Congresswoman Marjorie Green was recently experiencing a little bit of discomfort
just a little bit as she was being interviewed by Leslie Stahl on 60 minutes.
And to be Frank, the interview was combative to say the least, but
there was one portion of it that I thought was interesting.
So the topic of Marjorie Taylor Green's belief in
outlandish conspiracy theories came up,
namely the idea that the Parkland shooting was really just
a false flag in order to pass gun control legislation.
Let's pause for a second.
Francesca, I want to bring you in right away.
There's endless mass shootings, endless mass shootings that lead to nothing.
No legislation, no proposals, no nothing, okay?
Why would we have to even consider that these shootings are false flags,
to pass gun control legislation when the gun control legislation never happens?
>> Exactly.
It's because, and you know what the best part about it is it's an admission
that we should have gun control.
It's an admission, it's like, man, that's pretty persuasive.
I mean, remember after the Vegas shooting, that was also another thing, right?
It was like, well, there were so many people killed at once from a high rise,
from a hotel.
This was clearly an op.
They're like, I don't know.
Have we done anything?
Has anyone had their guns taken away?
No.
Have we gotten any stricter maybe minimally, I don't know, Biden did,
he waved a wand, he did something kind of.
But I like how Marjorie also is taking after Alex Jones and
she's like everyone has a false flag, I need mine.
I'm gonna do Parkland that'll be my thing.
>> She were with Parkland, she did, she did.
Now, let's give you the details of the interview which unfortunately,
due to copyright issues, we cannot show you but I can give you the transcript.
So Lesley Stahl asks her, did you apologize for
your position on Parkland Florida?
Marjorie Green responds, what was my position on Parkland Florida?
Stahl responds that it was a false flag?
At that point Green says, I don't know if you actually have my pos.
No, I never said Parkland was a false flag.
No, I've never said that.
School shootings are horrible, I don't think it's anything to joke about.
Well, at that point, Lesley Stahl decides to show the receipts.
As she was speaking, 60 Minutes showed
a screengrab of Green's now-deleted 2018 Facebook comment.
We fact-checked, Stahl replied.
Before I got to this interview.
So I wanted to show you all the screengrab of the now-deleted
comments from Marjorie Green.
So someone on her Facebook page commented in response
to the Broward County Sheriff's deputy Scott Peterson,
receiving a retirement pension after the shooting.
So they write, it's called a payoff
to keep his mouth shut since it was a false flag planned shooting.
And Marjorie Green says exactly.
So she along with this commenter, Francesca,
believe that the now disgraced Broward County Sheriff's deputy,
Scott Peterson, received the retirement pension.
So he keeps his mouth shut about this shooting really just being a false flag.
That is what they believe.
>> Yeah. >> That is what she posted.
>> But I was just doing that because, I just want a yes, and, I'm a good,
I just want to be a team player and, it really helps engagement on the Facebook.
So it doesn't mean I believe in it, right?
They feel that that's what they do.
It's, they support conspiracies with the same energy that you and
I would support one another's selfies on Instagram being like,
yes, girl, you look good, like fire emoji, they do that.
But for like Parkland was an inside job from Hunter Biden and
like, yes girl, go off, you're right.
Like what? >> It's also really strange to me that you
would have that take, that you would float the notion that
a school shooting was an inside job.
And then when you're asked about it, just be as infuriated by the fact-check,
infuriated that it even comes up, right?
They never want to take ownership of what they believe and
what they say they believe.
So it all really depends on the context,
if it's in the context of this Facebook conversation,
if it's in the context of conversing with other likeminded right wingers.
Yeah, we're all false flag, right?
Am I right?
But then once they're challenged on that, no, I never said that,
I take school shootings very seriously.
Do you though?
Do you?
And if she does take school shootings very seriously like the Parkland shooting,
which she had referred to as a false flag.
Then why did she feel the need to harass students like David Hogg after
the shooting occurred?
Remember David Hogg experienced his classmates getting slaughtered
right before his eyes.
And after that, this is what Marjorie Green did.
Let's watch.
>> David, why are you supporting the red flag laws?
If that Peterson, the resource officer at Parkland had done his job,
then Nicholas Cruz wouldn't have killed anybody in your high school or
at least protected them.
