Greene to reporter: 'You're the cause of President Trump almost being assassinated'
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) lambasted a news reporter during this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, accusing the journalist of being responsible for the nation’s political division and the attempted assassination of former President Trump.
Greene, in an interview with the Times of London radio Tuesday, was discussing her support for Trump’s newly announced running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), when reporter Jo Crawford asked her about Vance’s suggestion that the United Kingdom may now be the first “truly Islamist” country to possess nuclear weapons following the Labour Party’s landslide win in the recent general election.
“Doesn’t that paint a sour picture for relations with the U.K.?” Crawford asked Greene, to which the congresswoman pivoted to accusing Democrats of “demonizing” Trump and other Republicans.
“Well, let’s talk about the words of the Democrats,” Greene said, adding “demonizing him [Trump] so much that a young man, a 20-year-old, which is hard to imagine, actually climbed onto a roof and tried to murder President Trump.”
When Crawford tried to interject, Greene said, “Let’s talk about people like you, who have demonized people like me [and] President Trump.”
The Georgia Republican then claimed she faces a tremendous number of death threats because of what she described as misleading news reports.
“Shame on you. You’re the problem,” Greene said, adding, “You’re ridiculous. And you’re the problem in our country. You lie about people like me; this is the first time you’ve ever talked to me.”
“Your job is the press: You should report the news and not lie,” she added.
As Crawford tried to continue, Greene said, “You don’t get to ask any more questions. I’m done with you, because you’re the cause of ... our country being divided. You’re the cause of President Trump almost being assassinated; you’re the cause of everything wrong in America.”
The Hill has reached to The Times of London for comment.
The comments came just days after the shooting at Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pa., which wounded the former president and killed one spectator. Two other attendees were injured.
Moments after the shooting, some in the crowd pointed to the press pen reporters, screaming, “This is your fault!”
The shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was fatally shot by authorities moments after he fired at the former president from a nearby roof.
Questions remain over Crooks’s motive.
Trump and a number of his allies have since called for unity, and President Biden urged Americans to lower the temperature in politics in a prime-time address Sunday night.