Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime ally of Donald Trump and a right-wing strongman who recently had a dramatic falling out with the US president, announced she would resign from her seat in Congress, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday.
With Congress “largely ignored” under the Trump administration, Greene posted a lengthy resignation statement on social media late Friday, saying “loyalty should go both ways.”
“As a member of Congress, I have always represented ordinary American men and women, which is why I was despised in Washington, D.C., and why I never fit in,” the 51-year-old congressman from Georgia said in a video statement.
Greene said she didn’t want her supporters and family to endure “a primary filled with bitter hatred against me by the president we all fought for.”
In response to the news, President Trump said, “I think it’s great news for the country.”
Previously a symbol of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, Greene has publicly fallen out with Trump, with the president announcing earlier this month that he was withdrawing all support for the congresswoman whom he described as “‘Quirky’ Marjorie.”
Greene has cited her outspoken advocacy for releasing government files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as the cause of her rift with Trump.
Greene addressed the Epstein controversy in her resignation statement.
“Standing up for American women who were raped at age 14, trafficked, and exploited by wealthy and powerful men should not lead to me being called a traitor or being threatened by the president of the United States for whom I fought,” Greene said.
Greene also became the first Republican this year to call the attack on Gaza by U.S. ally Israel a genocide.
After Trump withdrew his support for Greene earlier this month, he posted multiple posts on his Truth Social platform attacking the congresswoman as a “flippant” and even a “traitor” to the Republican Party.
Since then, Green said he has been the target of a series of threats.