CBS News
Marjorie Taylor Greene says no deal after meeting with Mike Johnson as she threatens his ouster
Washington — A roughly hourlong meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday did little to convince Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to drop her threat of forcing a vote that could end his speakership.
“I got a lot of excuses,” Greene, a Georgia Republican, told reporters after she met with Johnson on Wednesday afternoon, their first conversation since she filed a resolution nearly three weeks ago to oust him. “We didn’t walk out with a deal.”
The congresswoman described the meeting as “direct” and “passionate.”
Greene threatened to force a vote to strip the Louisiana Republican of the gavel after he relied on Democrats to push through a $1.2 trillion spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown last month.
Since then, she’s openly criticized his leadership in media interviews and on social media, warning him that passing Ukraine aid or reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act would put his position in peril. In a blistering letter to her Republican colleagues on Tuesday, Greene argued Johnson has failed to live up to his promises by negotiating with Democrats and breaking procedural rules to pass major legislation.
But Greene has not laid out a timeline for forcing a vote. Even if she does follow through, there’s been a lack of interest among Republicans for removing another leader just months after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California was ousted.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
“I did not give him a red line,” Greene said, while noting she is “watching what happens” on Ukraine funding and the reauthorization of FISA, a powerful and controversial spy authority that allows warrantless surveillance of foreigners but can also sweep up the communications of Americans.
Greene said Johnson also floated a “kitchen Cabinet group” to advise him and asked if she was interested in being part of it.
“I’ll wait and see what his proposal is on that,” she said. “Right now, he does not have my support.”
If Greene moves forward on a vote, “it would be chaos in the House,” Johnson said Wednesday at his weekly news conference, before he met with the congresswoman.
Her effort has also been panned by other Republicans, who have questioned who the caucus would elect as the new speaker. It took them weeks to unite behind Johnson after McCarthy was ousted, a process that paralyzed the House.
“If you want to do a motion to vacate on Mike Johnson, well, then, who?” Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas said Tuesday. “It’s an impossible job. The Lord Jesus himself could not manage this conference. You just can’t do it. So what would you do? If not Mike, then who?”
Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who voted to remove McCarthy, said she would not do the same for Johnson.
“I’m not going to support anyone who wants to do a motion to vacate,” Mace said of Greene’s effort.
Rep. Marc Molinaro of New York called it “a mistake and an absurdity.”
Ellis Kim, Jaala Brown and Laura Garrison contributed reporting.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela, known affectionately to fans across the baseball world as “El Toro” has died at 63 years old.
The Etchohauquila, Sonora, Mexico native recently stepped away from his role in the Dodgers’ broadcast booth to focus on his health just ahead of the team’s run to the World Series. He had planned to return for the 2025 season.
/ Getty Images
The man behind “Fernandomania,” which took Los Angeles by storm during the 1980s, spent 11 of his 17 seasons in Major League Baseball with the Boys in Blue, leading the team to two World Series titles in 1981 and 1988.
He was well-known for his signature windup and high leg kick before dazzling hitters with his virtually unhittable screwball. Upon retirement, he ranked amongst the franchises top 10 all-time in wins, strikeouts, innings pitched, games started, complete games and shutouts.
The Dodgers honored Valenzuela in 2023 by retiring his No. 34, making him only the 11th Dodger to achieve the spot above the left field bleachers.
Late Tuesday evening the team took to X to acknowledge Valenzuela’s death.
“Fernandomania por siempre,” said a photo. “Fernandomania forever.”
More to come.
DELPHI, Ind. (CBS) — Jurors in the Delphi, Indiana murders trial got a closer look Tuesday at some of the most concrete evidence in the case.
Richard Allen, 52, is facing four counts of murder in connection with the murders of Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty “Libby” German, 14, in 2017.
Video taken from Libby’s phone right before the murder shows a man, believed to be the killer, walking on a bridge. For the first time Tuesday, jurors got to see a longer version of the video.
A digital forensic analyst also testified about how he got the data off the phone.
Also Tuesday, lead crime scene investigator Brian Olehy brought several key pieces of evidence from at or near the crime scene to court—though they were not shown to the jury, according to CBS affiliate WTTV in Indianapolis.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Brad Rozzi asked several times whether swabs from the crime scene contained any DNA linking Allen to it, WTTV reported, Olehy said he was not aware of any such connection.
Olehy also testified that he believed the branches found on the girls’ bodies were placed there to conceal them, and said it was a “logical assumption” that Libby was “disrobed”—as she was wearing some of Abby’s clothes, WTTV reported. He said investigators could not determine the sequence of events, and did not test the sticks that were found with the bodies, the station reported.
There was also testimony about a single unspent bullet at the scene that is at the center of the case against Allen, the station reported.
Testimony was also heard from Railly Voorhies, who was a 16-year-old high school student who happened to be walking near the Freedom Bridge in Delphi and saw an “unsettling” man who glared at her, WTTV reported. She said the image of the man on the bridge documented in Libby’s phone was the man she saw, the station reported.
Another witness, Betys Blair, also testified that she saw the man on the bridge, WTTV reported.