Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was heavily criticized after claiming that the families of children killed during the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting are "ruining" the life of Infowars host and noted conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Greene's statement came shortly after Jones was ordered to pay $45 million to Sandy Hook parents he defamed last week; she claimed that the families' treatment of Jones is unfair because InfoWars, a well known platform for any number of conspiracies about the shooting and topics such as the integrity of the 2020 general election, is right "most of the time."
She made the remarks during an interview with fellow Trump acolyte Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow who is best known for elevating Trump's blatant falsehoods about the election.
You can hear what she said in the video below.
\u201cMarge Greene says Alex Jones is being unfairly persecuted by the Sandy Hook families: \u201cTo ruin Alex Jones? He didn\u2019t build his InfoWars on that. He built it on a lot of other news. And Alex Jones has been right pretty much most of the time.\u201d\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1659878841
Greene said:
"He didn't build his InfoWars on that [claim]. He built it on a lot of other news, and Alex Jones has been right pretty much most of the time."
"Alex Jones has been right most of the time, except of course on Sandy Hook."
Greene's remarks did not go over well online.
\u201cWhat a DISGRACE to Georgia she is. I\u2019m embarrassed by her daily.\u201d— kevin king (@kevin king) 1660003928
\u201cPsychopaths love the spotlight.\u201d— Trump's Other Boyfriend (@Trump's Other Boyfriend) 1660044800
\u201cCrazy MTG is at it again. How was she even elected! Her support for outright lies is ridiculous\u201d— Debbie (@Debbie) 1660044805
\u201cI think the parents of those murdered children might disagree.\u201d— Cliff W (@Cliff W) 1659995125
\u201cTo be real news and a real reporter, you don't fabricate \n stories, you check your facts, you check your sources, you cite your sources, and when you make an error in your reporting you retract what you said. Jones did none of those. Then he tried lying to the judge.\u201d— darkroommike \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8 (@darkroommike \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8) 1659964052
\u201cThis is one crazy lady protecting the liars club.\u201d— Kat Rav - Never trust the Republican Party Again. (@Kat Rav - Never trust the Republican Party Again.) 1659969231
\u201cA waste of air.\u201d— AmericaAwaitsJustice (@AmericaAwaitsJustice) 1659983419
\u201cTheir children were murdered and he added to their pain, grief, and trauma in the aftermath of those murders. This isn't just a mistake of fact. These parents were suffering immense grief from the murder of their child and these lies compounded that trauma. It is a big deal!\u201d— Staci Burk (@Staci Burk) 1659993669
\u201cNo Marge. He\u2019s been very wrong. Demonstrably wrong.\n\nAnd you thinking he hasn\u2019t should disqualify you from holding public office.\u201d— MichaelKuhl (@MichaelKuhl) 1659940626
A jury decided last week that Jones should pay $45 million in damages to Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, whose six-year-old son Jesse Lewis was killed in the mass shooting. For years, Jones suggested the shooting could have been a false flag "staged event" and that the victims and families were just "crisis actors."
In perhaps the trial's most striking moment, Lewis took the witness stand and declared "my son existed," a striking repudiation of a man who for years elevated conspiracy theories claiming the shooting never happened.
Lewis looked Jones right in the eye as she took him to task for repeatedly lying about the shooting on his program, saying even though she knows he believes her, "you're going to leave this court house and you're going to say it again on your show."
The Sandy Hook shooting—notorious for being the deadliest mass shooting at a school in United States history—continued to live in infamy in light of the seemingly endless number of conspiracy theories about the event.
In April 2018, Jones was sued for defamation by three parents whose children were killed in the shooting. Jones said the shooting was "completely fake" and a "giant hoax" perpetrated by opponents of the Second Amendment.
Last year, Jones was ordered to pay damages and criticized by a judge for failing to hand over documents requested by the courts. In April 2022, three companies affiliated with Jones filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, according to court documents.
The move was widely perceived as a gambit to avoid paying damages in relation to defamation lawsuits from families of victims of the shooting.
Jones ultimately withdrew his bankruptcy filing.
