Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on CNN’s “The Situation Room” said President Trump’s threat to “wipe out” Iran shows “serious instability,” arguing officials should consider using the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. Greene told CNN hosts Pamela Brown and Wolf Blitzer that Congressional Republicans are staying silent out of fear of political retaliation.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Happening now: Only a handful of vessels have made their way through the Strait of Hormuz since the cease-fire with Iran began. The reopening of the critical waterway was a condition of that deal. And the Middle East remains tense amid this fragile temporary truce, even after President Trump backed down from his threat to eliminate a — quote — “whole civilization” in Iran. WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And joining us now to discuss what’s going on, the former Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Congresswoman, thanks so much for joining us. I know you recently called for the president to be removed from office under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution after that threat that he made about destroying the whole civilization of Iran. The president has a long history of shocking and unprecedented social media posts. Why was this the final straw for you? FMR. REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Because it’s absolute madness. How can any person that is mentally stable call for an entire civilization of people to be murdered, to be wiped out, to never come back again? That’s what the president called for. And that shows that there’s serious instability in his thinking that he would — not only would he even say that in a private room perhaps with his advisers, but actually go to his megaphone, his TRUTH Social, and post that for the entire country and the entire world. And I’m — this is — it’s unreal. This should never be tolerated. I know that’s a — it’s a very difficult, hard stretch to see it actually coming through, but the conversation needs to be had. And he’s out of control. And people within the administration need to step up, take responsibility, and Reiner this in. BROWN: And administration officials, as we’ve heard, have said that he was ready to follow through with this threat. Just hours after he made it, he announced this two week cease-fire that’s still very tenuous at the moment. The White House is claiming it was the president’s tough rhetoric that brought Iran to its knees. What do you say to that? GREENE: I’m sorry, that’s not tough rhetoric. It’s insanity. It’s calling for the murder of an entire civilization of men, women, children, of innocent civilians. That is not what I would call proper or even decent negotiations. There should be negotiations happening. And they did happen. And J.D. Vance, the vice president, was the one that helped bring that cease- fire. It doesn’t seem to be much of a cease-fire, but it is supposedly a cease-fire. And that happened through negotiations through J.D. Vance. And J.D. Vance did not go to his social media and threatened to murder every single man, woman, and child in Iran. Presumably — we can only presume that that would happen through nuclear bombs, because that’s the type of horrific weaponry that would be used to wipe out an entire civilization. So no, I push back on that. And I think the American people fully agree. Everyone was outraged. BLITZER: I just want to be clear, Congresswoman. Do you genuinely believe President Trump had the intention of killing Iran’s entire population of more than 90 million people if Iran had not agreed to a cease-fire? Is the U.S. military, for example, even capable of that? GREENE: I don’t think that our good men and women in the U.S. military would want to even carry something like that out. That’s the other thing. And I think that’s important to point out. We have — we — our men and women in the military are the greatest among us. They’re serving our country, defending our freedoms. And I’m so grateful to them, and I support them so much. But we should never have a commander in chief that would call for the great men and women of the United States military to wipe out an entire civilization — civilization and put that on their shoulders. And we have already got so many veterans that live with PTSD every single day in America that can’t sleep at night with terrible nightmares of the wars that they fought in foreign lands, foreign wars in foreign lands, not for America, for foreign countries and foreign purposes. And this is what the president was talking about. So I can only take him at his word, because those are the words that he spoke to the entire world. BROWN: I just want to follow up with that. I mean, the White House has denied they were going to use a nuclear bomb. But, for critics of Trump, they’re like, look, how can you say no one saw this coming? Obviously, calling for the death of a whole civilization is at a different level. But, as Wolf mentioned earlier, Trump has been known for his bombastic rhetoric, right? He’s been doing that for years. And you used to be a supporter. Now you’re speaking out against him. But people might be asking, well, I mean, didn’t you see this coming? GREENE: Well, I have always been a supporter of President Trump for the policies. That’s what I cared about. But once he became president, he changed his policies. What we campaigned on was no more foreign wars. And President Trump said