Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has reopened the wounds of Parkland shooting survivors, as well as family members of the victims.
Fred Guttenberg, the father of one of the 17 people killed during the 2018 Parkland shooting, issued a blistering rebuke of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) inaction to address the incendiary House member a day after a video of Greene harassing Parkland victims went viral.
On Wednesday, Guttenberg posted a video of Greene, a private citizen at the time, heckling Parkland survivor David Hogg and other survivors who were in D.C. advocating for gun reform just weeks after the shooting occurred in 2018.
Guttenberg hit back at Greene for calling Hogg a “coward” and accusing the Parkland survivors of taking away her Second Amendment rights.
.@mtgreenee, is this you harassing @davidhogg111 weeks after the Parkland shooting, that my daughter was killed in & he was in? Calling him a coward for ignoring your insanity. I will answer all of your questions in person. Get ready to record again.pic.twitter.com/aQjL74x7kh
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) January 27, 2021
Guttenberg reiterated his disgust and disbelief over Greene’s incendiary remarks during an interview on MSNBC on Thursday.
“Well, she doesn’t belong there. She is a depraved person who ran for Congress on a lie,” Guttenberg said, pointing to her spouting falsehoods of the Parkland, Sandy Hook and Las Vegas shootings and 9/11 being a lie.
Guttenberg excoriated Greene for her harassment of Hogg and other Parkland survivors.
“This woman is probably somewhere close to 50 years of age and she’s chasing children. And not only is she harassing them, she’s telling them outright, I have a gun. She’s telling them that,” Guttenberg said, adding that Greene has also mused in social media posts about the execution of Democratic politicians. “And we now know she’s made comments about people taking bullets in the head.”
Guttenberg then took aim at McCarthy, who is scheduled to try to make amends with former President Trump in Palm Beach after the House minority leader initially acknowledged that Trump “bears responsibility” for the deadly Capitol insurrection earlier this month, but has since changed his tone.
“My feeling about her is this: Kevin McCarthy, when you’re done having drinks and cake with the bully in Palm Beach, you need to come back from Palm Beach and you need to remove her,” Guttenberg said. “She has no place in Congress. She won. She ran a race on a lie. She’s there. It’s now your job to get her out.”
After expressing his disbelief that it’s been almost three-and-a-half years since the Parkland shooting, Guttenberg criticized Greene further for forcing Parkland survivors and relatives of victims to “relive” the shooting and refusing to apologize for her actions.
“She hasn’t taken it back. She hasn’t said I was wrong. She hasn’t said I’m sorry. She hasn’t said I don’t believe this. She is letting the lie live. She is okay with it,” Guttenberg said. “And unfortunately, those who are in leadership in that party are saying they’re okay with it also because they’re not doing anything.”
Guttenberg’s remarks condemning Greene echoed Hogg’s demand that McCarthy denounce the Republican member of Congress earlier Thursday.
“My message to Kevin McCarthy is this, take her committee assignments away,” Hogg told CNN, referring to Greene’s recent assignment to the House Education and Labor committee. “Along with that, also, don’t support her when she runs for re-election again and try to get her primaried.”
Hogg implored McCarthy to make clear that if Greene’s incendiary remarks aren’t reflective of the GOP, then the House minority leader should hold her accountable for her actions.
Watch Guttenberg’s remarks below:
Fred Gutenberg, the father of a victim of the Parkland shooting, says Rep. Greene is a "depraved person who ran for Congress on a lie" pic.twitter.com/8Gfrwz5ZIT
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) January 28, 2021
How can we expect unity if we allow Democrats to talk like this?
/s <- here it is…
That’s also how and why she was elected.
Feature. Not bug.
Depraved? It’s what we were born for.
Seditiously yours,
Your friendly neighborhood GOP
Mr. Guttenberg’s pain is palpable three years later and may never really subside.