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- GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is under renewed scrutiny for spreading a host of conspiracy theories.
- Greene has spread multiple baseless theories about mass shootings, prompting backlash from victims.
- CNN reported this week that the freshman congresswoman endorsed executing Democratic leaders.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a newly-elected far-right Georgia Republican, is under renewed scrutiny for spreading a host of conspiracy theories, including baseless claims about deadly mass shootings.
On Wednesday, a 2017 video of Greene spreading yet another of these false theories began making the rounds on social media. Just days after a lone gunman shot and killed 58 people at a Las Vegas music festival in October 2017, Greene suggested the Vegas shooting was orchestrated by gun control activists in an effort to promote gun regulations.
“Hey, friends. I’ve got a question for you. How do you get avid gun owners and people that support the Second Amendment to give up their guns and go along with anti-gun legislation?” Greene said in the video, apparently filmed in a car. “Are they trying to terrorize our mindset and change our minds on the Second Amendment?”
She added of the gunman, “I don’t believe Stephen Paddock was a lone wolf. I don’t believe that he pulled this off all by himself, and I know most of you don’t, either.”
In a Facebook post a few months later, Greene accused the FBI of lying to the American public about the shooting, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported in 2019.
Greene has since somewhat distanced herself from that particular conspiracy theory, telling AJC in a statement that she was "satisfied with the results of the investigation, and that they did not show a second shooter, accomplice, or even a motive."
But the congresswoman, who's made her opposition to gun laws central to her politics, has promoted a slew of false claims about mass shootings in the US. Last week, the progressive media watchdog group Media Matters revealed that Greene "liked" a Facebook post calling the 2018 mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school a "false flag planned shooting" and that a school security guard was paid to let the gunman carry out the attack.
Fred Guttenberg, the father of a student killed in the Parkland shooting, on Wednesday shared a video of Greene aggressively questioning then-student David Hogg about his advocacy for gun laws just weeks after he survived the deadly shooting at his school. Greene called Hogg, then a teenager, a "coward" as she followed him around Capitol Hill, and on social media described him as "#littleHitler" and a "bought and paid little pawn."
—Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) January 27, 2021
A spokesman for Greene didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
CNN reported this week that the freshman congresswoman endorsed executing Democratic leaders and FBI agents in multiple Facebook posts in 2018 and 2019. In response to CNN's reporting, Greene accused the outlet of attacking her for political reasons and suggested that her staffers may have the Facebook posts.
Replying to a follower who asking if "we get to hang" former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Greene wrote in 2018, "Stage is being set. Players are being put in place. We must be patient. This must be done perfectly or liberal judges would let them off."
Clinton tweeted on Wednesday that Greene "should be on a watch list. Not in Congress."
A spokesman for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Axios on Tuesday that the GOP leader would have "a conversation" with the congresswoman about her "disturbing" Facebook posts.
Greene's apparent endorsement of violence -- and repeated demand that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi be tried for treason and given the death penalty -- has drawn new attention in the aftermath of the pro-Trump Capitol siege. In anticipation of the protest of the certification of the election on January 6, Greene called the day Republicans' "1776 moment." Even after the deadly insurrection, Greene insisted that Trump would serve a second term as president.