US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene announced on Friday that she will step down from her position in January. She made the announcement in a social media post after a public fallout with President Donald Trump.
The Republican and former Make America Great Again (MAGA) loyalist has fallen from Trump’s graces, partly over her push to secure the release of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“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,” she said.
“I think it’s great news for the country. It’s great,” ABC News quoted Trump as saying in an interview.
Elected in 2021 from Georgia, Greene rose to prominence for her outspoken support of Trump’s MAGA agenda and promotion of conspiracy theories. Despite early opposition from Republican leaders, Trump initially embraced her, calling her “a real winner.”
Their alliance deteriorated after Greene advocated for publicly disclosing government files on Jeffrey Epstein. Greene also became the first Republican lawmaker this year to call the war in Gaza a genocide, a stance that clashed with Trump and party leadership.
Trump, who had dismissed the Epstein issue as a “Democrat hoax,” signed a bill this week to release the documents after bipartisan approval. Earlier this month he withdrew his endorsement of Greene, branded her “wacky,” and vowed to back a challenger in 2026.
“I have too much self-respect and dignity, love my family way too much, and do not want my sweet district to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president we all fought for, only to fight and win my election while Republicans will likely lose the midterms,” Greene said on Friday. “I refuse to be a ‘battered wife’ hoping it all goes away and gets better.”
The congresswoman said her last day in office will be January 5, 2026.
Greene’s resignation will shrink the Republican House majority to 218–213, while Republicans hold a 53–47 edge in the Senate. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp must schedule a special election, including primaries and a general election, to fill Greene’s term through January 2027. Those elections could occur before the May party primaries for the next two-year term.
Edited by: Sean Sinico