House rejects Greene’s effort to remove Johnson
WASHINGTON — Hardline Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tried and failed in sudden action Wednesday to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, her longshot effort swiftly and resoundingly rejected by Democrats and Republicans 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. Colleagues booed.
Greene, of Georgia, criticized Johnson’s leadership as “pathetic, weak and unacceptable.”
No sooner than Greene triggered the vote on her motion to vacate the speaker from his office, the Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise countered by calling first for a vote to table it.
An overwhelming majority, 359-43, kept Johnson in his job, for now.
“As I’ve said from the beginning, and I’ve made clear here every day, I intend to do my job,” Johnson said afterward. “And I’ll let the chips fall where they may. In my view, that is leadership.”
All told, 11 Republicans voted to proceed with Greene’s effort, more than it took to oust thenSpeaker Kevin McCarthy last fall, a first in U.S. history. And the threat still lingers — any single lawmaker can call up the motion to vacate the speaker.