President Donald Trump dodged a question on QAnon during a press conference Friday, refusing to denounce or reject the baseless far-right conspiracy theory that the FBI has said poses a domestic terror threat.
During a White House press briefing, Associated Press reporter Jill Colvin asked the president about Marjorie Taylor Greene, the winner of Tuesday's Republican primary for Georgia's 14th Congressional District who has said QAnon was "something worth listening to."
"Do you agree with her on that?" Colvin asked Trump.
"Well, [Greene] did very well in the election," Trump responded. "She won by a lot. She was very popular. She comes from a great state, and she had a tremendous victory, so, absolutely, I did congratulate her."
As Colvin repeated that Greene has embraced the preposterous conspiracy theory, Trump made a pointed effort to move on, gesturing to another reporter and saying, "Go ahead, please."
Colvin reiterated, "Do you agree with [Greene] on that?"
The president ignored Colvin, immediately switching his attention to another reporter, who asked about his brother Robert, who was reportedly hospitalized in New York this week.
A White House spokesperson did not comment on why the president did not answer the question or if he believes in the conspiracy.
Trump first congratulated Greene on her victory on Wednesday via Twitter, calling her a "future Republican Star."
Greene is favored to win a seat in the US House of Representatives in Georgia after winning a Republican primary runoff election this week despite party leadership in the state disavowing her over her racism and belief in conspiracy theories.
In a YouTube video from 2017, she described her support for QAnon, a widespread and bogus conspiracy theory that a secret pedophilia ring in the so-called deep state is running the government and that Trump is working to weed them out.
The conspiracy theory has been spread by an anonymous person, or group of people, who goes by "Q" and claims to be close to Trump.
“Q is a patriot. We know that for sure,” Greene said in the 2017 video before explaining what the anonymous account had posted on 4chan. She later added, “Q is anonymous, but he seems completely for the good. He seems to be totally on Trump’s side.”
She also said, “There’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles out, and I think we have the president to do it.”
For more information on QAnon, watch this YouTube video from BuzzFeed News reporter Craig Silverman explaining the conspiracy:
