Republican Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Sunday said he “would not vote for” Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, but stood against calls for her to be punished for her past behavior and social media activity that has come under heavy criticism since she took office in January.
Hutchinson appeared on ABC’s “This Week” and was asked by host Martha Raddatz if Greene was fit to serve as a member of Congress and if she should be on the House Committee on Education and Labor.
“First of all, the people of her district elected her, and that should mean a lot. They elected her and she’s going to run for re-election and she’ll be accountable for what she said and her actions,” Hutchinson responded.
Greene came under fire after a CNN report showed that she previously liked Facebook posts calling for the execution of some members of Congress, specifically House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She released a statement on Twitter denying that the Facebook posts reflected her views.
She previously has been criticized for her past association with QAnon conspiracy theories during her congressional campaign. (RELATED: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Says There Are ‘Legitimate White Supremacist Sympathizers That Sit At The Heart’ Of The Republican Caucus)
Raddatz pressed Hutchinson on the question asking, “Given her history, is she fit to serve?”
“I’m not going to answer that question as to whether she’s fit to serve because she believes in something that everybody else does not accept. I reject that, but she’s going to stand for re-election,” Hutchinson replied. “I don’t think we ought to punish people from a disciplinary standpoint, a party standpoint, because they think something a little bit different. We have got to make sure that we don’t divide our party.”
Hutchinson went on to defend House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney saying that he was more troubled by the open opposition she is receiving from some Republican colleagues after she voted to impeach former President Donald Trump on Jan. 13. He stated that those were the types of things that “tears our party apart.”
Raddatz brought the conversation back to Greene, claiming that she believes in conspiracy theories that there are “pedophiles running Washington.”
“I reject that. I would not vote for her … Should the House of Representatives make a disciplinary call on her? I’m not going to get in the middle of that. They’re going to have to make that judgment,” Hutchinson said. “Whenever you have a broad diversity of a party, you reject the extreme elements … We’ve got to have a regard for those people that supported Donald Trump. We want — because they have a message, they have a concern. But at the same time, we don’t want to gloss over the terrible actions that happened at the Capitol. We need to hold people accountable for that. That is critically important.”