Marjorie Taylor Greene’s surprise resignation from Congress late on Friday, saying she refused to be a “battered wife” following her public fallout with Donald Trump, has been slammed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic congresswoman and Greene’s frequent sparring partner.
“She’s carefully timing her departure just 1-2 days after her pension kicks in,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement on her Instagram account, and criticized her voting record on healthcare.
Greene abruptly resigned from Congress, effective 5 January, in a 10-minute video post outlining her unhappiness with Republicans on issues including the public release of the Jeffrey Epstein files in the government’s possession, US financing of foreign conflicts, Trump’s decision to potentially back a candidate against her, and the cost of living and healthcare.
After her service to Trump, she said she objected to being “expected to defend the President against impeachment after he hatefully dumped tens of millions of dollars against me and tried to destroy me”.
“I refuse to be a ‘battered wife’ hoping it all goes away and gets better,” Greene said.
But Ocasio-Cortez said Greene “is saying a lot but her ACTIONS have not backed up the rhetoric. For all her talk, she’s STILL voting with them to gut healthcare … ”
Greene voted in the summer for cuts to Medicaid and the reduction of enhanced tax credits for the Affordable Care Act, but then in October criticized the ACA cuts as premiums soared.
Ocasio-Cortez also repeated some of her criticism of shares bought by Greene earlier this year before Trump said he was pausing tariffs. Greene has denied any impropriety in her stock trading.
Kentucky Republican congressman Thomas Massie, who has also taken public stands against Trump including over the Epstein files release, said on X that he was “very sad for our country but so happy for my friend Marjorie. I’ll miss her tremendously.”
Massie added that Greene “embodies what a true Representative should be. Everyone should read her statement; there’s more honesty expressed in these four pages than most politicians will speak in a lifetime.”
Early on Saturday, Trump also reacted to Greene’s announcement, posting on Truth Social that “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Brown” had decided to call it “quits” because of “PLUMMETING Poll Numbers, and not wanting to face a Primary Challenger with a strong Trump Endorsement (where she would have no chance of winning!) … ”
Trump also said that Greene’s political relationship with Massie “did not help her”.
“For some reason, primarily that I refused to return her never ending barrage of phone calls, Marjorie went BAD,” he added. “Nevertheless, I will always appreciate Marjorie, and thank her for her service to our Country!”
But Trump later told NBC News he would like to see Greene resume her political career.
“It’s not going to be easy for her” to revive her career in politics, he said, adding: “I’d love to see that.” In the meantime, “she’s got to take a little rest”.
Barbara Comstock, a former Republican House member and a Trump critic, lauded Greene’s decision on social media. “She doesn’t want to be a Republican ‘battered wife’ taking Trump’s abuse and getting death threats and pretending it’s all ok only to end up in the minority. Good for her,” Comstock posted.
Greene’s decision to leave Congress came soon after another plot twist was playing out in the White House between Trump and New York City’s mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, who spoke of their shared commitment to the future of the nation’s most populous city.
Trump, who had in the past called Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and a “total nut job”, spoke of how impressed he was with the man who had called his administration “authoritarian” and said he anticipates a productive relationship.
“I expect to be helping him, not hurting him,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office after a private meeting on Friday afternoon that lasted under an hour. “Because I want New York City to be great.”
Mamdani said that he appreciated that during their meeting they “had focused not on places of disagreement, which there are many, and also focused on the shared purpose that we have in serving New Yorkers”.
Both said they had shared ideas about affordability and developing new housing in the city. “Some of his ideas are really the same ideas that I have,” the president said of Mamdani about inflationary issues.
