Trump refuses to denounce QAnon conspiracy when asked about GOP congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene's endorsement of it

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Trump refuses to denounce QAnon conspiracy when asked about GOP congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene's endorsement of it
U.S. President Donald Trump makes a statement to reporters about reopening U.S. places of worship by declaring them "essential" in the midst of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 22, 2020.REUTERS/Leah Millis
  • President Donald Trump on Friday refused to say whether he supports the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, which a GOP congressional candidate he's endorsed has repeatedly promoted.
  • Trump ignored a question about whether he condones Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene's support for the conspiracy, which falsely holds that a network of pedophile Satanists are scheming to oust Trump.
  • "Well, she did very well in the election, she won by a lot. She was very popular. She comes from a great state," Trump said of Greene.
  • When AP reporter Jill Colvin asked Trump again to answer her question, he ignored her and called on the next reporter.
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President Donald Trump on Friday refused to say whether he supports the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, which a GOP congressional candidate he's endorsed has repeatedly promoted.

Trump ignored a question about whether he condones Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene's support for the conspiracy, which falsely holds that a network of pedophile Satanists are scheming to oust Trump.

Instead, he insisted that Greene, who won her GOP primary runoff on Tuesday, should be celebrated for winning her race "by a lot." Greene is virtually guaranteed to win the general election in Georgia's deep red 14th district.

"Well, she did very well in the election, she won by a lot. She was very popular. She comes from a great state," Trump told the AP's Jill Colvin during Friday's press briefing. "And she had a tremendous victory, so absolutely, I did congratulate her."

When Colvin asked Trump again to answer her question, he ignored her and called on the next reporter.

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Greene has repeatedly promoted and endorsed QAnon, calling it "something worth listening to and paying attention to" in a 2017 video. She's also spent years pushing racist, Islamophobic, and other bigoted beliefs, including that Muslims are "invading" the US government and that Black Americans "are held slaves to the Democratic Party."

"Recently, there has been a lot of chatter in small circles among those who search for the truth," Greene wrote in a 2018 blog post on the conspiracy website "American Truth Seekers." "There has been an anonymous voice, with obvious intelligence beyond the normal person telling of things to come. They call themselves Q. Make no mistake, Q is a patriot."

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