Marjorie Taylor Greene pauses effort to oust Speaker Johnson after meeting

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green is scheduled to continue talks Tuesday with House Speaker Mike Johnson over Greene’s promise to bring forward a motion to remove him.

Whether Greene, R-Rome, will follow through with her threatened “motion to vacate” remains to be seen as members of her own party are lining up to condemn her.

The pressure campaign to get Greene to retreat from her effort has been intense and includes not only many rank-and-file House members but leaders of the national Republican Party and members of former President Donald Trump’s campaign team. Trump himself has not publicly criticized Greene, but he has also indicated he would like Johnson to stay where he is for now.

Last week, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, vowed to start the process of forcing a vote to remove Johnson the minute she got the chance.

“Monday, yeah,” she told the AJC on Wednesday. “As soon as we get back.”

Despite pushback from her party, Greene initially said she would not change her mind and would push forward with two fellow conservatives, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie and Arizona’s Paul Gosar, as her co-sponsors. But there has been, at least, a pause on her efforts.

Greene and Massie met with Johnson for two hours Monday afternoon. She emerged tight-lipped about her next steps, but she make clear she would not be taking action immediately because they had another meeting scheduled for this afternoon.

“We’ll be meeting with him again tomorrow based on the discussion we’ve had, and then I’ll have more information,” Greene told reporters Monday.

As a result, when the House took votes Monday evening the promised effort to force a vote on Johnson didn’t happen.

Greene, who was a close ally of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, had been critical of Johnson ever since the Louisiana Republican was named as his replacement in October. But she didn’t file her resolution to remove him from the post until on March 22 after he worked with Democrats to pass a series of long-term government funding bills.

Greene did not immediately call for a vote on her resolution, and it hung over Johnson’s head for weeks. Her tone changed in mid-April after Johnson decided to work with Democrats again in order to pass a slate of foreign aid funding measures, including new money to aid Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Greene had said all along that she would force a vote on removing Johnson from power if he did so. The foreign aid package passed in the House on April 20. A little over a week later, she called a news conference and announced she would call for the vote on Johnson’s ouster this week.

Not only do those efforts appear to be on hold for now, but those who were lining up to criticize Greene also appear to be following suit.

A group of moderate Republicans canceled their planned Monday evening news conference where they were going to back Johnson and pan Greene’s efforts to oust him after the two announced that they would be meeting again Tuesday.