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LIV Golf and its commissioner Greg Norman got a bit of a shock on Wednesday when they faced severe criticism from members of the Republican Studying Committee (RSC) during a lunch meeting.
Norman was meeting with members of the committee as part of a lobbying effort that hoped to influence the Department of Justice’s investigation into the PGA Tour over possible antitrust violations.
Yahoo! News reported…
LIV hired lobbying firm Hobart Hallaway & Quayle Venture in late August to help with the “education and issues related to the game of professional golf in the United States and abroad” and “[p]rotecting the rights of professional golfers to play when and where they choose,” according to the official filing. And that lobbying seemingly started this week when a league spokesperson said in a statement that ‘LIV Golf is coming to the Hill this week to meet with lawmakers from both parties.'”
Wednesday’s meeting with the RSC did not go well for Greg Norman and LIV Golf
Emily Brooks of The Hill tweeted about the meeting, “Rep. Chip Roy pressed LIV Golf’s Greg Norman on Saudi ties, foreign agent registration issues in RSC meeting. Told reporters — ‘don’t come in here and act like you’re doing some great thing, while you’re pimping a billion dollars of Saudi Arabian money.'”
Roy is the same politician who asked the Justice Department to investigate LIV Golf for potentially violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Politico reporter Andrew Desiderio also tweeted, “Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) just walked out of the RSC’s lunch with Greg Norman, calling his LIV pitch ‘propaganda’ and saying he had a hard time understanding Norman’s (Australian) accent. He said RSC shouldn’t be spending its time on “billionaire oil guys” and the Saudis.”
To which Congressman Tim Burchett replied, “Weren’t Saudis flying some of those planes on 9-11 and what about their killing of @washingtonpost columnist #JamalKashoggi?”
Maybe hating LIV Golf is the one thing Dems and Reps can agree on.
— Moose (@fourhorseman17) September 21, 2022