Second Republican endorses push to oust Johnson

By Jordain Carney, Olivia Beavers, Anthony Adragna | 04/16/2024 01:30 PM EDT

The House speaker responded by saying he would not resign and calling his potential removal “not helpful.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is seen following a meeting of House Republicans on Tuesday morning. Francis Chung/POLITICO

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s strategy to pass long-stalled Ukraine aid has driven at least one Republican to join Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s bid to strip him of his gavel.

Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie on Tuesday became the second Republican to publicly back an attempt to end Johnson’s speakership, delivering the message directly to the Louisiana Republican during a closed-door GOP conference meeting.

Massie is the first House GOP member to join the effort by Greene (R-Ga.) amid rising conservative frustration with the speaker’s proposed foreign aid package. It’s not clear when Greene plans to force the ouster vote, though she has vowed to do it eventually.

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If she does so after Friday, when Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) is retiring, Johnson would need to lean on Democrats to save his speakership.

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