Some fellow members of the House GOP caucus have been slow to cash checks from the controversial Georgia Congresswoman. It appears that some Republican members of Congress would prefer to distance themselves from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
According to a Business Insider story this week, Greene sent campaign checks of $2,000 each to 18 colleagues earlier this year. While most cashed the checks, two did not. One Congressman’s campaign said he rejected it, while a spokesperson for a Congresswoman says the campaign “lost” it.
The outlet had noticed in Greene’s campaign filings that she had distributed the money, which they described as the Congresswoman being more of a “team player.” However, the reports from two of the recipients did not include such checks.
The staff of Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) stated that the campaign “chose not to accept” the funds from Greene, while the office of Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) stated that the check had gone missing, “due to a staffing error.”
It’s not common for members of Congress to admit that they had simply misplaced funds, and in most cases, it would be expected that they inform Greene’s camp that the check was missing and that they should cancel it and send a replacement.
Derek Tran, a Democrat who is running against Steel in her California district, commented to Insider about the lost check.
“Steel takes money from MAGA extremists, oil companies, pharmaceutical corporations, and gun manufacturers, and then votes their way,” the candidate told the publication. “It’s why Michelle Steel was named one of the most ‘corrupt members of Congress’ and why I’m running for Congress to defeat her.”
It’s not clear who or what entity named Steel one of the most “corrupt members of Congress.” The liberal group CREW used to put out such an annual list but does not appear to have done so in the last decade or so, and Steel has only been in Congress a single term.
Another candidate, Kim Bernice Nguyen, referenced the check on X and posted a picture of Steel hugging Greene, with a heart drawn on it.
Why did Van Orden, who has long been allied with Greene and appears close to her ideologically, reject such a check?
“It could simply come down to optics. Van Orden represents a swing district, and Democrats are eager to tie more vulnerable Republican candidates to the party’s electorally toxic far right. Accepting a direct contribution from Greene would only strengthen such attacks,” the Insider story said.
Rather than figure out what happened to her campaign checks, Greene spent much of the past week on a quixotic quest to get Donald Trump to run for speaker of the House. The Congresswoman posted on X Thursday that “Republicans have one chance to select a NEW Speaker of the House, and I have the perfect man for the job: President Donald J. Trump. President Trump has a PROVEN track record for the American people.”
Greene had formed an alliance with the previous speaker, Kevin McCarthy, despite most of her fellow lawmakers on the House’s right flank opposing his election. Now, those same Republicans have pushed McCarthy out of the speakership. It doesn’t look as though Greene’s choice of Trump is going to happen either.
The former president, late Thursday night, announced his endorsement of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) for speaker. Jordan is seeking the gavel, as is Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA). While McCarthy had a fraught relationship with Trump and had been slow to agree to endorse him, Jordan has been one of Trump’s most ardent backers on Capitol Hill.
As pointed out on X by journalist Matthew Gertz, Rep. Jordan has appeared on Fox News the most times of any member of Congress since Media Matters for America began keeping track in 2017.
“If the Republicans decide that Jim Jordan should be the Speaker of the House…There would no longer be any possible way to argue that a group of elected Republicans could be counted on to defend the Constitution,” former Rep. Liz Cheney said in a speech this week.
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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. Stephen has authored thousands of articles over the years that focus on politics, technology, and the economy for over a decade. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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