Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) announced Tuesday he will co-sponsor a resolution to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from the House’s top job.
Massie told his colleagues during a closed-door conference meeting that he will co-sponsor the motion to vacate resolution filed late last month by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), according to three GOP lawmakers in the room, becoming the first lawmaker to publicly join Greene’s effort.
Massie’s announcement came less than 24 hours after Johnson unveiled the outline of a plan to move foreign aid through the House, which includes voting on three separate bills to send assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and a fourth measure that pertains to other national security priorities.
But in a departure from his previous positions, Johnson did not include border security provisions in the plan after months of Republicans — including the Speaker — demanding that any aid for Ukraine be paired with legislation to address the situation at the southern border, sparking intense opposition among conservatives.
Speaking to reporters after Tuesday’s meeting, Massie referenced Johnson’s decision to put Ukraine aid on the floor — in addition to his handling of government funding and the reauthorization of the U.S.’s warrantless surveillance authority — to explain why he is now backing the ouster effort.
“There’s only one person right now who could stop us from going into what happened last fall, and that’s Mike Johnson,” Massie said, referring to the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in October.
“He’s cleaning the barn, that’s obvious,” he continued. “He had three things to do: he wanted to do an omnibus that broke all the spending records; he wanted to do FISA without warrants; now he wants to do Ukraine. Those are the three things. There are people riding him like a horse here, they don’t care when the horse collapses, I do, because it’s gonna throw our conference into turmoil.”
The Kentucky Republican said he asked Johnson to resign from the Speakership during the closed-door conference meeting, which the Louisiana Republican declined to do.
Both Greene and Massie have declined to say when they might trigger a vote on the motion-to-vacate resolution, but the support from the pair of conservatives means Johnson will more than likely need Democratic support to remain Speaker.
Republicans can only afford to lose two GOP lawmakers on any party-line votes, as the House breakdown currently stands, an edge that will decrease to one after Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) resigns at the end of the week.
Some Democrats in recent weeks have said they would protect Johnson if he puts Ukraine aid on the floor.
Updated at 10:40 a.m.