WASHINGTON — Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Wednesday she would vote next week on whether to impeach House Speaker Mike Johnson, forcing her colleagues to choose sides in a difficult showdown after Democratic leaders announced they would votes to save the Republican speaker’s job.
Outside the Capitol, Greene railed against top-level Republican Party leaders and resisted their public pleas, including those from Donald Trump, to avoid another messy political battle so close to the November election. Joining her was Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., one of a handful of lawmakers who joined her efforts.
“We need leaders in the House of Representatives who are going to get this done,” said Greene, R-Ga., holding up a red “MAGA” hat from Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign movement.
“Mike Johnson is not qualified to do this job,” she said.
When she continued next week, she said that “every member of Congress needs to take that vote.”
The standoff with Greene, one of Trump’s most enthusiastic supporters, threatens to throw Republican control of the House of Representatives into a new round of chaos as rank-and-file lawmakers will have to choose between impeaching Johnson, R-La., as chairman or join The Democrats want to keep him in office.
Democrats see Johnson as a potential partner, a hardline conservative who is nonetheless willing to steer his Republican Party away from the far-right voices that are hindering the routine business of governing, including funding the government and, more recently, supporting Ukraine and other US states. allies abroad.
Democratic leader New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and his team released a joint statement this week saying it’s time to “turn the page” on the Republican Party’s chaos, announcing that Democrats will voting to introduce Greene’s motion to vacate the speaker’s office. , essentially preventing Johnson from being removed from office.
“Are you going to hug Hakeem Jeffries?” Massie said, before a poster photo of Jeffries handing Johnson the gavel when the Republican first became chairman last fall.
There are few opponents of Johnson at this point, and fewer than the eight it took to oust former Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., last fall in the first-ever removal of a sitting speaker from the powerful office that second place in the battle is the line of succession of the president. Only one other Republican, Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, has joined Greene.
Greene and Massie said they gave their colleagues the weekend to weigh their options before calling for a vote on her motion to leave next week. Or, they said, Johnson could simply resign.
The unrest has a House in its grip that has already largely come to a standstill. Johnson has failed to force his razor-thin majority to work together on party priorities, forcing him into the arms of Democrats for the votes needed to pass most major bills — and now to keep his job.
Johnson was chosen by Republicans as the final consensus candidate after McCarthy’s impeachment, but he angered the far right when he led the passage of the $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine and the U.S. allies they oppose.