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Marjorie Taylor Greene cut off for calling for Biden impeachment during surprise appearance at Stuart Scheller sentencing

Congresswoman was called as a character witness despite not personally knowing the Marine

Justin Vallejo
New York
Friday 15 October 2021 15:43 BST
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Stuart Scheller pled guilty to all charges after being court-martialed for criticising the Afghanistan withdrawal
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Marjorie Taylor Greene called for President Joe Biden to be impeached and accused American troops of war crimes amid repeated objections of relevance to the sentencing of Stuart Scheller, who pleaded guilty after defying a gag order to criticise the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The Congresswoman, appearing via Zoom, was repeatedly cut off by Col Glen Hines, the military judge who will rule on Mr Scheller’s sentence on Friday.

The Georgia Republican was called by Scheller’s defence as a character witness, along with her colleagues Louie Gohmert, of Texas, and Ralph Norman, of South Carolina.

Despite not personally knowing Mr Scheller, Ms Greene said she was amazed by his courage and questioned why he was being prosecuted while Mr Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and General Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, have not, according to Stripes.com’s reporting of the hearing.

She added under oath that Mr Biden should be impeached for the Afghanistan withdrawal, and accused the troops responsible for the drone strike targeting civilians of “war crimes”.

The Marine Corps’ top prosecutor, Lt Col Nicholas Gannon, objected repeatedly to the relevance of Ms Greene’s testimony, according to The Marine Times.

Ms Greene continued that Mr Milley and Mr Austin should be in court rather than Scheller, who was charged with conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, as well as counts of contempt, disrespect, disobedience and dereliction of duties.

“I cannot express how millions of Americans are outraged about the military leadership. I believe it was right of him,” Ms Green told the hearing, according to The Daily Mail.

“I’m outraged that none of the leaders are sitting in court right now being held accountable for their actions. We need accountability. Thirteen military members died needlessly. We abandoned US citizens in Afghanistan. Yes, there needs to be accountability and it’s right to stand up and say that.”

Scheller pleaded guilty to all six misdemeanour charges on Thursday after defying a gag order to criticize the US military’s chaotic withdrawal of Afghanistan, which left 13 Americans dead.

He reportedly told the court his life was “spiralling” after his wife left him and he lost a small business when he made videos criticizing senior military leadership.

“This is not the America that I have fought so hard to defend the last 17 years,” Scheller told the hearing, according to The Daily Mail.

“I was never charged with a false official statement. Because everything I have said is true … If the Marine Corps could have charged me with that, they would have. My statements all centre around the fact that I do not believe General Officers are held to the same standards as junior leaders,” he added.

His defence attorney Tim Parlatore told NBC News that Scheller will be forced to forfeit more than $2m while he is seeking an honourable discharge.

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