Blame the weather.
That’s what Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) did when a reporter tried to get him to comment on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who is facing criticism from both sides of the aisle for her embrace of disturbing conspiracy theories and threats of violence against lawmakers.
“I haven’t even looked at what all she’s done,” he told CNN’s Ted Barrett in comments spotted by Business Insider. “I’d have to hold back a statement on that. Travel in this weather it’s been a little rough looking at any news or whatever.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has also done little to call out comments by Greene, a QAnon aficionado who has supported wildly false conspiracy theories, including claims that school shootings, including those in Parkland, Florida, and Newtown, Connecticut, were staged.
She has also “liked” Facebook posts calling for violence against elected officials, including the killing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
The comments have made national headlines for days, but the weather has apparently prevented former college football coach Tuberville from spotting them.
However, some of his Senate colleagues have been openly critical of Greene.
“Somebody who’s suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.’s airplane is not living in reality,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said this week.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has likewise slammed the freshman lawmaker.
“I think we should have nothing to do with Marjorie Taylor Greene, and think we should repudiate the things she said and move away from her,” Romney told reporters, according to The Hill.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) called her comments on school shootings “disgusting and wrong,” while Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) called her actions “totally unacceptable” and urged Republicans to “speak out clearly” against her.
House Republican leaders named her as a GOP member on the House education committee despite her claims that school shootings were faked and her open harassment of some of the survivors.
Democrats have called for her to be stripped of her committee assignments.
Tuberville’s inability to form an opinion due to the weather led to a strong reaction on social media: