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tv   Reps. Greene Massie on Motion to Oust Speaker Johnson  CSPAN  May 1, 2024 11:12pm-11:52pm EDT

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>> good morning, everyone and thank you for taking the time to come out this morning. it's really easy once you get elected and come to washington, d.c. to put it in cruise control, and just go on with the status quo. but that's not why i ran for congress and that's not why i came to washington, d.c.. as a matter of fact, i was one of the americans in 2016 that looked at a presidential stage of 17 republican candidates, and the only one that stood out to me was donald john trump. the very man that stood out and referenced american voters all over the country that were sick and tired of the republican establishment failing us over and over again. that's why i supported him in 20 16. that's why i supported him in 2020, and that's why i support him now.
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but what happen when president trump became president in the republican majority in the house and the republican majority in the senate is the republican establishment under paul ryan's failed president trump and failed the agenda that we wanted to get done. they passed a 1.3 trillion dollar omnibus that did not fund the wall after we had stood at trump rally after trump rally and said, build the wall. they funded the party agenda and the status quo that washington, d.c. just wants to keep going and keep going. you know what happened, that's by republicans lost the midterms in 2018 and nancy pelosi became speaker. republicans didn't fight. they allowed the russia hoax, and then what happened when democrats took over the house, it was impeachment number one and the entire war against president trump continued.
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that war on president trump is a war on the same voters today that are ready to go and vote for that man in november and put him in the white house in january. and that's exactly what is happening. he's winning poll after poll after poll because he's the only one fighting while republicans in the house and republicans in washington continue to gave and be part of the unit party. mitch mcconnell has a 6% approval rating for a reason. and that's because he has caved to the democrats and continued the disgusting business model in washington, d.c. that thrives on forever wars. and thrives on building a bigger government and taking away the freedoms bit by bit by bit of americans. republican voters in america, americans altogether gave republicans the house. they gave us a house in 2022. you want to know why?
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because they were fed up with the democrat agenda that is destroying this country. wide open borders. an economy that's crashing, freedoms being stolen, shutdowns, all the horrors that happen when joe biden took the white house and democrats took full control. that's by we won the house in 2022. but what have we done with it? what are we giving republican voters to vote for? president trump is the reason why people are going to turn out in november and i'm here fighting every single day to push my party to be a republican majority that will fight and pass his agenda when he's in the white house in january. right now, we are not that republican majority. by the way, i elected him, i
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voted for that man so ever -- so i have every right to be standing here. it wasn't a choice of america, it was a choice within our republican congress. i voted for mike johnson because his voting record before he became speaker was conservative. he voted against funding ukraine. he was solidly pro-life. he voted to secure the border. he voted to fight against democrats and against the witchhunt against shut -- against president trump. he passed three continuing resolutions and then he finally passed a two-part omnibus that fully funded joe biden's agenda and the democrat agenda. funded the department of justice that is what put president -- what could put president trump in jail for the rest of his life. which is a death sentence.
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mike johnson fully funded the fbi, which rated mar-a-lago, and he gave them a brand-new building as a gift. pro-life mike johnson funded full-term abortion clinics. funded the trans agenda on children. the 70% of americans are completely against on both sides of the aisle. and he fully funded joe biden's open border policy. the number one issue in america. so i entered a motion to vacate but i did not call it for a vote. i was controlled, i was responsible, i was being conscious and caring about my conference in our majority. it was a warning to stop serving the democrats and support our republican congress and support our agenda. and he didn't do it. and we all went home. and republican voters everywhere, americans were raging at mike johnson, and he
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doubled down. he didn't change course, he continued. and when we came back, he reauthorized fisa and he was the deciding vote himself to stop the requirement of fisa. he voted it down when only six months before that, before speaker, he was for it. that was the second betrayal. and then we all went home in america -- and i was still responsible, i was still patient and i was still being careful with our republican majority. and then we came back. then we came back. and that's when mike johnson fully joined the disgusting business model of washington, d.c. to fund forever wars. that's what this is. the unit party is make ukraine great again. the unit party is all about funding every single foreign
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war. they think this is the business model that needs to be done. americans do not want to send their hard earned tax dollars to fund the murder and killing in foreign countries. they are fed up with it. they are screaming it as out as they possibly can. our economy should not be built on the blood of wars in foreign countries. that's not what our economy should be built on, that's not how you grow jobs in america. that is terrific, it is evil and needs to end. but that's what the you know party does and that's with a continue. mike johnson fully embraced it and he funded 61 more billion dollars to ukraine, funded a war in israel while he funded hamas in gaza. how do you support israel when
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you are funding hamas? and gave more money away while our border stays open and today 300 americans will die from fentanyl. tomorrow 300 americans will die from fentanyl in the next day 300 more americans will die from fentanyl poisoning because there is a war on america led by the cartels in mexico, and nobody in washington, d.c. gives a damn and has enough courage to fix it. and americans are sick of it, sick and tired and fed up. you want to know something, nobody wants to rock the boat in washington, d.c. oh no, that would be uncomfortable, marjorie, we don't want to face the issues, marjorie, let's just assume president trump is going to win and we will fix it next congress, marjorie. i'm sorry, how many more americans have to die? how many more dead american
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bodies have to pile up before the house of representatives, that's paid for by america's tax dollars, actually do something about it? i want to know when this town is going to give a damn about americans. that's what this is really about. there is one thing i know. there is one thing i know. if we get president trump back in the white house in january of 2025, and we are lucky enough to earn the trust again from voters in america to have a republican majority in this house of representatives, we have a job to do. we cannot let people down again. we cannot fail president trump. this cannot happen, the maga agenda that i believe in, the make america great again agenda that i support and americans support, and the whole reason why republicans are going to turn out and vote in november,
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because they support president trump, we need leaders in the house of representatives that are going to get this done. not working for hakeem jeffries, not working for joe biden, and not going to be twisted and lulled into continuing the disgusting practices of washington, d.c. mike johnson is not capable of that job, he has proven it over and over again. now we have hakeem jeffries and the democrats coming out, in bracing mike johnson with a warm hug and a big wet sloppy kiss. and they are ready, they have endorsed him, they are ready to support him as speaker, they want to keep it going and keep the band together, why, because mike johnson is giving them everything they want. everything they want. every single thing they want. so it's really interesting to me
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, hakeem jeffries has gone through round after round of speaker votes and we have all witnessed it, haven't we, america. i think it's good that america witnessed all of that. in the democrat said his name over and over again. they said hakeem jeffries because they wanted to elect him speaker. i find it very satisfying that they are ready to vote for mike johnson. and you want to know something, i want to see it happen. and i also want to see recorded votes. i want -- i think the american people, by the way, who i represent. i think the american people need to see a recorded vote of do the members of congress support the you know party? is this what they support? i think every member of congress needs to take that vote and let the chips fall where they may. so next week i'm going to be calling this motion to vacate. absolutely calling it.
