By Sarah Ferris, Kaitlan Collins, Kaanita Iyer, CNN
Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene announced she would resign from office in January. Photo: AFP / Getty
Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene has announced she will resign from office in January, stunning some in her own party, after a shocking, months-long political pivot that catapulted her from one of President Donald Trump's closest allies to one of his top antagonists.
Greene dropped the news in a social media post just days after her public falling out with Trump, who called her a "traitor" and said he'd support a Republican challenge to her house seat next year.
Greene said she wanted to avoid a nasty primary - while predicting that the Republicans would lose their house majority in the midterms.
"I have too much self-respect and dignity, love my family way too much, and do not want my sweet district to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the President we all fought for, only to fight and win my election, while Republicans will likely lose the midterms," she said.
The decision to step down capped a turbulent four-year career in Washington, during which Greene was publicly condemned for violent rhetoric on the house floor and booted from the hard-right Freedom Caucus over a feud with a fellow Republican - while wielding extraordinary influence in her party, as one of Trump's most trusted political allies on Capitol Hill.
In the days since Trump's "traitor" comments, Greene faced direct threats against her life, the congresswoman said in an interview with CNN. In the same interview, the conservative firebrand apologised for her own years of "toxic" rhetoric - comments that reverberated around the country, amid an increasingly violent political culture.
Greene had contemplated her resignation for more than a week, according to a person close to her, as the threats against her continued to escalate, amid her falling out with the president.
Her next steps remained unclear, but the Georgia congresswoman, who just months earlier had been discussed as a potential candidate for her state's high-stakes senate race, currently had no plans to run for any office, the person added.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
In recent weeks, Greene criticised the president for being too focused on foreign policy and not doing enough with his domestic agenda at home - going as far as to side with Democrats over the contentious issue of costly enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire next month.
Greene also became one of the White House's most vocal critics of the Justice Department's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case files. She and fellow Republican Thomas Massie accused the White House of attempting to conceal details of the files.
Following fierce resistance, Trump ultimately signed an Epstein transparency measure into law earlier this week.
"I'm very sad for our country, but so happy for my friend Marjorie," Massie wrote on X, shortly after Greene's announcement. "I'll miss her tremendously.
"She embodies what a true Representative should be."
Greene's exit was likely to be quickly felt in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson must navigate a razor-thin majority. The Republican leader already faces the tall order in the new year of corralling his fractious conference to move on major legislation and further the president's priorities.
First elected in 2020, the Georgia congresswoman was known for vocally touting conspiracy theories and for her incendiary rhetoric, including prior remarks endorsing violence against Democrats in congress.
Her first year in office, a Democratic-led house under then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi took the extraordinary step of stripping Greene of her committee assignments, because of her past rhetoric endorsing violence, and claims the deadly Sandy Hook and Parkland school shootings had been staged.
In a sign of Greene's recent political turnaround, the Georgia congresswoman praised Pelosi's leadership in an interview with CNN, saying of the longtime Democrat: "She had an incredible career for her party.
"I served under her speakership in my first term of congress and I'm very impressed at her ability to get things done."
- CNN
