Marjorie Taylor Greene Testifies in Legal Challenge to Bar Her From Ballot
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John Bazemore/AP/Shutterstock Marjorie Taylor Greene
Controversial Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene testified Friday in an Atlanta court, after a group of voters in her district argued she should be disqualified from running for office, due to her support of those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
A Georgia law that allows voters to legally challenge the eligibility of candidates running for office is most often used against lawmakers who don't live in the district they represent or are otherwise unfit to serve (due to, for instance, a lack of qualifications). This case, however, is different.
The voters challenging Greene are represented by the nonprofit Free Speech For People have pointed to a section of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, which was passed after the Civil War and forbids any member of Congress who has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the U.S." from serving in office.
The group alleges Greene, who is currently running for reelection, has done exactly that — by supporting the Trump supporters who entered the Capitol in 2021 and objecting to the Electoral College results.
Footage of Greene filmed prior to the Capitol riots show her saying she had "a great planning session for our January 6 objection," and "We aren't going to let this election be stolen by Joe Biden and the Democrats."
She has, in the months since the riots, publicly supported the rioters, even visiting them in jail and calling them "political prisoners."
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Greene has previously said the process voters are using the try and remove her from the ballot violates her rights, and sued in federal court to try and block it. Earlier this month, a judge ruled that the administrative law process was allowed to move forward, paving the way for her Friday testimony.
Taking the stand, Greene said she denounced violence, though she did double down on her previous false claims about the 2020 president election.
"We saw a tremendous amount of voter fraud," Greene said, CNN reports, despite the fact that officials nationwide have said there was no widespread evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Elsewhere in her testimony, Greene said she only believes "in peaceful demonstration," adding: "I do not support violence."
ABC News reports that Greene denied that either she or anyone from her office met with those who stormed the building ahead of the Jan. 6 rally or provided them with maps of the Capitol building.
Michael Rasbury, one of the five voters in Georgia's 14th congressional district bringing the challenge, said in an earlier statement that Greene "was trying to override" the Constitution and should therefore not be on the ballot.
"I believe in democracy. When I served in the Army, I had to take an oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic," Rasbury said. "Everything I've read says Rep. Greene was involved in the Jan. 6th insurrection that was trying to override everything I believe in – Our Constitution, how we run elections, and how our government is set up. She should not be on the ballot."
With her testimony, Greene became the first Republican member of Congress to publicly testify under oath about the Capitol riot of 2021.
Greene, one of former President Donald Trump's most loyal allies in Congress, has made courting controversy part of her political brand since before being elected in 2020.
Since taking office last January, she has amassed nearly $50,000 in fines for not wearing a face mask on the floor of the House of Representatives. And she's previously been known for perpetuating baseless conspiracy theories on social media, including supportive statements about the far-right "QAnon" movement. (She has since said she regrets those past beliefs.)