he was going to be the peace president. Well, he’s gone from being the peace president to the war president. And that’s — I don’t support that at all. I’m not offended oftentimes by people’s words. I mean, people on the right and the left have lots of different types of language and statements. However, it’s their actions that is what I pay attention to. And the president lost my support when he covered up the Epstein files and called me a traitor and wanted to primary me because I supported women that were raped at 16 and 18 years old, or 14 years old even. And I don’t support the president in going to war in Iran. And what I — what we campaigned on and what President Trump promised America was to put America first. And now we have got rising inflation. Gas prices are going out of control. But we also have to put the blame on both parties; $ 100 in 2021 is now only $ 80 in 2026 because of the declining value of the dollar. So, Pamela and Wolf, I blame both parties for this. And it’s an absolute failure to the American people, but I cannot support a president that wants to murder an entire civilization of people. BROWN: Right. And you called for his removal through the 25th Amendment after that threat. When you look at the polls, I wonder what your reaction is. When it comes to MAGA Republicans, people who identify as MAGA, nine out of 10 support this war. And that’s pretty consistent across the board. How do you explain that? GREENE: Well, I would explain that by breaking down the demographics of that poll. The polling that I have seen is, it’s mainly the Baby Boomers, Republicans that watch FOX News all day every day, are the ones that are primarily, mostly supporting this war in Iran. However, it’s the majority of Americans, especially 50 and under, that do not support this war in Iran. And I would argue that it’s — the Baby Boomer generation, my parents’ generation, whom I love very much, needs to think clearly about how a war in Iran could have long-term implications for their children and their grandchildren and really reconsider their support for that. We have got the Strait of Hormuz is barely, barely open, with very few ships going through. The price of oil is skyrocketing. And this isn’t going to end quickly. This is going to have economic, profound effects for a very long time. And it’ll take a long time to get back on track, especially if this war continues and continues to escalate. So, my prayers are with those that are negotiating a cease-fire and a peace deal. I very hope — very much hope that J.D. Vance is successful, because it seems to be his voice is the one that is really pushing for peace and to end this. He was opposed to the war to begin with, as there’s been many reports that have said that. And I really hope to see people in leadership in Washington, D.C., get back on track and care about regular Americans, because regular Americans are sick and tired of all of this, and they’re tired of not being able to afford life. And they very much want the drama in Washington to end, so that they can — they can carry on and enjoy their everyday lives. They’re not interested in killing people in foreign lands. I can tell you that much. BLITZER: Congresswoman, with Congress out of town on recess once again right now, we really didn’t hear the Republican leadership respond to President Trump’s threat to eliminate an entire civilization. We did, however, see many Democrats join you in calling for President Trump’s removal from office. What do you make of the fact that you seem to be more on the side of Democrats on this specific issue, rather than your own party? What do you think? GREENE: Just to be clear, Wolf, I’m not a Democrat, so I want to make that clearly known. None of my positions have changed. But I think I’m one of the few honest Republicans willing to talk about it. Everyone else is just afraid to speak out against the president because they’re terrified of having an ugly TRUTH Social post dropped on them or a primary challenge, like what’s happening to Thomas Massie, supported by dark money from billionaires that don’t even live in Thomas Massie’s Kentucky — the Fourth District of Kentucky. That’s what — other Republicans are terrified. So they won’t speak up. They’re cowards. And I really have to call out the speaker, Mike Johnson, who calls himself a Christian. I don’t know how he can stand by those words. That’s what was so offensive to me. Any Christian serving in Congress or serving in the Senate and serving in the administration really needs to take pause and ask themself, as a Christian, do you really support the president calling for the annihilation, calling to wipe out an entire civilization of people? And I don’t think you should, because that’s not what Jesus said and that’s not what Christianity is all about. And so I think that, yes, I would — I’m probably one of the few,. It was me, Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, and a few others that are willing to call it out and speak out against this, because we’re willing to be honest. It’s not about aligning ourselves with right or left or Democrat or Republican. It’s about being honest. BLITZER: Congresswoman, we’re only getting — just beginning to get started. I want to take a quick break, continue our conversation with the former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. We have more questions. We will do that on the other side. