共和党众议员马乔里·泰勒·格林周五成为第一位公开宣誓作证的国会议员1月6日对国会大厦的袭击。
周一晚上，一名联邦法官允许一群佐治亚州选民提出的法律挑战继续进行，因为他们试图取消格林竞选连任的资格，理由是她涉嫌支持或协助袭击。
选民们认为，宪法第十四修正案中被称为“取消资格条款”的条款阻止格林担任联邦职务。
该取消资格条款是在内战后通过的，它禁止任何曾宣誓保护宪法的人担任联邦职务，包括一名国会议员，他曾“参与叛乱”反对美国或“援助或安慰”其“敌人”。
作为前总统唐纳德·特朗普的狂热支持者，格林否认与袭击有任何关系，并表示她正在上诉。
法官查尔斯·博德罗特主持了周五的听证会，专家证人被传唤作证。
在他的开场陈述中，罗恩·费恩(Ron Fein)是一名律师，他代表五名对格林提起诉讼的选民，也是“人民自由言论”的法律总监，他认为为什么1月6日应该被视为一次起义。
“这不是那种领导人站在弗吉尼亚州里士满发表长篇大论的起义，”费恩说。“更确切地说，这场暴动的领导人(有很多人)就在我们中间——在脸书、推特和社交媒体的角落里，这会让你反胃。证据将显示马乔里·泰勒·格林是其中之一。”
他说:“反对马乔里·泰勒·格林参选的最有力的证人，证明她越界参与叛乱的最有力的证人是马乔里·泰勒·格林本人。”。
费恩在一封电子邮件中告诉美国广播公司新闻，佐治亚州“提起诉讼的选民有权听到他们的质疑”，他期待着在宣誓后询问格林。
在法庭上，同样代表选民团体的安德鲁·切利敦促这位国会女议员宣誓就职。
“如果你意识到有人将非法干涉计票的宪法程序，你将有义务逮捕或阻止他们，对吗?”“人民言论自由”的律师之一安德鲁·切利问道。
她回答说，“我不知道任何例子，所以这是我不能回答的问题。”
格林一再否认她或她的办公室在1月6日的集会之前参观或会见了特朗普抗议者，也否认她提供了国会大厦的地图。
“我必须就我的竞选活动与人们交谈，但我不认为我们做到了，”她说。“我们会怎么做呢?我们没有做任何类似的事情，”她反复回答说，她不记得发过推文或在其他社交媒体上发过帖子，也不记得视频监视器上显示的许多言论的情况。
当格林的律师詹姆斯·博普(James Bopp)询问格林时，他问了她在国会大厦遇袭当天的经历，以及她在国会大厦被封锁时制作的视频。
格林说，她以前从未经历过任何暴力事件，在一级防范禁闭期间，她走进衣帽间，制作了一段针对那些冲击国会大厦的人的视频。
“遵守法律，”格林在法庭播放的视频中说。“现在不是暴力的时候。这是一个支持特朗普总统、支持选举诚信的时刻。上帝保佑。”
法官就格林是否应该继续留在选票上做出决定的时间很紧。佐治亚州初选的提前投票从5月2日开始，而初选本身是在5月17日。
博普本周告诉ABC新闻，对格林的挑战是“荒谬的”，不应该由法官来决定谁代表佐治亚州第14国会选区。
“这些选民有权投票给他们选择的候选人。他们有权让他们的投票被计算在内，”他在周五的开庭陈述中告诉法庭，并补充说格林不是肇事者，而是袭击的“受害者”，他认为袭击是“卑鄙的”，但不是叛乱。
“她的生命处于危险之中，她想，”Bopp说。“她很害怕，也很困惑。”
代表发起挑战的选民的自由言论律师试图否认这一说法，并提到了格林在1月6日之前的推特账户，她在账户中支持集会，但从未使用“和平”一词。
“嗯，我从来没有暴力的意思。我不支持任何形式的暴力，”格林说。
格林继续说，当被问及“喜欢”脸书关于杀害众议院议长南希·佩洛西的评论时，有几个人已经运行了她的社交媒体帐户。格林还发誓否认她曾称佩洛西为“叛徒”，直到她拿出证据证明她确实说过那样的话。
“她是我们国家的叛徒，她犯有叛国罪，”格林在2019年发布到脸书的视频中说，该视频最早由报道美国有线新闻网;卷积神经网络。“叛国罪是一种可判死刑的罪行。南希·佩洛西犯有叛国罪，”格林当时说。
格林在另一个问题上被问到，“从2020年选举之夜到2021年1月6日，你的愿望是国会不要认证乔·拜登为2020年选举的获胜者，这公平吗?”
