MTG Just Won’t Leave Mike Johnson Alone

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Marjorie Taylor Greene is, once again, turning up the heat on House Speaker Mike Johnson.

On Tuesday, the Georgia congresswoman took her party’s congressional leader to task in a five-page letter to her Republican colleagues, suggesting that she might make good on her threat to oust him as Speaker. In the letter, which she later shared on social media, Greene portrayed Johnson as a weak-willed leader who has failed to live up to the goals when he took control of the Speaker’s gavel last October.

She pointed to the massive spending bills Johnson helped to usher through the House last month in order to keep the government open, saying the spending package fully funded “Biden’s deadly border invasion” and other causes that Republicans didn’t support, without allowing them enough time to weigh in on the legislation’s specifics. The appropriations package passed Congress and was signed into law by Joe Biden despite significant Republican opposition.

Greene also knocked Johnson for failing to defund Special Counsel Jack Smith’s pending investigations into Donald Trump, which she called a “witch hunt,” dramatically suggesting that his lack of action could lead to the former president’s death. “If convicted, this would be a death sentence for President Trump. A death sentence for President Trump is precisely what the Democrats want. They want him dead, and our power of appropriations could have stopped it, but Speaker Johnson didn’t even try,” she said.

Before Congress departed for the Easter break last month, Greene filed a “motion to vacate the chair,” the legislative process that opponents of Kevin McCarthy used to vote him out of the speakership. At the time, Greene suggested that this move was more of a warning to Johnson. But in recent days, the congresswoman has indicated that Johnson’s job security will depend on whether he holds a vote on sending more aid to Ukraine. In her letter, she accuses Johnson of hypocrisy on the issue, writing, “Mike Johnson is publicly saying funding Ukraine is now his top priority when less than seven months ago he was against it.” Johnson indicated last month that he intends to move forward on aid for Ukraine despite the fact that his party is divided on the issue.

Though Greene stop short of saying explicitly that she would be following through on her earlier attempt to oust Johnson, the letter is clearly intended to pressure the speaker as he prepares to reveal his approach to Ukraine. Punchbowl News reports that Johnson’s plan will likely drop next week.

For the moment, Johnson appears to be trying to play nice. “I respect Marjorie. She will always have an open door to the Speaker’s office. We do have honest differences on strategy sometimes but share the same conservative beliefs,” he said in a statement to CNN last week.