- Rep. Lauren Boebert has renewed attacks on former MAGA ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
- Boebert described Greene's online rhetoric as "unhinged," and mocked her.
Rep. Lauren Boebert intensified her feud with former MAGA ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, mocking her past promotion of conspiracy theories and describing them as "unhinged."
Boebert made the remarks to the Associated Press as the battle between the far-right lawmakers over Rep. Kevin McCarthy's becoming House speaker degenerated into name-calling.
Boebert is part of a faction of hard right lawmakers who opposed McCarthy's candidacy, and only backed him reluctantly on Friday.
Support from her and others finally secured him the 218 votes required for victory after three days of voting in which he was repeatedly defeated.
Greene was among McCarthy's most high-profile supporters, splitting with her former allies in the Freedom Caucus over the issue.
"I have been asked to explain MTG's beliefs on Jewish space lasers, on why she showed up to a white supremacist conference. ... I'm just not going to go there," Boebert told the AP. "She wants to say all these things and seem unhinged on Twitter, so be it."
Boebert was referring to Greene's bizarre claim that lasers were responsible for wildfires in California, and her attendance in 2022 of a conference held by white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
Both Boebert and Greene formed their political brand around loyalty to Donald Trump, political stunts and conspiracy theories. They heckled President Joe Biden together at the 2021 State of the Union.
Their feud erupted into public in December as the McCarthy speaker battle heated up, when Boebert, without being prompted, mocked Greene's past promotion of conspiracy theories.
Greene shot back by taunting Boebert over the narrow margin of her reelection in the November midterms.
Before the battle over the House speaker role, Greene had been among those that opposed McCarthy.
Analysts have seen Greene and Boebert pursuing distinct strategies. Greene, some concluded, saw backing McCarthy as the best route to enhanced power in House, where the GOP has a slender majority.
The hardline anti-McCarthy group, like Boebert, instead sought to use their leverage by holding up the confirmation, and succeeded in extracting significant sweeping concessions in return for their support.