Greene rebuffs Jan. 6 criticism during tense hearing

Source: The Hill | April 22, 2022 | Max Greenwood

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) took the witness stand on Friday as part of a hearing on whether she played a role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, becoming the first member of Congress to testify under oath about their involvement in the attack.

The hours-long testimony featured a series of tense exchanges between Greene and attorneys for a group of her constituents who are seeking to have the first-term lawmaker barred from appearing on the May 24 Georgia primary ballot. 

Lawyers pressed Greene, a staunch ally of former President Trump and one of the most polarizing members of Congress, on her tweets, Facebook posts and comments leading up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

She repeatedly refused to answer questions and rebuffed any suggestion that she had sought to incite or encourage violence during the congressional certification of President Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. Nevertheless, she stood by her claim that widespread voter fraud cost Trump a second term in the White House. 

“Under my opinion, there was a tremendous amount of fraudulent things that happened in the election,” Greene said on the witness stand. “And under my opinion I want to do anything I can to protect election integrity.”

She later added: “We saw a tremendous amount of voter fraud. We have investigations going on right now in the state of Georgia. There’s investigations going on in a number of states.”

Asked at one point during her testimony whether she had heard in advance of the Jan. 6 riot whether anyone planned to enter the Capitol and engage in violence, Greene said she did not remember. Asked a similar question later in the hearing, she said that she had “never heard that from anybody.”

There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, despite Trump’s repeated claims to the contrary.

The hearing, which lasted much of Friday, centered around a legal challenge filed by a group of Georgia voters represented by the group Free Speech for People seeking to disqualify Greene from appearing on the ballot in her primary next month. 

The case centers on a provision of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution – known as the disqualification clause – which effectively bars any person from holding federal office who has previously taken an oath to protect and defend the Constitution and who has “engaged in insurrection” against the United States.

The challengers argue that the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol was an insurrection, that Greene was involved in the attack and that her involvement should preclude her from serving in Congress.

Attorneys for the challengers sought to make the case that although Greene was not directly involved in the riot on Jan. 6, she played a crucial role in inciting it and should be held accountable. 

……..

Beaudrot himself will not determine Greene’s eligibility to appear on the ballot. Rather, he will deliver his findings and recommendations to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), who will make a decision on Greene’s eligibility.

That decision could put Raffensperger in a difficult position politically. He has already drawn the ire of Trump for rebuffing his pleas to reverse the 2020 election results in Georgia, and now faces a Trump-backed challenger, Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.), in the May 24 primary.

The outcome of the challenge will likely have ramifications far beyond Georgia. Similar challenges have been filed against other Republican lawmakers, including Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), though a federal judge has blocked the challenge to Cawthorn’s ability to appear on the ballot.

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