Marjorie Taylor Greene Apologizes for Her Role in ‘Toxic Politics’

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene apologized for her role in what she described as “toxic politics” on Sunday, a reflection that comes amid a bitter feud with her longtime ally, President Donald Trump. Trump announced in a series of social media posts on Friday that he was withdrawing his support for Greene. The next day, he called her a “traitor” and a “disgrace”— a barrage which Greene said had resulted in threats to her life. When CNN’s Dana Bash challenged Greene for not speaking out when the President had directed that kind of rhetoric at others, the Congresswoman replied, “I think that’s fair criticism.” “And I would like to say, humbly, I’m sorry for taking part in the toxic politics. It’s very bad for our country,” she continued in the interview on Sunday. “It’s been something I’ve thought about a lot, especially since Charlie Kirk was assassinated. I’m only responsible for myself and my own words and actions, and I’m committed—and I’ve been working on this a lot lately—to put down the knives in politics,” she said. “I really just want to see people be kind to one another,” she added. Read more: Trump Calls Marjorie Taylor Greene a ‘Traitor’ As Feud Over Epstein Files Deepens In the same interview, Greene urged Bash to interview Nick Fuentes, an anti-Semitic commentator who has expressed support for Adolf Hitler and, in a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, lamented the outsized influence of “organized Jewry” in the United States. Greene, a MAGA stalwart and longtime supporter of the president, has earned a reputation as a provocateur and conspiracy theorist over the years. Before being elected to Congress in 2020, she suggested the September 11, 2001, attacks were a hoax, falsely claimed President Barack Obama was secretly Muslim, and accused the Clinton family of murder.  The Congresswoman also expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory movement, a set of sprawling theories centered around the idea that the world is controlled by a satanic cabal of pedophiles and cannibals, and that Trump is involved in a fight against them.  Greene’s comments come as she is embroiled in a public feud with President Trump over his refusal to release the so-called Epstein files—the broad descriptor given to the thousands of pages of documents, records, law enforcement interviews, seized hard drives and other materials resulting from investigations into the convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The Georgia Congresswoman has been urging Trump to release the files, as the president has been fiercely lobbying to prevent that same outcome. Trump announced on Friday that he was withdrawing his support for Greene and the next day called her a “traitor” and a “disgrace.” Responding to the president’s outbursts, Greene told CNN on Sunday: “Those are the types of words used that can radicalize people against me and put my life in danger.” “It has all come down to the ‘Epstein files’ and that is shocking and, you know, I stand with these women, I stand with rape victims … and survivors of trafficking … I believe the country deserves transparency in these files,” she added. The fallout comes as the House of Representatives is moving closer to a vote on a discharge petition—a procedural tactic that allows members to circumvent House leadership to bring a bill to the floor if a majority approves—on the release of the Epstein files. Currently, all House Democrats and four Republicans: Reps. Thomas Massie, Lauren Boebert, Nancy Mace and Greene have all signed the petition. The White House and House Speaker Mike Johnson have been fiercely lobbying against the release of the files. Trump has long faced questions over his relationship with Epstein, and has repeatedly denied any knowledge of his crimes. The president has long maintained that his ties to Epstein were limited to social interactions common in Palm Beach, Florida, where both men owned property in the 1990s. Epstein’s mansion sat just down the road from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, and the financier was reportedly a regular for several years at Mar-a-Lago. “Well, I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him. I mean, people in Palm Beach knew him. He was a fixture in Palm Beach,” Trump said in 2019, soon after Epstein was charged. “I had a falling out with him a long time ago. I don’t think I’ve spoken to him for 15 years. I wasn’t a fan.”