A US politician and QAnon supporter has survived a vote to demote her in Congress.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has in the past cast doubt on the 9/11 terror attacks and the 2018 Parkland school mass shooting, was backed in a secret ballot vote of Republicans in the House of Representatives.
The vote on Ms Greene, a hard-right first-term representative from Georgia, who has embraced racist and violent views as well as several conspiracy theories, was organised by Democrats who want to oust her from a number of committees.
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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who leads Republicans in the lower house, condemned Ms Greene’s past remarks questioning school shootings, but called the vote a “partisan power grab”.
Ms Greene’s comments had, he said, “caused deep wounds” as he revealed she had told him she would hold herself to a higher standard.
A leading figure on the moderate wing of the Republican Party also came through an attempt to remove her from the party’s leadership after she voted last month to impeach former president Donald Trump.
Liz Cheney, daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney and number three in Republican House leadership, won a vote 145-61.
Around two-thirds of House Republicans voted to back Mr Trump’s effort to overturn his November election loss – just hours after his supporters’ deadly storming of the Capitol on 6 January that led to his impeachment for inciting insurrection.
The two votes encapsulate the post-Trump dilemma facing the party; whether to embrace his divisiveness or its more traditional, policy-driven conservative values.
Liz Cheney survived a vote to remove her from the Republican Party’s house leadership. Pic: AP
Last month, Ms Greene introduced a measure attempting to impeach President Joe Biden, accusing him of corruption and abuse of power.
She revealed on Twitter on Wednesday she had raised $175,000 (£128,000) in a matter of days for her political campaigning, adding: “Let’s keep sending the message to the Democrat mob.”
Top Republican lawmakers have been outspoken in their criticism of Ms Greene’s past comments.
Marjorie Taylor Greene believes Donald Trump won November’s presidential election
Senator Marco Rubio called her “either deranged or a sadist”, while Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said she had embraced “loony lies” that were a “cancer” to the party.
Ms Greene was given a standing ovation after she apologised for her past remarks at Wednesday’s private meeting of Republican members, according to The Hill.
She reportedly told fellow Republicans that she had been wrong to be curious about QAnon, a conspiracy theory that former president Donald Trump was waging a clandestine war on a group of Democrats and child abusers.
Donald Trump’s influence is still evident in the Republican Party
But with Democrats anxious to cause their opponents maximum pain and embarrassment, the effort to remove the newly-elected congresswoman’s committee privileges will go to a full vote on the floor of the House on Thursday.
Nonetheless, Mr McCarthy was triumphant after the lengthy meeting, telling reporters: “You know what that’s going to mean?
“Two years from now, we’re going to win the majority. That’s because this conference is more united. We’ve got the right leadership team behind it.”