Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene compared House Speaker Mike Johnson to Nancy Pelosi as she shared her frustrations with how he handled the government funding bill and his plans to pass more Ukraine aid.
“People are fed up with Republicans that say one thing and turn around and literally join the flock and just continue the same old crap everybody’s tired of. And here, Mike Johnson, he’s literally turned into Mitch McConnell’s twin and worse. He’s a Democrat,” Ms. Greene, Georgia Republican, told CNN in a phone interview.
“There’s not even any daylight between him and [former Democratic House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi at this point,” she said.
Ms. Greene has been on the warpath against Mr. Johnson since he pushed through a $1.2 trillion spending bill last month with a majority support from Democrats. As the bill was being passed, she filed a motion to vacate the chair to oust Mr. Johnson from the speaker post.
Ms. Greene said that Mr. Johnson was elected to the position because of his conservative views, but now voters are “furious that our so-called Christian conservative, Republican Speaker of the House did this to them.”
Mr. Johnson is acting as if he’s a moderate, she said, and if he were ousted from the position, and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries were to get the position, it wouldn’t even make a difference.
“We cannot get anyone more moderate than Mike Johnson,” Ms. Greene said. “I would argue Mike Johnson, we can’t get any further left than Mike Johnson. I think the Democrats might be happier with him than they are with Hakeem Jeffries.”
In terms of Ukraine, Mr. Johnson has been testing the waters about using the REPO Act, a bipartisan bill that would transfer seized Russian assets to Ukraine. There are also proposals to make the aid a loan to Ukraine, which Ms. Greene called “the biggest bunch of heaping, steaming pile of bull—.”
She has not yet moved to call for a vote to remove Mr. Johnson from his position, but it could be coming soon if the two keep disagreeing. Her conservative colleagues have warned her not to do it, but she remains unwavering on the possibility.
Mr. Johnson has acknowledged the disagreements with Ms. Greene but has stuck by his decision to take up a Ukraine aid bill.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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