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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
House Democrats announce they would save Speaker Mike Johnson if | |
Marjorie Taylor Greene triggers her effort to oust him | |
By Haley Talbot, CNN | |
Updated: | |
8:59 PM EDT, Tue April 30, 2024 | |
House Democratic leadership announced Tuesday that Democrats would kill | |
an effort , amid threats from Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene | |
and other hardliners. | |
“At this moment, upon completion of our national security work, the | |
time has come to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican | |
obstruction. We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s | |
Motion to Vacate the Chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not | |
succeed,” the leaders wrote in a statement. | |
Greene suggested she will move forward Johnson in order to put members | |
on the record. | |
“If the Democrats want to elect him Speaker (and some Republicans | |
want to support the Democrats’ chosen Speaker), I’ll give them the | |
chance to do it. I’m a big believer in recorded votes because putting | |
Congress on record allows every American to see the truth and provides | |
transparency to our votes,” she . “Americans deserve to see the | |
Uniparty on full display. I’m about to give them their coming out | |
party!” | |
Johnson defended the fact that he needs Democratic support to remain in | |
his job and that he did not request assistance from the other side of | |
the aisle at a news conference shortly after Democrats’ announcement. | |
“I have to do my job,” Johnson told reporters. “We have to do | |
what we believe to be the right thing, what the country needs right now | |
is a functioning Congress.” | |
When pressed by CNN’s Manu Raju on if he would be comfortable relying | |
on Democratic support to keep the gavel, he said, “You hope you have | |
the support of everyone, the entire country.” | |
Johnson said he did not request the assistance of Democrats as he hangs | |
on to the speakership. | |
“I’ve not requested assistance from anyone,” he said. “I’m | |
not focused on that at all. I am focused on getting the job done and | |
getting the legislation passed,” he said. | |
Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, who joined Greene’s effort earlier | |
this month, told CNN late Tuesday that the Democrats’ promise to save | |
Johnson will only help the effort to oust him. | |
“If you want to get rid of Johnson, that was a gift,” he said, | |
pointing to House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries in particular. | |
“That was really a gift to our effort. I mean, to have Mike Johnson | |
endorsed by Hakeem Jeffries, the person who’s supposed to be our | |
foe?” | |
Meanwhile, Greene would not answer questions from CNN but said that she | |
and Massie would speak more about their effort to oust Johnson at a | |
news conference Wednesday morning. | |
The Democratic leaders announced the decision at the conclusion of | |
their caucus meeting Tuesday morning as House Republicans have told CNN | |
the effort behind the motion to vacate Johnson’s speakership is | |
“dead.” | |
“No, it’s dead,” Republican Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida said | |
earlier Tuesday when asked if there has been any movement on the threat | |
since the weeklong House recess. | |
Oklahoma Republican Kevin Hern, exiting the House Republican weekly | |
conference meeting on Tuesday before the Democrats’ announcement, | |
downplayed the motion-to-vacate threats and told reporters, “Nobody | |
is talking about it.” | |
Johnson told CNN on Monday he had not talked with Greene about the | |
motion to vacate threat. | |
This story has been updated with additional developments. | |
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