WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Saturday he would like to see Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene resume her political career at some point, despite their recent falling out.
Trump's comments came a day after Greene, one of the most well-known faces on the Republican scene, issued a statement. amazing ad that she would retire in January.
In a brief telephone interview with NBC News, the president said, “It won't be easy for her” to resume her career in politics, although he added, “I'd like to see that happen.”
In the meantime, Trump said, “she needs to get some rest.”
Greene, long a staunch ally of the president, became more vocalist in recent weeks about her differences with some of his policies and priorities. She accused Trump of paying, in her opinion, too much attention to foreign leaders rather than to the pocketbook concerns of ordinary Americans.
She was also an early supporter of Geoffrey's release. Epstein files and said Trump blocked their disclosure. After calling the attempt to release the files a “hoax,” Trump reversed course last Sunday and said he supported releasing them. Congress quickly voted to force the Justice Department to do just that, and Trump signed the bill.
Trump has attacked Greencalling her a “traitor”. He withdrew his support for her re-election.
Early Saturday morning, before an interview with NBC News, Trump posted on his social network page that Greene chose to leave rather than face a GOP primary challenger in next year's midterm elections. He repeated that she was a “traitor” and also thanked her for “serving our country.”
A person close to Greene said in an interview that the congresswoman remains confident she will win re-election if she decides to run. The issue was not so much competition as threats and the disdain Greene and her children endured, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Green has two daughters and a son, all 20 years old.
“She's looking forward to the day when she goes out in public, won't be harassed in restaurants and airports, and will be on every TV channel,” the person added. “It's safe to say she'll probably take a step back and become a private, normal person again.”
As for Trump's accusations, the person said: “She was one of his biggest allies in Congress, and she never really turned her back on him. She stood up for him when no one else in the House would. She was hurt to see it, but she's not the kind of person who, when she sees things she doesn't agree with, will turn a blind eye to it.”
Asked if he believed he could work through his differences with Greene, Trump said in an interview: “I can work out differences with anyone.”
Over the years, Trump has feuded with billionaire Elon Musk, former White House adviser Steve Bannon and others, only to reconcile and bring them back into the fold. During the 2016 presidential race, Trump was referred to as then-Sen. Marco Rubio “Little Marco” Rubio is now the president's secretary of state.
The split has confused Greene voters in northwest Georgia, who voted overwhelmingly for both Trump and the congresswoman in the 2024 election. But in NBC News interview, Greene voters have shown no signs that they are ready to give up on her. Indeed, some applauded her for standing up to the president in defense of her beliefs.
“She has a lot of courage and she tells it like it is,” Debbie Dyer, 60, who works for a carpet company, said earlier this week at a shopping center in Dalton, Georgia.
Trump received no advance warning that Greene would leave Congress, an official familiar with the matter told NBC News. She also did not warn House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, according to another person with direct knowledge of the matter.
“Everyone in the world found out at the same time,” a person close to Greene told NBC News, referring to a video Greene posted Friday night announcing her departure.
Greene's resignation is expected to complicate Johnson's job given the GOP's slim majority in the House of Representatives.
She and Johnson never had a strong relationship; last year she even tried to remove him from his position as speaker. However, legislators usually give their party leaders advance notice of career plans that could have a significant impact on the progress of legislation.
The question that hovered over Greene's quarrel with the president was its ending. Has she changed her political stance to run for statewide office in Georgia or perhaps the presidency in 2028? Otherwise, why would she appear at the beginning of the month on ABC program “Vzglyad” — hardly a platform for the MAGA movement.
A person close to her denied such speculation: “She made it very clear that she was leaving politics.”
Potential successors are already eyeing her position, which will soon become vacant. Colton Moore, a Republican state senator, released a statement Saturday saying, “RINO [Republicans in name only] and the radical left got its way. It's time for real conservative patriots to take power.”
