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CNN's Bash Challenges MTG Over Anti-Semitism On The Right And Her Own Posts
On CNN's State Of The Union, host Dana Bash featured a lengthy interview with Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Many issues were discussed, including her feud with President Trump over the Epstein Files, which seems to be at the center of the bad blood between the two. Bash also brought up some of MTG's social media posts, which led her to follow-up with questions on right wing anti-Semitism, some aimed at the Congresswoman herself
BASH: I do want to ask you about something you posted just yesterday on X. You questioned who and what country is putting so much pressure on Trump to keep the Epstein files hidden. And you included a picture about donations from pro-Israel lobbying group at AIPAC. What are you trying to say there?
GREENE: Well, I think it's the question that many Americans are asking.... And we saw Jeffrey Epstein with ties to Ehud Barak. We saw him making business deals with them, also business deals that involved the Israeli government, and seems to have led into their intel agencies. And I think the right question is to ask is, was Jeffrey Epstein working for Israel?...
BASH: I just want to be clear. Are you saying Israel is pushing the President of the United States to cover up the Epstein files? And what evidence do you have that that is the case?
GREENE: ...No, I simply just asked out loud, is there a foreign government? It could be any foreign government...
BASH: Well, you had AIPAC up there. It was pretty clear which government you were talking about.
Greene says it could be any other foreign government, but she chose Israel, and Israel alone to go after in that post, and in today's climate, that unfortunately translates to "Jews" in so many quarters. Murtaza Hussein of the anti-Israel Drop Site News connected Epstein and Israel: "There’s been a lot of justifiable focus on Epstein’s very grave crimes.. but one critical aspect of the story that’s not been covered is Epstein’s own relationships to foreign governments, the U.S. government and particularly foreign intelligence agencies..."
Agencies, with an "S."
Bash continued:
BASH: ..But there is some concern, a lot of concern among Republicans about the rise of anti-Semitic, hard right figures in your movement, especially after Tucker Carlson hosted white nationalist Nick Fuentes on his podcast, didn't question Fuentes about his vile language or views. You did speak at a conference hosted by Fuentes back in 2022. You were criticized, and you said then that you didn't know about his views..
She then played a clip of Fuentes claiming that he and Greene were friends, something she denied to Bash: "I did speak at his conference back in 2022. However, I don't know Nick Fuentes....That was the first time I had met him....I watched the full interview with Tucker. And and I admire him for interviewing many people..."
Bash then interrupted.
BASH: .. I hear what you're saying about free speech. I mean, count me as guilty as a proponent of free speech. There's free speech and then there is hate speech. And this is a man, invited on a really prominent conservative show who said even during that interview, he had a problem with, quote, 'organized Jewry', and he wasn't challenged on it. In the past, he has denied the Holocaust, called Adolf Hitler effing cool..
GREENE: Well, Dana, again, I told you ..that I'm committed to ending the toxic politics. And I think I don't want to have anything to do with it...You should have Nick Fuentes on your show, and you could ask him questions about that. I myself am not anti-Semitic. I have never criticized the Jewish people or said anything about them in particular. I am critical of the government of the government of Israel..
This was one of those rare examples of both guest and host handling their respective roles in a professional and civil way.