Why are you supporting red flag gun laws that attack our Second Amendment rights?
And why are you using kids as a barrier?
And you have nothing, no words.
So I'm walking, he's got nothing to say, sad.
He has nothing to say, because there really isn't anything to say you guys,
he has nothing to say because he's paid to do this, and he's a coward.
He can't say one word because he can't defend his stance.
>> Speaking of the inability to defend your stance,
after Marjorie Green was fact-checked by Lesley Stahl,
she responded with deflection and word solid nonsense.
So, here you go.
This is what she said.
Have you fact-checked all my statements from kindergarten through 12th grade and
in college?
[SOUND] And as I've paid my taxes and never broken a law, and the only,
I got a few speeding tickets, do we need to talk about those too?
Because I think where you're going down is the same attacks that people have
attacked me with over and over.
Well, they might have attacked you with it over and over, because you alleged
that a school shooting was a false flag in order to pass gun legislation.
So why don't you defend what your views are?
This isn't an attack, this is asking you whether you apologize for that claim or
whether you want to defend that claim.
So go ahead, but she's unable to do it, right?
>> Reality is not an attack, using your own words, the things you said,
the video evidence of you telling David Hogg that he is paid, right?
What do they expect us to do?
And this is why ultimately zooming out on this entire story, and the back and
forth and we could debate it.
But I ultimately look, I watched the, the 60 Minutes interview, and
I do not think that Lesley Stahl actually did that great of a job.
More broadly, I don't think 60 Minutes should have done this interview.
The entire segment opens with like a six minute explanation of
who Marjorie Green is and where she came from, and
how she's a little bit divisive, like her thoughts on a national divorce.
The thing we haven't tried to do since the civil war.
It's all with the same sort of blase monotone like centrist media or,
hey, all these things are equal.
People who want health care and a green new deal and not to die in a flood.
That's the same thing as wanting to do over the civil war.
Anyway, [SOUND] it is driving me insane, Anna because literally, it's like
you're known for being kind of an attack dog, you're really fiery about what?
Say it, say it, because what you showed just there is that she's an attack dog for
believing that students are faking their own mass shootings.
Just say that and stop giving it so much gas.
Look 20 minutes ago, Marjorie Green just tweeted out a video with the headline,
democrats are pedophiles, y'all, this is the kind of green light
normalization that mainstream news often does with far white nationalists.
>> Yeah, I don't know.
I think that, she's an elected lawmaker, whether we like it or not.
And I think it is important to do these interviews and
my takeaway was a little different from yours.
I think that what Lesley Stahl did in fact-checking her in real time,
and then watching Marjorie Green flail the way she did in response to those
questions was important for a broader non-Newsmax audience to see.
And whether it makes any difference in terms of the voting base, that seems to be
very supportive of Marjorie Green, whether that makes any difference for them.
I mean, I don't know and I don't think it will, but Marjorie Green very
rarely if ever does any type of interview where she gets challenged, and it
was kind of nice to see her in a context outside of Fox News or Newsmax or OAN.
And watching her flail was important for at least people like me.
I don't know, I enjoyed seeing it, yeah.
>> No, but Anna, it wasn't flailing, was it?
It wasn't flailing.
>> She flailed.
>> But it was anger.
>> I mean, it's pretty clear she couldn't, yeah, that anger is fantastic, right?
The anger in response to a fact-check where she got caught,
because she couldn't explain herself.
And I think those moments are important.
Now, I hear what people are saying, you shouldn't platform her,
again, she's an elected lawmaker.
So, ignoring her and
pretending like she doesn't exist also doesn't help the problem.
So, it's an ongoing debate.
I think the interview was important to do, but I hear what you're saying,
it's a different perspective, and I respect that.
>> Yeah, it's like a Kellyanne Conway conundrum, right?
That's definitely a TM, Kellyanne Conway conundrum, which is how many times can you
invite someone on when they just lie to your face?
Will you still give them air time?
Because clearly she was about ready to walk.
I mean, if Lesley had pushed it even further, she was like,
what are you gonna do?
You got a parking ticket and then, she freaked out and yes,
you could call it flailing.
I call it sort of a bitter partisan,
honestly, like an ultimatum, right?
It was a little bit of like,
I'm gonna walk away from this interview if you keep on going down that road.