House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) criticized the motion to vacate that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is bringing against him next week in an effort to oust him from the Speaker’s office.
After Greene announced at a press conference Wednesday that she would move on her motion, Johnson—who has repeatedly broken the Hastert Rule and caved on Ukraine aid with no border funding—called the motion “wrong.”
“This motion is wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country,” he said, according to CNN Capitol Hill reporter Melanie Zanona.
Greene first filed her motion against Johnson before the Easter recess, but it was not privileged, meaning the House did not have to take it up. Once she makes it privileged, the House will have to consider it within two days.
She filed the motion moments before Johnson violated the Hastert rule for the first time on the government funding plan. In light of events in recent weeks, the motion to vacate gained support from Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ), who joined Greene at Wednesday’s press conference.
Greene emphasized that her motion initially “was a warning to stop serving the Democrats and support” the Republican conference and back its agenda.
She maintained she was being “responsible” in not making the motion privileged despite Johnson being the deciding vote to kill a key amendment to Section 702 of the Foreign Surveillance Act, which was followed by his bundling of multiple foreign aid bills into a $95 billion package that neglected America’s southern border.
Greene’s announcement comes a day after Democrat leadership revealed they would table any vote on her motion to vacate.
“Now we have Hakeem Jeffries and the Democrats coming out, embracing Mike Johnson with a warm hug and a big wet sloppy kiss, and they have endorsed him,” Greene said Wednesday.
“They are ready to support him as Speaker; they want to keep it going, keep the band together. Why? Because Mike Johnson is giving them everything they want,” she added.
After emphasizing that Democrats repeatedly voted for House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in previous Speakership elections, Greene said she finds “it very satisfying that they are ready to vote for Mike Johnson.”
“I want to see it happen, and I also want to see recorded votes,” she said.
Notably, Massie told Breitbart News on April 17 when he first cosponsored the motion that the ideal scenario would be for Johnson to agree to step aside once the GOP conference came to a consensus on a new Speaker.
“I think she’s gone about this in a very reasonable way,” Massie said of Greene on Wednesday. “She’s given the Speaker multiple chances to resign, to leave, and instead he’s clinging to power by clinging to Democrats.”
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