- Republican congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene questioned the staff of Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib during a visit to Washington, D.C. in 2019 and leveled baseless accusations against them and members of their staff.
- Greene previously supported the QAnon conspiracy theory and questioned whether a plane actually hit the Pentagon on 9/11. She recently walked back those remarks.
- Greene has received support from some Republicans, including President Donald Trump, Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. Matt Gaetz.
Congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene leveled baseless accusations against Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib during a visit to the Capitol in February 2019, alleging that they supported Sharia law and were trying to embed it in the United States.
Greene, a Georgia Republican known for echoing stereotypes and supporting numerous conspiracy theories regarding QAnon and 9/11 (though she recently distanced herself from both), live-streamed her visit on Facebook. Both Omar and Tlaib are American citizens and have never indicated support for Sharia law.
“As a woman, I do not want to have to wear a burka one day,” Greene said. “They should really go back to the Middle East if they support Sharia.”
“If you’re a Muslim you support Sharia,” she alleged without evidence.
Sharia law, an Islamic religious and legal system, serves as a code for Muslims to abide by, BBC reported. Nearly-two thirds of Muslims in the U.S. in 2017 believed that there is more than one way to interpret Islam, according to the Pew Research Center.
Some Muslim nations incorporate aspects of Sharia, which in its most extreme forms can allow amputations or stoning as punishments for certain crimes, according to BBC.
Staffers for both Omar and Tlaib denied that they ever supported Sharia, and there is no credible evidence to support that they ever did. The two Democrats, who make up half of the progressive “squad” along with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, have faced attacks on their faith since their election to Congress.
Greene also said she was going to confront the two representatives over their decision to take their congressional oaths on the Quran instead of the Bible.
“We’re going to talk to them about … how to swear in on the Bible with them and let them know what our law says, that you can’t swear in on the Quran,” she said. “They’re not really official, I don’t think.”
Congressional rules do not require members to take their oaths on the Bible. Members may swear in on any religious text, and only if they choose to.
“We’re gonna talk to them about why they didn’t swear in on the Bible, and then I’m personally going to ask them as a woman, am I going to be forced under Sharia law under their leadership?” Greene said.
Greene also visited Rep. Maxine Waters’s office, where an aide to the California Democrat said that Congress was not in session. Neither Omar nor Tlaib were on the Hill when Greene visited, members of their staff told her.
Greene previously called the two representatives’ election to Congress an “Islamic invasion,” a comment which earned a sharp rebuke from multiple Republicans in Congress.
Among those who condemned Greene were Reps. Liz Cheney, the 3rd-highest ranking Republican in the House, and Tom Emmer, the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, The New York Times reported.
Omar and Tlaib are the first two Muslim women to serve in either the House or Senate, and Tlaib is the first Palestinian woman to serve.
Reps Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley hold a news conference. REUTERS/Erin Scott
The February 2019 video shows Greene and a small entourage entering both of the congresswomen’s offices in an attempt to question each member in person.
“This whole place works for us. I’m a taxpayer,” she said when she entered Omar’s office unannounced.
Greene questioned Omar’s stances on Israel and accused her of supporting Sharia law since “pretty much all Muslims support Sharia law.”
“She doesn’t want to wipe Israel off the map anymore?” she asked in response to a member of Omar’s staff, seemingly referring to Omar’s vocal support for Palestine and criticism of Israel’s government.
When an aide responded, saying that Omar does not dispute Israel’s right to exist and that Omar does not support Sharia law, one of Greene’s companions accused her of lying, alleging, falsely, that “Islam does allow for lying to advance their agenda.”
“True, that’s part of their religion,” Greene said in response.
Omar, of Minnesota, has made remarks in the past that lawmakers in both parties have criticized as anti-Semitic, though she apologized shortly after. US News reported that Omar supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, which seeks to “end international support for Israel’s occupation of Palestinians,” according to the movement’s website.
Greene repeated much of what was said minutes later when she entered Tlaib’s office, accusing a member of her staff of lying about the Michigan Democrat’s beliefs and political stances.
Neither Omar, Tlaib nor Greene’s office responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s multiple requests to comment.
Greene was a supporter of QAnon, a baseless, anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that alleges that the “deep state” is plotting against President Donald Trump and Republicans. She called “Q,” the anonymous individual behind the theory, a “patriot” in a video she posted to YouTube in 2017, NPR reported.
She only only recently distanced herself from the QAnon conspiracy theory.
She also expressed doubt over whether a plane really flew into the Pentagon on 9/11 in 2018, saying that it may have been a missile that hit it instead. She retracted her statement on Aug. 13, tweeting that she now knows that the claim is “not correct.”
She has also previously made false allegations that black Americans are “slaves to the Democratic Party” and that George Soros, a Jew who fled the Nazi-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust, had Nazi ties.
Her former Republican primary opponent said that Green is “not conservative – she’s crazy. She deserves a YouTube channel, not a seat in Congress.” (RELATED: Georgia Candidate Who Supported QAnon Conspiracy Wins Primary Runoff)
Meet the next member from #GA14 (and potentially the new Steve King): Marjorie Taylor Greene (R), who won tonight’s runoff. https://t.co/Qv1NVQQuVK
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) August 12, 2020
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise called her comments “disgusting,” Politico reported. National Review, a prominent conservative publication, called her embrace by the party a “travesty” and said House Republicans should deny her committee assignments if she is elected.
Some prominent Republicans have publicly supported her candidacy. President Donald Trump called her a “future star” after she won her August primary runoff, and she has the endorsements of Republican Reps. Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz.
And Republican Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler — who Gov. Brian Kemp appointed in an effort to shore up support from moderate, suburban women across the state — praised Greene after she won her runoff, tweeting that “we need more political outsiders.”
Greene also congratulated Laura Loomer for winning her Florida primary race. Loomer is a conspiracy theorist who called the Sandy Hook and Parkland shootings hoaxes, accused the survivors of being “crisis actors,” calls herself a “proud Islamophobe,” and explicitly wished for more migrant deaths in a tweet last year.
Congratulations to Laura Loomer on her primary win!
Now Twitter should re-instate her account. @jack pic.twitter.com/SlDPToCS0X
— Marjorie Taylor Greene For Congress???????? (@mtgreenee) August 19, 2020
Unlike Greene, who is the frontrunner in Georgia’s overwhelmingly Republican 14th Congressional District, Loomer is unlikely to win her election. Loomer’s urban district voted for Hillary Clinton by over 20 points in 2016 and did not even field a Republican candidate two years ago.
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