WASHINGTON — Marjorie Taylor Greene made her support for releasing the Jeffrey Epstein sex abuse files known long before she became a member of Congress.

“Despite what the Fake News Media says, this isn’t a conspiracy theory,” she wrote in July 2020 Facebook post about the case. “I will do everything under my power to bring down any and ALL pedophiles no matter who they are.”

After Greene, R-Ga., was elected later that year, she continued to push for public access to the Epstein files. She had a powerful ally: President Donald Trump, who did not win reelection in 2020 but remained a leading political figure.

But when Trump returned to the White House in 2025, more details emerged about his onetime friendship with Epstein. Trump also shifted, calling the effort to release the files a “Democratic hoax.”

Many Republicans, particularly those in Congress, followed his lead. But Greene stood firm, saying said she had made a promise to voters.

‘Traitor’

It was the final straw for Trump, who publicly withdrew his support for Greene calling her “wacky” and a “lunatic.”

“He called me a traitor for standing with these women and refusing to take my name off the discharge petition,” she said during a news conference shortly before the vote this week to release the Department of Justice files.

“Let me tell you what a traitor is. A traitor is an American that serves foreign countries and themselves. A patriot is an American that serves the United States of America, and Americans like the women standing behind me.”

The split has led some to ask the question: What is going on with Greene?

But while Greene’s tone and tactics may have changed — she recently apologized for her role in “toxic politics” and appeared on shows hosted by former critics — a review of her record shows she has been ideologically consistent in ways Trump is not.

The push to disclose the Epstein files is perhaps the most recent and clearest example of the Trump-Greene split. But the pattern has repeated itself on multiple fronts.

‘America Only’

Since taking office, Trump has yet to make good on certain campaign promises, causing confusion with some Republican voters who expected him to uphold his “America First” platform. In recent weeks, Greene, who now calls her approach “America First, America Only,” has begun highlighting those inconsistencies.

Greene voted against cryptocurrency legislation backed by Trump, saying it gave the federal government too much power over states to regulate the industry. The Republican Party’s platform has often centered around reducing the federal bureaucracy and protecting states’ rights.

She has criticized Trump for cozying up to leaders of foreign governments, particularly Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he is spending time and money helping allies that could be put to better use addressing the domestic issues he campaigned on.

And while Trump and other GOP leaders have resisted Democrats’ push to extend Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies that expire at the end of the year, Greene was a rare conservative voice saying the opposition had seized the upper hand on the issue. Greene said she still doesn’t like Obamacare but that Republicans have failed to put forward an alternative that would prevent health insurance premiums from skyrocketing.

“The Democrats passed Obamacare, but yet the Republicans have never done anything to correct the problems that exist with it, and I blame my own party,” Greene told HBO’s Bill Maher during a recent appearance on his show.

“That’s absolutely wrong, and I don’t think it’s an easy thing to fix. However, it’s something that we should have a plan for.”

So far, Republican leaders in Georgia have avoided choosing sides in the split, saying they support both Greene and Trump. And Greene has refrained from making the similar personal attacks to Trump as he did to her, creating a lane for reconciliation in the future.

But their current split highlights the delicate balance conservative members of Congress must strike when they have a base who wants ideological consistency and a president who demands loyalty even as he shifts on the issues.

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who led the effort to release the Epstein files and has repeatedly voted in ways that drew Trump’s criticism, said his relationship with the president ebbs and flows. Meanwhile, he says, voters respect that he doesn’t change with the tides.

“My constituents say, ‘You know what? I only agree with that guy, like 80 or 90% of the time,’” Massie said earlier this year. “But I know he’s not sold out, so I’m voting for him.”

Greene and Massie were originally outliers, two of just four Republicans who signed onto the discharge petition alongside Democrats to force the vote on the Epstein files. But once the petition was successful, it became clear that other Republicans, perhaps dozens, were also poised to similarly defy Trump by voting in favor of the bill.

Trump then had yet another change of heart, posting on social media that he wanted Republicans to support releasing the Epstein files after all.

“Let’s start talking about the Republican Party’s Record Setting Achievements, and not fall into the Epstein ‘TRAP,’ which is actually a curse on the Democrats, not us,” he wrote on his Truth Social account.

The bill passed with all but one Republican in favor in the House and then by voice vote in the Senate. Trump signed into law Wednesday night.

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