WASHINGTON — The House drama continued into Friday as rumors spread that Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene could imminently move to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) from his leadership post — but her colleagues told Raw Story there was little appetite to join her fight.
The Republican Conference met in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, where Greene said she didn't address the issue with the members.
"I respect my conference," she said when asked why she didn't bring it up.
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And several of those members told Raw Story Friday that they aren't interested in hearing about it.
"I think we've been through way, way too much speaker drama already this year. That would be a mess to go through that again right now," Rep. Westerman (R-AR) told Raw Story when asked if he stood with Greene on removing Johnson.
"It wouldn't be good for, number one, the country. It wouldn't be good for the Congress, and I don't think it would be good for Republicans heading into the election," Westerman said.
Raw Story went on to ask how Johnson can satisfy that sect of the GOP and Westerman confessed not only did he not know, but he doesn't think Johnson does either.
Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) agreed, noting Greene doesn't have a lot of support.
"I think most of my colleagues in the conference are pretty dismissive of Marjorie's move there," he said Friday morning.
"Hopefully, my colleagues have learned a lesson: running Congress into this dysfunctional mess where you don't have a speaker doesn't help the country. That doesn't advance their agenda or objectives," he continued.
He went on to recall that Johnson once told him, "During the day I'm Speaker of the House, certain evenings I'm like a marriage counselor," speaking about the lawmakers as if they were in a dysfunctional union on the rocks.
Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) was one of the eight Republicans who helped remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). When asked if he'd heard anything about Johnson coming over to his side a little, he said he hadn't.
"I haven't heard any signals like that," Crane told Raw Story.
Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) is perhaps best known for his resignation from the Trump administration after it was revealed he was using military helicopters to go horseback riding with the vice president. It cost taxpayers about $53,000.
On Friday, he told Raw Story that the motion to vacate would be a "waste of resources and time."
With the younger members of Congress, Zinke said he's become a kind of ad hoc therapist. He told Raw Story it "seems like I'm almost Lucy in Peanuts with 5-cent counseling."
Asked if he is giving "basic civics lessons" to the members, including Greene, he confessed, "Yeah. I do a lot of that too."
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Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) was another lawmaker who aided the ousting of McCarthy, but he told Raw Story he hadn't made his mind up on Johnson yet. Margins are so thin in the GOP right now that Gosar could personally end Johnson's career.
Gosar claimed that Johnson said, "Border security is a hill to die on. That's some kind of a gofer hole now."
Asked if Johnson is letting him and members like him down, Gosar said, "Yeah," and walked off.