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i cannot wait to see democrats go out and support a republican speaker and have to go home to their primaries had have to run for congress again having supported a republican speaker, a christian conservative. i think that will play well, i'm excited about it. i cannot wait to see my republican congress show their cards and show who we are because voters deserve it. has the republican party finally learned their lesson? have they finally heard the message from voters back at home? are they willing to actually fight, or are they going to just keep going along to get along, because it's really easy to do that in washington, d.c. over 34 trillion dollars in debt with millions and millions of people invading our country, an economy that i don't even know how is staying afloat because every business owner i know has been suffering. people fed up with the drama on television and fed up with the
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fighting, and fed up with the bullshit from washington, d.c., are ready for a republican majority that's ready sit -- ready to support president trump and his agenda in 2025 and i'm happy to deliver that vote for everyone next week. at this time i would like to turn it over to my good friend and ally. he will explain his thoughts on this. thank you. >> it's an honor to be here today with one of the hardest fighting, most articulate members of our republican congress. i think she has got about this in a very reasonable way. she has given the speaker multiple chances to resign, to leave. instead, he's clinging to power by clinging to democrats. what are the three betrayals he has delivered to our party and to our country? the first betrayal was the bill. under kevin mccarthy we did seven separate spending bills, and then when mike johnson took
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over, did we start working on the other five, no. we through the seven in the trash. all the hard work that we had done mike johnson disposed of and decided to do an omnibus bill. it spends more than nancy pelosi's bill. the bill builds the fbi a brand-new building. meanwhile we are overhearing the judiciary committee asking them for answers. they mocked us, they thumbed their noses at us. why shouldn't day. if we will build them a new building and send them strongly worded letters as if we are going to do something. the second betrayal of mike johnson was passing fisa without warrants. did he do this in the proper way, no. the authority for the 702 program rests with the judiciary program. mike johnson decided to let the intel committee run this program. and then when it came, we fought
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hard and the rules committee, we fought hard and judiciary, we have to vote on the floor on warrants whether we have to have a warrant to spy on americans. this is a constitutionally redundant vote. it should be obvious to anyone who has read the constitution that you need warrants. you could say, for mike johnson, he has such a slim majority. you can't get everything you want, marjorie taylor green or thomas, he has a slim majority. he was the slim majority that cast the deciding vote that says you can spy on americans without a warrant. it was 212-to 12. he did not vote on the other amendments. he went out of his way to vote no on that amendment and was the deciding vote on it without warrants. so what was the third betrayal, the third and final betrayal? nearly $100 billion to foreign wars and he just put that on the floor. it started out as a veteran's
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bill to give veterans better benefits, hr 15. chuck schumer stripped every word out of it with the supplemental in it and sent it back to the house. then using the rules committee that i sat on but i can't go along with what they did, they pretended like we voted on four separate bills. then after those votes passed, they changed the two amendments and concurred with the senate bill and sent it back to the senate. this whole thing was preconference with chuck schumer. why is it that on all three betrayals the senate didn't change a word of the bills when they went to the senate from the house? it's because mike johnson was doing chuck schumer and joe biden's bidding. they did not need to change a word of any of these bills. chuck schumer vote against all the amendments. he wanted those bills exactly as mike johnson had passed them. exactly as he promised, without warrants, in omnibus with the
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new building for the fbi and the hundred billion dollars of foreign aid with no border security in it. as ms. green stated, our border is wide open. wide open. this was our last chance for leverage and the speaker gave it all up. why would hakeem jeffries endorse a republican speaker? aren't they arch rivals? what does hakeem jeffries want, after all. he wants open border, he wants to increase spending, he wants to take back the majority, and most of all, he and the democrat conference want president trump to lose. who do they think can deliver on all four votes. mike johnson will deliver all of these things for them. increase spending, open borders, a loss of our majority and a loss for president trump because this is so demotivating. we sat here and watch total capitulation with the democrats waving flags that were pre-medicated of another country, not just the american flag.
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mike johnson should've brought the white flag and waved it in front of us. because it was a complete capitulation. it was humiliation, not just to us, but to all the american people who pay their tax dollars only to see them go overseas, fund foreign wars, secure other countries borders without securing our borders. i am going to challenge my colleagues to think about it this weekend because, as marjorie taylor green said, we are voting on this next week. you get to have the choice, if you are republican, are you going to embrace hakeem jeffries like mike johnson has? are you going to embrace the you know party like mike johnson has when you come back next week? are you going to fight for americans who gave us majority. this is lovely bipartisanship. you've got hakeem jeffries
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hugging him and helping him keep his seat. but the reality is, this is in policy, this isn't some criminal justice reform where the left on the right can agree. this is about who holds that gavel. right now they are both holding that gavel, they are sharing power about procedures, about what bills will come to the floor, about how long we will debate those bills in which committees are comprised of which members. they are sharing power. now, you may say, and i will close with this, a king jeffries just told you he is going to save mike johnson. so why go through with this? it's a funeral exercise. why would you go through with this? we didn't get elected to make excuses. we did not get elected to say we should not try. we got elected to say, to give
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it our best and to impose transparency. what we have seen is the coming out of the you know party and it will be consolidated and it will be transparent and apparent next week to all americans when this vote happens. too many of our colleagues have thrown up their hands in frustration and apathy. we shouldn't even try, let's just coast this one out. it's too dangerous to coast this one out, we cannot coast this one out. akeem jeffries knows if we coast this out we lose the majority, spending goes up next fall. he knows the border will stay open and he knows this will demotivate our voters because if we have given up, why should they try. we will fight the unit party and we will have this vote next week and i look forward to it, and i've got one last challenge. challenge members of my own conference to think long and hard about whether they want to join the unit party next week.
