House Rejects Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Effort To Oust Speaker Mike Johnson — Update

Ted Johnson
·2-min read

UPDATE: The House of Representatives overwhelmingly rejected Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, a move that would have sent the chamber into another round of chaos.

Greene’s motion to oust Johnson was tabled 359-43, with seven members voting present. Eleven Republicans and 32 Democrats voted against sidelining the motion.

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The vote was a resounding defeat for Greene, who had insisted that she had substantial support for her effort.

CNN and MSNBC did extensive coverage of the vote, but Fox News largely stuck with The Five, doing a more complete update on Special Report at 6 p.m. ET.

That’s quite a contrast to October, when the House rejected efforts to table a resolution to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy. He then was removed as speaker, with 208 Democrats joining with eight Republicans.

That led to a protracted effort to find a successor who could amass a majority to become the next speaker. Over the next couple of weeks, Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan and Tom Emmer each waged efforts to become speaker, before the party eventually settled on Johnson, a relative unknown.

PREVIOUSLY: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) triggered another intra party battle today, as she called for a vote on her motion to oust Speaker Mike Johnson.

Greene was booed after she took the floor of the House and announced her motion to vacate.

Her move is likely to fail, as Democratic leaders have said that they intend to give Johnson the votes to survive, unlike what happened to the previous speaker, Kevin McCarthy. The latter’s ouster led to a protracted battle in October to find a successor who could amass a majority to be elected speaker.

House leadership has two legislative days to take up the motion, and it was not immediately clear when a vote would take place. With a 217-213 majority, Republicans can only lose one vote in a party-line roll call. Greene was joined in her call to oust Johnson by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).

As Greene railed against Johnson on the House floor, CNN spoke with some of her Republican colleagues on the steps of the Capitol. One by one, they blasted Greene for engaging in a temper tantrum and engaging in attention-grabbing antics.

Asked whether Greene should be punished for her move, Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) said, “One dumpster fire at a time.”

“Moscow Marjorie has lost her mind, clearly the result of space lasers,” said Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), to CNN’s Jake Tapper.

Greene’s criticism of Johnson included that he has relied on Democratic votes to pass major legislation, including a recent national security bill to provide assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

More to come.

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