Marjorie Taylor Greene finally partially apologizes for backing QAnon - then says 'I am NOT sorry' for harassing David Hogg and flees press conference when she is asked about wanting Nancy Pelosi executed
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene finally said Friday that she was sorry for backing QAnon and saying 'those things that are wrong and offensive,' but she had no remorse over her treatment of Parkland schol shooting survivor David Hogg.
'David Hogg was working with the organization that was, they were going around working hard for strict gun control laws,' Greene said. 'I'm very opposed to those policies and so being in the same situation as David Hogg, my voice matters too - and so no, I'm not sorry for telling him he shouldn't push for gun control.'
Greene assembled a press conference outside the Capitol Building in the aftermath of the Democrat-led House's decision to strip her of her committee assignments in a vote Thursday evening of 230 to 199, with 11 Republicans voting alongside every Democrat.
The Georgia Republican got angry when reporters asked her about some of the controversial comments she made that led to the vote, with a question about her support on Facebook for executing House Speaker Nanchy Pelosi prompting her to flee the scene.
'You know, here's the thing, when you want to keep telling the same story over and over, but you don't want to tell the truth, that's your problem. And that is how we end press conferences,' she said marching off toward the Capitol Building, with a gaggle of reporters in hot pursuit.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks to reporters outside the Capitol Building Friday on the heels of being pushed out of committees for making controversial statements
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene got annoyed with a question about her indicating support for executing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and ended the press conference, heading back to the Capitol Building with a gaggle of reporters in tow
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene walks out of the Capitol Building to address the press Friday morning
Reporters gathered on Capitol Hill for a press conference with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was ousted out of her committee assignments by the majority-Democrat House of Representatives
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she wasn't sorry for following David Hogg (right) around Capitol Hill and making nasty comments about him. Hogg appeared on CNN Friday morning (pictured)
Before that, Greene had been asked by a reporter if there were statements she was sorry she made.
'Oh, of course, I'm sorry for saying all those things that are wrong and offensive and I sincerely m ean that and I'm happy to say that, I think it's good to say, say when we've done something wrong,' she said.
Immediately after that, she said she was not sorry for harassing Hogg, noting that he was an 'adult' at the time.
After CNN reported on her Facebook posts that indicated she supported top Democrats being killed a viral video came out of her running after Hogg when the gun control activist was lobbying on Capitol Hill.
'I want you to know I know that fear David Hogg felt,' she said Friday. 'It's terrifying.'
Greene said when she was in 11th grade, at age 16, one of her schoolmates brought three guns into a classroom, which led to students being in a five-hour hostage situation.
'It's terrifying when the only person in the building with a gun is very upset and is there to do evil. And there's no good guy with any guns to protect us,' she said.
At the top of the press conference, Greene told several dozen masked reporters that she 'truly' supported the freedom of press.
'I think it's one of the things that makes our country so great and I really hope that you'll be able to tell my story a little bit better,' the Georgia lawmaker said.
That tune quickly changed, as she blamed the press for Washington's toxic partisanship.
'Do you want your legacy to be the platform that destroyed our nation and caused our people to hate one another or would you rather be a platform that told the truth because you're given the great gift, the freedom of press,' Greene said.
Those comments came directly after she pointed a finger at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the Democratic caucus' most liberal members, and said AOC was responsible for a 'hoax' by saying she feared for her life during the insurrection.
'I was in the chamber, unlike AOC, Representative Ocasio-Cortez, that faked her outrage with another hoax, another hoax that gets shared everywhere,' Greene said.
She called both Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Cori Bush, who had an altercation with Greene in a Capitol Hill hallway, liars.
'This is the kind of fake outrage that is dividing our Congress along with the fake outrage on the news every single day,' Greene said.
'You know what the media does? And you guys are great at it. And I'm telling you this because I want to like you. But you're doing a really good job addicting our nation to hate, teaching people to hate people like me, President Trump and then on the right it's the same way, teaching people to hate AOC, Ilhan Omar, Nancy Pelosi, see it goes both ways doesn't it?' Greene continued.
'Teaching people to hate, and addicting them to it, is killing our country,' she told the gathered reporters.
Greene defended Trump throughout her press conference, noting that a 'record number of Americans' voted for him. She neglected to mention that even more Americans voted for now President Joe Biden.
'Do you know why? Because they loved his policies. They loved his fight. They loved the fact that for once we had a president who stood up for America, stood up for American businesses and remembered the "forgotten man,"' Greene said. 'He was a president who didn't care about your skin color because God created us all equal.'
'I want to tell you Republican voters support him still, the party is his,' Greene said.
She called next week's Senate impeachment trial a 'circus' and suggested it was just a way for media companies to line their pockets.
