First Republican lawmaker to call Israel's Gaza assault genocide quits Congress amid MAGA rift
Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, an influential figure among the right and longtime ally of Donald Trump who recently had a dramatic falling out with the US president, has said she is quitting her seat in Congress, Al Jazeera reported Saturday.
“Loyalty should be a two-way street”, while Congress “has mostly been sidelined” under the Trump administration, Greene posted in a lengthy resignation statement on social media late on Friday.
In her video statement, the 51-year-old congresswoman from Georgia said she had “always represented the common American man and woman as a member of the House of Representatives, which is why I’ve been despised in Washington, DC, and never fit in”.
Greene said she did not want her supporters and family to endure “a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the President we all fought for”.
President Trump responded to the news, saying, “I think it’s great news for the country”.
Previously an icon of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, Greene had a very public falling out with Trump, with the president announcing earlier this month that he was withdrawing all support for the congresswoman he described as “‘Wacky’ Marjorie”.
Greene has cited as a cause for her rift with Trump her outspoken advocacy for releasing the government’s files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In her resignation statement, Greene referenced the Epstein controversy.
“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,” Greene said.
Greene also this year became the first Republican lawmaker to call U.S. ally Israel’s assault on Gaza a genocide.
Trump followed up his withdrawal of support for Greene earlier this month with multiple posts on his Truth Social platform attacking the lawmaker as a “lightweight” and even a “traitor” to the Republican Party.
Greene subsequently said she was being targeted by a wave of threats.
