Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy predicted Sunday that House Republicans will not try to replace him during this Congress.
Last Friday, firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) dangled a motion to impeach House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) on Friday, but she disguised the resolution as a warning. .
“Chairman Johnson is doing the best job he can. It’s a difficult situation.” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”. “I don’t think they can do it again.”
“I don’t think Democrats would agree to that.”
Last time, eight rebel House Republicans joined with a powerful Democratic caucus to oust Mr. McCarthy. But some House Democrats are already mulling saving Mr. Johnson.
Greene supported McCarthy and ousted him last October by condemning the insurrection led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). But she has since been unhappy with Mr Johnson over the government funding policy he imposed last Friday.
After Mr. McCarthy’s ouster, the House was paralyzed for nearly three weeks, with the Republican majority shrinking from 221 to 212 and soon expected to go from 217 to 213 next month.
That’s because Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) announced Friday that he will resign effective April 19, but under Wisconsin rules, Republicans cannot fill the seat until after the general election. It turns out.
Part of the reason the Republican majority is shrinking is due to McCarthy’s decision to resign last year. He declined Sunday to say whether he should have remained in Congress.
Mr McCarthy also reiterated his long-standing advice to Mr Johnson: “There is no need to fear a motion to resign.” Johnson insisted at a House Republican meeting earlier this month that he was not concerned about the motion to resign.
Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Johnson are not the first Republicans to face such threats.
Some House Republicans also moved to resign former House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in 2015, but Boehner ultimately resigned in his place.
Mr McCarthy hinted that the circumstances that led to his firing were different from those swirling around Mr Johnson. Mr. McCarthy said he was the victim of retaliation from Mr. Gates, whereas Mr. Johnson faced an issue-centered threat.
“Sometimes she would disagree and sit down and try to find common ground,” he said of Greene.
In contrast, McCarthy said: [Gaetz]The case was very different. It’s personal. ”
Mr. McCarthy has long claimed that Mr. Gaetz wanted him to intervene on the House Ethics Committee, but the congressman strongly denies that this was a motivating factor in his decision to fire him.
Mr. Gaetz is not backing Mr. Greene’s efforts to unseat him this time.
“If we remove this chairman, we will end up with the Democratic Party. When I resigned as the last chairman, I promised the country that we would not settle for a Democratic chairman,” he told reporters on Friday.
Despite his ouster, McCarthy has maintained close ties with former President Donald Trump and has not ruled out taking office in a second Trump administration.
“I think it’s wrong for people to worry about whether they’ll get a job in the next government. First we have to hold an election,” he said when asked about his ambitions.
