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 have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president we all 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 recordsdata 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 towards her when she ran for reelection subsequent 12 months.
She mentioned her final day could be Jan. 5, 2026.
The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a message in search of remark Friday evening.
Greene was some of the vocal and visual supporters of Trump’s Make America Nice Once more politics, and she or he embraced a few of his unapologetic political fashion.
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 average institution Republicans earlier than her who went crosswise with Trump.
The congresswoman, who recorded the video saying her resignation whereas sitting in her lounge sporting a cross necklace and with a Christmas tree and a peace lily plant behind her, mentioned, “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.”
A crack within the MAGA motion
Greene had been carefully 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 wrong” that he attacked her for arguing.
“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 mentioned.
Greene swept to workplace on the forefront of Trump’s MAGA motion and rapidly grew to become a lightning rod on Capitol Hill for her typically beyond-mainstream views. In her video Friday, Greene mentioned she had “always been despised in Washington, D.C., and just never fit in.”
As she embraced the QAnon conspiracy principle and appeared with white supremacists, Greene was initially opposed by get together leaders however welcomed by Trump. He referred to as her “a real WINNER!”
But over time she proved a deft legislator, having aligned herself with then-GOP chief Kevin McCarthy, who would go on to turn into Home speaker. She was a trusted voice on the proper 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 way of an typically 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 rather 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 way of January 2027. These elections may happen earlier than the get together primaries in Could 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 spanking new gun restrictions. In 2018, she endorsed the concept 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 quite than Bibles of their swearing-in ceremonies.
She was as soon as a sympathizer with QAnon, a web-based community that believes a world cabal of Devil-worshipping cannibals, together with U.S. authorities leaders, operates a toddler intercourse trafficking ring. She ultimately distanced herself, saying she bought “sucked into some of the things I had seen on the internet.”
Throughout the pandemic, she drew backlash and apologized for evaluating the sporting 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, through which she advised a California wildfire could have been attributable to “lasers or blue beams of light” 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 typically a surrogate for his views and brash fashion in Washington.
Whereas then-President Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union handle in 2022, Greene stood up and started chanting “Build the wall,” referring to the U.S.-Mexico border wall that Trump started in his first time period.
Final 12 months, when Biden gave his final State of the Union handle, 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, sporting a crimson MAGA hat and a T-shirt about Riley, handed the president a button that mentioned “Say Her Name.” The congresswoman then shouted that on the president halfway by way of his speech.
Frustration with the GOP
However this 12 months, 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 not less than to Could, when she introduced she wouldn’t run for the Senate towards 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 annoyed with the Republican management on Capitol Hill, which labored in lockstep with the president.
Greene mentioned in her video that “the legislature has been mostly sidelined” since Republicans took unified management of Washington in January and her payments “just sit collecting dust.”
“That’s how it is for most members of Congress’ bills,” she mentioned. “The speaker never brings them to the floor for a vote.”
Messages left with Home Speaker Mike Johnson’s workplace weren’t instantly returned.
Republicans will doubtless lose the midterms elections subsequent 12 months, Greene mentioned, after which she’d “be expected to defend the president against impeachment after he hatefully dumped tens of millions of dollars against me and tried to destroy me.”
“It’s all so absurd and completely unserious,” she mentioned. “I refuse to be a battered wife hoping it all goes away and gets better.”
