Marjorie Taylor Greene Holds Her Fire as Trump Sides With Johnson

WASHINGTON—Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) laid out a list of demands for House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday but signaled she was wavering on whether to force a vote to oust him this week after blowback from other Republicans and former President Donald Trump.

The meeting among Johnson, Greene and her ally Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.), the second in two days, came after Greene vowed last week to call a vote in her long-shot bid to remove the speaker.

“It’s not a negotiation at all,” said Johnson (R., La.) ahead of Tuesday’s sit-down. “I take Marjorie’s ideas and Thomas’s and everybody else’s equally, and we assess them on their own value,” he said.

Greene, who first made the threat of a vote back in March, accuses Johnson of siding with Democrats on spending bills and funding for Ukraine, among other complaints, and said last week that she would force a vote this week on removing him as speaker.

In the discussions with Johnson, she and Massie are insisting that he commit to a series of demands: no bill passes without the support of a majority of the Republican conference; no further Ukraine funding; that special counsels be defunded; and that any short-term spending deal to fund the government come with a 1% cut.

“These are not unreasonable requests. These are the right things to do,” Greene said. Greene declined to answer questions about whether she still planned to force a vote on removing Johnson this week. “Right now the ball is in Mike Johnson’s court,” she said. “He understands that he needs to be our Republican speaker of the House.”

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said at a joint appearance with Johnson last month that the novice speaker was “doing about as good as you’re going to do.”

The former president spoke by phone with Greene this past week to express his disapproval with her efforts to oust Johnson, according to people familiar with the conversation. Trump told her that such a move risked destabilizing the party ahead of his rematch with President Biden this fall, these people said.

A person close to Trump said he doesn’t always like what Johnson does but he thinks he is well-intended. Trump thinks the party “needs to be fighting on the outside, not inside,” the person said, adding that Trump has told Greene that many times. While Trump isn’t pushing Greene away from his orbit, “She’s not No. 1 on his hit parade right now,” the person said. Greene has declined to characterize her conversations with Trump.

When Johnson was asked Tuesday about whether he expected to remain party leader next year—very much an open question—he responded that he intended to lead the conference in the future and added that he was “glad to have the support of President Trump.”

Most Republicans have little appetite for another speaker vote, and House Democratic leaders have said they would back Johnson in any effort by dissident Republicans to oust him, unlike last year when Democrats helped eight rebel Republicans sink then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R., Fla.), a Johnson ally, said Greene must be looking for an exit ramp, “or at least a way to say she didn’t lose.” Gimenez said he would advise Johnson not to agree to any of her demands. “You never negotiate under threats like that.”

Under current House rules, any single member can make a motion to vacate the chair to remove the current speaker and run a new election.

“This is about trying to get our country to function and we’re being held hostage by these wing nuts,” said Rep. Tom Suozzi (D., N.Y.).

Greene filed her motion to vacate in March, saying she was furious at Johnson for relying on Democratic votes to avoid a government shutdown. She was further incensed by his support for bipartisan bills to fund Ukraine aid and reauthorize a surveillance bill, and she said last week she intended to bring up her motion this week as a privileged motion. That would give it special consideration ahead of other business, and would force the speaker to schedule a vote within two legislative days.

In October, when eight Republicans and all Democrats voted to remove McCarthy, it was the first time in history that the motion to vacate had successfully been used to oust a speaker.

Three weeks of Republican feuding and turbulence followed, as Republicans repeatedly tried and failed to elect a new speaker. Johnson was finally elected, with the support of all Republicans but no Democrats, on Oct. 25.