Marjorie Taylor Greene to force vote to oust US House Speaker Mike Johnson
- The move is a rare open act of defiance of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has publicly backed Johnson
- House Democratic leaders said they would help block Greene’s move by voting to set aside her effort
US congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a conservative firebrand, called on Wednesday for a vote to oust fellow Republican Mike Johnson as speaker of the US House of Representatives, a move that could embroil their party in chaos months before the November election.
The move is a rare open act of defiance of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has publicly backed Johnson as speaker and dismissed the ousting threat as “unfortunate”.
“Mike Johnson is not capable of that job - he has proven it over and over again,” Greene told reporters on Wednesday, saying she would call for the vote next week.
In a statement, Johnson called Greene’s threat misguided. “This motion is wrong for the Republican conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country,” he said.
If Greene’s “motion to vacate” were to succeed, the House would then have to select a new speaker for a second time since October, when hardliners ejected Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, in what was then an unprecedented action in US politics.