The office of Sen. Marco Rubio canceled a planned meeting with gun control activist and Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg after Hogg falsely claimed on Twitter that the Florida Republican would not meet with him.
Hogg was originally scheduled to meet with Rubio’s staff on Thursday afternoon alongside the March For Our Lives gun control advocacy organization, of which he is a board member. However, Hogg claimed without evidence that Rubio’s office said Hogg “triggered” Rubio, so they would not participate in the meeting in question.
In response, Rubio’s chief of staff revealed the existence of the meeting, but canceled it since the activist was “lying and clearly using this all for self-promotion.”
No one said such a thing. As for the meeting, you must be confused as we had a 2p meeting scheduled with you. However, since you are lying and clearly using this all for self-promotion, that meeting is now cancelled. https://t.co/dteqDZ7ruM
— Michael Needham (@MikeNeedham) June 9, 2022
Hogg later apologized, claiming that his staff “misinformed” him about the meeting. However, according to emails obtained by the Daily Caller, Hogg never had direct contact with Rubio’s office in the first place. Instead, Rubio’s office was informed that Hogg would attend the meeting by a reporter writing a profile of Hogg, and not by the activist himself.
.@marcorubio an honest mistake, got our meetings confused in the flurry and my staff misinformed me. I apologize. We’d still love to meet with you and have an honest, respectful discussion. Deleted the tweet bc it wasn’t true but attaching here for transparency. pic.twitter.com/icmaLoSA0C
— David Hogg ☮️ (@davidhogg111) June 9, 2022
Hogg did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment on the claims. (RELATED: David Hogg Abandons Liberal Pillow Business After Two Months)
March For Our Lives has met with several members of Congress as part of its lobbying efforts in favor of a gun control package.
Hogg and Democratic Florida gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried led a rally outside of Rubio’s Miami office on June 3. At the rally, Hogg claimed that gun control was not about “being on the left or the right, this is about our kids, our future.”
As part of his activism, Hogg has repeatedly attempted to start feuds with prominent Republicans, mostly from his home state of Florida. One month after the Parkland shooting, Hogg released an ad asking, “What if our politicians weren’t the bitch of the NRA?” He later led a boycott campaign against Fox host Laura Ingraham, and blamed then-Gov. Rick Scott for failures of local police.
March For Our Lives will rally at the National Mall on Saturday. Speakers will reportedly include family members of victims of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas and the supermarket shooting in Buffalo, New York.