The House voted 230 to 199 to strip her committee assignments
'The American people are disgusted with you because you're lying,' she told reporters, pointing out how media coverage over the summer described Black Lives Matter protests as predominantly peaceful. 'People are sick of it, they're fed up because they lost their businesses and they may have gotten hurt and they're tired of being attacked because they want to wear a red hat that says "Make America Great Again" or they voted for Trump and were proud of it.'
She also said neither Trump nor Republicans in Congress were responsible for the January 6 MAGA mob.
'Everyone here knows he did not cause this attack on the Capitol, not did I, nor did any Republican, but the responsibility falls squarely on those that invaded the Capitol,' Greene said. 'The ones that planned it ahead of time, those are the people who should be held accountable.'
A barb-wired, fenced perimeter still stands around the Capitol and National Guard troops were seen in the distance during Greene's press conference.
Greene had woke up in a fighting mood Friday, calling fellow Republicans who voted to strip away her committee assignments 'morons' and embracing her reduced stature as liberating.
'I woke up early this morning literally laughing thinking about what a bunch of morons the Democrats (+11) are for giving some one like me free time,' she wrote, just hours after taking to the House floor to disavow QAnon conspiracy theory beliefs she said she gave up in 2018.
'In this Democrat tyrannical government, Conservative Republicans have no say on committees anyway. Oh this is going to be fun!' she wrote, shortly before 8 am on Twitter.
She reiterated the point several times during the press conference.
Republican Representative from Georgia Marjorie Taylor Greene (C) walks on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, 04 February 2021. She said it would be 'fun' being kicked off committees, and called those who voted against her 'morons'
Greene's new posture came after earlier indicating she planned to fight to try to get her assignments back, after the Democratic-run House voted 230-199 to take away her Education & Labor and Budget Committee assignments.
It had echoes of the way Trump tried to ridicule his political opponents before he got kicked off Twitter following the Jan. 6. MAGA riot.
On Thursday night, Greene retweeted a post from Andy Biggs, a Republican congressman from Arizona, telling his colleagues 'not to give in to the Left's lawless authoritarianism.'
'Time for Republicans to do what's right and correct this unprecedented wrong. Put Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene back on her committees,' Biggs wrote.
One House Democrat, Rep. Jimmy Gomez of California said the punishment was not enough, and is pushing to have her expelled from the House. He also said he would support a resolution to censure her, although he wrote in an op-ed that would be insufficient.
Greene said she gave up on her QAnon beliefs in 2018 and that Sept. 11th 'happened'
Congressman Jimmy Gomez of California says Greene should be expelled from the House
'If you look at her behavior and comments — in the context of what had been going on in the country before Nov. 3, then after the elections, and finally during and after the insurrection that occurred on Jan. 6 — removing her from the committees is not enough, he wrote in an op-ed for NBC.
'It's a great first step, because somebody who peddles in lies and conspiracy theories should not have a platform to try to influence the education policy of the United States. But it's not enough.
'She participated in inciting the insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol to overturn the results of a free and fair election, which is the cornerstone of our democracy,' he continued.
'Censuring her does not send a strong enough message to the country about how seriously the House of Representatives takes individuals who peddle in lies, who use the language of political violence and who try to incite violence in order to get their way in either electoral politics or in the legislative process,' he said of a method that has been used to rebuke lawmakers for campaign finance violations and language unbecoming of the House.
'And even after facing the possibility of punishment by the House, she hasn't apologized: instead, she blamed the backlash to her dangerous statements on cancel culture, simply affirmed the fact that 9/11 happened, that school shootings aren't all fake and said that, when it came to her embrace of the cult-like QAnon conspiracy theory, she had been 'allowed to believe things that weren't true.'
She also continued to fundraise of the controversy, he noted. She will continue to be able to try to build her profile, while no longer having to put in committee work.
Democrats, and 11 Republicans, voted Thursday to remove Greene from both her committee assignments for espousing QAnon conspiracies before being elected to Congress – including supporting calls online for Nancy Pelosi's execution.
The 230-199 vote created the simple majority needed for Greene to get booted from her posts on the Education and Labor Committee and Budget Committee.
Ahead of the vote Thursday, Greene dramatically abandoned her QAnon conspiracy theories in a speech to the House of Representatives.
The Georgia Republican said '9/11 absolutely happened,' and that 'school shootings are real,' disclaiming two of the bizarre claims which had made her the focus for opprobrium from Democrats and condemnation from her GOP colleagues.
'I also want to tell you 9/11 absolutely happened. I remember that day crying all day long watching it on the news. It's a tragedy for anyone to say it didn't happen,' Greene told the House
'Later in 2018 when I started finding misinformation, lies, things that were not true in these QAnon posts, I stopped believing it,' Greene said during her floor remarks. 'So I walked away from those things '
'Cancel culture is a real thing. It is very real. And when big tech companies like Twitter, you can scroll through and see where someone may have retweeted porn, this is a problem.'
