Hard-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene is one of the most aggressive spokespeople for the “Make America Great Again” movement.
The representative from Georgia has become infamous for her combative encounters with journalists and fellow politicians – including Donald Trump – and her susceptibility to conspiracy theories.
Here’s a look at how she rose to prominence and some of her most controversial moments.
Who is Marjorie Taylor Greene?
Ms Taylor Greene is, according to her bio on X: “Congresswoman for GA-14, Christian, mom, small business owner.”
She was elected to Congress in 2020 and quickly became a powerful – and vocal – player in the Republican Party.
Often known by her initials MTG, she also proclaims herself to be a “proud American, 100% pro-life, pro-gun, pro-Trump”.
Image: Donald Trump greets Marjorie Taylor Greene after addressing a joint session of Congress in March. Pic: AP
She has downplayed and justified the 6 January Capitol insurrection, claiming the rioters would have “won” and “been armed” if she had organised it.
After the White House called her comments “dangerous, abhorrent”, Ms Taylor Greene said she had been joking.
In 2021, she was stripped of her committee assignments by House of Representatives managers over racist comments, her embracing of conspiracy theories and her past endorsement of violence against Democratic officials.
She was widely denounced for comparing COVID-19 masks and vaccinations to the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust.
On social media, she had made posts advocating violence against Democrat opponents and casting doubt on the 9/11 terror attacks and the school mass shootings at Parkland and Sandy Hook.
And she had voiced loud backing for QAnon, the popular conspiracy that the Trump administration was waging a secret fight against an evil global cabal including a Democrat paedophile ring.
Before being kicked off committees, Ms Taylor Greene stated her case on the House floor, employing a mixture of back-pedalling and finger-pointing while wearing a dark mask emblazoned with the words “Free Speech”.
She told House members her support for QAnon was “words of the past” and that she no longer believes in it, but did not explicitly apologise for other controversial remarks.
Calling Trump ‘America Last’ and fighting over Epstein
In recent months however, Ms Taylor Greene had a new target for criticism – the president, and what she called his “America Last” foreign policy.
Among her points of contention were Mr Trump supporting Israel through attacks on Iranand on what she called a genocide in Gaza, providing $20bn to Argentinaunder its libertarian president Javier Milei, and working to support Ukraine’sleader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The president then accused her of “catering to the other side”, before a row exploded between him and the MAGA loyalist over the release of files relating to disgraced pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
3:55
Trump rebukes MAGA ally over foreign policy
Mr Trump said on Truth Social that he withdrew support for the MAGA Republican, saying that “all I see “Wacky” Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN” before claiming her attacks were based on him telling her not to run for Senate and Governor in her state.
He added: “I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day… I understand that wonderful, Conservative people are thinking about primarying Marjorie… if the right person runs, they will have my Complete and Unyielding Support.”
In response, Ms Taylor Greene posted text messages on X to the president and aide defending her decision to call for the release of the Epstein files.
She also said: “Of course he’s coming after me hard to make an example to scare all the other Republicans before next weeks vote to release the Epstein files.
“It’s astonishing really how hard he’s fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level.
“But really most Americans wish he would fight this hard to help the forgotten men and women of America… That’s what I voted for.”
She later said “maybe it was my bill to get rid of the H1B visas”, referring to her proposal to ban foreign workers from the US – which Mr Trump has spoken against.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
13:31
The new Epstein files: The key takeaways
Telling Sky News reporter to ‘go back to your own country’
Asked by Kelner if she had seen the latest information on the leak, Ms Taylor Greene said she wasn’t willing to discuss The Atlantic.
Asked if she believed the information shared on the chat was classified, she said the Trump administration had said it “was not” and added: “I think this is a continuance of someone like you [Kelner] to try to push an issue that isn’t even relevant.”
Before Kelner could ask her next question, the politician interjected: “Wait, what country are you from?”
When Kelner said the UK, she responded: “Ok well we don’t give a crap about your opinion, or your reporting. Why don’t you go back to your country where you have a major migrant problem.”
