Former hardline Trump ally Greene to quit Congress after explosive clash over Epstein files

Far-right Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has announced she would resign from Congress, accusing President Donald Trump of turning on her for demanding the full release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Greene, once one of Trump’s most loyal firebrands, said on Friday that her last day in office would be January 5, 2026, marking the most high-profile break yet between Trump and the so-called “Make American Great Again” movement’s main hardliners.

She said the split stemmed directly from her insistence on exposing the full government record of Epstein, the convicted sex offender whose network of political and financial elites has remained one of Washington’s most protected secrets.

“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,” she said in a fiery resignation statement posted online.

Greene added that she had been “threatened” and publicly humiliated by the very president she had helped elevate.

Trump, who for months dismissed the Epstein case as a “Democrat hoax,” faced an internal “MAGA” revolt after breaking his campaign promise to open the files.

The backlash forced him into an abrupt about-face. Under bipartisan pressure, he signed a bill this week mandating the release of the records after both chambers of Congress voted overwhelmingly to compel disclosure.

Greene has repeatedly highlighted that she had been one of the earliest voices inside the Republican Party pushing for transparency on Epstein, even before party leadership shifted.

Trump: ‘It’s great news for the country’

Trump cheered the resignation, telling ABC News, “I think it’s great news for the country.”

The remarks underscored how far the relationship has deteriorated since he labeled Greene “‘Wacky’ Marjorie” and rescinded his support earlier this month.

The president has repeatedly attacked her on social media as a “lightweight” and even a “traitor,” while Greene said she had been hit with a torrent of threats after Trump turned his base against her.

She added that she stepped down partly to spare her family from a “hurtful and hateful primary” backed by the president.

Observers commenting on the developments said Greene’s resignation marked the clearest sign yet of a widening ideological rupture inside the Trump-era political ecosystem.

The split has intensified following Democrats’ strong performance in recent off-year elections.

Once one of Congress’s loudest “MAGA” campaigners, Greene went on to fire parting shots.

She said Congress under Trump had been “sidelined” and stripped of meaningful authority.

Earlier this year, Greene also became the first Republican member of Congress to describe the Israeli regime’s war on Gaza as genocide, a position that further isolated her within the party and drew fierce attacks from pro-Israel Republicans and Trump loyalists.

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