McConnell calls Marjorie Taylor Greene a ‘cancer’ to GOP in stunning attack on pro-Trump outsider

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell launched a blistering attack on Monday against a member of his own party, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, over her history promoting conspiracy theories and violence against members of Congress.

The far-right Republican congresswoman’s “loony lies” are a “cancer for the Republican party,” Mr McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said in a statement first shared with The Hill.

“Somebody who’s suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr’s airplane is not living in reality,” said Mr McConnell. “This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party.”

Ms Greene is the first member of Congress who openly supported the right-wing QAnon conspiracy movement, which maintained that Donald Trump, as president, was waging a covert war against a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibals comprised of Hollywood elites, Democratic politicians, and others.

CNN alleged that Ms Greene has been wiping down her social media accounts to get rid of the conspiracy-riddled content she posted or “liked” in 2018 and 2019. Her account liked posts about executing Democrats in Congress, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

She has also been captured on video accosting David Hogg, a gun control activist who survived the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.

Ms Greene has claimed, falsely, that the Parkland shooting was a “false flag” operation and that the mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017 was staged.

Her videos, comments, and “likes” on social media have been marked by racism, Islamophobia, and anti-Semitism.

Ms Greene has sought to distance herself from some of those comments and endorsements, claiming she was not responsible for everything on her social media.

“Over the years, I've had teams of people manage my pages. Many posts have been liked. Many posts have been shared. Some did not represent my views,” she has said in a statement.

House Democrats have drawn up a resolution condemning Ms Greene’s history of inflammatory behaviour before she took office and seeking to strip her of her assignments to the House Budget and Education Committees.

The resolution is Democrats’ way of applying pressure on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, giving him a deadline to censure Ms Greene on his own. Mr McCarthy plans to meet with Ms Greene this week, after which he will decide whether to let her remain a functioning member of the GOP conference or boot her from her committees.

“It is my hope and expectation that Republicans will do the right thing and hold Rep. Greene accountable, and we will not need to consider this resolution. But we are prepared to do so if necessary,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said in a statement on Monday.