McCarthy says Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene might get their committee assignments back

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Reps Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona would be placed on committees again if Republicans take the majority in the House, as is expected to happen in 2022.

Mr McCarthy’s remarks come a day after the House voted to censure Mr Gosar after he tweeted a video of the anime Attack on Titan with his head doctored onto a character killing a giant with Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s head. Mr Gosar was also stripped of his committee assignments. Only two Republicans, Rep Liz Cheney and Rep Adam Kinzinger, voted with every Democrat.

Similarly, earlier this year, the House voted to strip Ms Greene of her committee assignments for a series of antisemitic and Islamophobic remarks.

But Mr McCarthy said during his news conference on Thursday that both members would return to their committee assignments.

“The committee assignment they have now, they may have better committee assignments,” he said, noting how Mr Gosar liked his committee assignments on the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Mr McCarthy added that Ms Greene was just a freshman and might get a different assignment.

“I know she’s requested others,” he said. “She has a right to serve on committees.”

Republicans are largely expected to win back the House majority in 2022. Mr McCarthy also repeated his argument that some Democrats like Reps Hakeem Jeffries, Maxine Waters Eric Swalwell and Ilhan Omar might lose their committee assignments when Republicans take back the House.

Mr McCarthy blamed House Speaker Pelosi for setting new policies with the censure and stripping of committee assignments.

“Those same members that I talked about in my speech voted for those new policies,” he said. “This isn’t about threats. But it’s about holding people accountable. I think the majority is going to have to approve any of those members on the committees of which they can serve.”