Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky) becomes the first Republican to publicly back Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) effort to remove Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House.
The move comes one day after Johnson announced plans to pass separate bills through the House providing funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
In a closed-door conference meeting Massie told lawmakers that he will co-sponsor the motion to vacate resolution over Johnson’s move.
“I just told Mike Johnson in conference that I’m cosponsoring the Motion to Vacate that was introduced by@RepMTG,” Massie wrote in a post on X/Twitter. “He should pre-announce his resignation (as Boehner did), so we can pick a new Speaker without ever being without a GOP Speaker.”
Massie told reporters that he decided to back Greene’s effort after Johnson reauthorized FISA and now his decision to put a Ukraine aid bill in the floor.
“There’s only one person right now who could stop us from going into what happened last fall, and that’s Mike Johnson,” Massie said, referring to the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, according to The Hill.
“He’s cleaning the barn, that’s obvious,” he continued. “He had three things to do: he wanted to do an omnibus that broke all the spending records; he wanted to do FISA without warrants; now he wants to do Ukraine. Those are the three things. There are people riding him like a horse here, they don’t care when the horse collapses, I do, because it’s gonna throw our conference into turmoil.”
Massie said he asked Johnson to resign during the meeting on Tuesday but he declined.
Greene filed a motion to vacate the chair last month after Johnson struck a deal with Democrats on a bipartisan spending package that averted a government shutdown.
Up until Tuesday she was that lone Republican calling for Johnson’s removal.
Greene said at the time that the motion was a warning and didn’t give a specific timeline for a vote to remove the speaker, but the Georgia congresswoman suggested to CNN that Johnson moving ahead with the Ukraine aid bill is her red line.
“I’m not saying I have a red line or a trigger, and I’m not saying I don’t have a red line or trigger,” Greene said. “But I’m going to tell you right now: funding Ukraine is probably one of the most egregious things that he can do.”
Some Democrats have said they will protect Johnson if there is a vote to remove him as Speaker, but only if he brings the Ukraine aid bill to the floor.
