Source: Politics<\/p>\n
A top Republican National Committee official asked Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene not to move against Speaker Mike Johnson in a face-to-face meeting Tuesday, as top allies of former President Donald Trump seek to head off what they see as a pointless and distracting internal battle.<\/p>\n
The meeting between Greene (R-Ga.) and RNC co-chair Michael Whatley came just hours after she accused Johnson<\/a> of cutting a \u201cslimy back room deal\u201d with Democrats and promised to force a vote ousting him.<\/p>\n Whatley, who is less than two months in the job, summoned Greene to his office after she skipped his briefing of House Republicans that morning, where he had emphasized the importance of party unity. He said much the same to Greene.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said, one, this is not helpful, and two, we want to expand and grow the majority in the House,\u201d said a person familiar with Whatley\u2019s message to Greene. \u201cHe was clear that any disruption to the conference on these efforts \u2014 including filing this [motion to vacate], does not help the case for party unity.\u201d<\/p>\n In another era, a directive from the top Republican party official certainly would not go unheeded by a House back-bencher. Even in this era, Whatley\u2019s choice as Trump’s handpicked RNC steward has lent him heft inside the MAGA orbit.<\/p>\n But Greene pushed back on Whatley, arguing that the party had time to rebound from a leadership switch before the election. And she told him she\u2019d spoken to Trump himself earlier in the day \u2014 leaving the impression that the former president had told her much the same as Whatley had.<\/p>\n Truth was, Greene had backed herself into a corner, and this morning, she\u2019s facing a potential lose-lose situation: back down and look squishy or stand firm and risk a break with Trump.<\/p>\n She\u2019s holding a 9 a.m. news conference Wednesday with fellow Johnson critic Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and her fellow Republicans are bracing for her to announce a vote on Johnson\u2019s gavel as soon as the afternoon. If so, expect a quick vote to table.<\/p>\n