Marjorie Taylor Greene Accuses Chris Christie of Racism During GOP Debate

Marjorie Taylor Greene has accused Chris Christie of making a "racist comment" about Vivek Ramaswamy during Wednesday night's Republican presidential debate after the former New Jersey governor compared him to Barack Obama.

Christie called Ramaswamy "a skinny guy with an odd last name" in reference to comments the entrepreneur made at the beginning of the debate, when he described himself as "this skinny guy with a funny last name."

The debate, which featured eight contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, was broadcast exclusively by Fox News on Wednesday evening. Donald Trump, the current frontrunner, chose not to participate and was instead interviewed by ex-Fox News star Tucker Carlson on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Greene, a Trump supporter, criticized Christie following the event during an appearance on Right Side Broadcasting Network. She said: "I was pretty disgusted at Chris Christie and his racist comment towards Vivek Ramaswamy, where he was like 'the only skinny guy,' what did he say? He was comparing him to Obama. Yeah, I mean I honestly thought that was pretty racist."

Newsweek has reached out to Chris Christie's presidential campaign for comment via email.

Ramaswamy introduced himself to viewers by commenting: "Let me just address the question that is on everybody's mind at home tonight. Who the heck is this skinny guy with a funny last name, and what the heck is he doing in the middle of this debate stage?"

Ramaswamy took a swipe at his seven rivals, stating: "I'm the only person on the stage who isn't bought and paid for so I can say this: The climate change agenda is a hoax.

"The reality is the anti-carbon agenda is the wet blanket on our economy. And so the reality is more people are dying of bad climate change policies than they are of actual climate change."

At this point, Christie interrupted saying he'd "had enough" of "a guy who sounds like ChatGPT."

Referencing Ramaswamy's introductory remarks, he added: "The last person in one of these debates...who stood in the middle of the stage and said, 'What is a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here?' was Barack Obama. And I am afraid we are dealing with the same type of amateur standing on the stage tonight."

Christie used the debate to hit out at former president Trump, who has been indicted four times in separate criminal cases but denies any wrongdoing.

Referring to the former president Christie said: "Whether or not that you believe the criminal charges are wrong, the conduct is beneath the office of the president of the United States."

In response, Ramaswamy said Christie's campaign was focused "on vengeance and grievance against one man."

Following the debate, Ramaswamy leapfrogged Florida Governor Ron DeSantis into second place in the battle for the GOP nomination, according to betting odds offered by a leading bookmaker.