Marjorie Taylor Greene Is Gunning for Mike Johnson

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Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property insurance market, local and national politics. She has previously extensively covered U.S. and European politics. Giulia joined Newsweek in 2022 from CGTN Europe and had previously worked at the European Central Bank. She is a graduate in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University and holds a Bachelor's degree in Politics and International Relations from Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy. She speaks English, Italian, and a little French and Spanish. You can get in touch with Giulia by emailing: g.carbonaro@newsweek.com.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene lashed out against House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday, accusing the Louisiana Republican of secretly cooperating with Democrats to pass several measures within the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

A final draft of the 2024 NDAA, a bipartisan and bicameral agreement that specifies the budget and expenses of the Department of Defense, was released by House and Senate negotiators late on Wednesday. But the draft sparked outrage among Republicans, who called it "a crap NDAA" because the document appears to be much less conservative than the one passed this summer and spearheaded by then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

McCarthy was ousted on October 3 after being accused by Republican hardliners of cooperating with Democrats in a deal to avoid a partial shutdown of the federal government. Johnson, who was chosen for the role after a contentious process, has only been on the job for about two months.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Mike Johnson
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) arrives for a House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on October 16, 2023 in Washington, DC.; and U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks during... Getty Images

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Greene called the draft NDAA "a total sell-out of conservative principles and a huge win for Democrats." She said that policies funding abortion travel and trans members of the military are still in place and that $300 million for Ukraine is back in the document.

The Georgia congresswoman, a MAGA loyalist, complained about the GOP leadership asking lawmakers to sign "the 3000+ page conference report which is being released behind closed doors without even getting time to read it."

Newsweek contacted Greene's spokesperson for comment by email on Thursday.

"Speaker Johnson worked with Chuck Schumer to cut a deal that removes all abortion and trans surgery prohibitions we passed under Speaker McCarthy. It also would pass a CLEAN FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] extension," she wrote. "Not to mention, more of your taxpayer dollars sent to Ukraine to fund the proxy war."

Newsweek contacted Speaker Johnson's office by phone and received no immediate response.

According to Greene, "no member of the NDAA conference had any influence on this process. It was done in secret meetings with no input from conferees. Now, we're supposed to just grin and take it with no say in the final bill," she wrote.

"Is the GOP really going to fund abortion vacations and trans surgeries, fund the Ukraine war, all with a CLEAN FISA extension under Speaker Johnson?" she asked.

"Congratulations to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, you should all be excited to vote for this! I'm a HELL NO!"

In a video linked to the post, Greene said she thinks it's "outrageous this happened with our Republican-controlled Congress."

The NDAA text has not yet been released, so its terms might still change. It's widely expected that hardline Republicans like Greene, who pushed for measures to fight "wokery" within the military, would vote against an NDAA that they might consider a setback.

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About the writer

Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property insurance market, local and national politics. She has previously extensively covered U.S. and European politics. Giulia joined Newsweek in 2022 from CGTN Europe and had previously worked at the European Central Bank. She is a graduate in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University and holds a Bachelor's degree in Politics and International Relations from Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy. She speaks English, Italian, and a little French and Spanish. You can get in touch with Giulia by emailing: g.carbonaro@newsweek.com.

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Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property ... Read more