You can watch the full exchange below, and see Kelner’s thoughts here.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:45
Sky reporter told ‘go back to your own country’
David Cameron ‘can kiss my ass’
Ms Taylor Greene made comments aimed at former prime minister David Cameron that truly “put her on the map” in the UK.
They came in February 2024, after the then-foreign secretary wrote an article calling for the US to commit to funding for Ukraine and drew comparisons between the West’s treatment of Hitler and Putin.
Many Republicans – including Ms Taylor Greene – were against upping the US’s Ukraine funding.
Asked about his comments, Ms Taylor Greene told Sky News: “David Cameron needs to worry about his own country and, frankly, he can kiss my ass.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:40
David Cameron ‘can kiss my a**’
She suggested that comparing a refusal to vote through the funding with appeasement of Hitler in the 1930s was “rude name-calling and I don’t appreciate that type of language”.
In a post on X later, she said the remarks would not “bully me into funding the war in Ukraine”.
“We met,” he told the audience in Germany. “I went to the Republican study group lunch, talking about exactly this issue.”
“We didn’t get anatomical at that stage, it was very early in our relationship,” he joked.
‘Why don’t you f*** off, how about that?’
Kelner wasn’t the first British reporter Ms Taylor Greene took issue with.
In March 2024, she ended a conversation with Emily Maitlis by responding: “Really why don’t you f*** off, how about that?”
In a video clip posted to podcast The News Agents’ social media channels, Maitlis started the line of questioning by asking Ms Taylor Greene why “so many people that support Donald Trump love conspiracy theories, including yourself?”
She added that he “seems to attract lots of conspiracy theorists”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:34
Tells reporter to ‘f*** off’
Ms Taylor Greene replied: “Well let me tell you, you’re a conspiracy theorist and the left and the media spreads more conspiracy theories.
“We like the truth, we like supporting our constitution, our freedoms and America first, so…”
As Ms Taylor Greene started to walk away, Maitlis asked: “What about Jewish space lasers? Tell us about Jewish space lasers” – a reference to a conspiracy theory the politician had peddled.
The Republican right-winger replied: “Why don’t you go talk about Jewish space lasers, and really why don’t you f*** off, how about that?”
The other half of ‘MAGA America’s favourite couple’
Ms Taylor Greene is in a relationship with Brian Glenn, who is the host of Real America’s Voice.
Mr Glenn referred to himself as the other half of “MAGA America’s favourite couple” in an interview with Politico.
He is chief White House correspondent for the right-wing streaming channel, which grants him access to the White House press pool.
Real America’s Voice has supported numerous conspiracy theories in the past and helps distribute former Trump adviser Stephen K Bannon’s War Room podcast, after he was barred from YouTube, Spotify and other mainstream platforms.
Before joining Real America’s Voice, Mr Glenn was programme director of the Right Wing Broadcasting Network – a media company founded by Joe Seales in 2015
Donald Trump has said he will sue the BBC for between $1bn and $5bn over the editing of his speech on Panorama.
The US president confirmed he would be taking legal action against the broadcaster while on Air Force One overnight on Saturday.
“We’ll sue them. We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion (£792m) and five billion dollars (£3.79bn), probably sometime next week,” he told reporters.
“We have to do it, they’ve even admitted that they cheated. Not that they couldn’t have not done that. They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”
Mr Trump then told reporters he would discuss the matter with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the weekend, and claimed “the people of the UK are very angry about what happened… because it shows the BBC is fake news”.
Separately, Mr Trump told GB News: “I’m not looking to get into lawsuits, but I think I have an obligation to do it.
“This was so egregious. If you don’t do it, you don’t stop it from happening again with other people.”
More on Bbc
Related Topics:
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
11:02
BBC crisis: How did it happen?
The Daily Telegraph reported earlier this month that an internal memo raised concerns about the BBC’s editing of a speech made by Mr Trump on 6 January 2021, just before a mob rioted at the US Capitol building, on the news programme.
The concerns regard clips spliced together from sections of the president’s speech to make it appear he told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell” in the documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which was broadcast by the BBC the week before last year’s US election.
Following a backlash, both BBC director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness resigned from their roles.
