Trump hails critic's resignation as 'great news' after feud forces her from Congress
A dramatic rift in Trump's MAGA movement has forced one of his former allies from Congress after she dared challenge him on Syria and Jeffrey Epstein.
A once loyal supporter turned fierce critic of US President Donald Trump, who faced political reprisals if she sought re-election, has announced her resignation.
President Trump hailed Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia’s surprising resignation as “great news” for America.
Ms Greene announced she would not run for re-election in a 10 minute video saying she didn’t want her congressional district “to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president we all fought for”.
“I refuse to be a battered wife hoping it all goes away and gets better,” she said.
She also hit out about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. “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,” Ms Greene said in her resignation video.
Mr Trump was not aware of her plans to leave politics before she made the announcement on social media.
“I think it’s great news for the country,” Trump told ABC News during a brief phone call.
Ms Greene resignation followed an interview earlier where she insisted that she still supported Mr Trump despite his blistering attack on her in which he described her as a traitor and lunatic.
In her first interview since Mr Trump, 79, withdrew his support for her on Friday, Ms Greene, 51, made overtures to end her red-hot feud with the president while also doubling down on her criticisms of him.
“I do support him and his administration, and I support them in delivering the campaign promises we made to the American people,” Ms Greene told CNN’s State of the Union.
“His remarks, of course, have been hurtful … the most hurtful thing he said, which is absolutely untrue, is he called me a traitor and that is so extremely wrong.
“I certainly hope that we can make up. I can only speak for myself, I’m a Christian and one of the most important parts of our faith is forgiveness, and that’s something I’m committed to.”
Throughout the interview, she also knocked Mr Trump on a range of issues, including his welcoming Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to the White House last week, his support of H-1B visas, and his overseas trips.
“I can disagree with the President at times, especially this past Monday, on the Marines’ 250th anniversary, when he honoured the new Syrian president, who is an al-Qaeda terrorist and was wanted by our government for years,” she said.
Ms Greene had also criticised Mr Trump’s reluctance to release more documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
She had been one of Mr Trump’s most outspoken backers in Congress but over recent months, she seemingly soured on him and periodically took swipes at the president.
But on Friday, the president announced he was withdrawing all support for “’Wacky’ Marjorie.”
He followed up again Saturday morning with multiple posts on his Truth Social platform attacking Ms Greene as a “lightweight” and even a “traitor” to the Republican Party.
Ms Greene said later on X that she was “being contacted by private security firms with warnings for my safety as a hot bed of threats against me are being fuelled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world.”
Ms Greene’s last day will be January 5, 2026 with her resignation narrowing the Republican majority in the House to 218 members over the Democrats’ 213.
“My life is filled with happiness, and my true convictions remain unchanged, because my self-worth is not defined by a man, but instead by God,” she said.
The dispute marks an extraordinary rift in the MAGA movement a year before US midterm elections.
Ms Greene launched her political career in 2020 but said she had “always been despised” in Washington and “just never fit in” in her video.
The final straw for Mr Trump came when she urged him to focus on domestic issues instead of foreign policy, as he hosted Syria’s former jihadist president at the White House.
“I don’t know what happened to Marjorie. She’s a nice woman, but I don’t know what happened. She’s lost her way, I think,” Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about her comments.
After becoming a leading voice calling for justice for victims of the notorious sex offender over the summer, Ms Greene this week was one of a few MAGA rebels who backed a push to vote on demanding the public release of files relating to the Epstein probe.
“It has all come down to the ‘Epstein files’ and that is shocking and, you know, I stand with these women, I stand with rape victims … and survivors of trafficking … I believe the country deserves transparency in these files,” she said in her Sunday interview.
In an earlier post on X, she also touched on the Epstein scandal. “As a woman I take threats from men seriously,” Ms Greene said.
“I now have a small understanding of the fear and pressure the women, who are victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his cabal, must feel.”
Ms Greene had previously embraced QAnon conspiracy theories and in 2018 asserted that California wildfires were ignited by a space laser controlled by the Jewish Rothschild family.
Originally published as Trump hails critic's resignation as 'great news' after feud forces her from Congress