“这是不准确的，”她回答说。
当切利追问格林她是否鼓励特朗普实施戒严令时，听证会变得激烈起来。
你在2020年大选和2021年1月20日之间和他见过面，对吗?”他问道。
“是的，”格林回答道。
“在那些会议中，你和他讨论了你的主张，即应该在美国宣布戒严令?”切利催促道。
“不，我不记得曾经讨论过那个，”她回答。
“你是说这件事没有发生，还是说你不记得这件事了?”切利继续说道。
“我不记得曾经讨论过那个，”格林重复道。
Bopp还代表共和党众议员麦迪逊·考霍恩(Madison Cawthorn)，他正面临北卡罗来纳州一群选民对他连任的类似挑战。
Cawthorn要求驳回对他连任的挑战的诉讼将于5月3日在弗吉尼亚州里士满的美国第四巡回上诉法院进行口头辩论。
在周二接受美国广播公司新闻频道采访时的重型商用车辆瞬态车辆循环格林称这一法律挑战为“骗局”。
格林说:“作为国会议员，我所做的只是法律和宪法允许我做的事情，那就是我反对乔·拜登在几个州的选举团投票。”
格林还说她是1月6日的“受害者”。
挑战格林竞选连任资格的选民之一迈克·拉斯伯里在一份声明中说，格林“宣誓就职是为了保护民主不受国内外所有敌人的侵犯”...然而，她轻率地忽略了这一誓言，根据美国宪法第14修正案第3条，她在1月6日起义中的角色，她被取消了未来担任任何公职的资格。”
格林作证时，拉斯伯里在法庭上。
佛罗里达州共和党众议员马特·盖兹(Matt Gaetz)周五也出现在法庭上，显然是为了声援他的煽动性共和党同僚。
周一晚上在福克斯新闻频道发表讲话时，格林告诉主持人塔克·卡尔森民主党人试图不让她的名字出现在选票上，坚持认为她与国会大厦的袭击无关。
格林说:“我必须在星期五去法庭，就一些我从未被指控过的和我完全反对的事情接受真正的审问。”。
对格林和卡索恩的挑战是更大的法律努力的一部分，以防止任何涉嫌参与1月6日事件的人或支持者竞选连任。
如果特朗普决定在2024年再次竞选，理论上也可能面临类似的挑战。
Marjorie Taylor Greene testifies under oath about Jan. 6
GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Friday became the first member of Congress to publicly testify under oath about the events surrounding theJan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Monday night, a federal judge allowed a legal challenge by a group of Georgia voters to move forward as they seek to disqualify Greene from running for reelection, citing her alleged role in supporting or facilitating the attack.
The voters argue a provision of the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment known as the "disqualification clause" prevents Greene from holding federal office.
Passed after the Civil War, the disqualification clause bars any person from holding federal office who has previously taken an oath to protect the Constitution -- including a member of Congress -- who has "engaged in insurrection" against the United States or "given aid or comfort" to its "enemies."
An avid supporter of former President Donald Trump, Greene has denied any involvement in the attack and said she is appealing.
Judge Charles Beaudrot presided over Friday's hearing and expert witnesses were called to testify.
In his opening statement, Ron Fein, a lawyer representing five voters who made the complaint against Greene and the legal director of Free Speech For People, argued why Jan. 6 should be considered an insurrection.
"This was not the type of insurrection where the leaders were standing in Richmond, Virginia, giving long-winded speeches," Fein said. "Rather, the leaders of this insurrection, of whom there were a number, were among us -- on Facebook, Twitter and corners of social media that would make your stomach hurt. The evidence will show that Marjorie Taylor Greene was one of them."
"The most powerful witness against Marjorie Taylor Greene's candidacy, the most powerful witness in establishing that she crossed the line into engagement of insurrection is Marjorie Taylor Greene herself," he said.
Fein told ABC News in an email that the Georgia "voters who filed this lawsuit have a right to have their challenge heard" and that he looked forward to questioning Greene under oath.
Inside the courtroom, Andrew Celli, also representing the voters' group, pressed the congresswoman on her oath of office.
"If you were aware that somebody was going to unlawfully interfere with the constitutional process of counting electoral votes, you would be obliged to have them arrested or stopped, right?" asked Andrew Celli, one of the attorneys for Free Speech For People.