‘No basis for defamation claim’
On Thursday, the broadcaster officially apologised to the president and added that it was an “error of judgement” and the programme will “not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms”.
A spokesperson said that “the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited,” but they also added that “we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim”.
Earlier this week, Mr Trump’s lawyers threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn unless it apologised, retracted the clip, and compensated him.
Image: The US president said he would sue the broadcaster for between $1bn and $5bn. File pic: PA
Legal challenges
But legal experts have said that Mr Trump would face challenges taking the case to court in the UK or the US.
The deadline to bring the case to UK courts, where defamation damages rarely exceed £100,000 ($132,000), has already expired because the documentary aired in October 2024, which is more than one year.
Also because the documentary was not shown in the US, it would be hard to show that Americans thought less of the president because of a programme they could not watch.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:05
Sky’s Katie Spencer on what BBC bosses told staff on call over Trump row
Newsnight allegations
The BBC has said it was looking into fresh allegations, published in The Telegraph, that its Newsnight show also selectively edited footage of the same speech in a report broadcast in June 2022.
A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC holds itself to the highest editorial standards. This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now looking into it.”
Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has said she is ready to mend relations with Donald Trump after a high-profile row between the pair.
The former MAGA ally had said the US president was “coming after me hard” to prevent her efforts to release more files about Jeffrey Epstein.
But writing on X on Sunday, she said forgiveness was a “major part” of her Christian faith.
“I’m here to show how it’s possible to settle our differences and move forward as Americans,” she wrote. “That’s why I’m always willing to go on shows with different viewpoints.
“I truly believe in forgiveness and I am open to moving forward with the President.”
She said she’d received warnings about her safety and that “a hotbed of threats” were “being fuelled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world”.
More on Donald Trump
Related Topics:
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:54
‘MAGA meltdown going on because of Epstein’
“As a woman, I take threats from men seriously,” Ms Greene added.
“I now have a small understanding of the fear and pressure the women, who are victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his cabal, must feel.”
The congresswoman said Mr Trump’s “aggression against me” – considering she was a staunch supporter of his policies – was “completely shocking to everyone”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The fight began when a petition to vote on the full release of the Epstein files received enough signatures – including Ms Greene’s – to bring it to a vote in the House of Representatives.
Mr Trump rescinded his support for Ms Greene, dubbed her a “RINO” (Republican In Name Only), and suggested he could support a challenge against her.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
3:05
March 2025: Greene clashes with Sky correspondent
Ms Greene claimed text messages she sent to the president about the Epstein files had “sent him over the edge”.
She wrote on social media: “Of course he’s coming after me hard to make an example to scare all the other Republicans before next week’s vote to release the Epstein files.”
High-profile figures, including Mr Trump, have been referenced in some of the documents.
The White House has said the “selectively leaked emails” were an attempt to “create a fake narrative to smear President Trump”, who has consistently denied any involvement or knowledge about Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.
Mr Trump has called the Epstein files a “hoax” created by the Democrats to “deflect” from the US government shutdown.
They say power is measured by the battles you choose to fight. This week Donald Trump chose two.
One was an international clash with the BBC, the other, a messy family drama in his own backyard.
His lawyers had threatened to sue the BBC for manipulating a speech he gave on 6 January 2021, by editing two different parts together to imply he incited violence.
The corporation apologised but when it refused to meet his $1bn demand for compensation, he upped it to “between $1bn and $5bn”.
Donald Trump has won out-of-court settlements from two US networks, but legal analysts are sceptical about his chances of a courtroom victory.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
11:02
BBC crisis: How did it happen?
In the UK, the deadline for defamation claims has passed, and in Florida, he will have to prove enough people saw it to cause him reputational harm.
More from US
The BBC is protected by the First Amendment of the US constitution, and it is notoriously difficult to demonstrate malicious intent against a public figure.
But for Trump, this may be less about winning a case and more about the optics – reinforcing his claims of “fake news”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
16:23
Will new Epstein emails hurt Trump?
On the other front is Marjorie Taylor Greene, once the most loyal of allies, even touted as a potential running mate.
He publicly withdrew his endorsement of her on Truth Social, branding her “wacky Marjorie” and “a ranting lunatic”.