Activists challenging her candidacy for Congress say her statements make her a participant in an uprising and thus disqualify her from future civil service. They tried to link Green to plans to forcibly interrupt the count of congressional votes and to those who organized the attack. But Green denied knowing of any scheme to violate the procedure, saying he did not know key players who organized the rally prior to the congressional violation.
But the hearing also subjected Green to a detailed discussion of her views on the riot and whether she was aware of plans to disrupt the vote count in Congress. She vehemently denounced all suggestions that violence was what she meant, while calling for protests and objections to Congress’ certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.
Green has repeatedly denied knowing or participating in the Jan. 6 violence
Green has sworn he “does not know” about plans to disrupt the 2020 congressional election.
She made the statement after the contenders’ lawyer, Andrew Celli, asked if she would be obliged to stop or arrest anyone who planned to interfere in the certification process because of her oath as a member of Congress.
She later repeated it, telling the lawyer that she had “absolutely” no prior knowledge of any plans to breach the certification.
“I don’t know anything about that,” she said.
Asked about a tweet in her now-suspended account that promotes plans by then-President Donald Trump’s supporters to protest Washington on the day of the congressional vote, she said: “I asked people to come for a peaceful march, which is what everyone he has the right to do according to his first amendment, but I did not ask them to take an active part in violence or any kind of action. “
“All my words never, never mean anything about violence,” she added.
She later said she could not remember talking to anyone in the government about the January 6 protests. Nor can she remember anyone with whom she spoke about participating in the January 6 demonstrations, according to her testimony.
Green clung to conspiracy theories surrounding the election and broke through the Capitol
Claiming that there had been a “huge amount” of voter fraud, Green confirmed that he believed President Joe Biden had lost the election to former President Donald Trump. Federal and state authorities have denied allegations of mass fraud, but Green said on Friday that there were “many cases” of fraud.
Green said she believes Biden lost the election after repeatedly avoiding questions about social media posts she posted before Jan. 6, insisting on fraud allegations and claiming that Trump is the real winner of the 2020 election. .
Earlier in the hearing, her lawyer, James Bopp Jr., argued that the statements he made after the election were legitimate political speech.
“The issue of voter fraud in the 2020 elections is a typical example of political speech, legitimate political disagreements over what happened,” Bopp said.
She clung to conspiracy theories about the Capitol attack and actively introduced some of the most sensational claims of the day.
When questioned by Sally, she said she did not know if her FBI was behind the attack. She then checked the name of a figure at the center of peripheral theories that the attack was a conspiracy with a fake FBI flag and said that “there are many investigations that need to happen.”
She recalled that during the breakthrough, she thought the attackers were “Antifa dressed as Trump supporters” because “that was the first thing they told us.”
Asked if any of the Antifa or Black Lives Matter had been arrested or charged with the Capitol attack, Green said she did not know, while hinting at the fake story about political prisoners that the Jan. 6 defendants had been unfairly jailed.
“I know they were arrested across the country in 2020 and the charges of over 95% of them have been dropped, unlike the January 6 rebels who are still in prison,” she said.
Green has escaped examples of inflammatory rhetoric she has used in the past
Green has been repeatedly asked about statements and her posts on social media, using inflammatory rhetoric for Democratic MPs and other topics. She said she could not recall remarks she made during a protest before running for Congress, claiming that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had committed treason and that treason was a “death penalty”. She said she did not know who liked her Facebook post, which mentioned Pelosi’s “bullet in the head”, but could not say for sure that it was not her.
“I testify: I have no idea who liked this comment.” she said when asked to clarify that it was not her.
She said she did not recall calling on protesters to “flood” the Capitol as part of a 2019 demonstration in favor of funding a border wall, until the contenders released a video in which she made the statement in 2019.
On several occasions, she dismissed the claimants’ questions about her past statements, claiming that her videos had been cut or taken out of context.
“That’s what I’m saying, but my sentences have been cut off. “My full message is not there,” she said of a video in which she said that “if your weapons are taken away,” one can never “stop a tyrannical government.”
She also said that in an interview on January 5, where she called January 6 “a moment from 1776”, she spoke of “the courage to object” to the vote count.
The video was posted on her Facebook page, but Green said she did not post it.
Rivals could not connect Green with specific bullies
Faced with a blockade of I Don’t Remember, the contenders were unlucky enough to get Green to develop his discussions or activities before the January 6 attack. Their lawyer also complains that due to the fast schedule of the disqualification procedure before the upcoming primary elections, they are not allowed to receive additional disclosure. Their actions largely depend on previous statements she made, which CNN and other media reported.
Left-wing advocacy groups – working with local voters in Georgia’s Green area – are seeking to remove Green from the ballot as part of a larger campaign to use the 14th Amendment to hold those lawmakers accountable. It is alleged that they have intensified the forcible suspension of Congress’ certification for the 2020 election. The 14th Amendment states that any American official who takes an oath to abide by the Constitution is disqualified from holding any future office, if “he has engaged in revolt or rebellion against it, or has given help or consolation to his enemies.”
Her testimony did not reveal that she had planned violence or coordinated with anyone who revolted on January 6. This hole in the case of the contenders could significantly undermine their chances of disqualifying Green, because they have to prove that she took part in the uprising.
Georgia Administrative Justice Judge Charles Bodro, who will eventually make a recommendation to Secretary of State Brad Rafensperger on the issue of disqualification, did not weigh on the substance of their arguments. But at times he tackles this tactic of the contenders’ lawyers.
Cheerfully supported Bopp’s objections on Friday to questions about Green’s state of mind when she was sworn in on January 3, 2021. He later said the contenders had “pressed the envelope”, focusing on remarks made by Green in 2019
He was also disappointed with the theatricality used by both sides as they argued over Bops ‘objections to the contenders’ interrogations.
“This is not a theater. This is not a dispute before the Supreme Court. This is an evidentiary hearing,” Bodro said.
According to Green, the threat to democracy was rivals
In introductory remarks, Green’s lawyer said the effort risks “irreparable damage to voters and the candidate” – especially if Green is removed from the May primary ballot only to overturn her disqualification on appeal.
This is a topic that Bopp, her lawyer, returned to during her closure, judging how the contenders allegedly wanted to “steal and repeal words like 1776, the Declaration of Independence, Independence Day and the American Revolution.”
He claims that the whole process violates Green’s constitutional rights, while claiming that state procedures distort the purpose of the 14th Amendment. Bopp said the contenders had abused the process of challenging the candidacy, which usually revolves around residence and age restrictions, as he called Friday’s hearing a “political demonstration process”.
He warned that if “this line is violated – so that the political hyperbole of calling the rebels people into lawsuits filed by interest groups to disrupt our democracy, destroy the rights of voters to vote for candidates of their choice and prevent individual members from running for re-election – our democracy, your honor, cannot survive this. “
This story and title have been updated to reflect additional events on Friday.
CNN’s Marshall Cohen contributed to the report.
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