Conservatives Call for Mike Johnson to ‘Come Home’ to the Republican Party or Face Ouster Vote

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) convened Tuesday with a trio of Republicans calling for him to abandon his coalition government with Democrats and “come home” to the Republican Party that elevated him to the Speakership.

Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Paul Gosar (R) met in Johnson’s Capitol office for about an hour to continue a Monday discussion between Johnson, Green, and Massie. The group of conservatives continue moving closer to forcing a motion to vacate vote that could strip Johnson of his gavel.

Details of that Monday meeting, in which Greene and Massie proposed a series of accountability measures to ensure the Speaker would not advance an agenda opposed by Republicans, leaked early Tuesday to two establishment media outlets. Prior to the leaks, Greene and Massie had remained mum since leaving Johnson’s office.

“These are very reasonable requests, especially given that we have a Republican majority,” Greene said before walking into Johnson’s office, noting that since the details had leaked, she felt discussing the state of the negotiations was fair game.

Those requests for Johnson included abiding by the Hastert Rule (majority of the majority must support any bill), no more funding for Ukraine, defunding the special counsels prosecuting Donald Trump, and enforcing the “Massie rule” to pass a continuing resolution later this summer to automatically enact a 1% spending cut.

Johnson refused to concede he was negotiating with Greene and Massie despite the two threatening him with a forced vote on a motion to vacate. He suggested Tuesday the meetings were simply more of his routine meetings with lawmakers.

“It’s not a negotiation,” Johnson said. “This is how I’ve operated as Speaker. I committed to do it before I became Speaker, and we’ve been doing this for the last six months.”

Regardless of the characterizations, each side appears to have an understanding of where the other stands after the discussions.

Massie and Greene addressed a crowd of reporters Tuesday afternoon after that day’s meeting. The two said they have been patient but made clear the time had come for action from Johnson.

US Congressman Thomas Massie (C), R-KY, speaks with US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) as she holds a press conference to call for the dismissal of Dr. Anthony Fauci on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on June 15, 2021. (Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

“They’re not demands, they’re suggestions, and he’s been open to all four suggestions,” Massie said. “But as Marjorie says, the question is, what is he going to do to show that he’s moving in that direction, or what is he going to say to you all to show that he’s open to those suggestions.”

“Right now the ball is in Mike Johnson’s court,” Greene said. “He understands that he’s gotta be our Republican Speaker of the House. The things that was discussed about that got leaked down to the press are very simple and they serve the American people. They serve the people that made us the majority and we’re interested to see his actions, not his words.”

She said, “We didn’t give a specific timeline, but it’s it’s pretty short,” with Massie emphasizing they would not allow Johnson to dither.

“At some point, and I’ve communicated this to him, his plan is to drag this out so that the pressure comes off of this and to drag it out for for weeks or days even without making some movement in our direction,” he said. “And he would just be far better off to have this vote and get it behind him. It doesn’t serve him or us to drag this out.”

The two insisted that despite how a future vote on a motion to vacate breaks down, they are fighting for their Republican majority.

“We are speaking for the majority of the majority who have been left behind on three significant votes,” Massie said, “literally left at the altar [when Johnson] went and shacked up with the Democrats to get the FISA without warrants, to get the minibus passed, and to get the funding for Ukraine now.”

Greene and Massie pushed back on suggestions that their requests, particularly to defend Jack Smith’s prosecutions of Trump, would never fly in the Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) Senate.

“This body has budged on everything that Schumer wants, and its time for Schumer to budge on something that we want,” Massie said.

They insisted that Johnson should put an end to the flow of taxpayer funds to Ukraine’s war, with Massie saying Congress should spend “not another red cent this year, which is probably as long as he’s gonna be Speaker if he survives using Democrat votes on motion to vacate – assuming he doesn’t come through on some of these suggestions.”

The two appeared to have presented a straightforward but narrow path forward for Johnson to continue as Speaker, however unlikely it might be Johnson takes it.

“He’s either gonna be the Democrat Speaker or the Republican Speaker, and that’s the chance that we have given him,” Massie said. “If he wants to be a Republican Speaker, he can be a Speaker, but we’ve shown him the way to do that, the way to work for America, the way to work for our majority without throwing us under the bus. And it’s his choice now.”

Greene echoed that sentiment. “What I’m trying to do is give Mike Johnson a chance to be a Republican Speaker, and he seems willing to try to do that,” she said.

Whatever Johnson decides, the two are resolute in using all their leverage to end the coalition government Johnson has created.

“It’s time for him to come home now,” Massie said. “And we are representing – even though we’re only two voices, three counting Paul Gosar – we are representing the majority of the majority when we go in his office.”

Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.