WASHINGTON – A third House Republican has signed on to impeachment Speaker Mike Johnson Unless Democrats intervene to save him, giving his opponents the votes they need to oust the Republican leader from power.
Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., signed “motion to vacate“If introduced as a privilege resolution, it would force a vote within two legislative days on whether to remove Johnson as speaker,” both Republicans said Friday, author Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. you will need to win.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., joined motion for earlier vacate this week, however, he said he did not want to force a vote, instead calling for Johnson’s resignation. The three Republicans and other hard-right members of the conference are angry that the speaker is bringing up the vote to provide aid to Ukraine, especially without the addition of provisions for US border security.
“We need a speaker who puts America first, rather than bowing to the reckless demands of warmongers, neo-cons and the military industrial complex that makes billions from an expensive and endless war half a world away,” Gosar said in a statement Friday.
If brought up, those three Republican votes would be enough to remove Johnson from the speakership if all Democrats vote against him. Some Democrats have indicated they will Step in to save Johnsonbut Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Friday that a “prerequisite to any conversation” about bailing out Johnson is the “entire” passage of the foreign aid bill.
The addition of a third Republican to the impeachment bid is a major blow to Johnson, raising the possibility that he will either be ousted or bailed out by Democrats, which could further undermine him in the conference.
“Johnson is done,” said one Republican who supported the speaker. “It’s sad.”
Green “has the votes,” said another Republican. The member said they believed Democrats would vote to bail Johnson out — especially after the bailout structure that drew the ire of some conservatives.
Massie said the intent was not to force a vote to oust Johnson, but instead to show the numbers and force the speaker to resign on his own. Massey told reporters that it would avoid weeks of chaos where the House must vote consecutively to appoint a speaker and instead allow Republicans to meet behind closed doors and choose a new leader before Johnson voluntarily steps down.
“The whole strategy has been to ask the speaker to resign like John Boehner resigned, where John Boehner cleaned out the barn, saying, ‘I’m leaving and you have plenty of time to replace me,'” Massie said. … Just like you give two weeks’ notice when you quit, we’re looking for Mike’s notice.”
Massie suggested that a vote to oust Johnson could leave Republicans in the minority; The balance of power in the House of Representatives is so close that electing Jeffrey speaker would not require much movement. Massey noted that a vote to impeach Johnson would cause the House to vote “sometimes twice, three times a day” after the vote. So voting for Jeffries to end the chaos may seem attractive to a handful of Republicans.
“If Johnson did it the way John Boehner did, he has no chance of being in the minority because it’s not fought on the ground. … When we do this in conference, Jeffries is not on the ballot,” Massie emphasized. “And that’s the goal.”
He added that he has 12 people in mind who could do a better job than Johnson.
Greene did not say whether or when he would be forced to vote on the motion to vacate.
Gosar announced he was joining the effort to oust Johnson shortly after the House voted to advance four foreign aid packages — one for Ukraine, one for Israel, one for Taiwan and a fourth aimed at China. The road to banning TikTok in the US as well as other national security priorities.
Johnson called the House package of foreign aid bills “the best product we can get under these circumstances” and noted that Democrats control the Senate and the White House.
He said if the House hadn’t acted, a discharge petition to force the House Democrats to pass the Senate-passed foreign aid package “would have taken place.”
“The reality here is that if the House hadn’t done this … we would have had to eat the Senate supplemental bill,” he said.