House quickly rejects Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene's effort to remove President Johnson from office

WASHINGTON (AP) – Hard-line representative Marjorie Taylor Greene tried and failed in a surprise move Wednesday to oust the president Mike Johnsonhis long-running effort quickly and roundly rejected by Democrats and Republicans tired of the political chaos.

one of donald trumpMajor supporters of In Congress, Greene stood in the chamber and read a long list of “transgressions” that he said Johnson had committed as speaker. Colleagues booed in protest.

Greene of Georgia criticized Johnson's leadership as “pathetic, weak and unacceptable.”

As soon as Greene activated the vote on his motion to remove the speaker from his office, Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise countered by first calling for a vote to table it.

An overwhelming majority, 359-43, kept Johnson in his job, for now.

It's the second time in a matter of months that Republicans have tried to impeach their own speaker, an unprecedented level of party turmoil in a move rarely seen in American history.

As Greene moved forward despite pushback from Republicans at the highest levels, including Trump, GOP lawmakers filtered into Johnson, patting him on the back and grabbing his shoulder to secure their support .

“As I've said from the beginning, and I've made it clear here every day, I intend to do my job,” Johnson said afterward. “And I'll let the chips fall where they may. In my opinion, that's leadership.”

Johnson said the “distraction” was behind him and said he hoped it would “be the end of personality politics”.

The Georgia Republican had promised to force a vote motion to vacate if the Republican spokesman dared to advance a foreign aid package with funds for Ukraine, yes overwhelmingly approved late last month and was signed into law.

But in recent days, her effort appeared to have cooled, as she and Johnson repeatedly met for a possible resolution.

Louisiana's Johnson continued, saying he had been willing to take the risk of approving foreign aid, believing it was important for the United States to support Ukraine against Russian invasion, and explained that he wanted to be there. the “right side of history.”

In a highly unusual move, the speaker received a boost from Democrats led by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries from New York, whose management team had said yes time to “turn the page” over the GOP agitation and vote to introduce Greene's resolution, all but ensuring that Johnson's job is saved, for now.

“Our decision to prevent Marjorie Taylor Green from plunging the country into greater chaos is rooted in our commitment to solving problems,” Jeffries said after the vote.

Trump also weighed in after Johnson walked to Mar-a-Lago last month for support, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee making his point to the speaker. gesture of approval. And Trump's handpicked leader of the Republican National Committee urged House Republicans to abandon the move.

Before the House vote, Trump said on social media: “I absolutely love Marjorie Taylor Greene,” but said Republicans must now fight to defeat Democrats in the November election. He urged Republicans to introduce Greene's motion.

“At some point, maybe we will be, but this is not the time,” Trump said, to expel the speaker.

The move now carries its own political risks for Greene, a high-profile provocateur.

Greene was determined to force her colleagues to be on the record with their vote, putting them in the politically awkward position of supporting the speaker and seen as joining forces with Democrats to save him.

The recount showed the strength, but also the weakness, of his effort, as most lawmakers voted to move past the infighting and allow the Republican speaker, just six months in office, to keep the gavel.

“The Democrats saved him,” Greene said afterward.

Without Democratic support, the vote likely would have ended differently for Johnson, who has one of the smallest majorities in the House in modern times, with no votes to spare.

Last year, the House chamber was gridlocked when eight Republicans voted to oust Kevin McCarthy from the speaker's office and Democrats refused to help save him, the first impeachment of a president. Chamber in American History.

McCarthy's ouster sparked a nearly month-long search for a new GOP leader, throwing the chamber into chaos in an episode that Republicans wanted to avoid before seeking voter support in the election. november

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Associated Press writers Stephen Groves, Mary Clare Jalonick and Michelle Price contributed to this report.