After just under five years in office — and a very public falling out with President Donald Trump — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., announced Friday night that she is resigning from office in January.
Greene, a darling of the MAGA movement, suddenly announced her intention to resign Friday, saying she will step down on Jan. 5, 2026 — two days after her congressional pension officially vests.
“I love my family way too much,” Greene said Friday night in a nearly 11-minute video posted online. “And I do not want my sweet district to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president that we all fought for only to fight and win my election, while Republicans will likely lose the midterms and in turn, be expected to defend the president against impeachment after he hatefully dumped tens of millions of dollars against me and tried to destroy me.”
In her video, Greene railed against business as usual in Washington, the rising costs throughout the nation, and Trump’s reaction to her recent push to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, which came to a head this week and prompted her break up with the president.
“Standing up for American women who were raped at 14-years-old, 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,” Greene said. “However, while yes hurtful, my heart remains filled with joy, 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, who created everything in existence.”
At the end of her lengthy statement, Greene announced her resignation, capping off a sudden and chaotic transition from a fierce Trump ally to a converted Trump skeptic.
Her resignation is just the latest dramatic turn in a congressional career of drama. She came to Washington, days before Jan. 6, 2021, as a pariah in Washington. She was quickly stripped of her committee assignments within weeks of arriving before finding herself on the congressional GOP’s outskirts.
First elected to Congress in 2020, Greene quickly made a name for herself as an unabashed Trump acolyte. She expressed support for QAnon and confronted progressive lawmaker, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, prompting the New York Democrat to express security concerns to the congressional leadership.
She hectored President Joe Biden during a State of Union, with her close congressional friend Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo. Later, she had a falling out with Boebert, calling her a “little b—-” on the House floor — an insult that ultimately resulted in her departure from the House Freedom Caucus.
But it wasn’t until recently that Greene turned from hard-right MAGA cheerleader to damning Trump critic — and a critic of her own party.
During the record-breaking government shutdown, Greene repeatedly criticized House Republican leadership for keeping lawmakers at home while the funding impasse dragged on. She also raised concerns that her own party was not doing enough to address the pending rise in Obamacare premiums when the enhanced subsidies expire on Jan. 1 — citing the costs her own children are encountering.
Then there was the Jeffrey Epstein saga, which seemed to leave Greene with lots of new questions about the president — and lots of criticism from the president about her.
Exactly a week before Greene announced her resignation, the president said he was withdrawing his support and endorsement from the congresswoman, adding that he would consider backing a primary opponent to the Georgia Republican.
“All I see ‘Wacky’ Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!” Trump wrote on social media.
“She has told many people that she is upset that I don’t return her phone calls anymore, but with 219 Congressmen/women, 53 U.S. Senators, 24 Cabinet Members, almost 200 Countries, and an otherwise normal life to lead, I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day,” Trump said.
In subsequent posts, the president called Greene a “traitor,” and has taken to calling her “Marjorie Taylor Brown.” “Green grass turns Brown when it begins to ROT!” Trump explained. A source who has spoken with Greene a number of times over the last two weeks told MS NOW that the congresswoman has seemed deeply frustrated and jaded from the effort to force a vote on releasing the Epstein documents. Last weekend, Greene said she was facing a lot of threats, “fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world.” What Greene will do now — and the extent to which she’ll remain in the public eye as a Trump skeptic — is unknown. One of the reasons Trump has said Greene broke with him is over his refusal to back her for a higher office, like senator or Georgia governor. But with Trump term-limited, and the MAGA movement’s future uncertain, Greene could always try to take the mantle of the conservative, populist movement. “If I am cast aside by MAGA Inc and replaced by Neocons, Big Pharma, Big Tech, Military Industrial War Complex, foreign leaders, and the elite donor class that can’t even relate to real Americans, then many common Americans have been cast aside and replaced as well,” Greene said in a written statement. “There is no ‘plan to save the world’ or insane 4D chess game being played,” she continued. “When the common American people finally realize and understand that the Political Industrial Complex of both parties is ripping this country apart, that not one elected leader like me is able to stop Washington’s machine from gradually destroying our country, and instead the reality is that they, common Americans, The People, possess the real power over Washington, then I’ll be here by their side to rebuild it,” she wrote. “My only goal and desire has ever been to hold the Republican Party accountable for the promises it makes to the American people and put America first,” Greene said in her announcement. “And I have fought against Democrats damaging policies like the green New Deal, wide open, deadly, unsafe border policies, and the trans agenda on children and against women with that has brought years of non stop, never ending, personal attacks, death threats, lawfare, ridiculous, slander and lies about me that most people could never withstand, even for a single day.”
Kevin Frey is a congressional reporter for MS NOW.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW. Recommended
