Former MAGA congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene left CNN’s Kaitlan Collins visibly stunned Wednesday after she leveled a shocking accusation against the president.
The Georgia Republican was previously a loyal MAGA foot soldier, regarded as one of Donald Trump’s most reliable allies in Congress.
She promoted his “Make America Great Again” agenda, defended him during both of his presidential campaigns, amplified his claims that the 2020 election was stolen, and worked closely with pro-Trump lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Trump himself repeatedly praised Greene, endorsed her congressional campaigns, and at one point called her a “future Republican star.”
But their alliance began to fracture after Trump returned to the White House for his second term.
A longtime advocate for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, Greene had echoed calls from across the MAGA movement for full transparency in the case of the late pedophile. Trump himself helped fuel those expectations during the 2024 campaign, signaling he would support further disclosures if elected.
But when the administration later concluded that no additional Epstein files would be released, many Trump supporters accused it of abandoning a key campaign promise. Greene emerged as one of the loudest Republican critics, warning there could be “no going back” on commitments made to the MAGA base.
The standoff culminated when Greene and three other Republicans joined Democrats in backing a discharge petition that forced a House vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, breaking with party leadership and helping push the measure over the threshold needed to advance.
Facing mounting pressure, Trump eventually endorsed releasing the files, telling House Republicans they should support publication because they had “nothing to hide.” With the president’s backing, Republican resistance quickly collapsed. The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and was signed into law, requiring the Justice Department to release its remaining Epstein-related records within 30 days.
More than 3 million documents have since been made public.
But it came at the cost of Trump’s support for Greene, with the president coining a new nickname for her: “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Brown,” and threatening a primary challenge against her.
But on Wednesday, Greene, 52, told CNN that she thinks the president is the one who should be considered a “traitor.”
“They should be considered traitors,” Greene said of the people who did not back releasing the Epstein files. “They’re traitors. The ones that refuse to release the Epstein files want to cover up for pedophiles and rapists, and all sorts of disgusting things in these files. Those are the traitors to the American people, and they should be ashamed of themselves.”
Collins then asked Greene if her remarks apply to the president.
Greene responded: “I’m saying exactly that,” adding: “He told me on the phone that his friends would get hurt, and that’s why he’s against releasing the Epstein files.”
The former congresswoman’s remarks appeared to shock Collins, who said: “It’s pretty remarkable to hear you say that you think the president is a traitor.”
“What is remarkable to me is that this administration, people that we voted for demanding transparency, the man that campaigned all over the country claiming that he would be the one to drain the swamp, is the very man that fought to keep the Epstein files from being released,” Greene replied. “Then he, in turn, called me the traitor.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Greene’s feud with the president eventually saw her resign from Congress.
She previously said during a speech at the Ron Paul Institute in Texas in May that she got death threats after Trump called her a traitor.
Greene said she reached out to the president about the threats. She said the president replied by telling her “that it was my fault and I deserve it. If my son gets killed, I deserve it because I was a traitor to him.”
In April 2026, Greene called for Trump’s removal from office under the 25th Amendment, while also urging that the Republican Party be “burned to the ground.”
