Democrats vote to prevent ouster of Republican US House speaker by right-wing rebel

Democrats voted to rescue the Republican leader of the US House of Representatives on Wednesday after a right-wing lawmaker moved to topple him, plunging the already-divided party into fresh conflict ahead of November's elections.

Under House rules, any single lawmaker can force a vote to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, and Marjorie Taylor Greene finally pulled the trigger more than six weeks after filing a "motion to vacate" his position atop the Republican majority.

The Georgia conservative was booed by colleagues as she formally announced the effort on the House floor, reeling off a litany of grievances over Johnson's leadership.

She accused the speaker of "regularly" siding with Democrats to consolidate power and of running a party that "fuels foreign wars, tramples on civil liberties and increases our disastrous national debt."

But Greene had failed to gain traction among her colleagues and, crucially, she was not supported by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who recently said the speaker was "doing a very good job."

Greene was also opposed by the Democratic leadership, and it was never in doubt that the effort would fall flat. In the end 163 Democrats joined Republicans in a 359-43 vote to dismiss the resolution.

She plowed ahead anyway, seeking to make Republicans go on the record about whether they support Johnson.

Trump praised Greene in an effusive statement released on his Truth Social platform after the vote.

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