“Loony lies and conspiracy theories are cancer for the Republican Party and our country,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday after questions about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.
“Somebody who’s suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.’s airplane is not living in reality,” McConnell said.
McConnell, R-Ky., did not mention the Georgia representative by name, but his statement was released after NBC News asked about the controversial freshman lawmaker.
“This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party,” his statement said.
Greene on Twitter seemed to respond, writing: “The real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully. This is why we are losing our country.”
She came under scrutiny last week over past remarks, including ones suggesting that school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, and Parkland, Florida, were staged. Greene has also in the past expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy.
McConnell and Greene are in different chambers, and Monday’s comments by McConnell appear to be the first that the Senate minority leader has made on the issue.
Earlier in the day, a group of House Democrats introduced a resolution to remove Greene from her two committee assignments over the inflammatory and false statements.
The resolution, sponsored by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Ted Deutch, both of Florida, and Jahana Hayes of Connecticut, would remove Greene from the House Education & Labor Committee and the House Budget Committee.
The Rules Committee said it would consider the resolution Wednesday, the first step in getting it to a vote on the floor.
Rebecca Shabad contributed.