In Other News: Punished by Democrats, Greene consolidates support at home; From The Conversation: Marjorie Taylor Greene and the death of the public political apology

Published 2:35 pm Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Editor’s note: “In Other News” is a list of state, national and global headlines compiled by Daily Citizen-News staff from Associated Press-provided stories. Click on the headlines below to read the full stories.

Punished by Democrats, Greene consolidates support at home

ATLANTA — Stripped of her congressional committee assignments and causing heartburn for traditional conservatives ahead of next year’s elections, Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Rome may actually emerge stronger back home in her deep-red northwest Georgia district that includes Whitfield and Murray counties. Greene’s long history of incendiary social media posts — expressing racist views, pushing absurd conspiracy theories and endorsing threats of violence against elected officials — caught up with her Thursday when Democrats, joined by 11 Republicans, removed her from two House committees.

From The Conversation: Marjorie Taylor Greene and the death of the public political apology

When Georgia representative and sometime QAnon enthusiast Marjorie Taylor Greene met with fellow House Republicans on Feb. 3, she may have apologized. Or she may not have. During the closed-door meeting in which Greene’s conspiracy theory beliefs came up, we don’t know exactly what went down because, well, it was behind closed doors. Speaking after the event, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy described Greene’s remarks as an apology, saying that Greene had denounced her previous statements and social media postings — which included the idea that mass school shootings are “false flag” operations and that California forest fires were started by Jewish space lasers — and that “she said she was wrong.” U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, one of 10 Republicans who voted in support of the 2021 impeachment of Donald Trump, had a different take: “She was somewhat contrite, but personally I never heard an apology.” He added: “I didn‘t hear an ‘I’m going to say this publicly.’” As a scholar who has written about the art of the public political apology, I found the whole episode fits into a larger pattern of nonapology apologies in the modern political landscape.

FBI: Georgia 18-year-old assaulted officer in Capitol riot

MILTON — A Georgia 18-year-old was arrested and accused of assaulting a federal officer during the attack on the U.S. Capitol last month, authorities said. Bruno Joseph Cua, of Milton, was arrested Saturday and faces several charges related to his alleged participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, including obstruction of an official proceeding and violent entry, news outlets reported. An FBI criminal complaint said authorities received two tips identifying Cua as one of the people seen in “persons of interest” posters, news outlets reported. One tip was received from a Milton police officer who said they’ve interacted with Cua before and recognized his tan-trimmed jean jacket, the complaint said. The officer later gave the FBI screenshots of Cua’s social media accounts where the teen wrote that he “stormed” the Capitol with others who “physically fought our way in,” the complaint said.

Georgia election officials investigate Trump call

ATLANTA — Georgia’s secretary of state’s office has opened an investigation into a phone call between Donald Trump and the state’s top elections official in which the then-president said he wanted to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss in the state, an official said. Walter Jones, a spokesman for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, confirmed the investigation. “The Secretary of State’s office investigates complaints it receives. The investigations are fact-finding and administrative in nature. Any further legal efforts will be left to the Attorney General,” Jones wrote.