Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) powwowed on Wednesday as Greene continues her threat to oust Johnson for “pass[ing] the Biden administration’s agenda.”
The almost hour-long meeting occurred one day after Greene escalated her war against Johnson with a five-page letter to House Republicans extensively detailing her reasons for filing a motion to vacate the chair on March 22.
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“[I] explained that he is the Republican leader, that he is the leader of the opposition party against the Biden administration, and we expect him to lead that way, not to pass the Biden administration’s agenda,” Greene said upon leaving the Speaker’s office.
The fiery Georgia Congresswoman insisted she has not determined when — or if — she would force a vote on the motion to vacate, and repeatedly reiterated Johnson’s future will depend on his handling of the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and funding Ukraine’s flagging war effort against Russia.
“Those two issues are going to move a lot of members,” she said.
“If [Johnson] funds the deep state and the warrantless spying on Americans, he’s telling Republican voters all over the country, that the continued behavior will happen more — spying on President Trump and spying on hundreds of thousands of Americans.”
FISA’s fate in the House remains uncertain. Johnson initially intended to pass a FISA reauthorization with modest reforms by Wednesday, although the rule vote to advance that legislation failed Wednesday afternoon after Greene and Johnson’s meeting.
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The path forward Johnson will choose is uncertain, although he insisted after the vote that FISA’s authorization cannot be allowed to lapse. The program’s authorization ends April 19, although most of the program’s surveillance work can continue for up to a year.
Yet serious obstacles remain — primarily a fight over the inclusion of a measure requiring federal agents to obtain a warrant to continue surveilling American citizens caught up in surveillance of foreigners.
No such measure is included in Johnson’s bill, which contributed to the rule’s defeat on Wednesday. A bipartisan bloc opposing the bill coalesced largely due to the absence of that requirement.
An amendment to include warrant requirements would likely pass easily, yet Johnson had previously fought to prevent such a vote. Despite his previous support of warrant requirements, soon after attaining the Speaker’s gavel Johnson switched to side with the Biden administration and intelligence community in opposing the policy.
“He did not give me any guarantees” on the inclusion of — or an amendment vote on — a warrant requirement, Green said of Johnson, although the rule vote Wednesday would have allowed such an amendment vote.
Donald Trump called on the House to “kill” FISA in a Tuesday night Truth Social post, writing “IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!!!”
Trump’s statement, although not mentioning Johnson, likely contributed to the rule’s Wednesday defeat, although Greene says Johnson “talked to President Trump last night and didn’t talk to him about FISA.”
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House Committee on the Judiciary / YouTubeIf Johnson can navigate FISA reauthorization, he will not get a reprieve, as next week he intends to bring a yet-announced plan to fund Ukraine to the floor.
In a reversal mirroring his approach to FISA, Johnson now calls Ukraine funding a “priority” despite his previous vehemence against funding the nation’s war against Russia.
Greene voiced the concerns of many Republicans Wednesday in declaring the southern border must be addressed before considering sending tens of billions to a foreign nation that is not an American ally.
“I made that clear to Speaker Johnson that the United States border is the only border that matters,” she said, “and that if he moves forward and funding Ukraine, that he’s going to be personally responsible for funding the continued murder of people in a foreign country that is not a NATO ally of ours.”
In addition to FISA and Ukraine, Greene says she also discussed with Johnson his handling of government funding. The House had passed seven of twelve FY 2024 government funding bills before he attained the gavel, yet Johnson continued on a path of short-term funding extensions before passing a tw0-part massive new funding bill in March.
“We discussed the omnibus, and I explained all the reasons why he failed as our speaker, as the Republican Speaker of the House,” Greene said, lamenting the funding of Biden’s “open border policies.”
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As for Johnson’s reasoning for moving the omnibus, Greene says its “classified.”
“I got a lot of excuses [from Johnson] as to why that happened, talking about being in classified briefings, what he’s being told there,” Greene said.
Greene says she made her concerns with Johnson’s leadership clear without specifying an action that would trigger the motion to vacate.
“I did not give him a red line, and I have been very considerate of my conference, and I’m continuing to be considerate of my conference,” she explained.
She also continued to push back on the “lie” that vacating the chair would result in a Democrat Speaker.
“We would not be handing it over to Democrats,” she said. “We have the majority. The only way that happens is if Republicans vote for Hakeem Jeffries or refuse to vote for a Republican Speaker.”
Despite not committing to trigger a motion to vacate, Greene did not express optimism Johnson would change course.
“Past behavior is expectations of future behavior from our Speaker of the House,” Greene said, before asking, “Why would we expect anything different?”
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
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