Former MAGA loyalist and Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene is making waves again, this time by claiming President Donald Trump personally tried to stop her from pushing for the release of the Department of Justice files tied to Jeffrey Epstein.
Greene made the explosive allegation while appearing on fitness instructor and conservative commentator Jillian Michaels’ “Keeping It Real” podcast over the weekend. She said she and three other Republicans faced heavy pressure from the White House for months after signing a discharge petition meant to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files, even though Trump was reportedly opposed to it.
“Here’s the interesting part. OK, there were only four Republicans, only four of us that signed that discharge petition: Thomas Massie [R-Ky.], myself, Lauren Boebert [R-Colo.], and Nancy Mace [R-S.C.]. Now, what was happening in the background for months leading up to when we finally got it released was that we were under pressure from the White House and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to remove their names, she said during the Feb. 15 episode.
Greene said she could not understand why anyone would want them to back off, especially since she framed the release as a major transparency issue.
“We’re like, ‘Why? We’re talking about the Epstein files.’ This is the ultimate promise. This is the ultimate way to provide transparency,” she continued. “This is the ultimate way to take it to the deep state and expose a whole criminal cabal of rich, powerful elites that I believe control everything. And guess what? Come to find out, they do.”
“They do,” Michaels then chimed in. Greene went on to claim Trump dismissed the entire controversy, despite the fact that the topic continues to draw intense public attention.
“So in the meantime, President Trump is calling it… the whole thing a hoax. He’s calling it a Democrat hoax,” Greene continued. “He won’t have anything to do with the women. He still refuses to have anything to do with these women. So this whole thing is building.”
She also described what she says was direct pressure on the other lawmakers who signed the petition. “The White House is putting pressure on Nancy Mace. They take Lauren Boebert into a [Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility]. I don’t even know what they said to her in there.
They are attacking Thomas Massie, nonstop attacking Thomas Massie,” she added. Greene then claimed Trump personally called her in September and unleashed his anger.
“And then, one day, I get a phone call from the president in September, and he is so mad at me, and he’s yelling at me, and he’s angry at me,” she said. “And he’s like, ‘You’re supporting Rand Paul Jr.’ [a reference to Massie]. And he’s chewing me out for signing my name on Thomas Massie’s discharge petition to release the Epstein files.”
She said she argued back and insisted the information should come out. “And I’m trying to tell him, ‘Mr. President, they say you did nothing wrong. This needs to come out.’ And so we’re having this argument. And he tells me on this phone call, he’s like, ‘Marjorie, my friends will get hurt.’”
“That’s it. That’s it,” Michaels interjected. Greene later added, “Every single person is on this fricking list,” she later added. “They’re all there. Every billionaire, heads of state, Larry Summers, Peter Thiel. They’re all in there.” The White House did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment on Greene’s remarks.
In late December, a week before Greene was set to resign from Congress after her explosive public break with Trump, she recalled to The New York Times that Trump had yelled so loud at her during the call that he could be heard on speakerphone by everyone in her office. The Times also reported that, at the time, the phone call between the two was their “last conversation.”
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