Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) said she was taken aback by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) announcement that she plans to resign, calling the decision abrupt given Greene’s recent break with President Trump.
“Honestly, I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’” Crockett told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. Crockett argued that Greene appeared unwilling to withstand political backlash after distancing herself from the president. “You’re on the other side of the president for one week, and you can’t take the heat,” she said.
Greene said Friday that she will leave Congress in January, pointing to a deteriorating relationship with Trump as the central reason. The split widened earlier this month after Trump pulled his endorsement of Greene following disagreements tied to the Jeffrey Epstein files.
In recent months, Greene has also publicly diverged from Trump and her party on several major issues. She criticized the president’s authorization of strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June, broke with GOP colleagues by describing Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide” in July, and condemned Republicans’ approach during the 43-day government shutdown.
In a lengthy statement explaining her decision, Greene said she wanted to avoid a bruising primary fight backed by Trump.
“I have too much self respect and dignity, love my family way too much, and do not want my sweet district to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the President we all fought for, only to fight and win my election while Republicans will likely lose the midterms,” Greene said.
The two lawmakers have a history of sharp exchanges. During a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in May 2024, Greene mocked Crockett by saying her “fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.” Crockett fired back without naming Greene, referring to “somebody’s bleach blonde, bad-built, butch body.”
On Sunday, Crockett described Greene as a frequent spark for divisive rhetoric during her time in Congress, suggesting Greene may not have appreciated the broader consequences of her approach.
“It’s just interesting that I don’t know if she really fully understood how bad she was making it for other people,” Crockett said.
Greene, for her part, struck a more reflective tone last week, acknowledging her role in what she called the country’s “toxic politics.”
“I am committed, I’ve been working on this a lot lately, to put down the knives in politics. I really just want to see people be kind to one another,” Greene told Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
