by WASHINGTON — Nearly two weeks ago, members of the House Freedom Caucus voted to expel Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, from the ultra-conservative group. It is not yet clear if that vote was successful.
Since the June 23 Freedom Caucus meeting, Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa., and Greene have had several conversations. But a Republican source familiar with the talks said Perry did not directly notify Greene that she had been kicked out of the caucus.
Another Republican source, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said Perry hasn’t brought it up because he wants to sit down and talk to Greene about it in person, which is likely to happen next week.
Perry and the Freedom Caucus have not commented publicly on the matter since the meeting. In an email Thursday, an HFC spokesperson responded to questions, saying, “HFC does not comment on membership or internal process.”
But in an interview Thursday night, an HFC board member said Perry had made numerous attempts to contact Greene and her staff before and after the vote to expel her.
There were “multiple efforts to text, email, leave voicemails to her and her staff, all of which went unanswered,” the board member said. “And I suspect because she knew she was going to be fired from the Freedom Caucus, and a little bit like someone was refusing service from a legal standpoint… if they don’t notify me, then maybe it won’t have an effect.”
The lawmaker added: “It is my understanding, yes, that President Perry made multiple efforts after the fact to notify her and she refused to meet or speak with President Perry.”
Greene’s spokesman, Nick Dyer, said the characterization was inaccurate: “It is sad that this source is hiding behind a veil of secrecy to give an inaccurate account of how this all happened. Why not put it in the minutes?”
The caucus voted for Greene, who goes by the nickname MTG, after some of his fellow conservatives were infuriated by his support for Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.,’s successful bid for speakership and his roof deal. debt to President Joe Biden.
But the final straw may have been his confrontation last month with Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, whom he called a “little b—-” on the House floor.
Two days later, the last day before the two-week July 4 recess, a Freedom Caucus meeting was hastily called for 8 a.m., and a vote was taken to remove Greene from the caucus, two sources familiar with the incident said. A third source familiar with the deliberations said the vote was overwhelming in favor of removing her from it.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene was voted out of the House Freedom Caucus because of some of the things she has done,” a member of the group, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., told reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday.
“The way he referred to a fellow member was probably not the way we expect our members to refer to other members, especially women,” he said.
But several Freedom Caucus members said they had not been told the meeting agenda beforehand and did not attend. The morning meeting took place on a Friday before recess and it is unclear if enough members were present to form a quorum.
Multiple sources have described the confused situation as “a mess,” and the group will almost certainly have to review Greene’s membership when lawmakers return from recess next week.
Greene, one of the biggest names in the Freedom Caucus, has been one of the biggest fundraisers for the House Freedom Fund, a caucus-aligned super PAC.
“Getting voted out doesn’t hurt her,” said another House Republican source. “The most important sign for her that shows her independence is her fundraising skills. And the HFC will miss him.”
In a defiant statement, Greene suggested that he was not indebted to the Freedom Caucus, but also gave no indication of whether he was in or out of the group.
“In Congress, I serve Northwest Georgia first and I don’t serve any group in Washington,” he said. “My America First credentials, guided by my Christian faith, are forged in steel, etched in my character, and will never change. … I will work with ANYONE who wants to secure our border, protect our children in the womb and after they are born, end the endless wars abroad, and get the job done to save this country.
“The Republican Party 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,” he continued. “This is my approach, nothing more.”
