Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) was confronted by ABC News host Martha Raddatz on Sunday after he defended Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) right to hold QAnon conspiracy theories.
During an interview on ABC’s This Week, Raddatz told Hutchinson that his party seems to have already “forgotten” the deadly siege on the U.S. Capitol that was incited by former President Donald Trump.
“It seems that Republicans have already searched their souls and are backing Donald Trump’s Republican Party,” Raddatz noted.
“We need to make sure we don’t tear ourselves apart as we go into the midterm elections next year,” Hutchinson argued.
Raddatz went on to point out that Greene has “long embraced conspiracy theories like QAnon [and] voiced support for executing Nancy Pelosi.”
“Is she fit to serve and should she be on the Education Committee?” the ABC host wondered.
“The people of her district elected her and that should mean a lot,” Hutchinson replied. “She going to run for reelection and she’s going to be accountable for what she said and her actions.”
“Given her history, is she fit to serve?” Raddatz pressed.
“I’m not going to answer that question,” the Republican governor remarked, “that because she believes in something that everybody else does not accept, I reject that. But she’s going to stand for reelection. I don’t think we ought to punish people from a disciplinary standpoint, a party standpoint because they think something a little bit different.”
Raddatz pushed back: “Governor, you say you shouldn’t go after someone because they think of something a little bit different. She believes in conspiracy theories, that there are pedophiles running Washington. That’s not just a little bit different.”
“I reject that,” Hutchinson shot back. “I would not vote for her. The second question is should the House of Representatives make a disciplinary call on her, I’m not going to get in the middle of that.”
Watch the video below from ABC.