Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia was booed on the House floor Wednesday afternoon after she tried to force a vote to oust Speaker Mike Johnson.
Greene first vowed to force a motion to force Johnson from power in March, citing deals the speaker had cut with Democrats to fund foreign wars and governments.
Each of those deals ignored the ongoing crisis at the country’s border with Mexico, irking Greene and eventually a number of other House Republicans who supported her plan to oust Johnson.
The Hill reported Greene moved to force a vote on the matter Wednesday. A C-SPAN camera caught the moment Greene introduced her resolution to vacate Johnson.
“The form of the resolution is as follows,” Greene said. “Declaring the office of speaker of the House of Representatives to be vacant.”
A chorus of boos from across the floor rained down on Greene, who fired back at those jeering her.
Marjorie Taylor Greene initiates the motion to vacate called and is booed by the House pic.twitter.com/TqCDx5Xl6g
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 8, 2024
“This is the uniparty, for the American people watching,” she said.
Do you think Mike Johnson has been a good speaker?
Yes: 20% (5 Votes)
No: 80% (20 Votes)
Greene was met with another round of booing, but order on the floor was eventually restored without a vote.
The Georgia Republican’s motion was shot down 359-43 with help from House Democrats and most Republicans, Mediaite reported.
On Tuesday, Greene implied while speaking to reporters that a conversation she had in private with Johnson a day earlier had been leaked by his office.
This is my statement before entering my 12:30PM meeting with Speaker Johnson. pic.twitter.com/JY7WCZ4CJB
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) May 7, 2024
She said her demands of the speaker were reasonable, and included forcing him to work for the Republican majority and asking him to decline to support any more military aid to Ukraine.
Later Tuesday, Greene unleashed on Johnson in a post on the social media platform X.
“This is Mike Johnson’s decision. Will he be a Democrat Speaker or a Republican one?” she asked. “He already delivered Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer’s agenda.”
This is Mike Johnson’s decision. Will he be a Democrat Speaker or a Republican one?
He already delivered Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer’s agenda.
If he’s capable of doing that, I think he’s extremely capable of meeting the suggestions I’ve asked of him on behalf of the Republican… pic.twitter.com/ry2Id1qkJJ
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) May 7, 2024
“If he’s capable of doing that, I think he’s extremely capable of meeting the suggestions I’ve asked of him on behalf of the Republican majority,” Greene added. “It takes actions, not words. But he can’t drag this out.”
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky spoke to CNN’s Manu Raju on Tuesday and said he supports Greene’s efforts to oust Johnson if he does not meet requests from House Republicans to put Americans first.
Massie indicated he was willing to give the speaker some time to meet the demand but the clock was running.
“If his plan is to drag this out so that the pressure comes off of this, and to drag it out for weeks or days even without making some movement in our direction, then he would just be far better off to have this vote and get it behind him,” Massie said.
The congressman concluded, “It doesn’t serve him or us to drag this out. And I’ve communicated that to him.”
