Marjorie Taylor Greene says outcome ‘up to Mike Johnson’ after threatening his removal
The Georgia Republican and speaker of the House met twice in 24 hours this week
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Marjorie Taylor Greene said on Tuesday the outcome of her call to oust Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is now in his hands.
This development comes after the speaker, Ms Greene and her ally Representative Thomas Massie met for some 90 minutes on Tuesday afternoon. They previously met on Monday for over an hour.
After the second meeting, Ms Greene told reporters the ball is in Mr Johnson’s court.
“We will see,” she told reporters. “It is up to Mike Johnson.”
The GOP duo want Mr Johnson to block future Ukraine aid. They also want him to defund Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probes into Donald Trump. Mr Smith is investigating the classified documents case and the 6 January riots. These asks are largely symbolic because the US Senate and President Joe Biden would likely block them.
Before Tuesday’s meeting, Ms Greene told The Independent the speaker has been “working with Democrats the entire time.”
“[The Democrats] are ready to deliver the votes to save his speakership, because they support him because of what he’s delivered for the Democrats and the Biden agenda,” Ms Greene told The Independent.
Marjorie Taylor Greene meeting with Mike Johnson as she vows to call for his removal
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson privately on Monday afternoon, PBS NewsHour’s Lisa Desjardins reports.
Ms Greene, a Georgia Republican, vowed last week to call a vote to remove Mr Johnson from his position. If Ms Greene triggers a “privileged motion” on her motion to vacate, the House will be forced to vote within 48 hours on his removal.
However, Democrats have signalled they will vote to save Mr Johnson if the vote is triggered, meaning he will likely survive.
What is a motion to vacate?
Marjorie Taylor Greene plans to call a motion to vacate against Speaker Mike Johnson. If Ms Greene triggers a “privileged motion” on her motion to vacate, the House will be forced to vote within 48 hours on his removal.
Read more about how a motion to vacate works — and how the process was used to oust the last Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy:
What is a motion to vacate? The process Matt Gaetz triggered to oust Kevin McCarthy
House speaker challenged to no-confidence vote by the rebel congressman representing hard-right fringe of Republican party
Why is Marjorie Taylor Greene calling to oust Speaker Mike Johnson?
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, vowed to trigger a vote on Speaker Mike Johnson’s removal this week.
Ms Greene’s efforts to remove the Speaker are supported by Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky. The pair have criticised Mr Johnson’s reliance on and willingness to work with Democrats on passing several bills, including the supplemental foreign aid legislation for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
Read more about Ms Greene’s gripes with Mr Johnson from The Independent’s Washington, DC Bureau Chief, Eric Garcia:
Marjorie Taylor Greene says she’ll trigger no-confidence vote on Johnson next week
House Speaker Mike Johnson says Greene’s move is ‘wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country’
Democrats say they would save Republican speaker amid possible effort to oust him
House Democrats have announced that they will vote to save Speaker Mike Johnson if far-right Republicans choose to trigger a motion to vacate to remove him.
The motion is being pushed by MAGA Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, but it has struggled to garner support even among some of the Republicans who voted to oust Mr Johnson’s predecessor as speaker, Kevin McCarthy.
Mr Johnson has faced criticism from the right flank of his party after going ahead with a vote to send aid to Ukraine as part of a $95bn foreign aid package that also included funds for Israel and Taiwan.
Read more from Gustaf Kilander and Eric Garcia:
Democrats say they would save Republican speaker amid possible effort to oust him
Top Democrats said they would vote to table motion to vacate brought by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene
Representative Thomas Massie backs vow to vote on Mike Johnson ouster
Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, is standing beside Marjorie Taylor Greene and her call to vote on ousting Speaker Mike Johnson this week.
“This week we vote on whether Mike Johnson should remain as Speaker,” Mr Massie wrote on X. “If you’re happy with what he’s done this year and if you’re looking forward to what he will do the remainder of the year, you should join the Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries in supporting Mike Johnson.”
ICYMI: Republican lawmaker doesn’t mince his words about Marjorie Taylor Greene: ‘She is a total waste of time’
Republican Senator Thom Tillis called one of his House colleagues a “waste of time”, a bad leader, and a threat to the future of the GOP, according to a recent report.
CNN’s Erin Burnett played an audio recording of the senator trashing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene during her show on Tuesday.
“I think she’s uninformed, she is a total waste of time,” Mr Tillis says on the recording. “She is a horrible leader. She is dragging our brand down. She – not the Democrats – [is] the biggest risk to us getting back to a majority.”
Ms Greene has frustrated some members of her party by crusading against Mike Johnson, the current speaker of the House. Mr Johnson was installed after Congressman Matt Gaetz led a successful, though extremely unpopular campaign to remove Kevin McCarthy, then-speaker of the House.
Mr Gaetz reportedly moved to have Mr McCarthy replaced because the former speaker agreed with Democrats to pass a vote that would keep the government operating.
Read on:
Republican lawmaker on Marjorie Taylor Greene: ‘She is a total waste of time’
‘She is a horrible leader,’ Mr Tillis said
WATCH: Last week, Marjorie Taylor Greene pledged to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson
‘We need to get our act together’: GOP representative condemns Greene’s call to oust Johnson
Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, said Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson can’t succeed.
“We need to get our act together and come together for the betterment of our country...I don't know why she's doing this because the votes aren't there,” Ms Mace said of her colleague on Monday morning. “She's gonna lose the motion to vacate.”
Mike Johnson says he doesn’t know if motion to vacate will be brought today
In a brief gaggle with reporters Monday afternoon, Speaker Mike Johnson said he didn’t know if Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene would force a motion to vacate vote today.
“I don’t know,” Mr Johnson said as he walked through the halls of the US Capitol. “I just gotta do my job right now.”
Ms Greene and Mr Johnson are set to have a private meeting in less than one hour.
ICYMI: Three reasons Mike Johnson’s job is safe — and one reason it might not be
Read analysis on why Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to vacate against Speaker Mike Johnson could fail, from The Independent’s Washington Bureau Chief Eric Garcia:
Three reasons Mike Johnson’s job is safe — and one reason it might not be
The polite and pious speaker may be more right-wing than Kevin McCarthy, but he’s managed a better balancing act
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