Marjorie Taylor Greene Grilled On Comparing Mask Mandates To Holocaust | EUROtoday

NBC’s Kristen Welker grilled Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Sunday for likening COVID-19 masks mandates in the course of the coronavirus pandemic to the therapy of Jews in Nazi Germany.

On “Meet the Press” a day earlier than Greene’s final day in Congress, Welker talked about the Georgia lawmaker’s extremely condemned look on the America First Political Action Conference.

“In 2022, you did speak at a conference organized by Nick Fuentes. He’s a white nationalist. He recently said that Hitler is, quote, ‘Cool,’” Welker started. “Let me ask you about your perspective right now. Do you believe there is room in the Republican Party for Nick Fuentes and anyone who shares that ideology, that Hitler is cool?”

Greene, who introduced her resignation from Congress in November following a public falling-out with President Donald Trump, completely dodged the query.

“Here’s my situation, and here’s my belief on people’s speech. I will always defend the First Amendment and free speech, no matter what kind of speech it is,” she replied. “Even speech that I find abhorrent or I disagree with, because I think that makes us uniquely American.”

“What concerns me is that when we move towards censorship, and we saw that happen during COVID, I myself had my own Twitter account permanently banned because I spoke out against FDA rushed approval of the COVID vaccines,” she stated. “And I spoke out against lockdowns and forced masking. And, you know, when I look at people saying that certain types of speech needs to be censored, and we have been hearing that lately, that raises great concern for me.”

Greene’s Twitter and Facebook accounts had been suspended in January 2022 for spreading COVID-19 misinformation.

Several months earlier than her on-line suspension, Greene confronted backlash for evaluating then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s determination to proceed requiring masks on the House flooring to the Nazis’ persecution of Jewish individuals in the course of the Holocaust.

Greene, who has a file of constructing racist and Islamophobic remarks and peddling antisemitic conspiracy theories, later apologized for her feedback.

Noting that she thinks censoring speech is “something that we have to take seriously as Americans,” Greene advised Welker, “we don’t have to agree with each other, and we certainly can disagree, but we should overwhelmingly agree that free speech must be protected.”

Welker then instantly confronted Greene.

“During COVID, you did compare lockdowns to the Holocaust,” she stated. “I understand your point about free speech, but let me press you there, because Nick Fuentes has said on his podcast, quote, ‘Hitler was awesome. Hitler was–’”

Greene interrupted to say that she had been misquoted.

“No, that’s a misquote. Kirsten, that’s a misquote. That’s a misquote. That’s not correct,” she stated. “I compared vaccine cards, being forced to take a vaccine in order to be able to keep a job or buy or sell, or be able to be admitted to restaurants. I compared that.”

She then backtracked additional, saying, “I was not comparing. The Holocaust was horrible. I’m not comparing anything to that.”

Elsewhere within the interview, the Republican doubled down on her earlier claims that she doesn’t know Fuentes, however she didn’t denounce his remarks.

“I don’t even have his phone number. He doesn’t have my phone number,” she added earlier than alleging that she spoke on the occasion “because it was largely attended by young Americans, and I care about that generation.”

“I’m not going to engage in weighing in on who deserves to be where,” she later added.

Watch Greene’s look on “Meet the Press” under.