Speaker Johnson insisted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's motion to oust him is 'not helpful' for the GOP
Speaker Mike Johnson on his mission to keep GOP united: 'President Trump is 100% with me'
House Speaker Mike Johnson talks his recent discussion with GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, his expectation for the Biden administration's response to Iran's attack on Israel and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's threat to oust him.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., says former President Donald Trump is "100% with" him as he faces a barrage of attacks from members of his own party, most notably Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's motion to oust him from his leadership position.
"I spent hours with the president on Friday. He and I talked frequently…. He's 100% with me, and he said, 'We'll get this job done.'" Johnson told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on Sunday.
"What Marjorie's done with a motion to vacate is not helpful for our party, for our mission to save the country," he continued. "Because if we don't grow the House majority, keep the House majority, win the Senate, and win back the White House for President Trump, we are going to lose the Republic."
U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., holds a press conference following a House GOP caucus meeting at the U.S Capitol on April 10, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Johnson's remarks come days after his notable press conference with the former president and current presidential nominee at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, where the pair addressed a slew of pressing issues facing the nation today.
Johnson insisted Sunday that this year's election will be the "most important" of everyone's lifetime, pointing to a handful of key issues repeatedly highlighted by Republicans – open borders, out-of-control spending, weakness on the world stage, the weaponization of government and the burdensome cost of living.
I WANT MY MTV (MOTION TO VACATE): SPEAKER JOHNSON FACES POTENTIAL THREAT WHEN CONGRESS RETURNS
As members of the GOP remain fixated on the border security issue, the House speaker has come under fire from those like Greene who allege he is failing to do enough to ensure that border security is a top priority.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., filed a motion to oust Speaker Johnson last month. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Appearing on "Sunday Morning Futures" last month, the Georgia congresswoman explained her rationale behind the motion.
"If Speaker Johnson really wanted to secure the border like he promised all of us, he would promise the American people that he would have told Chuck Schumer, 'We will not pass any government funding bills until our border and funding bills have the H.R. 2 in it, or the Laken Riley Act, or at least some measures within them, but he didn't. He completely failed in that," she said.
Johnson has previously stated that he understands Greene's concerns and recently expressed plans to communicate with her.
On Sunday, he told Bartiromo that Greene "fails to notice" that House Republicans have been fighting on the border issue.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) hold a press conference at Mr. Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on April 12, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
"We fight on it every day. We passed our comprehensive border security package, H.R. 2, at the very beginning of this Congress. It's been sitting on Chuck Schumer's desk. We passed all the resolutions. We passed these acts out of the House, and they get stopped in the Senate," he said.
All the while, Johnson insists keeping the party united should remain a priority for Republicans to ensure a victory in November.
"Our party needs to stay united. We need to go out and tell the American people how we'll be different, not just what we're against, but what we're for, what our agenda is going to be and how we're going to turn this country around. I'm absolutely bullish on the election cycle. I think we're going to do that," he added.
Taylor Penley is an associate editor with Fox News.
