Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) held a powwow on Wednesday, with Ms. Greene continuing to threaten to oust Mr. Johnson for a “pass.” ing.[ing] This is a challenge for the Biden administration. ”
The nearly hour-long meeting took place a day after Greene escalated her standoff with Johnson with a five-page letter to House Republicans detailing her reasons for moving to step down as speaker on March 22. It was done.
WATCH — Green: House Speaker Johnson stabs Republican voters in the back, he needs a ‘pink slip’:
“[I] “He is the leader of the Republican Party, he is the leader of the opposition opposing the Biden administration, and we expect him to lead the Biden administration’s agenda as opposed to passing it.” said Greene as she left the Speaker’s office.
Georgia’s impassioned congressman insists he has not yet decided when or if he will push through the motion to defeat, and says Johnson’s future lies in reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and funding Ukraine’s serious war chest. He reiterated that it all depends on how the provision is handled. Against Russia.
“These two issues are going to touch a lot of our members,” she said.
“if [Johnson] Funding deep state and warrantless spying on Americans, he told Republican voters across the country that spying on President Trump and hundreds of thousands of Americans would continue. There is. ”
The fate of FISA in the House remains uncertain. Mr. Johnson had originally intended to pass FISA reauthorization with modest reforms by Wednesday, but a rules vote to advance the bill failed Wednesday afternoon after Mr. Greene and Mr. Johnson met.
Attention — Rep. Greene on motion to expel Speaker: With all due respect, “this may take some time”:
It is unclear what path Johnson will take going forward, but he insisted after the vote that he cannot allow his FISA authorization to lapse. The program’s authorization ends on April 19th, but most of the program’s monitoring activities can continue for up to a year.
However, serious obstacles remain. The main battle is over a measure that would require federal agents to obtain warrants to continue surveillance of American citizens caught in foreign surveillance.
Johnson’s bill, which contributed to Wednesday’s rejection of the rules, includes no such measures. A bipartisan bloc opposed to the bill was united primarily by its lack of a requirement.
An amendment to include a warrant requirement is likely to pass easily, although Johnson has previously fought to block such a vote. Despite previously supporting the warrant requirement, Johnson sided with the Biden administration and the intelligence community in opposing the policy shortly after taking the House speaker’s gavel.
“He gave me no guarantees” about including a warrant requirement or voting for an amendment, Greene said of Johnson. Wednesday’s rules vote, however, would have allowed such an amendment vote.
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday night, Donald Trump called on the House of Representatives to ‘kill’ FISA because it was used illegally against me and many others. They spied on my campaign!!!”
Trump’s statement likely played a role in Wednesday’s defeat of the rules, although he did not mention Johnson, Greene said Johnson “spoke to President Trump last night and we didn’t talk about FISA.” There wasn’t.”
Related Video — Matt Gaetz Grill FBI Director Ray: FBI Agents Use FISA as a ‘Creepy Personal Snoop Machine’:
House Judiciary Committee / YouTube
Even if Mr Johnson manages to get through the FISA reauthorization, there will be no reprieve, as Mr Johnson intends to bring his yet-to-be-announced funding plan for Ukraine to the floor next week.
In a reversal that reflects his own approach to FISA, Prime Minister Johnson now calls funding for Ukraine a “priority,” despite previously vehemently opposing funding for the war against Russia. I’m here.
Greene echoed the concerns of many Republicans on Wednesday, declaring that the southern border needs to be addressed before considering sending tens of billions of dollars to foreign countries that are not allies of the United States.
“I made it clear to Chairman Johnson that the only border that matters is the U.S. border,” she said. “If Chairman Johnson moves forward with funding Ukraine, he will be personally responsible for funding the continued killing of people in Ukraine.” A foreign country that is not our NATO ally. . ”
In addition to FISA and Ukraine, Green said he also discussed the handling of government funds with Johnson. The House passed seven of the 12 government funding bills for fiscal year 2024 before Johnson reached the gavel, but Johnson announced a massive new funding bill of 20 in March. We continued down the path of short-term funding extensions until we passed the bill.
“We discussed the omnibus and explained all the reasons why he failed as our Republican Speaker of the House,” Greene said, lamenting the funding of Biden’s “open border policy.”
WATCH — Kinzinger: MTG’s motion to step down could force Chairman Johnson to work with Democrats on foreign aid:
As for why Johnson moved the bus, Green said it was “classified.”
“There are many excuses, but [from Johnson] “We talked about why it happened, we talked about being part of a secret meeting and what was said there,” Green said.
Ms Green said she had made clear her concerns about Johnson’s leadership, without specifying the actions that would trigger the motion to step down.
“I didn’t give him any red lines. I have been very considerate in my press conferences and will continue to be considerate in my press conferences,” she explained.
She also continued to refute the “lie” that if she relinquishes the chairmanship, a Democratic Party chairman will take over.
“We’re not going to turn it over to the Democrats,” she said. “We have a majority. The only way that can happen is if Republicans vote for Hakeem Jeffries or refuse to vote for the Republican chairman.”
Despite not committing to a motion to step down, Green did not express optimism that Johnson would change course.
“Past actions set expectations for future actions of the Speaker,” Greene said, asking, “Why would you expect anything different?”
Bradley Jay is Breitbart News’ Capitol Hill correspondent. Follow him on X/Twitter. @BradleyAJay.
