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Millions across the country rejoiced on Tuesday afternoon when Officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of second and third degree murder, as well as second degree manslaughter for his killing of George Floyd.
Floyd's death at Chauvin's hands near Minneapolis, Minnesota sparked nationwide protests and accelerated the United States' centuries-long reckoning with law enforcement's disproportionate violence toward Black Americans.
While organizers emphasized that Chauvin's guilty verdict was only a small victory in the longer road toward preventing police violence against Black Americans, people across the country celebrated the rare instance of a police officer being held to account for a murder the nation watched repeatedly on tape.
But not everyone was joyous.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), whose support for the QAnon conspiracy theory before her election thrust her into national infamy, claimed D.C. was "dead" because residents were too fearful to leave their homes after the verdict.
DC is completely dead tonight. People stayed in and were scared to go out because of fear of riots. Police are eve… https://t.co/Wj2gTtHMoO— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸) 1618969652.0
Greene absurdly claimed the Black Lives Matter movement was the "strongest terrorist threat in our county [sic]."
According to the Trump-era Department of Homeland Security, white supremacist extremists—whose rhetoric often intersects with Greene's own—remain the "most persistent and lethal threat to the homeland."
Despite voting against a bill honoring the Capitol Police who responded to the failed insurrection from pro-Trump extremists this past January, Greene frequently positions herself as a pro-law enforcement congressperson while fantasizing about killing protesters.
So it's no surprise that Greene latest lie was promptly fact-checked, this time by NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Garret Haake.
@mtgreenee This isn’t true. I spent four hours at BLM plaza in DC tonight, talking to the folks who wanted to come… https://t.co/G9fwjoZqyB— Garrett Haake (@Garrett Haake) 1618974305.0
He wasn't the only one.
As a DC resident, I can tell you this is a lie. People were taking walks, sitting on their porches and in the parks… https://t.co/EgUolcdjQL— Danielle Brian (@Danielle Brian) 1619004558.0
A boldfaced lie. I was at BLM Plaza 20 minutes after the verdict was read and stayed for another hour afterward. No… https://t.co/fAHEPse3Sh— Chris Groneng (@Chris Groneng) 1619013567.0
YOU ARE A DAMN LIAR https://t.co/zPoKKvtbMy— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) 1618986162.0
Do you ever leave your office? Or Capitol Hill? People were out and eating. It was safer than when your January 6th… https://t.co/zQDLvAasQy— Ruben Gallego (@Ruben Gallego) 1619008486.0
I walked home from the Capitol on a beautiful evening. Families were in parks, outdoor cafes were buzzing, and the… https://t.co/GD1kQDAJeI— Rep. Dean Phillips 🇺🇸 (@Rep. Dean Phillips 🇺🇸) 1619002446.0
This is a lie. I ate dinner in downtown dc tonight at an outside dining area. https://t.co/mN8aIFG6UG— Kurt Bardella (@Kurt Bardella) 1618983769.0
Went on a bike ride through Northeast then went downtown to BLM Plaza, saw more reporters than protesters. Swung by… https://t.co/9q4kjs7LtQ— Gillian Branstetter (@Gillian Branstetter) 1619007461.0
People noted who they believed the real threat to be.
White men with access to guns & mental health problems seem to be the biggest threat to Americans. There was a mass… https://t.co/AYspP2pzbm— BB (@BB) 1619011531.0
Nothing could be more wrong. This type of hatred and fear-mongering from our “leaders” is the terror threat. https://t.co/k9gmgisuMO— Bobby Kennedy (@Bobby Kennedy) 1619011121.0
White nationalist instigators of violence, insurrection and treason such as yourself are the terrorist threat, you… https://t.co/yPdAYDtCJs— Cheri Jacobus (@Cheri Jacobus) 1619014051.0
As the verdict in the Chauvin trial was being prepared in Minneapolis, police shot and killed 15 year old Ma'khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio.