Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., speaks throughout a press convention exterior the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.
Daniel Heuer/AFP through Getty Pictures
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Daniel Heuer/AFP through Getty Pictures
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican who rose to prominence as certainly one of President Trump’s greatest defenders and lately grew to become certainly one of his greatest critics, is leaving Congress.
In an almost 11-minute video assertion, Greene excoriated the Republican Get together, Home management and the beginning of marketing campaign season “which suggests all braveness leaves and solely secure marketing campaign re-election mode is turned on.”
Greene’s announcement late Friday that she would resign efficient Jan. 5, 2026, is the newest escalation of months of clashes with the president over his second time period agenda – together with the discharge of the Epstein information.
“Standing up for American girls who had been raped at 14, trafficked and utilized by wealthy highly effective males, mustn’t lead to me being known as a traitor and threatened by the President of the USA, whom I fought for,” Greene stated.
Trump’s marketing campaign promise to launch information associated to the life and demise of convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein – and the quite a few methods the president stonewalled the discharge this 12 months earlier than finally relenting this week – was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s again.
The third-term congresswoman additionally stated it will not be truthful to her northwest Georgia district, one of the vital conservative within the nation, to have them “endure a hurtful and hateful main in opposition to me by the President all of us fought for” whereas noting that “Republicans will doubtless lose the midterms.”
“It is all so absurd and fully unserious,” she stated. “I refuse to be a ‘battered spouse,’ hoping all of it goes away and will get higher.”
Greene is certainly one of a report 40 Home members and 10 senators who’ve indicated they don’t plan to return to their seats after the 2026 election, becoming a member of a lot of lawmakers who’re retiring or operating for a special workplace.
Her resignation will doubtless arrange a particular election to complete the remainder of her time period within the spring.
The fracturing of Trump’s MAGA coalition has been creating for months, with splits over international coverage points like bombing Iran and the help of Israel’s struggle in Gaza accompanying questions on home results of tariffs. Greene has been a vocal opponent every time.
Greene has remained ideologically constant all through her time in Congress and along with her criticism of Trump. Her argument is that the president and the Republican Get together have modified and fallen in need of the Make America Nice Once more and America First imaginative and prescient. Notably, her announcement video additionally blasted the “political industrial complicated of each political events” that focuses on which facet “can persuade Individuals to hate the opposite facet extra.”
“And the outcomes are at all times the identical, regardless of which approach the political pendulum swings, Republican or Democrat,” she stated. “Nothing ever will get higher for the widespread American man or girl.”
Greene’s retirement announcement comes at a time when the Republican Get together – and Trump – are dealing with a lot of setbacks, together with defeats up and down the poll on this month’s elections and poor financial headwinds. Now, there’s a massive and visual dent within the beforehand impenetrable armor that’s Trump’s management over the get together and its future, accelerating the inevitable questions round what a post-Trump GOP would appear like.
