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Marjorie Taylor Greene reveals foe Mike Johnson made a 'lot of excuses' during their 70-minute peace talks. So will she carry on bid to oust the Speaker?

8 months ago 23
  • The pair tried to hash out their differences for an hour and 10 minutes on Wednesday. 'We didn't walk out with a deal,' Greene said 
  • Greene's meeting with Johnson came just as another rule vote - this time to advance controversial spying tool FISA - failed on the House floor 

By Morgan Phillips, Congress Reporter On Capitol Hill For Dailymail.Com

Published: 20:56 BST, 10 April 2024 | Updated: 21:46 BST, 10 April 2024

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Speaker Mike Johnson in a meeting gave her 'a lot of excuses' and is not backing down on her threat to call up a bid to oust him. 

'We discussed the omnibus and I explained all the reasons why he failed as our speaker as the Republican Speaker of the House, he funded the Biden administration be funded their open border policies,' the Georgia Republican said. 

'This is not going to be tolerated by Republicans and it's not the way to win elections are Republican voters do not want to vote for a Democrat agenda. I got a lot of excuses as to why that happened,' she said. 

Greene launched the motion to vacate after Johnson passed three continuing resolutions, or CRs, that funded the government at fiscal year 2023 levels before passing a pair of packages costing $1.6 trillion to fund it in 2024. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Speaker Mike Johnson in a meeting gave her 'a lot of excuses' and is not backing down on her threat to call up a bid to oust him

She did not immediately force a vote on the issue, but meant it as a 'warning' and a 'pink slip.' 

The pair tried to hash out their differences for an hour and 10 minutes on Wednesday. 'We didn't walk out with a deal,' she said.

Greene's meeting with Johnson came just as another rule vote - this time to advance controversial spying tool FISA - failed on the House floor. 

She said she 'made clear' to the speaker that pushing FISA reauthorization and Ukraine aid could further threaten his job - even as she said she 'cares about the majority' too much to commit to any red lines for making good on her threat. 

'I did not give him a red line and I have been very considerate of my conference,' Greene said. 

'I don't doubt that he's prayed every day trying to do the right thing,' she quipped. 'But he has not done the job that we elected him to do.' 

Greene said she warned Johnson that 'he's going to be personally responsible for finding that continued murder of people in a foreign country that is not a NATO ally of ours, and that the American people do not support.' 

She also said Johnson offered her and advisory role on his team. 

'He discussed having a kitchen, a kitchen cabinet, a group that would be a group of advisers for him, asked me if I was interested, and I said I'll wait to see what his proposal is on that,' Greene told reporters. 'Right now, he does not have my support. I'm watching what happens with FISA and Ukraine. Those are the two things that we'll be watching.' 

Greene launched the motion to vacate after Johnson passed three continuing resolutions, or CRs, that funded the government at fiscal year 2023 levels before passing a pair of packages costing $1.6 trillion to fund it in 2024

Johnson could now bring the FISA bill back up under suspension - meaning he wouldn't need all his Republicans to pass a rule but he would need two-thirds of the House to pass a final bill. 

This could further rankle Johnson's detractors, and push them into the arms of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's motion to vacate threat. 

If Greene called her motion to vacate to the floor, there would be a vote to oust Johnson from the speakership that would only need a small handful of Republicans to sign on, if all Democrats again vote to boot a Republican speaker. 

One senior GOP aide told DailyMail.com there is a 'strong' likelihood anti-FISA bill Republicans would embrace the motion to vacate [MTV] if Johnson put the bill back on the floor under suspension. 

'Bringing it under suspension is another slap in the face to members who are already thinking about MTV.'

Whether Greene acts on her measure to oust Johnson over FISA or IKRaine is still up in the air. 

She and likeminded conservatives have warned the speaker not to bring foreign aid funding for Ukraine to the floor for a vote, saying the U.S. border crisis must first be addressed before doling out dough to wars abroad. 

However, pleas from the White House, Ukrainian President Zelensky, Democrats and moderate Republicans to vote on aid for the embattled country are also putting Johnson in a tricky position. 

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