She responded, "I had no knowledge of any examples, and so that's the question I can't answer."
Greene repeatedly denied she or her office gave tours to or met with Trump protesters ahead of the Jan. 6 rally or that she provided maps of the Capitol building.
"I would have to talk to people on my campaign, but I don't think we did," she said. "How would we have done that? We didn't do anything like that," She repeatedly answered that she didn't recall sending tweets or making other social media posts or the circumstances around many of the statements shown on a video monitor.
When Greene's attorney, James Bopp, took his turn questioning Greene, he asked her about her experience inside the Capitol the day it was attacked and the video she made while the Capitol was in lockdown.
Greene said that she had never been in anything violent before, and while in lockdown, she went inside the cloakroom and made a video directed at those storming the Capitol.
"Obey the law," Greene said in the video played in the courtroom. "This is not a time for violence. This is a time to support president trump and support election integrity. God bless."
The time frame for the judge to render his decision on whether Greene should remain on the ballot is tight. Early voting for the Georgia primary begins May 2 and the primary itself is on May 17.
Bopp told ABC News this week that the challenge to Greene is "absurd" and that it shouldn't be up to judges to decide who represents Georgia's 14th Congressional District.
"Those voters have a right to vote for the candidate of their choosing. And they have a right to have their vote counted," he told the court in his opening statement Friday, adding that Greene was not a perpetrator but a "victim" of the attack, which he argued was "despicable" but not an insurrection.
"Her life was in danger, she thought," Bopp said. "She was scared and confused."
Attorneys for Free Speech For People, representing the voters mounting the challenge, tried to negate that narrative, bringing up Greene's Twitter account leading up to Jan. 6 in which she endorsed the rally but never used the word "peaceful."
"Well, I never meant anything for violence. I don't support violence of any kind," Greene said.
Greene went on to say that several people have run her social media account, when pressed on "liking" a Facebook comment talking about killing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Greene also denied, under oath, that she ever called Pelosi a "traitor" until she was presented with evidence that she had, in fact, said that.
"She's a traitor to our country, she's guilty of treason," Greene said in the 2019 video posted to Facebook, first reported byCNN. "It's a crime punishable by death is what treason is. Nancy Pelosi is guilty of treason," Greene said at the time.
Green was asked at another point, "Is it fair to say that from election night in 2020, until January 6, 20, 2021, your wish was that Congress not to certify Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election?"
"That is not accurate," she replied.
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The hearing became intense when Celli pressed Greene about whether she encouraged Trump to impose martial law.
And you had meetings with him between the election in 2020 and January 20th of 2021, right?" he asked.
"Yes," Greene responded.
"And in those meetings you discussed with him your advocacy for the idea that there should be martial law declared in the United States?" Celli pressed.
"No, I don't recall ever discussing that," she responded.
"Are you saying it didn't happen or you're saying you don't recall one way or the other?" Celli continued.
"I don't recall ever discussing that," Greene repeated.
Bopp also represents GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who is facing a similar challenge against his reelection from a group of voters in North Carolina.
Cawthorn's lawsuit to dismiss the challenge to his reelection is set for oral arguments on May 3 before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia.
In an interview Tuesday with ABC News affiliateWTVC, Greene called the legal challenge a "scam."
"All I did was what I'm legally and allowed to do by the Constitution as a member of Congress, and that was I objected to Joe Biden's Electoral College votes from a few states," Greene said.
Greene also said she was a "victim" on Jan. 6.
Mike Rasbury, one of the voters challenging Greene's eligibility to run for reelection, said in a statement that Greene "took an oath of office to protect democracy from all enemies foreign and domestic ... However, she has flippantly ignored this oath and, based on her role in the January 6 insurrection, is disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution from holding any future public office."
Rasbury was in the courtroom while Greene testified.
GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida was also present in the courtroom Friday, in an apparent show of solidarity with his fellow firebrand Republican.
Speaking on Fox News Monday night,Greene told host Tucker Carlsonthat Democrats are trying to keep her name off the ballot, maintaining she had nothing to do with the attack on the Capitol.
"I have to go to court on Friday and actually be questioned about something I've never been charged with and something I was completely against," Greene said.
The challenges against Greene and Cawthorn are part of a larger legal effort to prevent anyone allegedly involved in the events surrounding Jan. 6 -- or who supported it -- from running for reelection.
Similar challenges could theoretically be brought against Trump if he decides to run for office again in 2024.
