House Speaker Mike Johnson found himself in an uncomfortable spot Wednesday night when CNN’s The Source confronted him with a blunt social media attack from fellow Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene. The fiery congresswoman didn’t hold back in calling out Johnson — and he struggled to keep his cool.
On X earlier that day, Greene went after Johnson hard: “Speaker Johnson said he has ideas and pages of policy, but did not say a single policy plan.” She then accused the GOP of standing idle amid a worsening healthcare crisis. “I find it unacceptable that Republicans are sitting on the sidelines doing nothing to fix this healthcare disaster that is leading many Americans into financial ruin.”
When host Kaitlan Collins read Greene’s post aloud during the interview, Johnson’s expression dropped into the same sullen look he’d shown during a recent live C-SPAN call-in, where the public also criticized him.
“Well, bless her heart,” Johnson replied, attempting to brush off the criticism. “That’s an absurd statement. Obviously, these conference calls are monitored by the media, so we’re not gonna have actual strategy discussions on a line where you have hundreds of people listening in because it would be reported on the front page. We have been working on this for a long time. We worked on it today. We’ve been working on it every day. Marjorie is not here in Washington.”
Johnson then tried to shift blame to Democrats when Collins pressed him on the healthcare issue, highlighting Greene’s accusation that Republicans have no plan.
“Speaker, she’s saying that the Republicans aren’t doing anything to address the healthcare issue here that Democrats are arguing about. Are you saying that there is a Republican plan and you’re just not talking about it?” Collins asked.
“No, I’m saying there’s lots of discussion about it, but we don’t really lay it on a conference call with hundreds of people listening in,” Johnson said. “We have many ideas on how to bring down the cost of healthcare to continue to do that, and we’ve already demonstrated it in the working families tax cut. We had real reforms to Medicaid that you and I have discussed that have brought down the cost and saved about $185 billion for taxpayers…”
But Greene’s attacks haven’t been limited to healthcare. Last week, she accused Johnson of avoiding questions about Florida Rep. Cory Mills, who is facing harassment allegations. “They expelled George Santos, Mike Johnson did. He was speaker and oversaw George Santos being expelled. Why isn’t he doing anything about Cory Mills?” Greene told Axios.
She also criticized Johnson’s handling of the ongoing government shutdown, saying bluntly, “Republicans have no plan. Mike Johnson has not had a single conference meeting about any sort of plan to deal with the ACA tax credits expiring.”
Taking her defiance further, Greene added, “If me saying those things is considered breaking with my party, then what is the Republican Party?”
While Johnson grapples with dissent within his ranks, Greene has pushed another controversial agenda item — the full release of files related to the late Jeffrey Epstein. Alongside Kentucky GOP rebel Thomas Massie, she is trying to compel the Department of Justice to release all information on the financier via a discharge petition. She claims many Republicans avoid this fight out of fear of being “yelled at by the president” or “iced out by leadership.”
Watch the clip below:
