Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Sunday that her very public fallout with President Donald Trump “has all come down to the Epstein files, and that is shocking.” But how did one of the president’s staunchest supporters become one of his opps to the point that Trump has given her the nickname “‘Wacky’ Marjorie?”
“All I see ‘Wacky’ Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social, saying she is a “raging lunatic” and announcing he was pulling his endorsement of her.
“I am withdrawing my support and Endorsement of ‘Congresswoman’ Marjorie Taylor Greene, of the Great State of Georgia,” Trump wrote.
On Saturday, he called the congresswoman a “traitor.”
“Those are the types of words used that can radicalize people against me and put my life in danger,” Greene said of Trump’s attacks Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. On social media, she said she has received “a hot bed of threats… fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world.”
“Obviously, any threats to your safety are completely unacceptable,” Bash told Greene. “But we have seen these kinds of attacks or criticism from the president at other people. It’s not new. And, with respect, I haven’t heard you speak out about it until it was directed at you.”
“I think that’s fair criticism,” Greene replied. “And I would like to say humbly I’m sorry for taking part in the toxic politics. It’s very bad for our country.”
Greene’s turn against the president came over the last several months as she publicly questioned his foreign policy decisions, including his strikes against Iran (“This is not our fight,” she said) and support of Israel, as well as domestic political maneuvering, such as his failure to address health care amid the government shutdown.
“I’m going to go against everyone on this issue because when the tax credits expire this year my own adult children’s insurance premiums for 2026 are going to DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district,” Greene wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in early October.
Plus, as Greene said, there are the Epstein files — the records of the government’s investigations into deceased billionaire financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who was once a close Trump friend and ally. Recently-released emails show that Trump allegedly “knew” about Epstein’s victims. Many have speculated that Trump and the Republican leadership in Congress do not want the files made public because they could implicate the president.
Epstein’s victims have publicly asked for the files to be released. “I’m demanding justice,” Lisa Phillips, a model who was brought to Epstein’s island in 2000, said at a Capitol Hill press conference in September. “Congress must choose. Will you continue to protect predators? Or will you finally protect survivors?”
Greene has been pushing for the Department of Justice to release the files and even signed onto a discharge petition, along with Democrats and three of her Republican colleagues, demanding the files be made public. She has also supported the Epstein Files Transparency Act, legislation written to force the DOJ to release unclassified records, documents, evidence, and communications related to Epstein.
Members of Congress have been planning to force a vote on the act this coming week through a process that would circumvent Speaker Mike Johnson, who had opposed bringing it to the floor. Rep. Thomas Massie, another Republican leading the effort to release the files, has said he expects “100 or more” Republicans to join Democrats in voting to pass the legislation. Multiple outlets reported Sunday that GOP leadership is intending to bring a vote Tuesday on forcing the DOJ to fully release its files on Epstein.
The Trump administration has fought against releasing the files, even bringing Rep. Lauren Boebert, another signer of the discharge petition, into the White House Situation Room for a meeting with top DOJ and White House officials who spoke to her about Epstein. According to ABC News, they tried to convince Boebert to remove her name from the discharge petition. Boebert did not agree to do so.
It’s “astonishing really how hard [Trump is] fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level,” Greene wrote on X on Friday in a post that included a screenshot of a text she sent the president. Her text message to Trump concluded: “Epstein was the spider that wove the web of the deep state. Lean into it.”
But MTG’s original motivation for her anti-Trump turn may be more than just policy disagreements and the Epstein files. According to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Greene had been planning to run for the Senate seat in Georgia when Trump blocked her from pursuing that path.
“Here’s some tea for you,” the Democratic congresswoman said on a Nov. 3 Instagram live. “MTG, people are like, ‘Oh my God, she’s saying all these things, like, what’s gotten into her lately?’ ‘Oh, like, she’s bucking against Trump. She’s bucking against the administration.’”
Ocasio-Cortez continued: “Marjorie Taylor Greene wanted to run for Senate in Georgia. She wanted to run for Senate earlier this year in the state of Georgia. She wanted to be the Republican nominee for Senate. So she was gearing up for that statewide race, and Trump told her no. Trump said no, and the White House and Trumpland shut down Marjorie Taylor Greene’s personal ambitions to run for Senate, and she has been on a revenge tour ever since.”
Regardless of the reasons why the feud began, it appears that Greene at least is cooling her attacks a bit. On Sunday, she signaled she is open to forgiving the president.
“I certainly hope that we can make up,” Greene told CNN’s Dana Bash. “And, you know, again, 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.”
But for Trump, who is known for holding grudges against his perceived enemies and political opponents, Greene’s pivot may be too little too late.
This story has been updated with breaking news.
