Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene apologized on Monday for remarks about the Holocaust and told reporters she visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The Georgia Republican, who faced backlash for comparing COVID-19 safety measures to the stars Jews were forced to wear to identify themselves in Nazi-occupied Europe, said she “made a mistake.”
“I just always want to remind everyone, I’m very much a normal person,” she said during a media availability outside the U.S. Capitol. “And I think it’s important for me to always be transparent and honest.”
GREENE DISREGARDS GOP LEADERSHIP REBUKE OVER HOLOCAUST REFERENCES AND INSTEAD POINTS FINGER AT DEMOCRATS
“I have made a mistake, and it’s really bothered me for a couple of weeks now. So I definitely want to own it,” she added.
Greene also mentioned she visited the Holocaust museum, located in Washington, D.C., noting there is “nothing comparable” to the atrocities committed against the Jews during the Holocaust.
“I want to say that I know that words that I’ve stated were hurtful, and for that, I am very sorry,” she added.
In a May 20 podcast appearance on the Christian Broadcasting Network’s The Water Cooler with David Brody, Greene responded to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s mask rules for the House floor.
“You know, we can look back at a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star, and they were definitely treated like second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany,” Greene said. “And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.”
In response to a story about a Tennessee grocery store, Greene tweeted on May 25, “Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi’s forced Jewish people to wear a gold star.” In a separate tweet, she called the University of Virginia’s decision to require its students to get vaccinated to attend in-person classes “Nazi practices.”
The apology from Greene followed rebukes from her Republican colleagues over the comments.
“Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a May 25 tweet. “Let me be clear: the House Republican Conference condemns this language.”
“Over the past few weeks, we have seen Jewish Americans be attacked in our streets, and we’ve seen it on video, we’ve seen the reports, and these are things that should never happen to any American for their religion or identity,” Greene also said on Monday.
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However, Greene noted she still disagreed with mandatory mask-wearing and vaccinations.
“I believe that forced masks, forced vaccines, or vaccine passports are a type of discrimination, and I’m very much against that type of discrimination. What I would like to say is, I’m removing that statement completely away from what I had said before,” she said. “I just want to say there is no comparison to the Holocaust, and there never should be, and that’s what I’m sorry for.”
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Tags: News, Holocaust, Holocaust denial, Coronavirus, Vaccination, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Congress
Original Author: Haley Victory Smith, Emily Brooks
Original Location: Marjorie Taylor Greene apologizes for comparing Holocaust to COVID-19 rules
