Reprinted with permission from American Independent

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) asserted on Tuesday that COVID-19 was a "bioweapon" and said she did not believe otherwise "because I don't believe in evolution."

Greene made her statement during an appearance on the Real America's Voice network's War Room: Pandemic, a program hosted by disgraced former Donald Trump campaign manager Steve Bannon.

Greene accused Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, of being "criminally liable" for the pandemic outbreak because, she charged without evidence, he "was using American tax dollars and sending it to the Wuhan lab to fund this research that was creating viruses."

"That's a bioweapon," Greene said. "There's no other reason to create a virus that makes people sick, spreads so quick, and kills people. There's no other intent but it's a bioweapon."

Bannon then asked her if she found it implausible that the virus was the subject of research meant to find vaccines and somehow the material evolved into COVID-19.

"No, I don't buy it because I don't believe in evolution," Greene replied. "I don't believe in that type of so-called 'science.' I don't believe in evolution. I believe in God."

The origins of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 remain unclear, but no evidence has emerged to verify any claim that the virus was a "bioweapon" created in a Chinese lab.

President Joe Biden in May ordered the intelligence community to prepare a report "on their most up-to-date analysis of the origins of COVID-19, including whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident."

Greene is well-practiced in advancing conspiracy theories. She has expressed belief in and support for the debunked QAnon conspiracy theory that celebrities and politicians are running a satanic global child-trafficking ring.

Greene also falsely claimed that a 2018 California wildfire was caused by a laser beam from space financed by the Jewish Rothschild family's "international" banking firm, long a favorite target of anti-semitic rhetoric.

From the June 8 edition of Real America's Voice's War Room: Pandemic:

STEVE BANNON, host: Why do you say you're just not for firing [Dr. Anthony Fauci], you're for bringing criminal – you think he ought to face criminal charges?
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Well, my Fire Fauci Act asks for a full investigation, because we've suspected all along that he is criminally liable. Here's why: If you go back, you can go back to 2012, you can go back to 2014, where Anthony Fauci was using American tax dollars and sending it to the Wuhan lab to fund this research that was creating viruses.
Why is there any need to create a virus that can spread rapidly through a population, make people sick and kill them. That's a bioweapon. So we need to be very clear about what was the intent of COVID-19 and these viruses that they experiment with like some sort of Dr. Frankenstein experiments.
These are bioweapons. There's no other reason to create a virus that makes people sick, spreads so quick, and kills people. There's no other intent but it's a bioweapon. And then our American —
BANNON: You don't – hold it, hang on – you don't buy that, you don't buy the argument that says the gain of function is all because we've got to take these viruses and we've got to power them up to look for vaccines and to look for other solutions in case somehow they come up with this. You don't buy the logic of that, is that what you're saying?
GREENE: No, I don't buy it because I don't believe in evolution. I don't believe in that type of so-called "science." I don't believe in evolution. I believe in God.
And these viruses were not making people sick until they created them and made them into – weaponized these viruses to be able to attach to our cells and make us sick. This has caused so many people to die all over the world.
This is a bioweapon. You can call it – people can call it whatever they can for research, and to create vaccinations, but there's no need for a vaccine if the virus doesn't make the human population sick to begin with.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.