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but we have a leadership team, a team of leaders from conference chair to whip, to majority leader. why do we have a team? we have a team so that when one of them goes off the rails, the other of them can meet with him and say you are no longer suited for this job. so i challenge the whip, the majority leader, the conference chair, the policy chair, everybody in this conference to sit down with mike johnson and have that talk and tell him, it's not worth it, it's not worth it to share power with hakeem jeffries just for the vanity of you keeping the title of speaker. it doesn't serve our country, it doesn't serve our conference, they need to ask him to resign. that is what they should do. i challenge them to have that tough discussion, with that, we will take questions. >> if this fails next week as
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expected, will you continue to try to push the vote on this issue? they said he does in a motion to vacate, are you defying the former president's wishes? >> absolutely not, i'm the biggest supporter of the president and that's why i wear this maga hat. that's why i'm fighting against my republican conference the fight harder against the democrats. mike johnson has fought against them to put president trump in jail, giving him a death sentence. he fully funded the fbi that rated mar-a-lago. he fully funded by inns wide open border. i know, everybody knows, the american people know and every voter that's ready to line up to vote for president trump in november knows between me and mike johnson who supporting mike johnson in his agenda. if this vote fails, the whole
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congress supports the unit party, let me tell you something, that is not a failure, that is a win for the american people because that's the list of names and the voters in the voters and the american people who pay -- everywhere, we are standing on ground they pay for. they paid for that building, they deserve that list. i believe in recorded votes. that is our job. our job is to vote. if anyone is scared of where they are going to vote on a motion to table or if it goes further, then they don't belong here in washington, they have to be ready to do the hard job. >> before this in defiance of former president trump and why not say that? rep. greene: we have to have a publican -- a republican majority in january and under mike johnson, we won't have one. just like thomas massie just said, hakeem jeffries is endorsing mike johnson because he knows the leadership will hand the house majority to the democrats in january. it will make our voters not want to vote for him.
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they will vote for president trump top of the ticket, and then they will skip republican house members because they are disgusted with mike johnson's leadership, his speakership in the unit party. that's exactly why we have to do this. we have to win in november, we have to have a majority in the house. you want to know why, all you people, your taxes are going to go up if the democrats control the house. that's right, the whole tax cuts. president trump's tax cut and savings plan expires this year. and whoever controls the house of representatives, if it's mike johnson and hakeem jeffries holding hands together, your taxes are going up, ladies and gentlemen, you know what else, your money will be funding ukraine because they already want more money for ukraine. they are demanding it already. that check cleared and it wasn't even a week and they said ukraine will need more money by the end of the summer. and that is what's going to continue and americans don't want it.
