House lawmakers exasperated with Marjorie Taylor Greene's demand to defund Jack Smith

WASHINGTON — One of the grievances Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) expressed in her motion on Wednesday to vacate House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was that he did not act to "defund" special counsel Jack Smith, who is currently prosecuting former President Donald Trump for federal election conspiracy and the theft of classified defense information.

But in conversation with reporter Matt Laslo, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) expressed his exasperation with the whole idea — and opined that Greene was taking things way too far.

"What have you thought of this week, MTG having all these private meetings with Speaker Johnson?" asked Laslo. "One of her top requests is defunding the special counsel, Jack Smith. What do you think of that?"

"I just think that she's overplayed her hand, she's become more insignificant than she's ever been, and she's incredibly disruptive for, in regard to those of us who are here to do a job," said Thompson. "She's not a serious legislator."

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) had a similarly chagrined reaction. "In America, no one is above the law, and the American people should ask why Marjorie Taylor Greene would want to defund law enforcement."

Greene's motion failed resoundingly on Wednesday, with only 11 Republicans voting alongside her and a majority of Democrats crossing over to save Johnson.

The ability for a single member of the House to call a motion to vacate the speaker was agreed to at the start of this Congress in early 2023, as a condition of the far-right flank voting to confirm then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to the speakership. However, after just a few months, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and seven other Republicans used the procedure to oust him, leading to several weeks of chaos and paralysis in the House until Republicans decided to elect Johnson in his place.