Republican House candidate and right-wing commentator Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is a QAnon supporter and a 9/11 conspiracy theorist, said in a recently unearthed video that the Obama administration had the violent MS-13 street gang murder Democratic staffer Seth Rich. Greene’s unhinged claim echoes a post by someone purporting to be “Q” -- the central figure in the QAnon conspiracy theory. 

Greene recently won her primary runoff in a heavily Republican congressional district, meaning that the Georgian will likely become the first open and avowed QAnon believer in Congress. Media Matters has documented that there have been at least 75 current or former congressional candidates who have expressed support for QAnon this election cycle; there are also 20 candidates who are on the ballot in November. 

President Donald Trump enthusiastically tweeted his support for Greene and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) office said that Republicans “look forward” to her victory in November. 

Prior to starting her campaign, Greene was a right-wing pundit who, as Politico reported, expressed “racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic views.” Media Matters reported earlier today that Greene appeared in a video that was uploaded in 2018 and peddled a debunked 9/11 conspiracy theory, referencing “the so-called plane that crashed into the Pentagon. It's odd there's never any evidence shown for a plane in the Pentagon.” (Following the piece, Greene tweeted a nonapology and stated that she now knows “that is not correct.”) She also falsely claimed that former President Barack Obama “is a Muslim” and accused him of having “opened up our borders to an invasion by Muslims.” 

In a later portion of that video, Greene also pushed a conspiracy theory about Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, who was murdered in 2016. Police have stated that they believe his death was a botched robbery; the case is currently unsolved. 

Right-wing media personalities and outlets, including Fox News, have forwarded numerous conspiracy theories about Democrats supposedly being involved in his death. The smears got so bad that Rich’s family asked the public to “cease using Seth as a political football in predetermined partisan narratives.”

In the video, Greene accused the Obama administration of using MS-13 gang members to assassinate Rich, claiming the gang was “kind of the henchmen of the Obama administration.” She stated: 

Greene did not point to a source for her claim. However, as researcher and QAnon Anonymous podcast host Travis View wrote last year, “Q” -- the central figure in the QAnon conspiracy theory --  had “implied that MS-13 served as a private hit squad for the Democrats. This allowed the Dems to off enemies without connecting it to them. That's why some QAnon followers baselessly believe that a MS-13 member killed Seth Rich.” In 2017, “Q” posted a similar conspiracy theory, writing: “Who do you hire for a hit? Who can be eliminated after the job is complete? Seth Rich. Who was found dead (2) shortly after his murder? What affiliation did they have? Classified. Q.” 

Greene also went on to falsely implicate Hillary Clinton in the death of John F. Kennedy Jr., who died in a 1999 plane crash. That conspiracy theory has circulated online for years and has been pushed by people like commentator and longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone. She stated: