Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says her push to release Jeffrey Epstein-related records caused a rupture with Donald Trump, who she claims warned her, 'My friends will get hurt,' during a heated phone call. Greene had met with Epstein survivors and threatened to identify alleged abusers, prompting the president's angry response, she says. She later backed a discharge petition to force the files' release while the Justice Department works to publish documents it missed by a December 19 deadline.
Greene: 'My Friends Will Get Hurt' — Trump Allegedly Warned Her Over Epstein Files
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty
In a new profile published by The New York Times, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says her push to make Jeffrey Epstein-related records public led to a sharp falling out with former President Donald Trump. Greene, once a staunch Trump ally and now a vocal critic, shared new details about a confrontation she says arose after a closed-door meeting with Epstein survivors.
Rep. Greene said Trump told her
What Greene Says Happened
Greene says she met with Epstein survivors during a closed-door congressional hearing in September. After that meeting, she told colleagues she intended to identify some of the men who allegedly abused the victims. According to Greene, that threat prompted an angry phone call from Trump, which she took on speakerphone.
Trump and Epstein had long been known associates before an alleged falling out. / Davidoff Studios Photography / Getty Images
'My friends will get hurt,' Greene says Trump told her during the call. A staffer told reporters the president's voice was loud enough that people in the suite could hear him.
Greene also told The Times she urged Trump to invite some Epstein survivors to the Oval Office; she says he replied that the women had done nothing to 'merit the honor.' Greene says that exchange was the last time they spoke and that she ultimately supported a discharge petition to force the public release of the records, openly defying Republican leadership.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene joined Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomass Massie to back the discharge petition to force the release of the Epstein files despite White House and GOP congressional leadership pushback. / Heather Diehl/Getty Images
Broader Context
Greene described the handling of Epstein's case and apparent efforts to conceal wrongdoing as 'everything wrong with Washington' — a system of powerful people protecting one another while victims suffer. The Justice Department missed a December 19 deadline to release all files but has released large batches of documents since then. Officials have also said they discovered upwards of a million additional documents at the Manhattan federal prosecutor's office.
Trump has publicly criticized the investigation on social media, calling it a 'Democrat inspired Hoax.' During the 2024 campaign he at times suggested he might make Epstein-related files public, but Greene says he reversed course after returning to office. Looking back, she told The Times she did not fully grasp his reluctance at the time.
Note: The allegations and quotations about the phone call and the claim that Trump said 'My friends will get hurt' are reported as Rep. Greene's account in The New York Times profile.
