Marjorie Taylor Greene apologizes for comparing mask mandates to the Holocaust, insisting she's 'very much a normal person'

• Greene apologized for her previous comparisons of COVID-19 safety measures to the Holocaust.
• She opened a news conference on Monday evening by saying: "I'm very much a normal person."
• Greene came under fire for comparing the House mask mandate to the horrors suffered by Jews in Nazi Germany.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday evening publicly apologized for her previous comparisons of COVID-19 mask requirements and vaccination efforts to the horrors suffered by Jews in Nazi Germany.

The Georgia Republican, known for her controversial statements, took a markedly different tone during a solo news conference, starting off by saying: "I always want to remind everyone - I'm very much a normal person."

"One of the best lessons that my father always taught me was, when you make a mistake, you should own it. And I have made a mistake and it's really bothered me for a couple of weeks now, and so I definitely want to own it," she said.

Greene told reporters that she visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, earlier in the day and wanted to make it clear that "there is no comparison to the Holocaust."

"There are words that I have said, remarks that I've made, that I know are offensive. And for that I want to apologize," she said.

Greene's apology comes as House Democrats move to censure her after she likened mask mandates and vaccine rules to the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust.

Greene attacked Speaker Nancy Pelosi for keeping the House mask mandate in place although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted mask-wearing guidelines indoors for fully vaccinated individuals. Pelosi said that she was following guidance from the Capitol attending physician as vaccination rates in Congress, especially among Republicans, was unknown.

During an interview on a conservative podcast on May 20, Greene said: "You know, we can look back in a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star and they were definitely treated like second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany. And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about."

She also tweeted at the time that "vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi's forced Jewish people to wear a gold star."

The "gold star" reference, which historians more commonly refer to as a yellow star, was an identifier that Nazi Germany forced Jews to wear.

Several House Democrats swiftly condemned Greene's language, followed by House Republican leadership. GOP leader Kevin McCarthy called her statements "wrong" and "appalling."

Greene did not express any regret over her comments at the time, and instead doubled down on them in a series of tweets in which she described Democrats as "reminiscent of the great tyrants of history."