One of New Jersey's two Republicans in Congress voted to remove a fellow party member from her committees because of her recent use of violent and conspiratorial rhetoric.

The final House vote of 230-199 included all the Democrats who make up New Jersey congressional delegation as well as U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. 4th District. Smith's fellow New Jersey Republican, Jeff Van Drew, voted not to strip Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of her positions on the Education and Labor committee and the Budget committee.

Members were allowed to speak for one minute after the vote. Van Drew spoke about a charitable program called Dream Like Drew that promotes awareness of a rare genetic disorder.

Smith did not speak after the casting his vote and his office did not return a request for comment.

Smith's vote puts him on the same side as U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.

"Our big tent is not large enough to both accommodate conservatives and kooks," the former presidential candidate told Fox News. "It's important for us to separate ourselves from the people that are the wacky weeds."

Greene was elected in November and has a well-documented history of racist remarks and of embracing conspiracy theories. She has also endorsed violence against leading Democratic officials.

She once floated the possibility that California wildfires were set by “lasers or blue beams of light” shot down from space. Greene was labeled a “future Republican Star” by former President Donald Trump, whose political style she emulates.

Greene tried to dissociate herself from her “words of the past.” Contradicting past social media posts, she said she believes the 9/11 attacks and school shootings were real and that she no longer believes QAnon conspiracy theories, which include lies about Democratic-run pedophile rings.

But she didn’t explicitly apologize for supportive online remarks she’s made on other subjects, as when she mulled about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi being assassinated or the possibility of Jewish-controlled space rays causing wildfires. And she portrayed herself as the victim of unscrupulous "big media companies.”

Friday on her Twitter account, Greene called those who voted against her "morons" because she got "free time."

"In this Democrat tyrannical government, Conservative Republicans have no say on committees anyway. Oh this is going to be fun," Greene tweeted.

 

(Includes material copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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