GOP Committee Chair Compares Marjorie Taylor Greene to LeBron James

The GOP chairman of the House Oversight Committee compared Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene to basketball star Lebron James in an interview.

Representative James Comer of Kentucky was asked by The New York Times how he could rein in some of the more controversial members of the committee. He acknowledged that doing so would be difficult, suggesting that Greene remains popular among Republicans by invoking a comparison to the NBA superstar.

"It's hard for a coach to tell LeBron James what he's doing wrong," he said.

Comer took control of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability after Republicans won a slim House majority during the midterms in November. Republicans stacked the committee with some of the most conservative members of the conference, including Greene, a Georgia Republican who has faced criticism for previous support for conspiracies.

As chairman, Comer has been tasked with leading investigations into the Biden administration as Republicans raise concerns about his son Hunter Biden's alleged ties to China as well as the president's immigration policies.

His remarks about Greene reveal how her standing in Congress has shifted since Republicans took control of the House.

When Democrats held the majority, they led a bipartisan vote to remove Greene from her committee assignments, with a handful of Republicans also voting against Greene, over her prior support for conspiracy theories.

Greene supported QAnon, a conspiracy theory group that believes prominent Democrats are Satan worshippers and former President Donald Trump is the savior. She also signaled support for theories that the Rothschilds, a wealthy Jewish banking family long targeted by antisemitic conspiracy theories, profited from the 2018 Camp Fire in California and that some school shootings were staged.

Greene, however, has since denounced the conspiracies. In January, Greene said she "never campaigned on" the theories, which are "so far in the past."

Now, Republicans have largely embraced Greene in the new Congress. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has become a key ally of Greene, restored her committee positions, placing her on the powerful oversight and homeland security committees, despite concerns from critics.

Geene has also forged close ties with former President Donald Trump, who is running in the 2024 GOP presidential primary and remains popular with most of the Republican base.

Even as Republicans back Greene, she remains a lightning rod for Democratic criticism for past remarks about conspiracy theories, as well as her present stance on issues such as LGBTQ rights and the Russia-Ukraine war.

In his interview,Comer addressed how he deals with constituents who press him to investigate far-right theories like QAnon, the same theories Greene once signaled support for.

"You know, the customer's always right," Comer said. "I say, 'Let me see it,' because I want to see where the source is. They don't know that it's QAnon, but it's QAnon stuff."

Newsweek reached out to Greene's office by email for comment.