Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a loyal supporter-turned-critic of President Donald Trump who confronted his political retribution if she sought reelection, mentioned Friday she is resigning from Congress in January.
Greene, in a greater than 10-minute video posted on-line, defined her resolution and mentioned she didn’t need her congressional district “to must endure a hurtful and hateful main in opposition to me by the president all of us fought for,” she mentioned.
Greene’s resignation adopted a public fallout with Trump in latest months, because the congresswoman criticized him for his stance on information associated to Jeffrey Epstein, together with overseas coverage and well being care.
Trump branded her a “traitor” and “wacky” and mentioned he would endorse a challenger in opposition to her when she ran for reelection subsequent yr.
She mentioned her final day can be Jan. 5, 2026.
The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a message in search of remark Friday night time.
In a short telephone name Friday night time, Trump advised ABC Information that Greene’s resignation is “nice information for the nation.” He mentioned had no plans to talk with Greene however needs her effectively.
Greene was one of the crucial vocal and visual supporters of Trump’s Make America Nice Once more politics, and she or he embraced a few of his unapologetic political type.
Her break with him was a notable fissure in his grip over conservatives, significantly his most ardent base. However her resolution to step down within the face of his opposition put her on the identical observe as lots of the extra reasonable institution Republicans earlier than her who went crosswise with Trump.
The congresswoman, who recorded the video asserting her resignation whereas sitting in her lounge carrying a cross necklace and with a Christmas tree and a peace lily plant behind her, mentioned, “My life is full of happiness, and my true convictions stay unchanged, as a result of my self-worth just isn’t outlined by a person, however as a substitute by God.”
A crack within the MAGA motion
Greene had been intently tied to the Republican president since she launched her political profession 5 years in the past.
In her video Friday, she underscored her longtime loyalty to Trump besides on a couple of points, and mentioned it was “unfair and mistaken” that he attacked her for arguing.
“Loyalty must be a two-way avenue and we should always be capable to vote our conscience and symbolize our district’s curiosity, as a result of our job title is actually ‘consultant,’” she mentioned.
Greene swept to workplace on the forefront of Trump’s MAGA motion and shortly grew to become a lightning rod on Capitol Hill for her usually beyond-mainstream views. In her video Friday, Greene mentioned she had “all the time been despised in Washington, D.C., and simply by no means slot in.”
As she embraced the QAnon conspiracy concept and appeared with white supremacists, Greene was initially opposed by social gathering leaders however welcomed by Trump. He known as her “an actual WINNER!”
But over time she proved a deft legislator, having aligned herself with then-GOP chief Kevin McCarthy, who would go on to turn out to be Home speaker. She was a trusted voice on the correct flank, till McCarthy was ousted in 2023.
Whereas there was an onslaught of lawmakers from each events heading for the exits forward of subsequent fall’s midterm elections, because the Home struggles by means of an usually chaotic session, Greene’s introduced retirement will ripple all through the ranks — and lift questions on her subsequent strikes.
Greene was first elected to the Home in 2020. She initially deliberate to run in a aggressive district in northern Atlanta’s suburbs, however relocated to the far more conservative 14th District in Georgia’s northwest nook.
The opening in her district means Republican Gov. Brian Kemp should set a particular election date inside 10 days of Greene’s resignation. Such a particular election would fill out the rest of Greene’s time period by means of January 2027. These elections might happen earlier than the social gathering primaries in Might for the following two-year time period.
Conspiracy-minded
Even earlier than her election, Greene confirmed a penchant for harsh rhetoricand conspiracy theories, suggesting a 2017 mass taking pictures in Las Vegas was a coordinated assault to spur assist for brand new gun restrictions. In 2018, she endorsed the concept that the U.S. authorities perpetrated the assaults on Sept. 11, 2001, and mused {that a} “so-called” aircraft had hit the Pentagon.
Greene argued in 2019 that Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., each Muslim girls, weren’t “official” members of Congress as a result of they used Qurans slightly than Bibles of their swearing-in ceremonies.
She was as soon as a sympathizer with QAnon, an internet community that believes a worldwide cabal of Devil-worshipping cannibals, together with U.S. authorities leaders, operates a toddler intercourse trafficking ring. She finally distanced herself, saying she obtained “sucked into among the issues I had seen on the web.”
In the course of the pandemic, she drew backlash and apologized for evaluating the carrying of security masks to the horrors of the Holocaust.
She additionally drew ridicule and condemnation after a conspiracy she speculated about on Fb in 2018, by which she prompt a California wildfire could have been brought on by “lasers or blue beams of sunshine” managed by a left-wing cabal tied to a distinguished Jewish household.
When Trump was out of energy between his first and second phrases, Greene was usually a surrogate for his views and brash type in Washington.
Whereas then-President Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union tackle in 2022, Greene stood up and commenced chanting “Construct the wall,” referring to the U.S.-Mexico border wall that Trump started in his first time period.
Final yr, when Biden gave his final State of the Union tackle, Greene once more drew consideration as she confronted him over border safety and the killing of a nursing scholar from Georgia, Laken Riley, by an immigrant within the nation illegally.
Greene, carrying a crimson MAGA hat and a T-shirt about Riley, handed the president a button that mentioned “Say Her Title.” The congresswoman then shouted that on the president halfway by means of his speech.
Frustration with the GOP
However this yr, her first serving with Trump within the White Home, cracks started to appear slowly in her steadfast assist — earlier than it broke broad open.
Greene’s discontent dates again no less than to Might, when she introduced she wouldn’t run for the Senate in opposition to Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff, whereas attacking GOP donors and consultants who feared she couldn’t win.
Greene’s restlessness solely intensified in July, when she introduced she wouldn’t run for Georgia governor, both.
She was additionally pissed off with the Republican management on Capitol Hill, which labored in lockstep with the president.
Greene mentioned in her video that “the legislature has been principally sidelined” since Republicans took unified management of Washington in January and her payments “simply sit accumulating mud.”
“That’s how it’s for many members of Congress’ payments,” she mentioned. “The speaker by no means brings them to the ground for a vote.”
Messages left with Home Speaker Mike Johnson’s workplace weren’t instantly returned.
Republicans will probably lose the midterms elections subsequent yr, Greene mentioned, after which she’d “be anticipated to defend the president in opposition to impeachment after he hatefully dumped tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in opposition to me and tried to destroy me.”
“It’s all so absurd and fully unserious,” she mentioned. “I refuse to be a battered spouse hoping all of it goes away and will get higher.”
