MTG Uses ‘60 Minutes’ Interview to Call Democrats Pedophiles
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was interviewed by Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes Sunday. The program was criticized for spotlighting the divisive congresswoman, who has touted conspiracy theories and called for more guns in schools even in the wake of tragedy, including following the school shooting in Nashville last week — which left three children and three staff members dead.
During the segment filmed prior to Trump’s indictment, Stahl’s mostly softball interview discussed Greene’s rise in the Republican Party and what 60 Minutes described as her “America First, populist views,” including her assertion that Democrats are a party of “pedophiles.” She doubled-down on Sunday: “I would definitely say so they support grooming children,” she claimed, conflating Democrats’ support of trans rights with pedophilia.
“Democrats support, even Joe Biden, the president himself, supports children being sexualized and having transgender surgeries,” Greene said. “Sexualizing children is what pedophiles do to children.”
When Stahl ushered out a “wow” to Greene’s claim of Democrats being pedophiles, she asked if Greene can get her point across without name-calling. Greene said the same can be said from the other side. “They call me racist. They call me anti-Semitic, which is not true. I’m not calling anyone names. I’m calling out the truth basically,” she said.
On Monday, Greene continued to push her unfounded accusations, posting an October campaign ad on Twitter that described President Biden as “the predator president,” and heavily insinuated the unproven notion that the president abused children. Greene captioned the ad with the statement “I’ll say it again: Democrats are the party of pedophiles.”
When confronted on 60 Minutes about her combative style and some of the stances she has taken before and during her time in Congress — from her past support of QAnon to when she followed and harassed Parkland High School shooting survivor David Hogg near the Capitol, berating him with conspiracy theories and calling him a “coward” for not engaging with her — she was mostly in denial mode. She claimed she never called Parkland a “false flag” and asked Stahl if they had fact checked every statement she’d made since kindergarten as a means to deflect.
Greene blamed the media for focusing on her past versus “anything good about me,” and said it was traditional Republicans — like Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, and Mitt Romney — who “completely fail[ed] to deliver the agenda that we had all voted for, the reasons why we voted for Donald Trump” that convinced her to run for Congress.
As for if compromise will be a part of the second-term congresswoman’s future agenda, it didn’t appear likely, judging from their chat. As Stahl pressed her about the debt ceiling and if she would be willing to raise taxes, she said she would not do so. “I don’t think we have a revenue problem in Washington. We have a spending problem,” she said, and cited that what she would cut is “Covid bailout money and a lot of green energy spending.”
In the lead-up to her appearance, many spoke out against Greene being featured, citing her antisemitic conspiracy theorizing, associations with white supremacists, stance on more guns in schools, and her suggestions of violence against and harassment of political opponents — including her yelling at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2021 and allegedly kicking a teenage activist, prompting an ethics complaint. The Trump-loving congresswoman has recently promoted anti-trans legislation, as well.
This piece was updated on April 3, 2023, at 7:05 PM to include additional social media statements made by Greene.