Washington — A roughly hourlong meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday did little to convince Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to drop her threat of forcing a vote that could end his speakership.
“I got a lot of excuses,” Greene, a Georgia Republican, told reporters after she met with Johnson on Wednesday afternoon, their first conversation since she filed a resolution nearly three weeks ago to oust him. “We didn’t walk out with a deal.”
The congresswoman described the meeting as “direct” and “passionate.”
Greene threatened to force a vote to strip the Louisiana Republican of the gavel after he relied on Democrats to push through a $1.2 trillion spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown last month.
Since then, she’s openly criticized his leadership in media interviews and on social media, warning him that passing Ukraine aid or reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act would put his position in peril. In a blistering letter to her Republican colleagues on Tuesday, Greene argued Johnson has failed to live up to his promises by negotiating with Democrats and breaking procedural rules to pass major legislation.
But Greene has not laid out a timeline for forcing a vote. Even if she does follow through, there’s been a lack of interest among Republicans for removing another leader just months after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California was ousted.
“I did not give him a red line,” Greene said, while noting she is “watching what happens” on Ukraine funding and the reauthorization of FISA, a powerful and controversial spy authority that allows warrantless surveillance of foreigners but can also sweep up the communications of Americans.
Greene said Johnson also floated a “kitchen Cabinet group” to advise him and asked if she was interested in being part of it.
“I’ll wait and see what his proposal is on that,” she said. “Right now, he does not have my support.”
If Greene moves forward on a vote, “it would be chaos in the House,” Johnson said Wednesday at his weekly news conference, before he met with the congresswoman.
Her effort has also been panned by other Republicans, who have questioned who the caucus would elect as the new speaker. It took them weeks to unite behind Johnson after McCarthy was ousted, a process that paralyzed the House.
“If you want to do a motion to vacate on Mike Johnson, well, then, who?” Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas said Tuesday. “It’s an impossible job. The Lord Jesus himself could not manage this conference. You just can’t do it. So what would you do? If not Mike, then who?”
Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who voted to remove McCarthy, said she would not do the same for Johnson.
“I’m not going to support anyone who wants to do a motion to vacate,” Mace said of Greene’s effort.
Rep. Marc Molinaro of New York called it “a mistake and an absurdity.”
Ellis Kim, Jaala Brown and Laura Garrison contributed reporting.