Marjorie Taylor Greene provokes outrage by comparing Ashli Babbitt’s death to George Floyd’s

Congresswoman says she believes she would have been friends with woman killed during Capitol riot if they had known each other

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene continued to showcase her skill for making controversial comparisons in a recent appearance on Greg Kelly's show on Newsmax, comparing the killing of Capitol rioter and QAnon adherent Ashli Babbitt with that of George Floyd, who was murdered by police.

During the segment, Ms Greene was complaining about big tech companies and about how she is being compared to Nazis by the media.

The discussion about tech companies centred on former President Donald Trump's new lawsuit against Twitter and Facebook alleging they engaged in censorship by banning him.

At that point Kelly and Ms Greene began discussing the fact that Mr Trump has offered a sliver of a defence for his supporters who attacked the Capitol on 6 January.

More than 500 people have been arrested for their involvement in the pro-Trump riot on 6 January that was ostensibly intended to stop lawmakers from tallying each state's electoral college votes. One of those supporters, a QAnon-believing military veteran named Ashli Babbitt, was shot and killed by a Capitol police officer while climbing through a window inside the building.

Mr Trump has said there was "no reason" for Ms Babbitt's death, and she has become a martyr figure among other right-wing extremists and QAnon adherents.

Ms Greene told the Newsmax host that if she knew Ms Babbitt – who she called a "passionate patriot" – the two of them likely would have been friends. The congresswoman also said she had been in contact with Ms Babbitt's family's attorney, who is demanding that the name of the Capitol police officer who killed her be released.

An investigation into the incident found that the officer who shot Ms Babbitt was justified in their action.

Conservatives like Ms Greene often bend over backwards to defend police shootings, but in this case she is demanding "justice," and did so by comparing the death to that of George Floyd, who was murdered by former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin.

"If this country can demand justice for someone like George Floyd," she said "then we can certainly demand justice for Ashli Babbitt and everyone deserves to know who killed her ... we need to know who it is."

Mr Floyd was killed surrounded by police officers, while handcuffed and held on the ground as an officer knelt on his neck for nine minutes. The crime that officers were arresting him for was allegedly passing counterfeit money. Ms Babbitt was shot once in the shoulder, while actively participating in a violent riot and trying to climb through a broken window into a chamber where lawmakers were still being evacuated.