Marjorie Traitor Greene On Trial

The Washington Post sent Matthew Brown and Felicia Sommez to hear Marjorie Traitor Greene testify. They must have been wondering if she understands that perjury is different from lying on Twitter. Mostly she said she doesn't remember anything. They wrote that she "declined to say whether unlawfully interfering with the counting of electoral votes in a presidential election would make someone 'an enemy of the Constitution,' as she testified about her role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol as part of a case seeking to disqualify from her from seeking reelection. What she did say what was that she doesn't know, "I don’t know if it defines it that way."

She was on the witness stand for more than 3 hours today, fighting against being disqualified as a federal candidate. She stuck to her crazy QAnon theories, insisting that Trump won the election, not Biden. She denied inciting violence. CNN reported that the constituents challenging her right to run for office (under the 14th Amendment) "repeatedly highlighted how Greene had posted messages and videos on social media in the run-up to January 6 that used strident rhetoric. According to the challengers, these posts helped fuel the attack on the Capitol and therefore, she aided the insurrection."

But Greene's testimony did not establish that she planned for violence or coordinated with anyone who rioted on January 6. That hole in the challengers' case could significantly undermine their chances of disqualifying Greene, because they need to prove that she engaged in insurrection.

Greene said she didn't remember if she had ever spoken with any GOP lawmakers or White House officials about the potential for violence on January 6. She also said she didn't recall if she herself had posted a handful of tweets that appeared on her account, where she claimed the 2020 election was illegitimate.

And she said she didn't remember saying that she opposed the peaceful transfer of power to Joe Biden-- right before lawyers for the challengers played a video of her saying that.

When asked about the Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist group with dozens of members who stormed the US Capitol, Greene said she didn't know much about them. When asked if they are an extremist organization, she said: "I've heard about them. I don't know what they do. I don't know much about the Proud Boys."

The congresswoman said that she "had no knowledge of any attempt" to illegally interfere with the counting of electoral votes on January 6. Greene also testified that she had never advocated for then-President Donald Trump to invoke martial law during her meetings with him before January 6.

The firebrand GOP lawmaker was in the courtroom with one of her close congressional allies, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who sat with her legal team. Greene walked in to a rousing applause and cheers from the crowd assembled in the courtroom. A court security official quickly chastised the room and said outbursts would not be tolerated.

Greene also pushed back against challengers' questioning from the witness stand.

Andrew Celli, lawyer for the challengers, asked her, "Did you like a post that said, 'it's quicker that a bullet to the head would be a quicker way to remove Nancy Pelosi from the role of speaker?' " A CNN review in 2021 of hundreds of posts and comments from Greene's Facebook page showed she repeatedly indicated support for executing prominent Democratic politicians in 2018 and 2019 before being elected to Congress in 2020. That review included one post from January 2019, in which, Greene liked a comment that said "a bullet to the head would be quicker" to remove Pelosi.

"I have had many people manage my social media account over the years," Greene responded to Celli's question Friday. "I have no idea who liked that."

She said that she never intended to promote any violence and that she didn't recall any conversations with lawmakers or White House officials about the possibility for the pro-Trump protests to turn violent.

"I only believe in peaceful demonstration," Greene said. "I do not support violence."

Greene also testified that she believes President Joe Biden lost the election to Trump.

"We saw a tremendous amount of voter fraud," Greene said, repeating a debunked claim that has become a rallying cry among Trump supporters.

If she's found guilty, it will adversely impact many other insurrectionist members of Congress-- like Madison Cawthorn-- whose eligibility is also being challenged in courts. The burden of proof will be on the challengers, to show by a "more likely than not" standard that January 6 was legally an insurrection, and that Greene and the other neo-fascist members of Congress helped the insurrectionists. The final decision in Georgia will be made by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after State Judge Charles Beaudrot issues a recommendation.

Meanwhile, the top Republican running against her in the May 24th primary, Jennifer Strahan, is being showered with campaign contributions from Republicans who are sick of the QAnon congresswoman. Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy (R) was the only Republican in office with the guts to send money to Strahan, although Republican former elected officials Barbara Comstock (R-VA) and Don Nickles (R-OK) also did.