Right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) railed against Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) over his willingness to work with Democrats to push an aid package for Ukraine through the House, suggestion it might because of blackmail.
Johnson said on Sunday he plans to introduce legislation after House lawmakers return from their district work period on April 9. The impending vote comes after the Senate passed a $95.3 billion bill for foreign aid in February—$60 billion of which was designated to support Ukraine’s war against Russia.
Greene, who filed a motion to remove Johnson from his role as Speaker in late March, told Carlson in a video that aired Wednesday that Johnson should be focused on the southern border and the national deficit instead of funding Ukraine’s war.
“And while our so-called Republican Speaker of the House is only working with [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer and [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries and Ukraine-first Mitch McConnell and the White House and [National Security Adviser] Jake Sullivan, who he talks to on the phone all the time, we are angry,” Greene said. “And people have had it. We don’t want $60 billion to go to Ukraine because as we slept last night, Tucker, we just went $40 billion more into debt.”
She predicted that the latest foreign package would pass the House without the support of the majority of Republicans.
“This isn’t a Republican Speaker we have right now, this is a Democrat Speaker of the House because there is zero daylight between what Nancy Pelosi did last Congress and what Mike Johnson is doing now, as our so-called Republican Speaker of the House,” she said.
Greene and Carlson then went on to tease the blackmail theory, with Greene claiming it’s a real thought for some people because of how he “made a complete departure of who he is and what he stands for.”
“Do you think he is being blackmailed?” Carlson asked.
“I have no idea. I can’t comprehend, Tucker, what radically changes a man,” she replied.
“I have noticed just from living in Washington for so long that a lot of the top decision-makers are lying about their personal lives, and there’s something really amiss there. I would definitely say Mitch McConnell would be among those,” Carlson said. “And there does seem to be a connection between the creepiness of your personal and the deception around your personal and your willingness to vote with the other side. I mean have you noticed this at all?”
“Absolutely,” Greene responded, before asking: “How did Christian conservative Mike Johnson go from being a Christian conservative, voting that way, legislating that way to the Speaker of the House that actually funds that agenda. I mean what in the world happens?”
“You can’t help but to question, what do they have on him? Is he being blackmailed? What would make this man do this?” she continued. “And I would argue there’s something wrong because every single time I hear him open his mouth, he’s complaining about how tired he is and talking about how he only gets three hours of sleep at night.”
Greene said that during times she has been busy training for triathlons, working, and raising her children, she was still always able to get seven or eight hours of sleep.
“There’s something wrong with your conscience if you’re only getting three hours of sleep at night and you’re tired all the time,” Greene said. “And it’s because you’re going against who you are, you’re going against your inner self, you’re going against the person that you are but you’re turning into something else. And I think something is seriously wrong not only with him but many other people in Washington, D.C.”
Greene’s speculation on Carlson’s show comes days after she claimed he “is doing the Deep State’s dirty work.”
Greene voted in favor of Johnson for House Speaker after working to save former Rep. Kevin McCarthy from ouster back in January.
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