Marjorie Taylor Greene’s words used against Republican colleagues

Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler used Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s own words against her during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday.

The hearing centered on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, for what committee Republicans referred to as examination of the agency’s “operational failures, the U.S.-Mexico border crisis and the abandonment of immigration enforcement.”

Republicans in the House and Senate, including Greene, Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Senator Ted Cruz and others, have frequently criticized Mayorkas, the DHS and the Biden administration for their handling of the border.

Nadler essentially called the hearing a performative display by House Republicans who are intent on impeaching Mayorkas regardless of facts or policies, referring to it “as a predicate for a completely baseless attempt to impeach Secretary Mayorkas…at the behest of the most extreme MAGA Republicans.”

“A few weeks ago, desperate for votes on the debt ceiling deal, Speaker McCarthy promised the extreme MAGA wing of his party that they could pursue the impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas. As Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene put it, if she was going to vote for the debt ceiling bill, she wanted some ‘dessert,'” Nadler said.

“As she so eloquently put it, ‘Everyone loves dessert, and that’s impeachment. Someone needs to be impeached.’ Like many of her colleagues, she seemed not to care who was impeached so long as they could engage in the political exercise of impeaching somebody in the Biden administration. She singled out Secretary Mayorkas as ‘the lowest-hanging fruit.'”

Nadler referenced Greene’s comments made to reporters prior to the debt limit legislation, the Fiscal Responsibility Act, being approved by the House and later the Senate on a bipartisan basis in early June.

Greene told reporters that the bill was a “s*** sandwich” and that she was “looking for some sides and some desserts.” Those “sides” included a vote on a balanced budget amendment, and another on legislation preventing the hiring of new IRS agents in numerous years to come.

She then named her dessert, saying that somebody needs to be impeached and pointed at Mayorkas as the lowest-hanging fruit due to GOP members viewing him as culpable for the migrant crisis.

Greene, who ultimately voted in favor of the debt limit legislation, was ridiculed by colleagues in her own caucus, including Representative Matt Gaetz.

Nadler added that Republicans have desired to impeach Biden administration officials since before they took over the House majority in last November’s midterm elections.

“In October 2022, before the Republicans took the majority and before any investigation started, Chairman Jordan said that Secretary Mayorkas deserves impeachment,” Nadler said. “More recently, he said, ‘It is not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when.’

“That’s right. Who needs high crimes and misdemeanors? Chairman Jordan thinks the DHS secretary should be impeached because he ‘deserves it.'”

Greene has also set her sights on impeaching President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland, the latter of whom she claimed last month has refused to prosecute Joe and Hunter Biden.

She has also renewed focus on the president, based on his alleged involvement in the purported criminal business dealings of his son, Hunter. The House Oversight Committee has been investigating the Biden family since the GOP took over the majority.

Previous impeachment efforts against Joe Biden, including by Republican Representative Lauren Boebert for so-called “high crimes and misdemeanors,” have been supported by others in the GOP.

McCarthy, who killed Boebert’s effort last month, has not launched a formal impeachment inquiry against the president. However, he said on Monday that information uncovered by the Oversight Committee is rising to a level of an impeachment inquiry.

Newsweek reached out to Nadler and Greene via email for comment.