Marjorie Taylor Greene says Mike Johnson needs to "do the right thing" and resign, or be ousted
Published Date: 4/21/2024
Source: axios.com

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) confirmed she hasn't backed off her plan to potentially oust House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) after the passage of a foreign aid package on Saturday.

The big picture: Greene said after Saturday's vote that she would wait to call for a vote to vacate, but said Sunday that Johnson's choices are to resign or be vacated.


  • "He needs to do the right thing, to resign and allow us to move forward in a controlled process. If he doesn't do so, he will be vacated," Greene said in an interview on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo."
  • When questioned if that meant she would file the motion to vacate, Greene said it was coming "regardless of what Mike Johnson decides to do."

Worth noting: While Greene wants to force Johnson's hand, some Democrats have backed the speaker and indicated he should keep his job.

  • The motion to vacate has only been successfully used once to remove a House speaker with Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in October. During McCarthy's ouster, every House Democrat voted with Republicans.
  • Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif) said Sunday in an appearance on ABC's "This Week" that he would vote to keep Johnson in office.
  • "I disagree with Speaker Johnson on many issues and have been very critical of him, but he did the right thing here and he deserves to keep his job until the end of his term," Khanna said.
  • Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) did not say how he would vote on a Johnson ouster, but said Greene, along with Reps. Tom Massie (R-Ky.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), will only embolden foreign adversaries like China, Russia and Iran with the effort to remove the speaker. Massie and Gosar have backed Greene's removal effort.
  • "She's not a serious legislator, quite frankly. That's why I think the way we've been treating her now is she is Putin's special envoy to Congress," Moskowitz told "Fox News Sunday" anchor Shannon Bream. "The idea that she would criticize anybody else that somehow we're not respecting America — the way you disrespect America is not by standing by our allies, not by strengthening us."

Go deeper: Democrats' case for saving Mike Johnson: He's not McCarthy