MTG Decides It’s Worth Bucking Trump To Watch Dems … Do What They Already Announced They’d Do
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
After Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) declared House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) the “Democrat Speaker of the House” on Twitter Tuesday, the newly-inducted Republican National Committee co-chair Michael Whatley sat Greene down and asked her nicely to cut it out with the whole motion to vacate thing.
“He said, one, this is not helpful, and two, we want to expand and grow the majority in the House,” a person familiar with the discussion told Politico. “He was clear that any disruption to the conference on these efforts — including filing this — does not help the case for party unity.”
The message was not received, according to Politico. She told the Donald Trump-handpicked RNC leader that there was plenty of time for another speakership ousting, and for Americans to then forget about it, before the election. She also reportedly mentioned that Trump himself had communicated the same message to her personally earlier in the day Tuesday and she had no plans of budging.
Greene is mad about a number of legislative moves that Johnson has made with Democrats to get bills through the House, including the recent passage of crucial aid to Ukraine. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has since backed her up on this front, but thus far, he’s the only Republican willing to support her efforts to oust the speaker in the same way her bud Matt Gaetz did with Kevin McCarthy last fall.
In announcing that she intends to file a motion to vacate against Johnson “next week” earlier today, Greene made it clear that a significant part of her interest in going through with the doomed-procedural move is so that she can revel in seeing Democrats give Johnson a “warm hug and a big wet sloppy kiss.”
“Well I find it very satisfying that [Democrats] are ready to vote for Mike Johnson. And you wanna know something? I wanna see it happen,” she said during a press conference with Massie outside the Capitol building Tuesday morning. “Next week I am gonna be callin’ this motion to vacate. Absolutely calling it. I can’t wait to see Democrats go out and support a Republican speaker.”
The problem is, that’s not quite the own that Greene thinks it is. On Tuesday, House Democratic leadership put out a statement announcing that if Greene files the motion to vacate, Democrats will vote to table it — in part due to an interest in moving onto other legislation now that foreign aid package has been passed.
“Upon completion of our national security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican obstruction,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in the statement, alongside his deputies Reps. Katherine Clark (D-MA) and Pete Aguilar (D-CA).
The Best Of TPM Today
Fearing Blowback, A Couple Arizona Senate Republicans Join Democrats To Repeal 1864 Abortion Ban
Majority Of Election Officials Face Threats, And Significant Number Fear Assault, Survey Finds
Trump Coup Lawyer Jeff Clark Absolutely Scorched In DC Bar Finding
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
Ken Chesebro Has A Whole Lotta ‘Splaining To Do — David Kurtz
What We Are Reading
Trump: ‘Marco has this residency problem.’ — The Bulwark
United Methodists repeal longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy — AP
