Republican Rep. Greene files motion to oust Speaker Johnson

>> Speaker Mike Johnson is at risk of being ousted after hardright Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion to vacate on Friday in the middle of a House vote on a $1.2 trillion package to keep the government open.

It's the same political dynamic that removed the last Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, just five months ago when far-right conservatives revolted over his compromise with Democrats to prevent a federal shutdown. But this one faces steeper odds with less GOP support.

The House is scheduled to leave town for a twoweek spring recess at the end of Friday's session, and it's doubtful any vote on removing Johnson, of Louisiana, would be imminent.

“Speaker Johnson always listens to the concerns of members but is focused on governing,” spokesman Raj Shah said. “He will continue to push conservative legislation that secures our border, strengthens our national defense and demonstrates how we'll grow our majority.”

Under the rules, any member can make the motion privileged, which would require leaders to schedule a vote within two legislative days. But it can also simply sit until lawmakers return next month.

Greene, of Georgia, said she was issuing a “warning” to Johnson but did not indicate a timetable for her next move.

“We've started the clock to start the process to elect a new speaker,” she said on the Capitol steps.

Yet even the threat of removal, the ultimate punishment for a speaker, will hang over Johnson's young speakership, just months on the job — particularly as he turns next to passing funding to support Ukraine that far-right Republicans oppose.

No speaker had been removed this way until McCarthy's dramatic ouster last fall, a swift, stunning and chaotic episode that essentially shuttered the House chamber for weeks as Republicans searched for a new speaker.

Greene is a leading ally of the Republicans' presumed 2024 presidential nominee, former president Donald Trump, and McCarthy, of California, was toppled by a similar contingent of far-right Republicans led at the time by Trump ally Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida.

The Georgia congresswoman spoke vehemently against House passage of the government funding bill, and she has warned she would try to remove the speaker if he pushes ahead with a package to support Ukraine as it battles Russia's invasion.