‘I’m truly sorry’: Marjorie Taylor Greene visits Holocaust Museum and admits mask comments were ‘a mistake’

Far-right congresswoman had compared mask mandates to the Holocaust

Josh Marcus
San Francisco
Monday 14 June 2021 23:47 BST
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<p>Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday apologised for comparing mask mandates to the Holocaust.</p>

Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday apologised for comparing mask mandates to the Holocaust.

Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene apologised on Monday for previously comparing Covid mask mandates to the Holocaust, following a secret visit to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC.

“The horrors of the Holocaust are something that some people don’t even believe happened, and some people deny, but there is no comparison to the Holocaust,” she told reporters after her visit. “There are words that I have said and remarks that I have made that I know are offensive and for that I want to apologise.”

The scandal began in late May, when the congresswoman called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “mentally ill” for supporting mask mandates.

“We can look back at a time in history when people were told to wear a gold star, and ... they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany,” she told an interviewer on the Real America’s Voice network showThe Water Cooler. “This is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.”

The comments drew immediate condemnation from Jewish groups as well as some of her own colleagues, but the provocative Georgia Republican continued strongly defending her comparison.

“I stand by all of my statements,” she lated said. “I said nothing wrong. Any rational Jewish person didn’t like what happened in Nazi Germany, and any rational Jewish person doesn’t like what’s happening with overbearing mask mandates and overbearing vaccine policies.”

Republicans quickly condemned her statements, with GOP House leader Kevin McCarthy saying she had belittled “the greatest atrocity committed in history.”

This February 230 members of the House of Representatives, mostly Democrats, voted to oust the congresswoman from her committee assignments, a rare and very public rebuke following a history of bigoted comments.

Ms Greene, who Donald Trump once called a “future Republican star,” quickly rose to prominence like her idol by saying the most outrageous and offensive things possible, ensuring a constant media spotlight.

The Georgia Republican has previously called the election of Muslim congresswomen like Ilhan Omar an “Islamic invasion,” lied about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez telling supporters to “punch a cop,” posed with an assault rifle next to pictures of “The Squad” group of progressive congress members in the House, supported the QAnon mass delusion, and endorsed 9/11 conspiracy theories.

She also regularly flouted Congress’s own mask rules, and shredded a warning letter she received.

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