Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene maintained Sunday that she plans to follow through with an effort to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson if he doesn’t resign after the House passed a $95 billion package that includes foreign aid for Ukraine.
“Mike Johnson’s leadership is over. He needs to do the right thing to resign and allow us to move forward in a controlled process,” Greene, R-Ga., said in an interview on Fox News’ "Sunday Morning Futures." “If he doesn’t do so, he will be vacated.”
Asked whether she plans to move forward with her motion to vacate Johnson’s speakership, she said, “It’s coming regardless of what Mike Johnson decides to do."
Reached for comment about the House's changing posture toward a motion to vacate, office directed NBC News to recent remarks from Johnson, R-La., which included his saying Saturday that he doesn't walk around the Capitol "being worried about a motion to vacate."
"I have to do my job. We did. I’ve done here what I believe to be the right thing, and that is to allow the House to work its will," he told reporters Saturday. "And as I’ve said, you do the right thing and you let the chips fall where they may, and I’ll continue to do that.”
Johnson faces backlash from hard-right members of his party after he joined Democrats on Saturday to pass a critical foreign aid package that included $60.8 billion of aid for Ukraine. Republican Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona and Thomas Massie of Kentucky have signed on to the motion to vacate, which Greene authored but hasn't yet brought to the floor as a privileged resolution.
If the motion is brought to the floor, the three Republican votes supporting it could be enough for passage if they are joined by all Democrats in the chamber. But some House Democrats have signaled that they plan to vote to save Johnson.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., a moderate who is on the Foreign Affairs Committee, blasted Greene’s effort to oust Johnson on Sunday when he was asked about her criticism of the foreign aid package.
“What Marjorie Taylor Greene and what Thomas Massie and what Paul Gosar are trying to accomplish by removing the speaker of the House in this very moment after Oct. 7 would only embolden China, it would only embolden Russia, [and] it would only embolden Iran,” Moskowitz said on "Fox News Sunday."
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a progressive who is a member of the Armed Services Committee, said Sunday he would protect Johnson’s job if members of his far-right flank go through with their threat to oust him.
“I’m a progressive Democrat, and I think you would have a few progressive Democrats doing that. And I disagree with Speaker Johnson on many issues, and I’ve been very critical of him, but he did the right thing here,” Khanna said in an interview on ABC News’ “This Week,” referring to Johnson’s bringing the foreign aid package to the floor. “And he deserves to keep his job till the end of this term.”
The shift from Democrats is noteworthy given their lockstep support of the motion to vacate that led to the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in October, which ultimately resulted in Johnson’s getting the gavel. Members tried to remove speakers in previous congressional terms, but no motion ever reached the floor for a vote.
