Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican in Georgia’s first term, has repeatedly endorsed the execution of leading Democratic politicians on social media before being elected to Congress, including telling a follower who asked if they could hang former President Barack Obama that “The stage is set. “
An analysis of Greene’s social media accounts, first reported by CNN, found that she repeatedly liked Facebook posts that discussed the prospect of violence against Democratic lawmakers and federal government officials. Ms. Greene liked a Facebook comment in January 2019 that said “a bullet in the head would be faster” to remove spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, and liked another one about the execution of FBI agents.
After a Facebook follower asked Greene “Now we are going to hang them,” referring to Obama and Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and Democratic presidential nominee, Greene replied, “The scenario is being set. Players are being put in place. We must be patient. This must be done perfectly or the liberal judges would dismiss them. “
On a long statement posted on Twitter on Tuesday, before CNN published its report, Greene did not deny the posts, but accused CNN of “going after” it for political reasons and noted that several people managed their social media accounts.
“Over the years, I’ve had teams of people managing my pages,” wrote Greene. “Many posts were liked. Many posts have been shared. Some did not represent my opinions ”.
Ms. Greene has already been scrutinized for promoting conspiracy theories, including QAnon, the marginal pro-Trump group that falsely claims the existence of a satanic pedophile cult run by leading Democrats and for mistakenly suggesting that the deadly school shot Parkland, Florida. , was staged.
She repeatedly suggested that Pelosi should be tried for treason for his refusal to support former President Donald J. Trump’s immigration policies, emphasizing that treason is a crime punishable by death.
In the days before pro-Trump insurrectionists invaded the Capitol on January 6, Greene referred to the day as the “1776 moment” of Republicans. After the rebellion, she promised that Trump “would remain in office” and that attempts to remove him from the White House constituted “an attack on all Americans who voted for him”, although he lost the election.
Greene’s fiery rhetoric drew reproach from some members of his own party. But since she joined Congress, Republican House leaders have refused to condemn her. Before being elected, Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third Republican in the House, denied her comments as “offensive and fanatical”, and Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the second Republican, went so far as to support Greene’s opponent main.
After Greene arrived at the Capitol in November, California representative Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, said that Greene had distanced himself from QAnon.
“So the only thing I would like to ask you in the press – these are the new members,” said McCarthy. “Give them an opportunity before claiming what you believe they have done and what they will do.”
A spokesman for McCarthy told Axios that Greene’s newly emerged Facebook posts were “deeply disturbing” and that he planned to “have a conversation” with Greene about them.