Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene intends to launch a bid to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson before leaving Congress in early January, according to a new report.
MS Now detailed that Greene has been evaluating whether she has support among Republican colleagues to launch a successful attempt.
“Marjorie is approaching members to get to nine who will oust the speaker,” one source told the outlet, a reference to the fact that nine Republicans are needed to trigger the vote as a result of House rules adopted earlier this year.
Other lawmakers who spoke to the outlets claimed that the effort is likely to fail even if many are increasingly frustrated with Johnson.
Greene rejected the report, saying it was “not true” and she’s not “interested in participating” in the outlet’s piece.
The exiting lawmaker has been criticizing Johnson over the past weeks. An October report from the Washington Post noted that the attacks also have to do with some disillusionment on the way she and other female Republicans, including Rep. Elise Stefanik, are being treated.
She believes they are being punished or ignored while “weak” counterparts are rewarded.
“Whereas President Trump has a very strong, dominant style — he’s not weak at all — a lot of the men here in the House are weak,” Greene told the outlet.
“There’s a lot of weak Republican men and they’re more afraid of strong Republican women. So they always try to marginalize the strong Republican women that actually want to do something and actually want to achieve.”
In another passage of the interview, Greene compared former speaker Kevin McCarthy with Johnson, saying that the former boosted female Republicans, while the new leadership pushes them away. However, the outlet quoted Rep. Lisa McClain, the conference chair, who said the claim is “ridiculous.”
“Speaker Johnson has empowered women by treating them — and all members — with the respect they have earned,” she said. “He believes in merit, not identity politics, which has allowed countless women to serve alongside him and advise him.”
Greene also said recently that the GOP is set to lose the midterms next year, largely as a result of affordability issues in the country.
“I do believe at this time that Republicans will lose the midterms, and I think that’s unfortunate,” Greene said in an interview with CBS News.
She went on to take aim at Trump over his assessment of the economy. She rejected his claim that he gave the economy a “A+++++,” saying he “needs to be aware that he’s a billionaire president of the United States.”
“You can’t gaslight people and tell them that their bills are affordable, and you can’t tell them that the economy is in A+++. You just can’t do that, and I think it’s insulting to people’s intelligence,” she added.
Originally published on Latin Times
