Marjorie Taylor Greene's Shocking Critique: Trump's Team Making Him Look Foolish

Former Republican U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene sharply criticized President Donald Trump and his team during a Wednesday night appearance with Kaitlan Collins on CNN, arguing that members of his staff are "making him look like a fool" by not checking him on his previous statements about not engaging in wars.

Greene pointed to Trump's repeated campaign promises to avoid "new wars" and foreign military entanglements.

Her criticism comes as the administration has increasingly justified military action as a necessary response to events in and around the Strait of Hormuz. According to U.S. Central Command, Trump authorized retaliatory "self-defense" strikes after a U.S. Apache helicopter was brought down near the strategic waterway, an incident that U.S. officials blamed on Iran.

However, reports have also indicated that uncertainty remains over whether the helicopter was intentionally targeted or whether the incident resulted from a collision involving an Iranian drone, raising questions about the circumstances that triggered the latest round of military action.

Newsweek reached out to the White House via email Wednesday night for comment.

What To Know

The criticism from Greene is notable because she was once among Trump's most loyal allies before breaking with the president over the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Trump has also taken swipes at Greene, calling her "wacky."

Greene was asked about Trump's statement to ABC's Kristen Welker in a previous interview, where he was asked what changed after insisting on no new wars. "First of all, I didn't guarantee no war, why would I have built the strongest military in the world," he responded in part.

"This war shouldn't be happening, this was a major campaign promise in 2024 to end foreign wars, to not be involved in them. This is something the president has promised for many years; he's on video, he's on record, he can't change any of his statements. He said no more foreign wars, so it shouldn't even be happening. But it is hard to take the so-called peace talks serious," Greene said in part, pointing to Trump's repeated claims about a deal and ongoing strikes between Lebanon and Israel.

Greene later continued when asked about Trump's comments to Welker: "I don't think the president's comms team is doing him any favors. After that interview came out and he's on record claiming he never said that he wouldn't go to war, no more foreign wars, you know people rolled out video after video of him saying on the campaign trail, just like I heard him say personally so many times as I campaigned with him, where he said no more foreign wars, I will end war, I will bring world peace. He said that over and over again, and there was video montage after video montage, and shame on his team for not showing him those videos of what he said and what he promised to the American people, because it's making him look like a fool."

With retaliatory strikes on Wednesday, the gap between Trump's previous anti-war stance and the realities of a seemingly expanding military confrontation has become a central point of contention inside his own political base.

Greene added that the internet does not forgive and the previous videos are everywhere.

New Strikes Against Iran

In posts to X on Wednesday, CENTCOM said that U.S. forces conducted additional self-defense strikes against multiple targets in Iran, beginning around 5:15 p.m. ET, as part of an ongoing response to what it described as "unwarranted and continued aggression."

In a follow-up post, CENTCOM rebuffed a report by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that the Strait of Hormuz is closed. "TRUTH: Commercial ships are continuing to transit in and out of the Strait of Hormuz tonight," the post said in part.

Fox News' Trey Yingst reported, citing Trump, that Iranian officials called Trump while he was in the Situation Room on Wednesday, and asked him to stop bombing. Yingst says that the president replied that the strikes will stop shortly.