced by the theory; that the system does not use lasers, and so could not have "laser beams"; that Solaren's power contract with PG&E ended in 2015; and that by 2021, Solaren had not launched any solar power satellites into space at all, let alone had one in space in 2018.
Anti-Catholicism
On April 28, 2022, in an interview with the far-right Church Militant, Greene attacked the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, accusing them of "destroying" America with their work regarding immigrants and refugees. Her statement was widely condemned by both Democrats and Republicans. Catholic League President Bill Donohue called Greene a "disgrace" and demanded that Congress sanction her. Her attack was compared with other instances of anti-Catholicism in the United States.
Greene was baptized, raised, and married as a member of the Roman Catholic Church, but stopped attending Catholic mass services. After that, Greene rebaptized in 2011 into North Point Community Church, an evangelical megachurch network based in Alpharetta, in a baptism published in an online video.
In response to Donohue's statement, Greene claimed that her criticisms were limited to Church leadership and did not apply to lay Catholics.
Responses
Within Congress
Democrats have condemned Greene's incendiary statements and promotion of conspiracy theories. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz introduced a motion to remove Greene from her committee assignments. On February 1, 2021, House majority leader Steny Hoyer gave McCarthy and other Republican House leaders an ultimatum: unless they stripped Greene of her committee seats within 72 hours, the Democrats would bring Wasserman Schultz's motion before the full House. In turn, McCarthy called some of Greene's comments "deeply disturbing".
McCarthy met with Greene on February 2 and then held meetings with the House GOP Steering Committee, which is responsible for committee assignments for Republican members of the House. No decision was made that day, but Greene was a major topic of discussion for the Republican Congressional Caucus meeting on February 3, along with the fate of Representative Liz Cheney after her vote in favor of Trump's second impeachment. Greene retained Trump's support, which presented McCarthy with the problem of having to manage the expectations of the Republican Party's various factions in dealing with Cheney and Greene.
Removal from House Committee assignments
As controversy grew about her previous comments, Greene removed her old social media posts and spoke before the House Republican Conference on February 3, 2021, to state that her social media content did not reflect who she is, prompting a standing ovation. In lieu of total removal from her assignments, McCarthy stated that he had suggested Greene be moved to the Small Business Committee. That day, the Democratic-controlled House Rules Committee passed Wasserman Schultz's motion to remove Greene from her committee assignments. McCarthy indicated his conference would not act against Greene. Pelosi chastised McCarthy for acquiescing to Greene, referring to him as "McCarthy (Q-CA)", in reference to the QAnon conspiracy theory. On February 4, the full House voted to remove Greene from her committee assignments. The vote was 230 to 199, with 11 Republicans joining all Democrats. After the vote, Greene described herself as "freed", calling the committees part of "basically a tyrannically controlled government". She is unlikely to be able to serve on a committee for the rest of her term in the 117th Congress.
Outside Congress
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Republican Jewish Coalition condemned Greene's statements.
In February 2021, CrossFit attempted to distance itself from Greene, who once owned an affiliated gym and is an avid proponent of CrossFit fitness regimens.
On May 21, 2021, Common Cause filed an FEC complaint against Greene for an alleged violation of McCain–Feingold campaign finance provisions, accusing her of "implicit" unlawful solicitation of unlimited contributions in an advertisement appearance made on behalf of a super PAC that targeted Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. In the ad, she calls on viewers to "fight back now, before it's too late" before a separate voice-over asks them to contribute to the PAC seconds thereafter.
During her 2020 campaign and the beginning of her first term in Congress, Greene became one of the most recognizable names in the GOP. On January 29, 2021, Greene stated she had raised $1.6 million amid criticism from Democratic lawmakers. In a February 2021 poll by YouGov, shortly after her removal from her committee assignments, 45% of surveyed adult U.S. citizens viewed her unfavorably, 33% didn't know, and 21% viewed her favorably. In a mid-May 2021 poll by Morning Consult, the majority of GOP voters surveyed had either never heard of or had no opinion on Greene; among those who had an opinion, Greene was seen overall more favorably than unfavorably. As of July 2021[update], opinions on Greene among her constituents in the 14th district are split.
In his 2021 memoir, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, a Republican, denounced Greene for her "baseless, factless, absurd, and dangerous" rhetoric.
Student loan forgiveness
In 2022, the White House criticized Greene for attacking its student loan forgiveness program, calling her hypocritical since she accepted forgiveness of a $183,504 loan from the Paycheck Protection Program.
Greene's Twitter accounts have been suspended and locked many times for violating Twitter's policies. Her Twitter account was temporarily suspended five times in 2021, from manual reviews or automated systems. Her personal account was permanently suspended for spreading COVID-19 vaccine misinformation; her official congressional account remains active.
Greene's personal Twitter account was locked for 12 hours on January 17, 2021 "for multiple violations of our civic integrity policy". Twitter's action was based on a company policy it had used to remove thousands of QAnon-related accounts after the storming of the United States Capitol. Before the suspension, Greene's posts included false claims about voting fraud and statements blaming electoral officials in Georgia for their failure to act on such claims. Upon returning to Twitter, she criticized the company.
As of March 19, 2021, Greene was barred from blocking anyone on her public Twitter or any other social media account while in office and was forced to pay $10,000 to cover legal fees for MeidasTouch, whose co-founder says it will donate the money to two nonprofit organizations. This resulted from an out-of-court settlement between Greene and MeidasTouch after MeidasTouch sued Greene for violating the political action committee's First Amendment rights when she blocked it from posting on her Twitter page.
2022 primary ballot challenges
In early 2022, Greene said that under a provision of a state law, several Georgia electors had filed papers seeking to remove her from the 2022 Republican primary ballot as unqualified for office. Electors alleged she had been involved in assisting the 2021 United States Capitol attack. On April 1, 2022, Greene filed a federal lawsuit in which she vigorously denied the allegations and sought to have the law blocked as unconstitutional. The law allows a candidate to be removed from a ballot after review by an administrative law judge and the Georgia Secretary of State. A federal judge denied her challenge on April 18, requiring her to give evidence four days later. She testified for three hours on April 22. On May 6, the judge ruled that she was eligible for reelection, but the final decision belongs to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Personal life
Greene married Perry Greene in 1995 while in college. They have three children. Perry Greene announced in September 2022 that he was filing for divorce and that their marriage was "irretrievably broken". On December 22, 2022, the divorce was finalized.
..... Greene was rebaptized in 2011 into North Point Community Church, an evangelical megachurch network based in Alpharetta, in a baptism published in an online video. Greene speaks often about her faith and has said that she wants to bring "my faith and my family values to Washington".
According to ABC affiliate WSB-TV in Atlanta, in May 2021, Greene broke Georgia law by claiming two homestead exemptions in taxes on her properties, an older home and one she bought in the Georgia's 14th congressional district when she ran for office; only one exemption may legally be claimed. Greene responded that the issue was "paperwork, which is being taken care of".
In 2023, after her divorce from Perry Greene, she began dating Brian Glenn, the director of programming for the Right Side Broadcasting Network.
Greene participated in the CrossFit quarterfinals for the 2014, 2015 and 2018 CrossFit Games. In 2015 she placed 47th amongst 40 to 44 year old women worldwide, but did not progress to the next stage. Her benchmark statistics claim a 285lb back squat and a 300lb deadlift.
In November 2023, Greene released a "tell-all" book, titled MTG. The book, published by Winning Team Publishing, details Greene's upbringing, her first campaign for Congress, and her three-year tenure as a United States representative.
See also
In Spanish: Marjorie Taylor Greene para niños
- Conspiracy theories in United States politics
- Radical right (United States)
