Fact check: Democratic activists falsely claim Marjorie Taylor Greene refused to applaud
MeidasTouch tweeted the clip and added this caption: “As Zelenskyy is greeted by the US Congress to a standing ovation, Marjorie Taylor Greene refuses to applaud and instead appears to grab her cell phone.”
The problem: Greene was shown in the C-SPAN footage for only about four seconds. Like so many other brief video clips on social media, this one didn’t tell the full story.
Facts First: Greene did not refuse to applaud Zelensky. Full footage of the event shows that Greene stood and applauded on four occasions before and after Zelensky’s speech: briefly when Zelensky appeared on the big screen, then longer for Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, then again for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s invocation of a pro-Ukraine slogan and then — for more than 15 seconds — after Zelensky finished the address.
Greene applauded
You can watch the video below to see the four instances of Greene applauding.
Greene first clapped for about three seconds after Zelensky appeared on-screen. She stopped clapping about six seconds before the viral C-SPAN footage started showing her.
Greene then reached for her phone, as others continued to clap, but the viral video also didn’t show what she did next. After looking down at the phone for a moment, she held it up toward Zelensky’s image and then turned it in the direction of the clapping members standing behind her — appearing to be filming or taking photos of the scene, as other members did later.
Finally, after Zelensky concluded, Greene applauded for more than 15 seconds.
MeidasTouch doubles down
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