(Headline USA) Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., was prohibited from speaking during a committee hearing this week after she blasted Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas as a “liar.”
During the heated exchange between Greene and Mayorkas, Greene pointed to the number of fentanyl deaths in the U.S. and accused Mayorkas of enabling the fentanyl crisis by refusing to enforce immigration policies.
Mayorkas replied: “Congresswoman, let me assure you that we’re not letting it go on.”
“No, I reclaim my time,” Greene interrupted. “You are a liar. You are letting [the border crisis] go on. And the numbers prove it.”
The top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., then interjected and asked for Greene’s words to be struck from the record. Greene, however, refused to withdraw her remarks.
The panel’s chairman, Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., then ruled that Greene could not speak the rest of the hearing.
“It’s pretty clear that the rules state you can’t impugn someone’s character. Identifying or calling someone a liar is unacceptable in this committee and I make the ruling that we strike those words,” he said.
Greene told CNN afterwards that she spoke with the chairman but that they disagreed with what happened during the hearing.
“He basically said that we have two different styles so we have a disagreement still about what took place yesterday, but, you know, I am still new to committees so I will make sure I am following the rules, which I do think is important, but at the same time I am still going to keep pushing,” she said.
Greene also said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., disapproved of the committee’s decision to silence her.
The chairman, however, disagreed.
“I had a conversation that was maybe a little different with [McCarthy],” Green said. Asked if the speaker agreed with his decision to silence Greene, the chairman said: “We didn’t really get into the details of it.”
