Reports surfaced last week that the House Freedom Caucus, tiring of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)’s antics and her undermining of their goals, are considering kicking her out of the group.
According to Politico, the Caucus took a “momentous vote” last Friday on Greene’s future, although there’s no word on the official outcome of the vote, the outlet did say that the vote “ended with a consensus against her.”
“Greene’s close alliance with Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and her accompanying criticism of colleagues in the group, has put her on the opposite side of a bloc that made its name opposing GOP leadership,” the report said.
Marjorie Taylor Greene Has Drama
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), the leader of the Freedom Caucus, did not comment to Politico.
The uncertainty, per the report, is “partly due to the tightly held bylaws that govern official Freedom Caucus decisions.” It follows the high-profile confrontation, last week, on the House floor between Greene and her ally-turned-adversary Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), in which the two reportedly argued about their rival, long-shot resolutions to impeach the president.
Green, this week, complained that Boebert had leaked the news of the fight to the press, although it took place in full view of both other members of Congress and C-SPAN’s cameras.
“I find it unfortunate that Lauren Boebert leaked that conversation that we had to the press. But once she leaked it out, I had to confirm that that’s, in fact, what I said,” Greene said in a Fox News interview of a vulgarity she reportedly directed at Boebert during the confrontation.
Did Joe Biden Lawyer Up?
Adding to Greene’s bizarre behavior has been an obsession she seems to have taken up with the idea that President Biden has hired a new lawyer and that this is a sign of his impending doom.
There have been no credible news reports, in recent weeks, about the president hiring a new attorney, and if he had, there’s no reason to think it would have been made a secret. When the sort of big-time attorney who would represent a president of the United States takes such an assignment, the attorney usually announces it, and the Washington press corps tends to report on it. That’s what has happened each of the dozen or so times in the last seven years that Donald Trump has hired a new lawyer.
Biden already has a lawyer, and it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary, in the slightest, for him to add another one.
But for some inexplicable reason, that talking point is everywhere on the right in recent days. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), on Monday, tweeted that “Joe Biden has officially lawyered up. This is what a real scandal looks like.”
A Twitter account called Amuse quote-tweeted Issa, adding the alleged detail that “SHOCK: The President of the United States has hired a criminal defense lawyer after huddling with Hunter and his lawyers all weekend at Camp David,” although there’s been no reporting in the mainstream press about this alleged detail.
It’s not clear what Issa was talking about — and his office did not return a request from 19FortyFive for comment — but the notion of a new Biden attorney has been all over conservative media, with sites like Conservative Brief, DC Enquirer, and Gateway Pundit writing stories based on nothing but the Issa tweet.
And Greene has been all over the nonexistent “lawyered up” story.
On Monday, Greene posted a video of herself, talking in her car, about Biden’s “decision to hire an attorney.” She had posted the “lawyered up” talking point another time, and over a video of Biden discussing his recent call with President Zelensky, Greene tweeted “I’d like to know if his newly hired attorney was in the room as well.”
Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
From 19FortyFive
Joe Biden Is Starting To Scare Everyone
