Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, expressed support for President Trump and his agenda on Sunday after becoming one of the latest and most visible targets of his anger.
“I do support him and his administration,” she said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” just days after the president publicly rebuked her in a social media post laced with insults over her recent breaks with him, including her support for the release of Justice Department records related to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Ms. Greene, long one of president’s closest political allies, said the rupture stems largely from her position in the Epstein files, which she has said was rooted in transparency, not disloyalty. The response from Mr. Trump had been unfortunate, she said, but vowed not to back down, telling CNN that she would “continue to do my small part to get the files released.”
The fallout has been personal and potentially dangerous, she warned, saying that the president’s decision to call her a “traitor” could inflame extremists. “Those are the types of words used that can radicalize people against me and put my life in danger,” she said, describing the episode as the most intense clash yet in their relationship.
That relationship has been strained for months as Ms. Greene increasingly challenged the president on issues ranging from foreign aid to internal House strategy. The split burst into full view this past week as Mr. Trump escalated his attacks, portraying her as insufficiently faithful to his Make America Great Again movement and blasting her over a pattern of increasingly independent positions that irritated the president and his closest allies.
Ms. Greene is not the only Republican pushing the Trump administration on the Epstein matter. Representative Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who has taken a leading role in the bipartisan bill that would compel the Justice Department to release the Epstein files, accused Mr. Trump on Sunday of trying to block the bill to “protect a bunch of rich and powerful friends.”
He urged other Republicans to support the bill, telling ABC’s “This Week” that the record of their votes “will last longer than Donald Trump’s presidency.” The House is expected to vote on the bill this week, although it would face tough odds in the Senate if it were to pass.
Mr. Massie has refused to back down on his support for releasing the files, despite repeated rebukes from the president, including on Friday night, when Mr. Trump assailed Mr. Massie for remarrying a little more than a year after his wife’s death.
Mr. Massie told ABC that his new bride’s response was that Mr. Trump was “mad that he didn’t get an invitation.” He added, “Dogs don’t bark at parked cars, and we are winning.”
Mr. Trump has sought to distance himself from Mr. Epstein, with whom he was friends starting in the 1980s to the early 2000s, when that relationship frayed. Mr. Trump said the split happened after Mr. Epstein “hired away” female staff members from his Mar-a-Lago estate and resort, saying repeatedly that he “threw him out” of the club for that reason.
Last week, a tranche of Mr. Epstein’s emails released by the House Oversight Committee reignited scrutiny of their yearslong association. The messages include statements from Mr. Epstein that Mr. Trump “spent hours” at his house with one of his victims, and that Mr. Trump “knew about the girls” in Mr. Epstein’s network of abuse.
Mr. Trump has long denied any knowledge of Mr. Epstein’s actions, and Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, denounced “selectively released emails” as an attempt to “smear” the president.
Even so, the release of the messages has only added to the questions about the president’s relationship with Mr. Epstein.
For Ms. Greene, who built her brand on reflexive alignment with Mr. Trump and rode that allegiance to national prominence, the president’s hostility represented a sudden reversal. In response, she has sought to simultaneously defend her record and reaffirm her support without relying on the type of confrontational rhetoric that has been her hallmark.
Ms. Greene has recast herself as a voice for unity at a moment when her party is mired in internal conflict, urging Mr. Trump and other fellow Republicans in recent days to pull back from the edge.
“I think America needs to come together and end all the toxic, dangerous rhetoric,” she said on CNN. “I’m leading the way with my own example and I hope that President Trump can do the same.”
She added: “I would like to say, humbly, I’m sorry for taking part in the toxic politics.”
Robert Jimison covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on defense issues and foreign policy.
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