White House won’t go to bat for Speaker Johnson on motion to vacate: ‘Get your popcorn’ – Washington Examiner

The White House isn’t involving itself in the latest speaker of the House drama, which could see President Joe Biden with his fourth new House leader in as many years.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) filed a motion to vacate House Speaker Mike Johnson‘s (R-LA) position after the Republican leader pushed a $1.2 trillion package through the House ahead of Friday’s midnight government shutdown deadline.

Johnson, who replaced former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as speaker last fall, will contend with the ouster motion after the House returns from recess in April. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) served as House Speaker for the first two years of Biden’s term before Democrats lost control of the House in the 2022 midterm elections.

Pressed for Biden’s reaction to the motion to vacate, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters to “get your popcorn” and “sit tight” but declined to say if the White House would lobby Democrats to save Johnson’s job.

“We’re not going to get involved. We do not get involved. We’ve been pretty, pretty consistent, regardless if it’s Republicans or Democrats. We’ve been pretty consistent in that,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.

“We trust Hakeem Jeffries’s leadership. He’s the leader of the Democrats. That is for them to decide on. I’m not going to comment on that,” she explained. “Democrats are going to make their decision. Democrat leadership, Hakeem Jeffries, is going to make their own decision on how to move forward. We’re going to be consistent here.”

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You can watch Friday’s briefing in full below.

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