Rep Andy Biggs has become the latest MAGA Republican to spar with far-right conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene, saying she has “crossed the Rubicon” over her support of House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy.
Mr Biggs, who announced that he was throwing his hat into the ring for the role of House speaker, took aim at the Georgia congresswoman in an interview on Lindell TV late last week.
“She’s kind of crossed the Rubicon there. She’s calling us liars and saying we’re misleading,” he said.
The Arizona congressman’s comments came in response to an op-ed penned by Ms Greene for The Daily Caller where she opened fire on members of her own party for not supporting Mr McCarthy’s bid for House speaker.
In the op-ed, she accused them of “lying to the base”, claiming “that’s what five of my closest colleagues are doing when they claim a consensus House Speaker candidate will emerge as they oppose Kevin McCarthy”.
Ms Greene – who is renowned for pushing baseless conspiracy theories and previously openly supported QAnon – singled out her one-time ally Matt Gaetz who she claimed was at risk of “blow[ing] things up”.
“We had full GOP control and President Trump, with pen in hand, ready to sign America First legislation. This Republican failure is why I ran for Congress,” she continued.
“All that said, Matt Gaetz is one of my favorite members of Congress. America needs his talent and intelligence to work alongside Jim Jordan on investigations for the Judiciary Committee, not blow things up before we begin.”
The op-ed comes amid an escalation of tensions in MAGA-world as Ms Greene continues to clash with several one-time allies in her opinions about the House speaker role.
Several GOP members are refusing to support Mr McCarthy in his bid to become House speaker after the party took the majority in the upper chamber in the midterms.
Ms Greene meanwhile has given Mr McCarthy her endorsement – breaking rank with fellow MAGA Republicans and former allies including Lauren Boebert and Mr Gaetz.
Last week, she and Boebert came to blows over the matter, with the Colorado congresswoman mocking the far-right conspiracy theorist’s belief in “Jewish space lasers”.
The two congresswomen – who infamously joined forces to heckle President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech just as he spoke about the need to provide healthcare to sick and dying veterans – had a very public falling out when Ms Boebert was asked at Turning Point USA’s winter student conference if she shares Ms Greene’s belief that Mr McCarthy is the person for the job.
In response, Ms Boebert tried to distance herself from her fellow 2020 election denier, saying she has often been wrongly “accused” of sharing the same opinions as her and mocking Ms Greene’s belief in an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
“Well, you know, I’ve been aligned with Marjorie and I’ve been accused of believing in a lot of things that she believes in,” she said.
“I don’t believe in this just like I don’t believe in Russian space lasers – Jewish space lasers – and all this.”
Ms Greene became a source of mockery back in 2021 when resurfaced social media posts showed her pushing an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
Ms Boebert’s comments resurfacing the matter clearly rattled Ms Greene who laid into the Colorado representative on Twitter.
In a rant, she accused Ms Boebert of taking endorsements from herself and other MAGA Republicans – but then refusing to support them in return.
Ms Greene went on to accuse Ms Boebert of causing “high school drama” and made a dig about the fact that she only managed to scrape victory in the November midterms.
The very public spats between the high-profile GOP figures comes ahead of the House speaker vote on 3 January.
Earlier in December, Mr Biggs announced that he planned to challenge Mr McCarthy for the speaker role.
