WASHINGTON (AP) — Hard-line Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tried and failed in a brazen push to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, but the resounding rejection by Republicans and Democrats tired of the turmoil does not guarantee an end to the GOP chaos.
One of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters in Congress, Greene stood on the House floor late Wednesday and read a long list of “transgressions” she said Johnson had committed as speaker, from his passage of a $95 billion national security package with aid for Ukraine to his reliance on Democrats to wield power.
Colleagues booed in protest. But Greene soldiered on, criticizing Johnson’s leadership as “pathetic, weak and unacceptable.”
After Greene triggered the vote on her motion to vacate the Republican speaker from his office, Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise quickly countered by calling first for a vote to table it.
An overwhelming majority, 359-43, kept Johnson in his job, for now.
“As I’ve said from the beginning, and I’ve made clear here every day, I intend to do my job,” Johnson said afterward. “And I’ll let the chips fall where they may. In my view, that is leadership.”
It’s the second time in a matter of months that Republicans have worked to oust their own speaker, an unheard of level of party upheaval with a move rarely seen in U.S. history.
While the outcome temporarily calms the latest source of House disruption, the vote tally shows the strengths but also the stark limits of Johnson’s hold on the gavel, and the risks ahead for any Republican trying to lead the GOP.
Without Democratic help, Johnson would have certainly faced a more dismal outcome. All told, 11 Republicans voted to proceed with Greene’s effort, more than it took to oust then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy last fall, a first in U.S. history.
But by relying on Democratic backing, Johnson risks inciting more criticism that he is insufficiently loyal to the party.
And the threat still lingers — any single lawmaker can call up the motion to vacate the speaker.
Even though Trump provided a needed nod of support for Johnson at crucial moments, it’s not bankable going forward. The former president posed an idle warning about potentially ousting the speaker as voting was getting underway.
“At some point, we may very well be, but this is not the time,” Trump said on social media.
Trump also made clear he still valued Greene, perhaps his biggest ally in the House, even as he rejected her proposal. “I absolutely love Marjorie Taylor Greene,” he said as he urged Republicans to table her motion.
As Greene pressed ahead with the snap vote, GOP lawmakers filtered towards Johnson, giving him pats on the back and grasping his shoulder to assure him of their support.
The Georgia Republican had vowed weeks ago she would force a vote on the motion to vacate the Republican speaker if he dared to advance the foreign aid package for Ukraine, which was overwhelmingly approved late last month and signed into law.
