Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has blamed the Antifa and said “no one can convince” her that the violent protesters involved in the January 6 riots were supporters of Donald Trump.
“I was very upset. I never expected anything like that. And when that happened, I thought, this is Antifa, and no one can convince me it was so-called Trump supporters, and we know there’s a lot wrong there, and I cannot wait for investigations, a real investigation,” Ms Greene said.
The far-right Republican leader was speaking with 2020 election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell for his show.
The Biden administration’s response to the riot is “political persecution” under which more than 800 people have been arrested and over 200 criminal sentences have been handed out, she said. According to an NPR database, 875 people have been charged in connection with the riot and 360 have either been convicted at trial or pleaded guilty as of 5 August.
The congresswoman added that people who did things that “they shouldn’t have done” should be treated better during their imprisonment, bringing up her visit to jails.
“OK, they got charged for things they shouldn’t have done, OK, that happened, they deserve their day in court, they deserve their due process rights, but honestly, my gosh, what’s happening to these people is so heartbreaking,” she said in the Lindell TV interview.
She added: “I was in that jail, I saw them, it’s so sad. They hadn’t bathed, they didn’t have haircuts, they couldn’t shave because they weren’t vaccinated. They were treated worse if they weren’t vaccinated, but, what kind of country are we?”
The Georgia representative has not given a clear stand on whether she believes Mr Trump’s supporters were involved in the US Capitol riots.
One of the biggest supporters of Mr Trump’s claims that the election declaring Joe Biden the winner was stolen, Ms Greene had sent a text message to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on the day of the violent attack and said that she feared there was an active shooter at the site.
“Please tell the president to calm people. This isn’t the way to solve anything,” Ms Greene, who frequently circulates conspiracy theories, said.
But the very next day, she tried to overturn her allegations on Mr Trump and said: “I don’t think that President Trump caused the attack on the Capitol.”
“It’s not his fault. Antifa was mixed in the crowed [sic] and instigated it, and sadly people followed. But when people try everything and no one listens and nothing works, I guess they think they have no other choice,” she said in a text message.
With a few days left in Mr Trump’s presidency on 17 January, Ms Greene said he should call for martial law, which she misspelled as “marshall”.
“In our private chat with only members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law [sic],” she had said. “I don’t know on those things. I just wanted you to tell him. They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next. Please tel [sic] him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!”
