Mike Johnson survived the impeachment attempt as speaker of the House of Representatives, pushed by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Unlike what happened with Kevin McCarthy at the end of 2023, Johnson managed to amass broad bipartisan support to retain his position.
Amid boos, Taylor Greene introduced and activated the motion to impeach Johnson, arguing that he no longer represented the interests of the GOP caucus in the House after he negotiated and approved foreign aid legislation for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
The vote took place on Wednesday afternoon and ended with 359 votes to keep Johnson, 43 to remove him and 7 abstentions. Only 10 Republicans joined Greene in her crusade against the House speaker.
NEW: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene booed by colleagues as she formally brings up vote to oust Speaker Mike Johnson over Ukraine aid.
Greene lacks GOP support to oust Johnson. https://t.co/X8nk1RZdJb pic.twitter.com/rCnuhqFtx3
— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 8, 2024
Through a statement released just a few days ago, the Democratic leadership had already warned that it would not accompany Greene.
"From the beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have put people before politics and found bipartisan common ground with traditional Republicans in order to deliver real results. At the same time, House Democrats have aggressively pushed back against MAGA extremism. And we will continue to do so. At this moment, upon completion of our national security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican obstruction. We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's motion to vacate the chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed," Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark, and Pete Aguilar co-wrote.
U.S. House tables Rep. Majorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA) motion to vacate the chair, 359-43-7. pic.twitter.com/xuUpC0k0HY
— CSPAN (@cspan) May 8, 2024
The 11 Republicans who voted to remove Mike Johnson
Andy Biggs
Chip Roy
Thomas Massie
Eric Burlison
Eli Crane
Warren Davidson
Paul Gosar
Alex Mooney
Barry Moore
Victoria Spartz
Marjorie Taylor Greene
How does an impeachment motion for the speaker of the House work?
In early 2022, when McCarthy was in the middle of fighting for the gavel, he granted the internal opposition, then led by Matt Gaetz, to reduce the number of congressmen needed to initiate a motion to impeach the speaker of the House.
The negotiation concluded that a single legislator would be necessary to do so, whether Republican, Democrat or independent. This representative, in this case, Greene, should "offer a privileged resolution declaring the Office of the Speaker vacant," thus initiating the procedure.
The Georgia Republican would have been successful if she had a simple majority (half plus one), the same as 218 colleagues. Once the process begins, procedural votes can be agreed to stop and annul it; a simple majority is also necessary.
While it does not rest on the text of the national Constitution, the impeachment motion is based on "Jefferson's Manual," which the House adopted in 1837 as a guide to parliamentary procedure. According to the manual, "a speaker may be removed at the will of the House."
In turn, Joseph Cannon, speaker of the House in 1910, launched the modern impeachment motion.
