Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the MAGA loyalist who rose to prominence for her ardent support of President Donald Trump, announced she is resigning from Congress after her public feud with him.
Greene, who was elected to Congress in 2020 from a rural northwestern Georgia district, made the surprise announcement in a Friday evening video address that referenced her falling out with Trump. The president branded her a “traitor” for supporting an effort he opposed to release files from the criminal investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“Standing up for American women who were raped at 14, trafficked and used by rich powerful men, should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the President of the United States, whom I fought for,” she said in a statement posted on X.
Her resignation reflects increasing divisions within the MAGA movement that propelled Trump to power on a populist agenda that Greene had actively supported.
The lawmaker’s relationship with Trump soured after she joined calls from Democrats to release the Epstein files, criticized the president’s focus on foreign affairs and called for action on the expiring Obamacare subsidies.
“Loyalty should be a two way street and we should be able to vote our conscience and represent our district’s interest because our job title is literally ‘Representative,’” she said.
Greene said she will step down from office on Jan. 5.
She did not provide advance notice to to anyone in House Republican leadership, according to three people granted anonymity to describe internal matters.
Her resignation threatens to further tighten Speaker Mike Johnson’s Republican majority early next year.
The GOP holds a 219-213 advantage following Democrat Mikie Sherrill’s resignation this week after her election as New Jersey governor. That means Johnson can lose no more than two Republicans on a party-line vote.
Republicans are favored but not assured victory in a Dec. 2 special election in Tennessee. A GOP win would pad Johnson’s margin, but a Democratic win would mean Republicans could lose only a single vote after Greene leaves office.
A Jan. 31 special election runoff in Texas and the April 16 election to replace Sherrill will likely add two more Democrats, giving Republicans a bare 218- or 219-vote majority, depending on the outcome of the Tennessee race — at least until a special election is held in Greene’s solid Republican district.
The growing divide between Trump and Greene came to a head last week when the president revoked his endorsement of her in a scathing social media post in which he labeled her “wacky” and a “ranting lunatic.” Days later, he reversed his position on the Epstein case files and encouraged House Republicans to support a bill that would for the Department of Justice to release the documents.
Greene didn’t rule out returning to politics in the future, adding that Trump’s political allies turning on her represented a repudiation of the voters who sent her to Congress.
“If I am cast aside by MAGA Inc. and replaced by Neocons, Big Pharma, Big Tech, Military Industrial War Complex, foreign leaders, and the elite donor class that can’t even relate to real Americans, then many common Americans have been cast aside and replaced as well,” she wrote.
Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
