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- GOP Marjorie Taylor Greene compared mask mandates to the Holocaust on Thursday.
- Her comments prompted sharp criticism from other lawmakers.
- On Saturday, Greene told an Arizona reporter she said nothing wrong and is standing by her remarks.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she's still standing behind her Holocaust comments despite criticism and condemnation.
On Saturday, Greene told Arizona's 12 News reporter Bianca Buono she's not apologizing for her comments comparing mask mandates to the Holocaust.
"No one should be treated like a second-class citizen for saying 'I don't need to wear a mask,' or saying that my medical records are my privacy based on my HIPAA rights, and so I stand by all of my statements," Greene told Buono after an event she held with Rep. Matt Gaetz. "I said nothing wrong."
"And I think any rational Jewish person didn't like what happened in Nazi Germany, and any rational Jewish person doesn't like what's happening with overbearing mask mandates and overbearing vaccine policies," Greene added.
On Thursday, Greene called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "mentally ill' for enforcing a mask mandate and compared the mandate to the Holocaust in an interview with the far-right network Real America's Voice.
"You know, we can look back in a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star and they were definitely treated like second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany," Greene said. "And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about."
Her comments garnered criticism and backlash from other lawmakers, including Democratic Rep. David Cicilline, who called Greene "a troubled person who is unfit to serve in Congress."
"The Holocaust: The systematic murder of 6 million Jews. Mask-wearing: A simple act that costs you nothing and saves lives," Cicilline said in a tweet.
Buono pushed back and asked the freshman congresswoman if she understood why people might find her comments offensive, to which Greene replied: "Well do you understand how people feel about being forced to wear masks or being forced to have to take a vaccine or even have to say that whether they'd taken it or not? These are just things that shouldn't be happening in America. This is a free country, and it's just ridiculous to have these kinds of conversations."
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