A phone call with President Donald Trump is at the center of an explosive claim made by former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who told CNN on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, that the president personally explained to her why he opposed releasing Jeffrey Epstein files: his friends could be implicated.
The Georgia Republican, who once championed Trump’s Make America Great Again agenda and earned his praise as a “future Republican star,” now says the man she spent years defending is a “traitor” who fought to protect pedophiles and rapists by keeping the records buried.
During her appearance with anchor Kaitlan Collins, Greene, 52, was asked whether lawmakers who opposed releasing the Epstein files should be considered “traitors” who “want to cover up for pedophiles and rapists.” When Collins pressed whether that included Trump himself, Greene didn’t hesitate. “I’m saying exactly that,” she said, adding that the president had told her on the phone that his friends would get hurt if the files came out.
Collins, visibly taken aback, told Greene it was “pretty remarkable” to hear her accuse a sitting president of being a traitor. Greene responded that what was truly remarkable was that the man who promised to drain the swamp had fought to keep the Epstein files buried — then turned around and called her the traitor.
The White House Hits Back
The administration wasted no time firing back. White House spokesman Davis Ingle dismissed Greene as “a quitter who is pathetically trying to stay relevant by going on liberal media shows to bash President Trump,” adding that “Trump Derangement Syndrome has rotted former Congresswoman Greene’s peanut-sized brain.”
The bitter exchange caps what Greene herself described as the most dramatic rupture yet between the longtime MAGA loyalist and the man she once worked in lockstep with on Capitol Hill.
A Slow-Building Break Over Epstein
For years, Greene was regarded as one of Trump’s most reliable allies. She championed his agenda, defended him through both presidential campaigns, amplified his claims that the 2020 election had been stolen, and worked closely with pro-Trump lawmakers. Trump, in turn, repeatedly praised her and endorsed her congressional campaigns.
But the alliance began to fracture after Trump returned to the White House for his second term in January 2025. Greene, a longtime advocate for full transparency on the Epstein case, had echoed calls from across the MAGA movement to release the files on the late pedophile. Trump fueled those expectations during the 2024 campaign, signaling he would back further disclosures if elected.
When the administration later concluded that no additional Epstein files would be released, many of Trump’s supporters accused him of abandoning a core campaign promise. Greene became one of the loudest Republican critics, warning that there could be “no going back” on commitments made to the base.
The standoff peaked in 2025, when Greene and three other Republicans joined Democrats in backing a discharge petition that forced a House vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The four Republicans broke with party leadership and pushed the measure over the threshold needed to advance. Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna joined Greene at a press conference ahead of the vote.
Cornered by the momentum, Trump endorsed releasing the records, telling House Republicans they should support publication because they had “nothing to hide.” GOP resistance collapsed almost overnight. 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 three million documents have since been made public.
From “Future Star” to “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Brown”
The political cost for Greene was immediate. Trump stripped her of his support, coined a new nickname for her — “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Brown” — and threatened a primary challenge. Greene said the fallout brought a wave of death threats from Trump supporters.
On November 21, 2025, Greene announced she was resigning from Congress in early January 2026, ending five turbulent years in the House. In a December 9, 2025, interview with PBS anchor Amna Nawaz from her Capitol Hill office, Greene confirmed she had also broken with Trump on extending expiring health care subsidies, siding with Democrats on cost-of-living concerns during the government shutdown.
“Affordability or the lack of ability of Americans to afford the cost of living is not a Democrat hoax,” Greene told Nawaz, pushing back on Trump’s framing of the issue.
In April 2026, Greene called for Trump’s removal from office under the 25th Amendment.
Survivors and a Potential List
Greene also told Collins that she had met with Epstein survivors several times. According to Greene, the survivors told her Trump had “done nothing wrong,” and their attorney said the president was the only one who had helped them years earlier with civil lawsuits and prosecutions tied to Epstein. The survivors have compiled a list of perpetrators but have not handed it to Greene; she said she would be willing to read the names on the House floor before leaving office if they provided it.
