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Embattled Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is defending his leadership amid a threat to oust him by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and he’s invoking the Bible to try to save his job. Greene has threatened if Johnson puts a bill on the floor to help support Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s illegal war she will move to have him replaced.
“I try to follow all the biblical admonitions as I do every day and one of them says, ‘Bless those who persecute you.’ I’m getting a lot of practice in that right now,” Speaker Johnson, smiling slightly, told David Brody (video below) after the Christian Broadcasting Network reporter mentioned Congresswoman Greene has attacked him personally, and attacked his faith.
“And that ‘a soft word turns away wrath,’ and that, you know, those who are opposing you, you don’t hate them and return you know, evil for evil, you return good for evil,” Johnson continued. “And so that’s the way I’ve lived my life. That’s the way I operate, and so I don’t harbor any ill will towards Marjorie. Never have. I like Marjorie.”
Asked if he’s spoken to Rep. Greene after she filed a motion to vacate, which allows her to call a vote to oust the Speaker of the House as Republicans did last year to Kevin McCarthy, Johnson said he “tried over the two week break.”
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“She wasn’t interested in speaking,” he admitted. “And that’s okay.”
Johnson and Greene are now slated to meet some time on Wednesday.
“Look, Marjorie is upset about the spending bill. And guess what, so am I. It’s not the bill that I would have drafted or all of us would have drafted if we had the majority in the House and the Senate and had a Republican president that would sign it in law, but instead we have Democrats in those other two chambers,” Johnson explained, “in the Senate and of course the Oval Office, and so they know over here that we have a one vote margin so I have virtually zero leverage to be able to negotiate, get a better package.”
Brody, moving the interview back to Marjorie Taylor Greene, asked, “So you’ve reached out but she’s not returning your calls or something along those lines?”
“We exchanged text messages over the break, multiple times, and told her that I really would love to visit by phone, or her convenience and she said what she wasn’t interested in that so,” Johnson replied.
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Johnson did warn that “it’s really a very dangerous thing to be waving around a motion to vacate right now, when we’ve got to demonstrate we can keep this country moving forward. And I hope that she’ll realize that in the end, and I think others are trying to make that case.”
He also warned, “if the chair is vacated, it’s certainly possible you get a Democrat speaker.”
On Wednesday, Johnson also spoke with congressional reporters about Rep. Greene, calling her a “friend,” and a “colleague,” but refused to say when Ukraine aid legislation would see a vote on the House floor. Both Greene and Donald Trump staunchly oppose Ukraine aid.
“There are a lot of different ideas on that, as you know, it’s a very complicated matter. At a very complicated time,” Johnson said. “And the clock is ticking on it and everyone here feels the urgency of that, but what’s required is that you reach consensus on it. And that’s what we’re working on.”
Greene, a self-professed “proud Christian nationalist” has been accused by some of her Republican colleagues of
Johnson’s Wednesday remarks came after Greene on Tuesday posted, “I spent time this weekend writing a letter to all of my Republican colleagues laying out clearly why we need a new Speaker of the House. Mike Johnson has surrendered to Joe Biden at every turn and is no different than Nancy Pelosi. He has funded the left’s radical agenda time and time again!”
Recently, Greene has been accused by Republican former U.S. Rep. Ken Buck of “getting her talking points from Russia.” Buck also called her, “Moscow Marjorie.”
Watch the video of Speaker Johnson below or at this link.
JUST IN: House Speaker Mike Johnson on reaching out to Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene over her motion to vacate: “I tried over the two-week break. She wasn’t interested in speaking.” @SpeakerJohnson tells me, “pulling a motion to vacate or removing a speaker right now is… pic.twitter.com/vvmxiAf70t
— David Brody (@DBrodyReports) April 10, 2024
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