The president’s post marked a major political breakup weeks in the making – a dramatic intensification of a simmering back-and-forth between the two former allies, who grew apart as Greene criticised Trump on a number of fronts.
It spilled into a messy exchange of blows as the controversy around Epstein again took centre stage in Washington.
He added: “She has told many people that she is upset that I don’t return her phone calls anymore, but with 219 Congressmen/women, 53 U.S. Senators, 24 Cabinet Members, almost 200 Countries, and an otherwise normal life to lead, I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day.”
Greene has publicly warned in recent weeks that Trump has been too focused on foreign policy and is not doing enough to sell his domestic agenda at home – taking her message to outlets like CNN and ABC’s The View.
Greene, who arrived in Congress in 2021, has until recently been an ardent and outspoken Trump supporter.
She added on Saturday that she is facing threats against her, which she said Trump had helped fuel.
Trump defended his efforts to engage with foreign leaders and travel abroad amid Greene’s criticism, suggesting that his relationships on the world stage have benefited her district and expressing openness to endorsing a potential primary challenger.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene said, ‘Oh, gee, I’m spending too much time overseas. So let’s say I don’t meet with China. You know what’s happened right now to Georgia? To every other state?” Trump said aboard Air Force One.
He continued: “They’re not working because your magnets and your rare earths would’ve kicked in, and there wouldn’t have been a factory in the world working if I didn’t have a relationship overseas with China.”
Trump said that he is in the United States “95, 98 per cent of the time.”
“The last thing I want to do is travel 22 hours in an airplane, as nice as this plane is,” he said.
Trump warned that Greene has “changed” politically in recent weeks as the Georgia congresswoman has publicly lambasted the White House’s messaging on the government shutdown and Epstein.
“I think that her constituents aren’t going to be happy. Already, I have people calling me. They want to challenge her to a race in her district in Georgia,” Trump said.
He also said he was open to endorsing a rival GOP candidate in a primary race.
Greene is one of four House Republicans who signed on to a discharge petition to force a vote on release of Justice Department documents pertaining to the Epstein case, but CNN has reported that the number of House Republicans who could break from Trump and vote for the files’ release could be greater.
Trump has repeatedly and emphatically described calls for transparency around his ties to Epstein as a “hoax.”
But Greene’s message has also extended more broadly to target Trump’s economic policies, suggesting that the White House needs to improve its messaging on affordability issues.
Greene fired back in her social media post with a pair of screenshots of text messages that appeared to be sent to Trump and his aide Natalie Harp.
Most Americans, she wrote, “wish he would fight this hard to help the forgotten men and women of America who are fed up with foreign wars and foreign causes, are going broke trying to feed their families, and are losing hope of ever achieving the American dream.”
In a message to a contact in her phone labelled “DJT,” Greene encouraged Trump to “lean into” Epstein’s ties to other high-profile figures and what she described as the “deep state.”
In a separate message to Harp, she voiced her support for Trump but said the White House must “stop ignoring the women. … Them being raped as teenagers is not a hoax.”