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everybody needs the weekend to prepare. i'm not irresponsible, i care about my conference, i have been measured, i have given this time, i have given warning, after warning, after warning. that's why we don't have to rush, we could do it next week. >> i think -- rep. massie: i think this is a somber decision for mike johnson. he deserves the weekend to think about it. he should resign because he knows what's coming next week. what's coming is his sharing of power with hakeem jeffries. i am not going to concede that the vote will fail. i think hakeem had to step in front and get in front of this freight train because he was afraid he did not have enough democrats would save mike johnson. i don't think it's something he wanted to do. now it's going to happen. he is going to embrace mike johnson and the question is,
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will there be enough democrats to overcome the republicans who come to their senses this weekend? they've got a weekend to think about it. more importantly, mike johnson has the weekend to think about it. >> if this resolution is tabled on monday, will you continue to support this? rep. greene: i haven't made a decision. >> how do you respond to speaker johnson who said you are not a serious lawmaker and who should be holding the gavel? rep. greene: i am not into personal attacks, that's not why i'm doing this, this has nothing to do with mike johnson as a person, but this is about his job performance, and i believe in accountability, i voted for mike johnson as speaker in every single day when i'm out and about talking to folks in my district or traveling across the country, the one phrase i hear over and over again is, keep
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fighting, keep fighting. they do not want us to back down. they do not want us to just put it in cruise control and go along to get along, and that is what that is, that's exactly what that is. that is full surrender. full surrender to the very agenda that voters all over america said, enough. and in 2022, they gave us the majority to stop the democrat agenda. so i am not going to surrender, and as thomas massie said, when they were raving -- waving the ukraine flag on the united states of house of -- united states house of representatives floor, that is complete surrender, doing nothing for our border. nothing for our border but securing the border of foreign countries and continuing to fund the slaughter in the battlefields and the bombs and the horrific injuries and wiping out a full generation of ukrainian men that will leave
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women as widows, children as orphans. i'm sorry, the american people don't want to pay for that. that's what mike johnson is for. go ahead. rep. massie: that charges leveled from mike johnson against marjorie taylor green. you are saying he said she said that she said she's not a serious lawmaker. in an interview last night. she's the most serious representative up here. if you listen to the speech she just gave. she captured exactly what republicans back home are thinking. they are tired of this swamp. and what does it mean to speaker mike johnson to be a serious lawmaker? it means something different now than it did six months ago or a year ago when he was a rank-and-file member. because now, to him being a serious lawmaker means betraying your conference. going with the majority of democrats and abandoning a majority of republicans. i don't think that's a serious speaker and i don't think he's a
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serious constitutionalist to cast the deciding vote on whether you need a warrant to spy on americans and getting rid of the warrant provision. i think he needs to look in the mirror before he criticizes miss marjorie taylor green. >> given the speaker situation, going through joe biden's agenda , would there be a difference between hakeem jeffries as speaker in mike johnson as speaker? rep. greene: you clearly listen to people more than this town. that's what people are saying everywhere. it's all over the internet and comments, it's being said in coffee shops, you go to the town square, that's what people are talking about. they are saying, what is the difference? what is the difference between mike johnson and hakeem jeffries? people are saying they see no difference. there is no difference because mike johnson is sharing the gavel. they are holding it together. and mike johnson is not
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fighting, he's giving hakeem jeffries full power, that's by hakeem jeffries has given him the biggest endorsement of his lifetime, and that is the last thing the american people wanted to see. rep. massie: on that point about sharing power, it wasn't just a hakeem jeffries who endorsed mike johnson, it was there with in their caucus chair. their entire leadership team plans on getting a promotion in january thanks to mike johnson. where is our leadership team? they need to be as united as hakeem's team did and they need to surround mike johnson and say , mike, it's time to leave. >> congresswoman, last time it took a well for you to coalesce about a speaker for you to get someone you wanted as speaker. who do you have in mind to prevent congress from shutting down and not doing its work? rep. greene: i'm not naming names but we have people
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capable. anybody willing to fight for our agenda. anyone that refuses to share the power with hakeem jeffries. that's something we are capable of doing if we decide to do it. this republican conference can do it. i have watched us do great things. just as thomas massie said, before they ousted kevin mccarthy, we passed seven separate appropriation bills. we were passing incredible bills that lined up exactly with the reason why people voted for us and once mike johnson took over, he completely stopped it all. he only had five left and he let it go. that's not what i said. he has moved on. what our conference is capable of doing is electing someone that is ready and willing to lead, and i have full faith and confidence. we just have to do it. rep. massie: from the very beginning, mike johnson has had the chance to save us from what happened in october. look, he is a lame duck.
