WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a loyal supporter turned critic of President Donald Trump who faced political retribution if she sought re-election, said Friday she is resigning from Congress in January.
Greene, in a video of more than 10 minutes posted on the internet, explained her decision and said that she did not want her congressional district “to have to endure a hurtful primary and hatred against me from the president we all fought for,” she said.
Greene’s resignation came after a public spat with Trump in recent months, as the congressman criticized his stance on files related to Jeffrey Epstein, along with foreign policy and health care.
Trump branded her a “traitor” and “wacky” and said he would endorse challengers against her when she ran for re-election next year.
She said her last day would be January 5, 2026.
The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Friday evening.
Greene has been one of the most vocal and visible supporters of Trump’s Make America Great Again policy, and she has embraced some of his unapologetic political style.
Her break with him was a notable break in his grip on conservatives, particularly his most ardent base. But her decision to resign in the face of his opposition put her on the same path as many of the more moderate establishment Republicans before her who crossed paths with Trump.
The congresswoman, who recorded the video announcing her resignation while sitting in her living room wearing a cross necklace and with a Christmas tree and a peace lily plant behind her, said, “My life is full of happiness, and my true convictions remain the same, because my self-esteem is not defined by a man, but instead by God.”
Crack in the MAGA movement
Greene has been closely linked to the Republican President since she launched her political career five years ago.
In her video on Friday, she emphasized her long-standing loyalty to Trump except on a few issues, saying it was “unfair and wrong” to attack her for disagreeing.
“Loyalty should be a two-way street and we should be able to vote our conscience and represent the interest of our district, because our job title is literally ‘representative’,” she said.
Greene took office at the forefront of Trump’s MAGA movement and quickly became a lightning rod on Capitol Hill for her often out-of-the-mainstream views. In her video on Friday, Greene said she had “always been looked down upon in Washington, DC, and would never fit in.”
As she embraced the QAnon conspiracy theory and appeared with white supremacists, Greene was initially opposed by party leaders but welcomed by Trump. He called her “a true winner!”
But over time she proved to be an energetic legislator, after aligning herself with the leader of the GOP at the time Kevin McCarthy, who would go on to become speaker of the House. She was a trusted voice on the right wing, until McCarthy was fired in 2023.
While there has been an onslaught of lawmakers from both parties headed for the exits ahead of next fall’s midterm elections, as the House struggles through an often chaotic session, Greene’s announced retirement will ripple through all ranks — and raise questions about her next steps.
Greene was first elected to the House in 2020. She initially planned to run in a competitive district in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, but relocated to the much more conservative 14th District in the northwest corner of Georgia.
The opening in her district means Republican Gov. Brian Kemp will have to set a special election date within 10 days of Greene’s resignation. Such a special election would fill the remainder of Greene’s term through January 2027. Those elections could be held before the party’s primaries in May for the next two-year term.
Conspiracy-minded
Even before her election, Greene showed a penchant for fiery rhetoric and conspiracy theories, suggesting that the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas was a coordinated attack to spur support for new gun restrictions. In 2018, she endorsed the idea that the US government carried out the attacks on September 11, 2001, and thought that a “so-called” plane had hit the Pentagon.
Greene argued in 2019 that Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., both Muslim women, were not “official” members of Congress because they used Qurans rather than Bibles in their swearing-in ceremonies.
She was once a sympathizer with QAnon, an online network that believes a global cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibals, including US government leaders, operates a child sex trafficking ring. She eventually distanced herself, saying she got “drawn into some things I had seen on the internet.”
During the pandemic, she drew backlash and apologized for comparing the wearing of safety masks to the horrors of the Holocaust.
She also drew ridicule and condemnation after a conspiracy she speculated about on Facebook in 2018, in which she suggested wildfires in California could have been caused by “lasers or beams of blue light” controlled by a left-wing cabal linked to a prominent Jewish family.
When Trump was out of power between his first and second terms, Greene was often a stand-in for his views and his engaging style in Washington.
While then-President Joe Biden delivered his 2022 State of the Union speech, Greene stood up and began singing “Build the wall,” referring to the US-Mexico border wall that Trump started in his first term.
Last year, when Biden gave his final State of the Union address, Greene again drew attention as she confronted him about border security and the killing of a Georgia nursing student, Laken Riley, by an immigrant in the country illegally.
Greene, wearing a red MAGA hat and a T-shirt about Riley, handed the president a button that said “Say Her Name.” The congressman then shouted at the president in the middle of his speech.
Frustration with the GOP
But this year, her first service with Trump in the White House, cracks slowly began to appear in her staunch support – before it opened.
Greene’s discontent dates back to at least May, when she announced she would not run for Senate against Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff, while attacking GOP donors and advisers who feared she might not win.
Greene’s restlessness only intensified in July, when she announced that she would not run for governor of Georgia either.
She was also frustrated with the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill, who worked in tandem with the president.
Greene said in her video that “the legislature has been mostly sidelined” since Republicans took unified control of Washington in January and her bills are “just sitting there gathering dust.”
“That’s how it is for most bills members of Congress,” she said. “The speaker never brings them to the floor for a vote.”
Messages left with House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office were not immediately returned.
The Republicans will probably lose the midterm elections next year, Greene said, and then she will be expected to defend the president against impeachment after he hatefully threw tens of millions of dollars against me and tried to destroy me.
“It’s all so absurd and completely unserious,” she said. “I refuse to be a battered woman hoping that everything will go away and get better.”
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Amy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.