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Wed, January 20, 2021, 4:00 AM
Newly surfaced Facebook messages from 2018 show U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene agreeing with comments spreading the conspiracy that the Parkland school shooting where 17 students and faculty members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High were killed was a “false flag planned shooting.”
In a post about a story from Fox News that she shared on May 15, 2018, Greene questioned why Broward Sheriff’s school resource deputy Scot Peterson was receiving his state pension. Peterson resigned from BSO after surveillance footage showed he took cover outside the school building while the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting was going on.
Several people commented saying it “sounds like a payoff” for “going along with the evil plan.”
“My thoughts exactly!!” said Greene said in one of the responses.
Green is an adherent of the QAnon conspiracy movement. Twitter temporarily suspended her account on Sunday after she tweeted conspiracy-laced theories about the Georgia elections, 11 days after pro-Trump mobs overtook the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, resulting in the deaths of five people, including a Capitol Police officer.
Greene’s 2-year-old interactions were first reported by Media Matters For America, the progressive watchdog monitoring conservative misinformation.
Greene, a newly elected Republican from Georgia, championed Trump’s false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, claims scores of judges threw out of court for lack of evidence.
Several South Florida Democrats denounced Greene’s comments that have just come to light, including U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, who represents Parkland.
“Radical conspiracy theorists cruelly came to our community in the days after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to outrageously deny that 17 people were killed,” Deutch said. “It’s infuriating that someone like that was elected to Congress.”
Deutch said Greene should “disavow these comments, she should apologize to everyone that she has offended, and, most importantly, she should tell her followers the truth.”
Florida’s Director of Emergency Management Jared Moskowitz, of Coral Springs, said in a tweet that Greene should resign from her position and come to speak to the families of the victims at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Fred Guttenberg, the father of 14-year-old shooting victim Jamie Guttenberg, said in a series of tweets that Greene should resign and apologize for her past comments.
“It appears you think or at one time thought the school shooting in Florida was a false flag. I know you have met Parkland parents. This is my daughter Jaime, she was killed that day. Do you still believe this? Why would you say this?” Guttenberg tweeted.
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