Marjorie Taylor Greene complained about being blocked from the media spin room following the first Republican debate - after she apparently spent the event watching Donald Trump’s interview instead of the candidates on stage.
Republicans had a tough choice in what to watch on Wednesday night between the first debate and Mr Trump’s interview with Tucker Carlson – but Ms Greene had her own solution.
The Georgia congresswoman attended the Republican National Committee (RNC) debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to watch the eight qualified candidates hash it out on stage.
But as a loyal Trump ally, Ms Greene also brought her phone to tune into Carlson’s interview with the ex-president.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, journalist Glenn Greenwald shared a photo of Ms Greene in the crowd while watching Mr Trump’s interview.
“I’m sitting directly behind@RepMTG at the GOP presidential debate and her attention appears to be at least…. Divided,” Greenwald wrote.
Ms Greene later toldRight Side Broadcasting Network she was serving as a “surrogate” for Mr Trump that evening – to represent him and his values at the mainstream debate.
Mr Trump and Carlson purposefully aired the 46-minute long interview, which aired on X, at the same time as the debate to draw attention away from it.
Though he technically qualified for the first debate, Mr Trump chose not to attend because he believes he is too far ahead in polls to need to attend. He also refused to sign a pledge that the RNC implemented which requires candidates to support the eventual nominee.
Ms Greene’s choice of viewing during the event raised some eyebrows from people.
“Guess the debate was riveting,” one person tweeted.
“Boring ahh debate,” one X user said.
One person seized the opportunity to photoshop Ms Greene watching a unique alternative to the debate.
After the debate, Ms Greene complained that despite having “credentials” to allow her in the spin room – the room where reporters can speak with debate participants – she was denied access.
“This is censorship from Fox News, this is censorship not allowing surrogates for President Trump into the spin room,” Ms Greene told RSBN.
“They just blocked us out, they would not allow myself, Matt Gaetz, any other Trump surrogates to go into the spin room. We argued with them, talked to them, we showed the correct credentials.”
Earlier in the day, Ms Greene expressed her lack of enthusiasm for the other candidates when she told reporters that most of the candidates on the stage “really don’t have a chance” against the ex-president.
“Because America knows what we had for four years with President Trump. We want those days back,” she said.
The Georgia congresswoman added insult to injury saying she was unfamiliar with some of the Republican candidates who qualified for the debate.
“These candidates, I don’t even know who some of them are. I was surprised that I didn’t know who the governor of North Dakota and some other people were,” she said.
