US President Donald Trump responded Monday to criticism from Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), saying she has “lost her way” following her remarks about his foreign policy priorities.
“I don’t know what happened to Marjorie,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, as quoted by Reuters. “Nice woman, but I don’t know what happened. She’s lost her way, I think.”
Greene, once a staunch ally of the president, has recently taken positions at odds with the White House and fellow Republicans.
On Monday, she posted on social media in reference to Trump’s meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, “Nonstop meetings at the WH on domestic policy not foreign policy and foreign country's leaders.” She called Sharaa “a former Al-Qaeda terrorist.”
Trump defended the meeting, stating, “I have to view the presidency as a worldwide situation, not locally. I mean, we could have a world that's on fire, where wars come to our shores very easily.”
He acknowledged al-Sharaa’s “rough past” but emphasized the need for cooperation.
Greene’s criticism comes amid a broader shift in tone in recent months. In August, she blasted Israel and claimed that the Jewish state is using US military aid “to pay for genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
She made a similar assertion in a post at the end of July.
“It’s the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct. 7 in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza,” she wrote at the time.
Previously, the US House of Representatives voted to reject an amendment proposed by Greene which called for the slashing of half a billion dollars in aid to Israel.
In addition, Greene has praised Democrat Nancy Pelosi for an “incredible career,” and expressed frustration over the Republican-led House being out of session during a government shutdown.
“I’m not some sort of blind slave to the president, and I don’t think anyone should be,” Greene told NBC News last month.