Speaker Johnson Dismisses Moving to Vacate as ‘Absurd’

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., dismissed the gathering threat within the GOP on Tuesday to oust him from his House leadership role.

“I am not resigning and it is in my view an absurd notion that someone would bring a vacate motion,” Johnson said, according to ABC News. “I am not concerned about this. I am going to do my job.”

Johnson’s comments seemingly come in response to the opposition of Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who posted on X on Tuesday that he informed the speaker of his intention to support the motion to vacate put forward by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

“I just told Mike Johnson in conference that I’m cosponsoring the Motion to Vacate that was introduced by @RepMTG,” Massie said. “He should pre-announce his resignation (as Boehner did), so we can pick a new Speaker without ever being without a GOP Speaker.”

In late March, Greene filed a motion to vacate the chair, the same procedure used by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., in October to oust then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

“We need a Speaker of the House who will fight to secure America’s border at all cost!” Greene wrote on X at the time. “Not one that passes a trillion dollar Democrat wish list that continues the border invasion, funds the weaponized government, and breaks our own conference rules. I’m done with this one.”

When American Tribune co-founder Jason Robertson asked Massie on X what prompted his move, the Kentucky Republican indicated he had a number of reasons for supporting Greene’s motion.

“Whoa. What was the straw that broke the Camel’s Back?” Robertson asked. “FISA? Foreign War Funding? Spending more than Nancy Pelosi? All of the above?”

“All of the above,” Massie responded. “This camel has a pallet of bricks.”

According to Politico and Axios, Massie’s public confrontation of Johnson elicited boos and catcalls from the majority of the Republican conference. He is the first member of the House GOP to publicly back Greene’s motion to remove Johnson since her letter of discontent to colleagues last week.

Massie’s clash with Johnson on Tuesday followed the speaker’s announcement that he plans to bring multiple foreign aid bills to the floor, Axios reported.

Complicating the effort to send Johnson packing, Politico reported last week that former President Donald Trump’s campaign is not happy about Greene’s motion to vacate.

Though the Georgia congresswoman has been a staunch supporter of the former president, Trump’s team is worried Greene’s threat to incite another speakership battle will undercut the party’s chances come November. The stakes for the GOP are high, as it hopes to retain control of the House, flip the Senate and win back the White House.

“100% distraction. Unwanted. And just stupid,” one Trump insider told Politico of Greene’s motion. “We’re not going to get trapped into this cycle of bulls**t that comes out of members of the House.”