“If I stand up for American women who were raped, abducted and abused by rich, powerful men as young as 14, I should not be called a traitor and threatened by the President of the United States for whom I fought,” Greene added to her statement on X.
In a video published online, the 51-year-old Republican congresswoman from the state of Georgia also justified the move by saying that she had “always been despised in Washington DC” and “never fit in”.
If she runs in the 2026 midterm elections, supporters and her family would have to endure “a hurtful and hateful primary” against them “at the hands of the president we all fought for,” Greene said. While she would win her election, “Republicans will likely lose the midterm elections.”
Greene was elected to Congress in 2020. She is one of the most famous faces of Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement. The 51-year-old was considered an ardent Trump supporter for years. In the past few months, however, she has deviated from Trump’s line several times.
Among other things, Greene campaigned for the investigative files on Epstein to be published. Most recently, she supported an initiative by the opposition Democrats to have the House of Representatives vote on the demand for the files to be published.
The president then broke with the right-wing MP and attacked her sharply. “I am withdrawing my support from ‘Congresswoman’ Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Trump wrote on his online network Truth Social last Friday. If an internal party competitor challenged Greene in a primary election in Georgia, he would support him.
Trump also called Greene a “ranting lunatic” who has drifted “far to the left” and claimed Georgia voters are “fed up with her and her antics.” Last Saturday, the US President followed up and called Greene a “traitor”.
Convicted US sex offender Epstein was found hanging in his prison cell in New York in 2019. He was accused of abusing numerous girls and young women and of grooming celebrities.
Trump denies any wrongdoing regarding his acquaintance with the businessman. At the same time, he had tried for months to prevent all Epstein files from being published. Last Sunday, because of the great pressure, he made a U-turn and recommended his Republicans approve it. After receiving approval from the House of Representatives and Congress, Trump signed a bill Wednesday declassifying files in the Epstein affair.
In a phone call with an ABC News reporter, Trump was quoted as saying that Greene’s resignation was “great news for the country.” He added that Greene did not inform him of her resignation. But “that doesn’t matter, you know, I think it’s great,” Trump said. “I think she should be happy.”
Greene’s resignation surprised many observers. Many see this as the clearest sign yet of a growing division within the MAGA movement, which has recently been deepened by the clear victories of Democratic candidates in the gubernatorial elections in the states of Virginia and New Jersey and in the mayoral election in New York.
The three votes were seen as an important test of sentiment for Trump around a year after his re-election as president and a year before the midterm elections for Congress.
Trump’s Republicans currently have a narrow majority of five seats in the House of Representatives. They also have a majority in the second chamber of Congress, the Senate. However, the ruling party usually suffers significant losses in the midterm elections. The Democrats therefore hope to be able to take back the House of Representatives in the fall of 2026.