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Welcome back. I want to continue our conversation with former Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Congresswoman, once again, thanks for joining us. As you know, Republican Clay Fuller won this week’s special election to succeed you in Congress, but only by about 12 points, compared to President Trump’s 37-point victory back in 2024. That marked a significant overperformance for the Democratic candidate, Shawn Harris. What do you take away from that? GREENE: Well, I had always said from the beginning that I would stay completely out of the race, and that’s what I did do. I felt it was extremely important for the people of Georgia’s 14th District to choose their own representative. And it was the best thing for me to do to stay out of it. So, I haven’t really commented on the race. However, I think this is reflective of what we’re seeing all across the country, is, we’re seeing low Republican voter turnout. We have seen Democrats flipping seats, from state seats to other seats, all over the country. And that was, I think, a pretty big danger sign, not only for Georgia’s 14th District, but really for the state of Georgia as a whole. And this is — this shows you, it just shows you that many people are very unhappy with Republican leadership in the House and the Senate. And they’re not as happy with President Trump. That shows in his approval rating. It shows in polling overall. And that really showed in the 14th District’s special election. I congratulate Clay Fuller. I have talked with him. I know that he has great intentions of serving the people of the 14th District, and I wish him the best of luck. I was never concerned about the 14th District of Georgia flipping blue, as some had said it could. I never thought that could happen. But I think Shawn Harris really did put a major dent in the election there. And I think that gives graver concerns to statewide elections in 2026, such as the governor’s race, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and also the Senate seat that is up for election in 2026. BROWN: Just to follow up on this, President Trump posted about the special election on social media yesterday. And he wrote — quote — “Marjorie ‘Traitor'” — as you know, he has called you that in the past — “Brown’s — green turns to brown under stress.” Listen, nothing wrong with the last name Brown. I’m just ad-libbing that part. (LAUGHTER) BROWN: “Seat in Congress has been taken over by a wonderful and talented man, Clay Fuller, who won convincingly, and despite the stench left by Greene. Congratulations to Clay Fuller, a very large improvement over his deranged predecessor” — end quote. How do you respond to that? GREENE: I don’t have to respond to that. You don’t respond to bullies and you don’t pay attention to people when they’re failing. And President Trump is failing right now. And so he’s a man that’s lashing out. I mean, after all, this is the man that threatened to wipe out an entire civilization of people. You can’t respond to someone like that. They’re mentally unstable. But, really, I do wish Clay Fuller great success. And, of course, I hope all the best for Georgia’s 14th District. BLITZER: And I think Greene is a nice name. And I think Brown is a nice name too. Just want to be on the record. (LAUGHTER) BROWN: I agree. BLITZER: I like both of those names. (LAUGHTER) BLITZER: On another issue, Congresswoman, we know you’re very passionate about the Justice Department announcing yesterday that Pam Bondi will not appear for her upcoming deposition before the House Oversight Committee’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation, given that she no longer is serving as the U.S. attorney general. How concerning is that development to you, as someone who has spoken out very passionately and very significantly to so many survivors of Epstein’s abuse? GREENE: Well, it’s very concerning. I think that anyone that is subpoenaed by any committee of Congress needs to honor their subpoena and show up and answer questions for the American people. That’s how this process works. And subpoenas should be honored. And I have always said that for every single person that should show up for subpoenas. It’s extremely important. And I think the victims of Jeffrey Epstein deserve answers. They deserve justice. They deserve transparency. And they have been asking for far too many years. So, hopefully, she will change her mind and, hopefully, more information will continue to come out. BROWN: Should President Trump testify, in your view? GREENE: President Trump? BROWN: Mm-hmm. GREENE: I don’t think he’s been subpoenaed or asked, has he? BROWN: No. No, he hasn’t, as far as we know. There’s also legal questions about subpoenaing a sitting president. But do you think that he should at some point speak out about it and be subpoenaed? GREENE: Well, he spoke about it to me. And he told me his friends would get hurt. And so that was a clear message that I got when — and that was why he ended up calling me a traitor. He called me a traitor to him because I would not obey his wishes of taking my name off of the discharge petition, because he said that his friends would get hurt. And that’s what we have seen. We have seen President Trump fight to cover up the Epstein files and fight to prevent them from being released. And it’s — I think that speaks for itself. BLITZER: Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, thanks so much for joining us. BROWN: Thank you. GREENE: Thanks for having me.

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