Embattled congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene struck a defiant tone on Friday, tying herself closely to former president Donald Trump.
“The party is his,” the Georgia Republican said at a press conference outside the Capitol. “It doesn’t belong to anybody else.”
Ms Greene’s remarks came just a day after the House of Representatives voted to strip her of her committee positions, punishing her for what critics call her hateful and conspiracy-mongering comments on social media. All Democrats in the House voted for the measure, with only 11 Republicans joining them.
“I woke up early this morning literally laughing thinking about what a bunch of morons the Democrats (+11) are for giving some one like me free time,” she tweeted. “Oh this is going to be fun!"
On Thursday, as the House was getting ready to vote, Ms Greene had expressed regret over the posts, calling them “words of the past” that did not represent her or her values.
A day later, her message was strikingly different.
“Free speech really matters,” she said at her Friday press conference, which she posted on Twitter under the words, “Live from the House of Hypocrites.”
“And yesterday,” she continued, “when the Democrats and 11 of my Republican colleagues decided to strip me of my committee assignments, Education and Labour and the Budget Committee, you know what they did? They actually stripped my district of their voice.”
As she spoke, Greene repeatedly invoked the 45th president, who has vocally supported her.
“A record number of Americans voted for President Trump,” Ms Greene said. “Do you want to know why? It’s because they loved his policies. They loved his fight.”
Some critics see a parallel between Ms Greene’s approach to controversy and that of the former president, who frequently used efforts to punish him to gain attention and influence. In her social media posts on Friday, Ms Greene appeared to understand that tactic.
