WASHINGTON – Hardline Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene surprised colleagues Wednesday by calling for a vote to remove President Mike Johnson, but lawmakers quickly rejected it.
Greene pressed ahead with her risky effort despite resistance from Republicans at the highest levels, tired of the political chaos.
One of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters in Congress, Greene stood on the House floor and read a long list of “transgressions” she said Johnson had committed as speaker of the House. Colleagues booed in protest.
It was the second time in a matter of months that Republicans tried to remove their own president, in an unprecedented level of partisan turbulence, with a measure rarely seen in US history.
Georgia’s Greene criticized Johnson’s leadership as “pathetic, weak and unacceptable.”
GOP lawmakers turned to Johnson, patting him on the back and grabbing his shoulder to assure him of their support.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise quickly moved to delay the effort — essentially blocking it from moving forward. The motion to table was quickly approved.
The Georgia Republican promised she would force a vote on the motion to fire the Republican president if he dared move forward with a foreign aid package with funds for Ukraine, which was overwhelmingly approved late last month and signed into law.
But in recent days it appeared her effort had cooled, as she and Johnson met repeatedly about a possible resolution.
Louisiana’s Johnson went on to say he was willing to take the risk, believing it was important for the U.S. to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion and explaining that he wanted to be on the “right side of history.”
“I just have to do my job every day,” Johnson said Monday.
In a highly unusual move, the speaker received a boost from Democrats led by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, whose leadership team had said it was time to “turn the page” on the Republican Party’s turmoil and vote in favor of Greene’s resolution. – almost guaranteeing Johnson’s job is safe, for now.
Trump also intervened after Johnson traveled to Mar-a-Lago for a visit, with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee giving the House speaker his nod of approval. And Trump’s handpicked leader of the Republican National Committee urged House Republicans to stand down.
The move now presents its own political risks for Greene, R-Ga., a high-profile provocateur.
Forcing the vote could paralyze the House chamber, as happened last year, when eight Republicans voted to remove Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s office, and Democrats refused to help save him.
McCarthy’s ouster resulted in a nearly month-long search for a new Republican leader, and there will be no immediate successor if Johnson is removed.
