Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced Friday that she will resign from Congress next year, effective Jan. 5, 2026.
The explosive event comes a week after President Donald Trump withdrew his support for Greene, one of her staunchest allies, after she criticized him and his administration for their handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, along with other matters.
In a four-page statement announcing his resignation published in XGreene repeatedly addressed her recent disagreement with Trump.
“Defending American women who were raped at age 14, trafficked and used by rich and powerful men, should not result in the President of the United States calling me a traitor and threatening me, who I fought for,” he said.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, R-Ga., center, applauds during a news conference as the House prepares to vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
“I have too much self-respect and dignity, I love my family too much, and I don’t want my sweet district to suffer a hurtful, hateful primary against me from the president we all fought for, only to fight and win my election while the Republicans will likely lose the midterms,” Greene added.
Greene, who has served in the House since 2021, came under fire from Trump last week, when the president announced he was withdrawing his support for Greene’s re-election campaign after she broke party rank and signed a discharge petition mandating a vote to order the Justice Department to release all of its Epstein files, another issue Greene has come to champion from the campaign trail to the Capitol in recent years.
In a social media post, Trump called Greene “a ranting lunatic” who “has gone far left.” In a subsequent online exchange with Greene over the weekend, he called her “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene” and said he would support a primary challenger.
In a video released Friday along with her statement, Greene said, “My self-worth is not defined by a man, but by God.”
In a brief phone interview with ABC News chief political correspondent Rachel Scott on Friday, Trump said Greene’s resignation is “great news for the country.” He said he has no plans to talk to her and wishes her the best.
“I think it’s great news for the country. It’s great,” the president told Scott, adding that Greene didn’t warn him.
“No, it doesn’t matter, you know? But I think it’s cool,” he said. “I think she should be happy.”
U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) announces her resignation from office, in this screenshot of a statement posted to social media on November 21, 2025.
Marjorie Taylor Greene Via X/via Reuters
The dispute with Trump was the apparent breaking point for the lawmaker who came to define the MAGA movement on Capitol Hill, whether fighting Trump’s second impeachment following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol or wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat at then-President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.
She warned in her resignation statement that if she is “sidelined” by the MAGA movement, “then many everyday Americans will be discarded and replaced as well,” though she did not rule out a return to elected office in the future.
“When the ordinary American people finally wake up and understand that the Political Industrial Complex of both parties is destroying this country, that no elected leader like me is capable of stopping Washington’s machine from gradually destroying our country, and instead the reality is that they, the ordinary Americans, the People, possess the real power over Washington, then I will be here at their side to rebuild it,” he said.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., arrives at a news conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who has also frequently disagreed with Trump and led the effort to force the Justice Department to release Epstein’s files, reacted to Greene’s announcement in a social media post by saying, “I’m so sad for our country, but so happy for my friend Marjorie.”
He added: “Everyone should read his statement; more honesty is expressed in these four pages than most politicians will ever express in a lifetime.”
Republicans currently hold 219 seats, including Greene. House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to win the 220th seat on Dec. 2, following a special election in Tennessee. When Greene finally steps down, Johnson’s historically slim Republican majority will return to its current split, 219 to 213.
Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to ABC News when asked if Republican leaders were briefed about the announcement.
