Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Facebook in 2018: Parkland school shooting was a false flag planned event

Written by Eric Hananoki

Published

Updated

Marjorie Taylor Greene QAnon / Trump image from CNN

Update (1/20/21): This piece has been updated to note that some comments documented in this piece have since been removed on Facebook.  

In a previously unreported interaction, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) agreed with a 2018 Facebook comment that the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was actually a “false flag” planned event. 

In a separate Facebook post in 2018, Greene also claimed: “I am told that Nancy Pelosi tells Hillary Clinton several times a month that ‘we need another school shooting’ in order to persuade the public to want strict gun control.” 

Greene was a right-wing commentator before successfully running for Congress in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. She has pushed the QAnon and Pizzagate conspiracy theories; falsely claimed that there’s no evidence a plane crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11; labeled the 2018 pipe bomb packages to members of Congress and others a hoax; accused the Obama administration of killing former Democratic staffer Seth Rich; and pushed anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic rhetoric, among other things. 

Greene has frequently used social media to spread misinformation, toxic rhetoric, and conspiracy theories. Twitter recently suspended Greene’s Twitter account for 12 hours after she spread lies about the U.S. Senate elections in Georgia. 

On February 14, 2018, a gunman took the lives of 17 people in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The tragedy spurred survivors to become activists and call for new gun laws. 

The shooting also resulted in conspiracy theories, including the claim that it was a “false flag” event -- an incident that is either faked or planned by someone other than the actual perpetrator -- to take away people’s guns. Those toxic claims were especially spread through right-wing and social media. 

Greene, now a member of Congress, was one of those people who spread such claims on Facebook. In May 2018, she posted a story about disgraced Broward County sheriff’s deputy Scot Peterson receiving a retirement pension. 

In the comments section, someone wrote: “It’s called a pay off to keep his mouth shut since it was a false flag planned shooting.” Greene replied: “Exactly.” (Update 1/20/21: These remarks have since been removed.)

Marjorie Taylor Greene agrees with comment that Parkland shooting was a false flag planned shooting

Since-deleted comments from a 2018 post to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's Facebook page.

Another commenter wrote: “Kick back for going along with the evil plan. You know it's not for doing a good job.” Greene replied: “My thoughts exactly!! Paid to do what he did and keep his mouth shut!” (Update 1/20/21: These remarks from Greene have since been removed.)

Marjorie Taylor Greene on Parkland shooting: “My thoughts exactly!! Paid to do what he did and keep his mouth shut!”

Since-deleted comments by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from a 2018 post to her Facebook page.

Near the end of 2018, Greene also wrote a Facebook post claiming that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants more school shootings to enact gun laws. She wrote: “Most Americans are asleep and pay no attention to the real civil war that is happening right now in our country. There are only a small percentage of people who are wide awake. This is no longer about political parties, but truly about nationalism versus globalism and freedom versus socialism and elitism versus the people and at it's core good versus evil.” As evidence, she later claimed: 

Adding to this deluge of lies, the Democrats in the House also have a priority of passing strict gun control. It is number one on their agenda starting in January. They want to ban “assault weapons" aka semi-automatic guns, and use mental illness as a reason people cannot own guns. If PTSD is on the mental illness list then that will wipe out millions of veterans in our country as gun owners. That cannot happen!!! Also, they are going to try to pass strict gun control on the state level as well. This war on our second amendment is going to continue and must be fought. I am told that Nancy Pelosi tells Hillary Clinton several times a month that “we need another school shooting" in order to persuade the public to want strict gun control.

In March 2019, before she was elected to Congress, Greene heckled Parkland survivor and activist David Hogg.  

CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck previously reported in August 2020 that Greene wrote for the now-defunct website American Truth Seekers. That website also “questioned if the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was a ‘massive false flag.’”