Kevin McCarthy instead said he would allow Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to regain her committee assignments if Republicans retake the House majority.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday said he finally spoke with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) about her appearance at a white nationalist event, declining to comment on whether he plans to punish her and saying only that Greene "will not go again."
McCarthy has faced questions for more than a week on what he planned to do about Greene's February appearance at the America First Political Action Conference, which was organized by known white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.
At that event, Fuentes made light of Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine, which has left hundreds of civilians dead and millions fleeing the violence.
"Now they're going on about Vladimir Putin and Russia, and Vladimir Putin is Hitler — and they say that's not a good thing," Fuentes joked at the event.
Greene defended her appearance, saying that Fuentes has a large audience that she is concerned about and wants to reach.
On Wednesday, McCarthy said only that he spoke to Greene about attending a white nationalist event, but would not say that he plans to punish her.
In fact, he said that if Republicans win a majority in the November midterm elections, he'd allow Greene to have House committee assignments once again.
Greene was stripped of her committee assignments in February 2021 by a House resolution for promoting violent social media posts as well as her history of making antisemitic, Islamophobic, and racist comments over the years.
Greene isn't the only House Republican in hot water over their relationship with white nationalists.
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) is also facing criticism for his ties to a pro-Nazi blogger and other white nationalists.
A CNN report on Sunday said that Gosar traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border with a blogger who has praised Nazis and a woman who was pulled from a speaking role at the 2020 Republican National Committee for spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories.
McCarthy said he has not yet spoken to Gosar but that Gosar too will be able to regain his committee assignments if Republicans win the majority, saying of both representatives, "They have the ability to be able to get committees based upon that time when it comes."
Gosar was removed from his committee assignments and censured by the House in November for glorifying violence against fellow members of Congress.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
