Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, once one of President Donald Trump’s most loyal allies, has fired back after the President called her a “traitor” in their public feud.
“I was called a traitor by a man that I fought for five, no, actually, six years, and I gave him my loyalty for free,” Greene said while speaking at a press conference on Tuesday with a group of survivors of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as well as Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California. “I won my first election without his endorsement beating eight men in a primary, and I’ve never owed him anything, but I fought for him, for the policies and for America first, and he called me a traitor for standing with these women and refusing to take my name off the discharge petition.”
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“Let me tell you what a traitor is. A traitor is an American that serves foreign countries and themselves. A patriot is an American that serves the United States of America, and Americans like the women standing behind me,” she continued, in reference to the Epstein survivors.
Trump publicly withdrew his endorsement for Greene on Friday, after the two disagreed over whether Congress should vote to release all the files in the Epstein case. Greene has been one of a select number of congressional Republicans who has fervently pushed for their release, and she has vocally supported the Epstein survivors. Trump, meanwhile, has spent months trying to brush off concerns about the Epstein case, sparking outrage from many of his own supporters over how he has handled the situation, and long resisted a push to compel the files’ release before suddenly reversing course on Sunday.
Tensions between Trump and Greene mounted over the weekend, with the President calling her a “traitor” and a “disgrace to our GREAT REPUBLICAN PARTY!” in a Truth Social post.
At the Tuesday press conference, Greene joined the Epstein survivors and her House colleagues Massie and Khanna, urging Congress to pass a bill that would require the Department of Justice to release the so-called “Epstein files.” The measure is set to come up for a vote later Tuesday in the House, where it is expected to overwhelmingly pass after Trump urged House Republicans to support it in a sharp reversal on Sunday night. “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files,” the President wrote on Truth Social, “because we have nothing to hide.”
Greene and Massie were among the four House Republicans who backed a discharge petition to force the floor vote on the legislation. If it passes the House, it could face further resistance in the Senate—where GOP leadership has not yet committed to bringing it up—and potentially, legal experts have warned, from Trump’s Department of Justice. Trump has said he would sign the measure if it makes it to his desk.
The post ‘I’ve Never Owed Him Anything’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Responds to Trump’s ‘Traitor’ Jab appeared first on TIME.
