Update: Coalition of national groups call for Greene's resignation for Facebook remarks
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — UPDATE (Friday):
Several group of grassroots activists have called for Rep. Greene to resign from Congress in light of the 2018 comments she made on Facebook.
The groups Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action posted their message online Friday. The groups were formed in part after the Parkland HighSchool shooting incident.
"Rep. Greene continues to lower the already-subterranean bar she’s set for herself, and further embarrass our entire government,” said Sari Kaufman, a volunteer leader with Students Demand Action and a member of the Everytown Survivor Network who survived the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. “She should step down and take her radical extremism, conspiracy theories, and hate fueled lies far, far away.”
We reached out to Rep. Greene's office for comment. A spokesman replied to us us via email, "These are anti-gun groups who want to remove any person who believes in the Second Amendment. Instead of doing the bidding of national fundraising organizations ran by Democrats, please reach out to her constituents and the support she has in the district. Our phones ring off the hook every day in support of the Congresswoman. Start listening to the people and stop listening to loud well-funded groups who are opposed to her for her policies."
This story will be updated as we learn more.
PREVIOUSLY:
Controversial Northwest Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is now accused of calling the Parkland, Florida school shooting a planned event, by commenting on a 2018 Facebook post that made that claim, replying "Exactly!"
In 2018, Greene posted a story on her Facebook page about a Broward County sheriff’s deputy receiving a retirement pension, despite not actively trying to stop the shooting.
Media watchdog organization Media Matters, which says its dedicated to, among other things, “correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media" provided a screenshot of the now-deleted comment.
The image shows a blocked out person saying "it’s called a pay off to keep his mouth shut since it was a false flag planned shooting." Congresswoman Greene replied and said "Exactly!!"
A false flag is a conspiracy theory that says incidents are either faked or planned in an effort to sway public opinion as a means of, in this case, confiscating guns. There is no evidence that the Parkland High School shooting was such a "false flag."
Greene has promoted other conspiracy theories in the past, including that the 9/11 attacks were "false flags." Greene has been a promoter of the conspiracy group Q-Anon, and has signaled that she supports the same things Q-Anon supports.
Seventeen people died in that school shooting almost three years ago.
On Tuesday afternoon, seemingly in response to Media Matters' report, Greene posted a statement on Twitter where she did not directly denounce the false flag conspiracy theory. Read the full statement below:
Rep. Greene wrote "Gun-free school zones are a FAILURE. Laws that prevent legal ownership of firearms turn schools into targets."
We have reached out to Greene’s office to ask if she believes the Parkland shooting was a planned event.
They directed us back to her Twitter statement.