Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is softening her threat against Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), saying she will give the Speaker more time to demonstrate his commitment to conservative priorities before forcing a vote on her resolution to boot him from power.
Last week, Greene said she would “absolutely” force her motion to vacate proposal to the floor this week, citing Johnson’s track-record of working across the aisle with President Biden on major legislation.
But on Tuesday, after huddling with the Speaker for more than three hours over two days, Greene backed off that threat, saying she would not commit to moving her resolution to the floor before week’s end.
“We’ll see,” Greene said when asked if she would make good on her previous ultimatum. “It’s up to Mike Johnson.”
The shifting strategy came after Greene spoke by phone on Sunday with former President Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee who has gone out of his way to show his support for the embattled Johnson amid Greene’s ouster threat.
One source familiar with the conversation said Trump urged Greene to abandon her motion to vacate push, and a second source said he encouraged unity.
Greene declined to detail her conversations with Trump when asked on Tuesday.
“I have to tell you, I love President Trump. My conversations with him are fantastic,” she told reporters. “And again, I’m not going to go into details. You want to know why? I’m not insecure about that.”
Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, the Georgia Republican laid out a series of demands for Johnson, suggesting she would back down from her removal effort if he adopted them.
The list includes only bringing bills to the floor that have support from a majority of the GOP conference, a practice known as a Hastert rule; committing to not passing any additional aid for Ukraine; defunding special counsels, including Jack Smith, who is investigating former President Trump; and imposing a 1-percent spending cut across the board if Congress does not complete its regular appropriations process by Sept. 30.
“I’ve been reasonable, I’ve been patient, I’m not acting for myself, I’m not asking anything for myself. What I’m trying to do is give Mike Johnson a chance to be a Republican Speaker, and he seems willing to try to do that.”
DEVELOPING.
Brett Samuels contributed.
