House Speaker Mike Johnson will meet Monday afternoon with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia conservative who plans to call up a vote to remove him this week.
A top GOP aide told The Washington Times that the two will meet ahead of Monday night’s roll call votes, which will be the first opportunity for Ms. Greene to announce her plans to introduce a motion to oust Mr. Johnson.
Ms. Greene, who said she would bring up the motion some time this week but did not specify a day, requested the meeting with Mr. Johnson.
She is facing significant pushback from rank-and-file in the GOP conference as well as the Republican National Committee, who say the move to try to oust the Louisiana Republican will throw the GOP-led chamber into chaos and hurt the party ahead of the 2024 election.
Ms. Greene, along with Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican, says Mr. Johnson deserves to be removed because he has partnered with Democrats on key legislative priorities, including major spending legislation, a massive foreign-aid package and the reauthorization of a warrantless government surveillance tool.
While at most only a handful of Republicans are likely to back Ms. Greene’s vote to push out Mr. Johnson, the GOP’s razor-thin majority means some Democrats would be needed to block the Republican coup.
The top three Democratic leaders announced they will vote to save Mr. Johnson, but such a vote would be politically risky for both parties.
Mr. Johnson told The Times that Ms. Greene’s threat to bring up the motion is “a recipe for chaos,” and that lawmakers in the GOP conference “don’t want to engage in that right now.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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