Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has been thrown out of the far-right House Freedom Caucus. But according to the Wall Street Journal, she is defiant — and even publicly saying it's a good thing for her.
“I think I enjoy being a free agent a lot better,” Greene told reporters, adding that while she agreed with the Freedom Caucus ideologically, she is “interested in getting accomplishments done, not doing things just to disrupt and fight leadership. And that’s a major difference.”
Notably, while Greene is saying she is happy about the expulsion now, her behavior over the previous few days suggests otherwise. She told reporters earlier this week she had not been told anything about being ousted from the Freedom Caucus, but other reports suggested she was actually avoiding calls from other members of the Freedom Caucus so that they wouldn't be able to deliver the news to her and make it official.
This comes as the Freedom Caucus, which was founded nearly a decade ago as an insurgent group that challenges GOP leadership to move as far right as possible, is fractured and divided over its purpose and goals under House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
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Greene's removal from the group was triggered in part by her escalating feud with Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), which escalated in recent weeks to Greene calling Boebert a "b*tch" on the House floor.
But there appear to be other factors that drove the decision too. Greene is close to McCarthy, having helped him secure the votes to become Speaker in the first place. According to previous reporting from CNN's Melanie Zanona, the Freedom Caucus distrusted her closeness to House leadership, to the point that some members even held secret meetings without her to make sure she wouldn't report on what they were planning to McCarthy's team.