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he is not going to get reelected in january, he won't lead us to any policy wins, he won't cut any spending, he is not even going to try, that is why hakim wants him to remain as speaker. what should he do at this point, he should do what john boehner did. do you remember when john boehner left, he gave us notice, instead of not having a speaker, we allowed him to remain speaker while we did, as an extracurricular activity, elect another speaker, it was it like it was in, we had to come in every day of every week and we all had the same meeting and we couldn't do subpoenas, we could not do investigations, everything came to a standstill. mike johnson alone can save us from that ultimate outcome if you would step down but announced that he stepping down 10 weeks from now and give us time and allow us to still function as a conference. that's why marjorie put this bill in the hopper, that's why
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we collected cosponsors, and that's why we are giving him one more weekend to think about it. >> yesterday, while doing this close to election. are you worried about doing this so close to an election. it was three weeks last time and could curb republicans come november. rep. greene: no, we will not have a house majority if we keep mike johnson. here's the other thing. this is may 1. we have all the way until november. we are going to win the house majority, then we proved our voters we are worth voting for. that is the most important thing that we can do. president trump -- listen, let's say mike johnson stays speaker. the only way that we will get the house majority in november is because president trump drags everybody across the line. and that could happen. but the reality is, if people
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are going to cast their votes based on this unit party garbage or a year, they are just going to vote for the democrats. because like this man said, everyone is saying, what's the difference, there is no difference. >> just to be sure, the fact of the matter is, you have mike johnson because republicans didn't even have a group of names. do you have a short list in mind? do you have at least a group of people that you are thinking about? rep. massie: let's be honest, we had mike johnson because nobody hated mike johnson. there was nothing in his prior life, political or private that qualified him for this job. he is a tall weave. he is unequipped to negotiate with chuck schumer and a lot of people have ideas about why he has betrayed us. i think it's pretty simple, he's
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over his head. i would say there are at least a dozen members of our conference be either politically or privately have done things in their lives that qualify them to lead, and i would be willing to consider any of them, and we don't have a list. >> what do you say to republicans who are saying you are playing into the democrats, that this will cause unity and released a statement to revoking this? rep. greene: that little narrative that you echoed is a i am that comes from the republican establishment that republican voters are ready to take a sledgehammer to and destroy. they are fed up with it. do you want to know why, that's bullshit. it just is. >> do you still have his support? rep. greene: absolutely. he had another thing he had to attend to.
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absolutely. >> you are saying you are respecting the conference by voting this back. how do you explain letting another leadership occur? rep. greene: that's the same question we have answered four times now, you have a different question? >> i will -- rep. massie: i will answer again. this is the time to clean house. not in october, not in september when he purchased -- when he betrays us. now is the time to clean house. we are not even done with primaries yet. people are not focused right now on their general elections, they are still trying to win their primaries, this is when we should take out the garbage, solve the problems that we have so that we can be a united conference so that we can have somebody in the speaker's chair who actually has a credible chance of winning speaker in january. hey keim and his cohorts and
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colleagues may bail out mike johnson next week, that remains to be seen, whether it's a bluff or not. but we know they are not going to vote for him in january. and we know that mike johnson cannot get a majority of republicans in january. even our colleagues who are not cosponsors of this have privately admitted there is no way in hell they are going to vote for mike johnson to be speaker in january. that's why we need to handle it now, put somebody in that seat who can lead our conference and present a united front to republicans who are going to go vote in november. >> are you considering running for speaker? rep. greene: everybody, we are going in the press conference, what i'm calling on his mike johnson can pray about it, think about it all weekend, do the right thing and resign, giving our conference time to elect a new leader, a new speaker of the house. he should

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