Who is Marjorie Taylor Greene? The Trump ally known for embracing conspiracies and insulting journalists
Hard-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene has become 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 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”.
She is a staunch ally of Donald Trump, whose political style she emulates.
Donald Trump greets Marjorie Taylor Greene after addressing a joint session of Congress. 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.
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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.
Telling Sky News reporter to ‘go back to your own country’
Ms Taylor Greene snapped at Sky News’ US correspondent Martha Kelner after she was asked about the group chat that The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief was mistakenly added to, where top US officials discussed war plans in Yemen.
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.
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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.”
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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”.
Lord Cameron laughed her comments off during a speech at the Munich Security Conference, in which he said he had met Ms Taylor Greene.
“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”.
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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
It is much more than a battle over vaccines in the United States.
It has become a proxy war about trust, freedom, and the role of government in public health.
The debate about childhood immunisations, once a matter of bipartisan consensus, is now a defining clash between federal government, state leadership and the medical community.
At the centre of it is the federal government’s sharp policy shift under US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
He has rolled back vaccine recommendations and reshaped advisory committees with sceptics.
States have responded along ideological lines – Florida planning to abolish all vaccine mandates; California, Oregon, and Washington forming a “Health Alliance” to safeguard them.
The western states felt they had to act when the head of the agency tasked with disease prevention was sacked.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr appears before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday. Pic: AP
Senator Elizabeth Warren speaks at the hearing. Pic: AP
‘You’re putting Americans’ health at risk’
Susan Monarez had only been in the job for a month when Donald Trump told her she was no longer required.
“She didn’t bend the knee, so you fired her,” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren told Mr Kennedy during a heated committee hearing on Capitol Hill.
“You’re putting American babies’ health at risk, American seniors’ health at risk, all Americans’ health at risk, and you should resign,” she added.
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock described the health secretary as “a hazard to the health of the American people.”
“For the first time, we’re seeing deaths of children from measles. We haven’t seen that in two decades. We’re seeing that under your watch,” he said.
Mr Kennedy told the hearing America had done “worse than any country in the world” in terms of COVID deaths.
“…the people at CDC who oversaw the process, who put masks on our children, who closed our schools, are the people who will be leaving,” he said.
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Several senior figures at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have resigned since Susan Monarez was removed.
The turmoil in public health has led to a fragmented system where Americans’ access to vaccines and the rules governing them, largely depend on where they live.
Likening vaccine mandates to “slavery”, Florida’s surgeon general Joseph Ladapo said the government had no right to dictate them.
“Your body is a gift from God. What you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and your God,” he said.
It is a tug of war between collective responsibility or individual choice and one that will redefine public health in this nation.
Donald Trump is to rebrand the US Department of Defense as the “Department of War”, according to the White House.
The president will today sign an executive order allowing it to be used as a secondary title for the US government’s biggest organisation.
It also means defence secretary Pete Hegseth will be able to refer to himself as the “secretary of war” in official communications and ceremonies.
Mr Hegseth could refer to himself as ‘secretary of war’ under the change. Pic: Reuters
Mr Hegseth posted the words “DEPARTMENT OF WAR” on X on Thursday night.
Permanently renaming the department would need congressional approval, but the White House said the executive order will instruct Mr Hegseth to begin the process.
The Department of Defense – often referred to colloquially as the Pentagon due to the shape of its Washington HQ – was called the War Department until 1949.
Historians say the name was changed to show the US was focussed on preventing conflict following the Second World War and the dawning of the nuclear age.
Mr Trump raised the possibility of a change in June, when he suggested it was originally renamed to be “politically correct”.
The department is often just referred to as the Pentagon. Pic: Reuters
His reversion to the more combative title could cost tens of millions, with letterheads and building signs in the US and at military bases around the world potentially needing a refresh.
Joe Biden’s effort to rename nine army bases honouring the Confederacy and Confederate leaders, set to cost $39m (£29m), was reversed by Mr Hegseth earlier this year.
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Opponents have already criticised Mr Trump’s move.
“Why not put this money toward supporting military families or toward employing diplomats that help prevent conflicts from starting in the first place?” said Democratic senator Tammy Duckworth, a member of the armed services committee.
Mr Trump’s other federal renaming orders include controversially labelling the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf Of America” and reverting North America’s tallest mountain, Denali in Alaska, to its former name of Mount McKinley.
The Mexican government and Alaska’s Republican senators both rejected the changes.
For so long, the Epstein story has cast them in a cameo role.
Everyday coverage of the scandal churns through the politics and process of it all, reducing their suffering to a passing reference.
Not anymore.
Not on a morning when they gathered on Capitol Hill, survivors of Epstein‘s abuse, strengthened by shared experience and a resolve to address it.
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Epstein survivors call for release of all files
In a news conference that lasted over an hour, they brought an authenticity that only they could.
There was vivid recollection of the abuse they endured and a certainty in the justice they seek.
They had the safety of each other – adults now, with the horrors of youth at a distance, though never far away.
It was an emotional gathering on Capitol Hill, attended by survivors, politicians and several hundred members of the public who turned up in support.
Banners read “Release the files”, “Listen to the victims” and “Even your MAGA base demands Epstein files”.
Haley Robson was one of several Epstein survivors who spoke. Pic: AP
A startling spectacle
That last statement isn’t lost on Donald Trump. As if for emphasis, one of the speakers was the ultra-loyal House representative Marjorie Taylor Greene – they don’t make them more MAGA.
In a spectacle, startling to politics-watchers in this town, she stood side by side with Democrat congressmen to demand the Epstein files be released.
It reflects a discontent spread through Donald Trump’s support base.
He is the man who once counted Jeffrey Epstein as a friend and who has said he’d release the files, only to reverse course.
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Trump’s vulnerability
The Epstein files is the slow-burner that won’t go out, a story that exposes Trump’s vulnerability.
Just how vulnerable can be measured on Congress, where politicians need only a couple of Republicans to back legislation demanding full publication.
It bears the shape of a loyalty test to the president and the dynamics of that have changed with the survivors stepping forward.
One by one, they presented a thunderous reminder of the people and the moral imperative at the heart of the Jeffrey Epstein saga.
It’s political, sure, but it’s about much more – that, we saw on Capitol Hill.
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