Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) is still evading questions about when she might trigger a floor vote on her motion to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson, telling a sea of congressional reporters gathered around her as she walked down steps of the U.S. Capitol earlier this afternoon that she is still “developing plans.”
Greene’s comments come after House Democratic leadership issued a joint statement earlier this afternoon clarifying that the House Democratic caucus will table any motion to vacate introduced by Greene — effectively insulating Johnson’s speakership from hard-right pressure.
In the statement, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his fellow leaders praised Speaker Johnson for successfully maneuvering the four-part foreign aid package through the lower chamber despite intense opposition from his rightmost flank over its Ukraine aid provisions. “The time has come to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican obstruction,” the statement reads.
To Greene, that statement signaled House Democrats’s “official endorsement” of his speakership. “I’m a big believer in recorded votes because putting Congress on record allows every American to see the truth and provides transparency to our votes,” she said in a social media statement Tuesday afternoon. “Americans deserve to see the Uniparty on full display. I’m about to give them their coming out party!”
It’s far from clear if or when Greene and her fellow motion to vacate sponsors — Representatives Thomas Massie (R., Ky.) and Paul Gosar (R., Ariz.) — will trigger a floor vote, or who they even want to replace Johnson.
“I’ve got dozens of candidates in mind, dozens,” Massie told National Review earlier this month. Any names he’d like to share with the press? “No.”
What’s clear is that most members of the House GOP conference view the constant threats to Johnson’s speakership as a distraction that may imperil Republicans’ chances of holding on to their razor-thin majority in November. The GOP’s presumptive 2024 nominee is sending similar signals. Last week, former President Donald Trump took the wind out of their sails by praising calling Johnson a “very good person” who “stood very strongly with me on NATO.”