As Speaker Mike Johnson considers his options for a bill that would provide more military aid to Ukraine, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is warning that she will push to remove him from his leadership position if he tries to send more assistance to the war-torn country.
Operating under the exceptional rules of the current Congress, which empower a single representative to trigger a vote to remove the speaker, Greene filed a motion to vacate last month but did not push for a vote, leaving it as more of a threat than an active effort to get rid of him. However, Greene is making it clear that Ukraine aid is a red line of sorts for her, one that could spark an effort to force a vote on the matter.
This past weekend, Johnson criticized internal divisions in the Republican House conference, saying they distract from the group’s mission, which he said rather grandiosely “is to save the republic.” He referred to Greene as “a friend” and said they had communicated via text about the problems facing House Republicans.
But on Tuesday, Greene called for Johnson’s removal, accusing him of being “no different than Mitch McConnell,” the Republican leader in the Senate who is seen as too establishment-friendly by many right-wingers in the House and who supports sending more aid to Ukraine. She also shared on social media an article from a far-right website titled, “Mike Johnson’s ‘Ukraine First’ Agenda Shows He’s No Different Than Mitch McConnell.”
Later Tuesday, Greene said Johnson is “doing the Deep State’s dirty work” as he plots to provide Ukraine aid. “Again, we need a new Speaker of the House,” Greene wrote on social media.
Greene criticized the idea of providing aid to Ukraine as a loan, a proposal being considered by Johnson as part of an effort to mollify Republican concerns about new deficit spending. “It’s the most outrageous — that is the biggest lie,” Greene told The Washington Examiner. “And the only people who believe that lie are in Washington, D.C., because the American people know it’s a lie. The American people know that Ukraine is not going to pay us back any money.”
