House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-Louisiana) job is in deeper peril after a third House Republican officially endorsed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Georgia) motion to vacate him.
According to NBC News, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) is now joining Greene's campaign to strip Johnson of the gavel, along with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky). With three Republicans on board, Johnson could lose his job if all Democrats also vote in favor of the motion in the event Greene brings it to the floor.
"Johnson is done," an unnamed House Republican supporting Johnson told NBC. "It’s sad.”
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Another Republican speaking anonymously told NBC that Greene now "has the votes" to force Johnson out unless Democrats vote to save him. Democrats have previously indicated that they would back Johnson if he holds a vote on sending more funding to Ukraine.
Massie – who officially joined Greene's effort earlier this week after the speaker announced his plans to hold votes on four separate foreign aid bills — said he expects Johnson to prevail after the initial motion to vacate. However, the Kentucky Republican is holding out hope that the vote will indicate to the speaker that he has lost the confidence of the House Republican Conference and will resign on his own.
“The strategy all along has been to ask the speaker to resign in a fashion like John Boehner resigned, where John Boehner cleaned the barn and said, 'I’m leaving and you’ve got plenty of time to replace me,'" Massie told NBC. "So, in that circumstance, we didn’t end up with the speaker-less House. ... Just like when you leave a job, you give two weeks' notice, we’re looking for Mike’s notice.”
He added that Johnson's resignation would be preferable to a vote to force him out, which could allow for the possibility of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) to become speaker despite Republicans having larger numbers. Because Republicans only have a few seats more than Democrats in the House of Representatives, Massie said it's possible that the fractious process of having multiple candidates and multiple votes for speaker could prompt some Republicans to simply vote for Jeffries just to bring the House back to regular order.
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"If Johnson would do it in the manner that John Boehner did it, there’s no chance to go into the minority because it’s not fought out on the floor," Massie said. "Jeffries is not on the ballot when we do this in conference. And so that's the goal."
Greene first suggested bringing a motion to vacate Johnson after the speaker worked with Democrats to pass a $1.2 trillion appropriations bill to avoid a government shutdown in March. While she has not yet officially introduced the motion, she told the Wall Street Journal that she may do so as retaliation for his work to pass the four foreign aid bills to fund U.S. allies overseas like Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, rather than on additional border security measures on the Southern border.
"If a package is put forward by the speaker that would fund Ukraine and not secure the border, [the motion to vacate] should be called up and it should be supported," an unnamed House Republican told the Journal earlier this month.
Click here to read NBC's report in full.
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