Greene Escalates Threat Against Johnson, Making the Case for His Ouster

In a letter to Republicans, the far-right lawmaker from Georgia said the speaker had presided over a “complete and total surrender” to Democrats and President Biden, and must change course or be unseated.

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It is not clear whether Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s arguments will persuade her colleagues, including some other hard-right members who have voiced skepticism about a second move to oust a speaker.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday escalated her threat to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, distributing a scathing letter that made the case for his removal and took Republicans to task for tolerating his leadership.

In a five-page memo sent to her colleagues on Tuesday morning, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, Ms. Greene, a right-wing Republican from Georgia, assailed Mr. Johnson with a point-by-point takedown of his record as speaker. She accused him of fecklessly advancing President Biden’s agenda and wasting opportunities to advance G.O.P. priorities.

Ms. Greene warned her colleagues that they risked falling out of touch with their voters if they continued to accept what she called “a complete and total surrender” by Republicans under Mr. Johnson.

The letter left little doubt that Ms. Greene, who filed a resolution last month calling for Mr. Johnson’s removal but said it was merely “a warning,” intends to follow through on her threat to call a vote on unseating him.

“If these actions by the leader of our conference continue, then we are not a Republican Party — we are a uniparty that is hellbent on remaining on the path of self-inflicted destruction,” she wrote. “I will neither support nor take part in any of that, and neither will the people we represent.”

Her intensified threat came at a tricky time for Mr. Johnson, who has said he will soon bring up an emergency national security spending package that includes aid to Ukraine, something that has enraged the far right. He is also planning to hold a set of tough votes this week on legislation to renew a warrantless surveillance program that many in his party oppose.

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