House blocks Greene’s resolution to oust Johnson

The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to protect Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from a conservative coup, torpedoing an effort by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to oust the GOP leader from the top job.

The chamber voted 359-43-7 on a motion to table Greene’s motion to vacate, preventing the removal resolution from hitting the floor for a vote.

The final vote — which was widely expected amid bipartisan opposition to the ouster gambit — deals a major blow to Greene, who filed her measure more than a month ago and had threatened to trigger it ever since.

It means Johnson, who won the gavel in October following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), will remain in the top job. But the vote puts him in the precarious position of being a GOP Speaker propped up by Democrats, which could earn him the ire of conservatives.

In brief remarks delivered shortly after Wednesday's vote, Johnson thanked his colleagues for their support.

“I appreciate the show of confidence from my colleagues to defeat this misguided effort,” he said. “That is certainly what it was.”

“As I’ve said from the beginning and I’ve made clear every day, I intend to do my job. I intend to do what I believe to be the right thing, which is what I was elected to do, and I’ll let the chips fall where they may,” he continued. “In my view, that is leadership.”

Greene filed her motion to vacate Wednesday afternoon, a surprise to some after it appeared that the Georgia Republican was backing off her threat. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) immediately motioned to table the measure.

Updated: 6:25 p.m.