Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a standard bearer for the Make America Great Again movement who was once an ardent supporter of US President Donald Trump, announced on Friday she is resigning from Congress.
Her shock announcement comes a week after Mr Trump turned on Ms Greene, 51, dubbing her a “traitor” after she criticised his delay in releasing the Epstein files. He had said he would not support her in next year's midterm elections.
In a video posted online, the congresswoman from Georgia elected in 2020 said she had “always been despised in Washington DC and never fit in”.
Ms Greene said she did not want her supporters and family 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".
“I will be resigning from office with my last day being January 5, 2026,” she said.
Ms Greene said she had been targeted by death threats after Mr Trump called her “wacky” and levelled other criticisms against her.
Ms Greene's announcement is the clearest sign yet of a growing split in Maga world, in churn over strong Democratic victories in this month's off-year elections, and Mr Trump's chummy White House meeting earlier on Friday with New York's mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
The movement has been particularly riven over Trump's flip-flop on the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose web of contacts allegedly included several American elites.
“Standing up for American women who were raped at 14, trafficked and used by rich powerful men should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the President of the US, whom I fought for,” Ms Greene said.
