House GOP moves swiftly to punish Rep. Al Green for disrupting Trump speech

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House Republicans are immediately moving to punish the Texas Democrat who was removed from the House chamber for repeatedly disrupting President Donald Trump’s speech.

GOP Rep. Daniel Newhouse on Wednesday formally introduced a censure resolution against Rep. Al Green, who was removed by the House sergeant at arms after standing up and shouting during the opening minutes of Trump’s speech to Congress. Speaking on the House floor, Newhouse, a Washington state Republican, said he was seeking punishment against Green — a formal condemnation once considered rare in the House chamber — for his “numerous interruptions” of the president’s speech.

“This was beyond the pale. It went on and on, disrupting the entire evening so I felt it had to be responded to,” Newhouse said of Green’s interruption. “We have to uphold the expectations of decorum here, or else, what are we? We have nothing other than just a club that everybody comes and yells at each other.”

It’s a big moment for Newhouse, a GOP centrist who previously drew the ire of some in his party for voting to impeach Trump in 2021 and has done little to draw attention to himself since surviving a competitive election against a fellow Republican last cycle.

But the maneuver from Newhouse — which appears to be blessed by House GOP leaders — angered some conservatives in the House, who had been in talks with legislative counsel about their own resolution, according to multiple people ?who were involved in drafting the competing resolution. They privately argued that Newhouse was simply trying to avoid a challenge from his right. Outside of the Capitol, multiple Republican campaign operatives are taking Newhouse’s move as a sign he will not retire this cycle – as some had privately wondered – after he fended off a GOP challenger last cycle by six points.

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