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The US House of Representatives swiftly voted to defeat an effort by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday evening, with Democrats and Republicans banding together to extend a lifeline to the embattled speaker.
The vote to table the motion was 359-43. Greene, who began threatening the motion to vacate last month, had been negotiating with Johnson for days and as of Tuesday appeared to back away from the threat. But that changed Wednesday afternoon, as she announced plans to move forward with the vote. It was short-lived.
Afterwards, Johnson called the vote “regrettable.”
“I appreciate the show of confidence from my colleagues to defeat this misguided effort,” Johnson told reporters. “Hopefully this is the end of the personality politics and the frivolous character assassination that has defined the 118th Congress.”
The effort was widely expected to fail. House Democrats, happy with Johnson’s decision to move aid to Ukraine, vowed to protect him from a motion to vacate last week.
Greene’s antics had frustrated rank-and-file House Republicans, some of whom worried about the political impact of a GOP embroiled in divisions. Those concerns were shared by former President Donald Trump, who has offered support for Johnson and reportedly pressed Greene to back off on a phone call last week.
“I will give her this credit. We basically said ‘put up or shut up’ she put up, and now it’s time to shut up,” Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-N.Y. said Wednesday afternoon.
Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga. was among the scores of Republicans caught off-guard by Greene forcing a snap vote on Johnson. He called Greene’s effort “absolutely counterproductive” and damaging to Republicans.
“The place can’t function if you’re changing the Speaker of the House every six months,” he said.
The View From donald trump
Trump weighed in shortly after the vote, expressing admiration for Greene while insisting that “this is not the time” for a motion to vacate. He characterized Johnson as a “good man who is trying very hard.”
“I absolutely love Marjorie Taylor Greene. She’s got Spirit, she’s got Fight, and I believe she’ll be around, and on our side, for a long time to come,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “However, right now, Republicans have to be fighting the Radical Left Democrats, and all the Damage they have done to our Country. With a Majority of One, shortly growing to three or four, we’re not in a position of voting on a Motion to Vacate. At some point, we may very well be, but this is not the time.”
Trump added: “if we show DISUNITY, which will be portrayed as CHAOS, it will negatively affect everything!”