House Speaker Mike Johnson Reacts After Marjorie Taylor Greene Effort To Oust Him Fails

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) spoke to the press on Wednesday after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) effort to oust him failed.

Transcript

00:00Well, hello everyone. It's just another Wednesday on Capitol Hill. I want to say that I appreciate

00:17the show of confidence from my colleagues to defeat this misguided effort. That is certainly

00:22what it was. As I've said from the beginning and I've made clear here every day, I intend

00:26to do my job. I intend to do what I believe to be the right thing, which is what I was

00:30elected to do. And I'll let the chips fall where they may. In my view, that is leadership.

00:40Which we live. Members have just voted. They made their voices heard on the motion to vacate

00:44matter. And now we have very important work to do for the country. There are a lot of

00:48things to fix. Last week, we announced a housewide effort to crack down on anti-Semitism on campus.

00:54This morning, we introduced legislation to fortify American elections and ensure that

00:59only American citizens can vote. I'm glad that this distraction is not going to inhibit

01:04that important work and all of the other things that are on the table and on the agenda for

01:08us right now. Hopefully, this is the end of the personality politics and the frivolous

01:14character assassination that has defined the 118th Congress. It's regrettable. It's not

01:19who we are as Americans. And we're better than this. We need to get beyond it. The Speaker

01:24of the House serves the whole House. That's the job. Everybody. But I am a lifelong movement

01:30conservative Republican. And I intend to continue to govern in accordance with those core principles.

01:37We believe in the core principles. I call them the seven core principles of American

01:41conservatism. But they're also the core principles of America itself. I believe in individual

01:45freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility,

01:51free markets and human dignity. Those are the those are the guiding principles that

01:56inform our work and that we work for every day here to pursue to ensure that all Americans

02:02have more liberty and opportunity and security. And those foundations are in jeopardy right

02:06now. We need steady hands at the wheel. We need people who understand what made America

02:12the strongest, the most powerful, the most free, the most successful, the most benevolent

02:16nation in the history of the world. We have to fight for that every day because we're

02:20in a battle between two competing visions for what America is and what it's going to

02:25be. And that's what I'm about every day here. And I'll continue that. We have important

02:29work not only to keep the House majority but to grow the majority because that will be

02:33necessary to help save this country and the work that we have to elect a Republican president.

02:39We're on that as well. In this moment, the country desperately needs a functioning Congress.

02:46And that's what the overwhelming majority of the members in this body demonstrated today.

02:51I'm proud to serve in this position. It's not one that I aspire to. It's not one that

02:55I ever expected to have or plan for. But it is the honor of my life and career to do this

03:01and I will do it so long as this body will have me do that. We have a great vision for

03:07the country. We're not deterred. We have many problems to fix. And I'm going to tell you

03:12what you all have heard me say many times. I believe in the goodness of America. I believe

03:17in the future of this country. I believe as Reagan said is he reminded us what Lincoln

03:22originally said. We are the last best hope of man on earth. And by God's grace we'll

03:26save this country. And I'll keep fighting every day to make sure that happens. Thank

03:29you for being.