Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene removed from US House Freedom Caucus

WASHINGTON: U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, has been voted out of the hardline House Freedom Caucus group after clashing with a fellow lawmaker, a caucus member said.

The move to expel the firebrand Greene from the roughly three-dozen-strong hardline group came weeks after she engaged in a heated clash on the House of Representatives floor with fellow hardliner Representative Lauren Boebert over the latter's plan to try to force a vote to impeach Democratic President Joe Biden.

"A vote was taken to remove Marjorie Taylor Greene from the House Freedom Caucus for some of the things she's done," Republican Representative Andy Harris told Politico, adding that Greene's support for House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy may have also contributed to her ouster from the group.

Harris declined to say how he voted, but called the decision to remove the Georgia congresswoman, who is in her second two-year term, "an appropriate action," according to Politico.

In a statement to the media on Thursday evening, Greene did not directly address her Freedom Caucus membership but said: "In Congress, I serve Northwest Georgia first, and serve no group in Washington."

Greene added: "The GOP has less than two years to show America what a strong, unified Republican-led Congress will do when President Trump wins the White House in 2024. This is my focus, nothing else."

A spokesperson for the House Freedom Caucus, founded in 2015, said in an email: "HFC does not comment on membership or internal process."

"I think the way she referred to a fellow member was probably not the way we expect our members to refer to other fellow, especially female, members," Harris told Politico, referring to Greene's profane exchange with Boebert.

"I think the straw that broke the camel's back was publicly saying things about another member in terms that no one should."

Politico said Harris was asked whether Greene breaking from the group on the debt limit bill or her support for McCarthy were also factors in her removal. He replied, "I think all of that mattered."

McCarthy faced a revolt from hardline Republicans, who accused him of betraying an agreement that got him elected to lead the Republican-controlled chamber when he reached a deal with Biden for a compromise debt ceiling legislation.

The hardline Republicans had said McCarthy and his leadership team failed to deliver on promised spending cuts and ignored their input.

Greene has been a controversial figure throughout her short political career. In 2021, when Democrats controlled the House, they stripped Greene of her committee assignments for incendiary remarks that included support for violence against political opponents. She later apologized for the comments.

Reporting by Kanishka Singh and David Morgan; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis