Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) created new headaches for Republicans hoping to distance themselves from their party's extremist ranks after she said over the weekend that the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol "would've been armed" if she and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon had planned it.
"Then Jan. 6 happened. And next thing you know, I organized the whole thing, along with Steve Bannon here. And I will tell you something, if Steve Bannon and I had organized that, we would have won. Not to mention, it would've been armed," Taylor Greene told the audience during a gala for the New York Young Republicans Club.
"See that's the whole joke, isn't it. They say that whole thing was planned and I'm like, are you kidding me? A bunch of conservatives, Second Amendment supporters, went in the Capitol without guns, and they think that we organized that?"
Many supporters of Trump who came to Washington on Jan. 6 did bring weapons, and leaders of the Oath Keepers militia group were found guilty last month for seditious conspiracy. Members of the group allegedly stockpiled suitcases full of weapons at a Virginia hotel as part of its planning around that day.
Greene responds: After drawing rebukes from the White House and Democratic leaders, Greene said on Monday that her comment, which appeared to hit back at claims that she and Bannon were involved in planning the insurrection, was sarcastic.
But Greene's remarks have dragged Republicans like Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) into a new set of controversies, as Democrats move to link the GOP Speaker-hopeful to the controversial Trump ally, The Hill's Mychael Schnell writes.
Greene has been a key supporter of McCarthy in the past and vice versa. The Georgian republican has said that the party would be making a mistake in not supporting McCarthy in the floor vote, and McCarthy has vowed to return Greene to the committees she was kicked out of last year if he became Speaker.
The controversy further complicates McCarthy's uncertain bid for Speaker with just a few weeks before lawmakers go before the floor to vote.
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