House Freedom Caucus members say MTG dodging GOP chairman to avoid getting kicked out

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has officially been removed from the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., confirmed to NBC News Wednesday, citing the right-wing Georgian’s clashes with her colleagues. Greene is the first lawmaker to be booted from the ultraconservative group since it was started by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and then-Reps. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., and Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., and others in 2015.

Other Freedom Caucus members had said the group voted on June 23 to oust Greene in part due to her argument with Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., on the House floor last month and vocal support of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., during his bid for the speakership and trillion-dollar debt deal with President Joe Biden. But confusion about her status in the group has mounted over the last few weeks after Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa. declined to comment on the matter, and Greene insisted she was not informed she was removed. Some members suggested Greene has been dodging Perry’s attempts to deliver the news. By Wednesday, she told NBC News that she and Perry still had not spoken personally about the issue. 

Buck said the Georgia conservative was removed because of her repeated “attacks” on her GOP colleagues, not her political views. “She has consistently attacked other members of the Freedom Caucus in an irresponsible way, and as a result of that she was kicked out of the Freedom Caucus,” he said, “and she should not be, she should not be a member.”