The mother of one of the victims of the Parkland school shooting in 2018 said she spoke to MP Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., After the freshman legislator was hit by a widespread reaction last week for bizarre comments she made on social networks, including one suggesting that the shooting was a “false flag”.
According to Linda Beigel Schulman, whose son, Scott Beigel, was killed in the attack, Greene said he did not believe that the main school shootings of the past decade were false or staged flags. But, Schulman said, Greene refused to join her to publicly reject them alongside her on MSNBC.
“It’s wrong, it’s just wrong,” Schulman said during an interview with “Weekends with Alex Witt”, when asked about his ideas about promoting Greene’s conspiracies about prominent mass shootings. “She shouldn’t be telling lies,” added Schulman.
She said that a congressman helped connect her with Greene, and they spoke at Zoom on Saturday.
“When we started our conversation, I was completely honest and told Congressman Greene that I would be on MSNBC today,” said Schulman. “The parameters were set and the only topic discussed would be the school shooting in Parkland and Sandy Hook and that the conversation would be completely confidential. Our conversation went very well.”
She described the conversation as “friendly and cordial” and that Greene said it was okay for Schulman to share the discussion as she wished.
“My first question for Congresswoman Greene was: do you really believe that Parkland and Sandy Hook were fake and staged flags?” Schulman said. “That was a really important question for me. So far, I can’t imagine anyone could say something like that. Her answer was unmistakably no, I don’t.”
Schulman said that although she “wanted so much” to trust Greene, she felt she couldn’t.
“Unless she wants to reach out to the public and fix the wrong lies out there and deny the things she said, no, I can’t believe it,” said Schulman, adding, “Maybe inside of her she believes, I don’t know. I don’t I have no idea. I’m not in it, but you can, words are very powerful, but actions speak louder than words. “
Greene’s office did not immediately return a request for comment from NBC News.
Greene was first investigated last week after a CNN analysis of her Facebook page, which showed that she liked posts in recent years calling for violence against prominent Democrats, while promoting extremist conspiracy theories. She was also criticized for a video she posted on YouTube last year, in which she harassed Parkland survivor David Hogg, who is now a prominent arms control activist. Greene has also expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy in the past.
On Sunday, Republican politicians were pressured about how the party should respond to Greene, who now faces requests to expel Congress or the committees on which it operates.
“The people in her district elected her and that must mean a lot,” Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, told ABC’s “This Week” program. “They elected her and she will run for re-election and will be responsible for what she said and for her actions.”
Asked about Greene’s comments on Facebook prior to his run to Congress expressing support for the execution of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., As reported by CNN, Hutchinson said: “I will not answer that question if she is okay serve because she believes in something that everyone doesn’t accept. “
“I reject that,” he said. “But she is going to run for re-election. I don’t think we should punish people from a disciplinary or partisan point of view because they think something a little different.”
“I would not vote for her,” he added later.
Greene did not back down, announcing on Saturday that former President Donald Trump called her recently to express his support. House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Will meet Greene later this week, a Republican Party aide told NBC News.
“I would certainly vote it out of the committee,” deputy Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., Told NBC’s “Meet the press“on Sunday.” In terms of eviction, I’m not sure … I think a district has every right to put whoever it wants there. But we have every right to stand and say that you don’t have a committee, and we definitely need to do that. “
In an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union”, Senator Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said: “Republican leaders should stand up and say what she said is totally unacceptable.”
“I saw some videos over the weekend,” he said. “And one had to do with violence, in my view. And there is no place for violence in our political dialogue. In fact, there is no place for violence in our country. I mean, this is something we have to get away from. So, yes, I think people should speak clearly. “
He said he “would not be surprised” to see her lose her assignment to the Chamber’s Education and Work Committee.
“And, you know, I think that’s the way to send a message,” he said. “The voters who elected her in her district in Georgia must be respected. On the other hand, when this type of behavior occurs, there must be a strong response.”