Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene faced backlash after an interview on 60 Minutes where she denied making previous comments suggesting that the 2018 Parkland school shooting was a "false flag" operation.
During the interview, journalist Lesley Stahl confronted Greene with evidence of her past remarks on social media. However, Greene tried to shift the blame for her actions, saying that "other people also ran my social media."
This is not the first time that Greene has made controversial statements about school shootings. In a 2019 video, she suggested that last summer's shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, was orchestrated "to persuade Republicans to go along with more gun control." Additionally, Greene has previously harassed a Parkland shooting survivor who advocates for gun control.
Despite evidence of her remarks, Greene has repeatedly denied making them, and during the 60 Minutes interview, she tried to rewrite history.
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Greene said:
“I never said Parkland was a false flag. No, I’ve never said that. School shootings are horrible. I don’t think it’s anything to joke about.”
When Stahl informed her CBS fact-checked her statements, Greene gave a convoluted answer and attempted to discredit Stahl and the network.
“Have you fact-checked all my statements from kindergarten through 12th grade and in college? And as I’ve paid my taxes and never broken a law, and the only, I got a few speeding tickets, do we need to talk about those too?”
“Because I think where you’re going down is the same attacks that people have attacked me with over and over.”
Many have criticized Greene for her remarks.
Greene's rhetoric has been deemed dangerous and many have called for her to be held accountable for her actions.
60 Minutes and Stahl also took considerable criticism for even having Greene on the program.
Some have even called for Greene to be removed from Congress, citing her endorsement of the QAnon conspiracy theory and her past remarks about school shootings.
The controversy surrounding Greene highlights the larger issue of conspiracy theories and the impact they can have on public discourse. Conspiracy theories can be particularly dangerous when they involve topics such as school shootings, which have already caused significant harm and trauma.
