Marjorie Taylor Greene suggests House Speaker Johnson is 'under direct orders' from White House

30 Dec 2025 By foxnews

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., suggested House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is "under direct orders from the White House" and doesn't truly lead House Republicans.

The comments come after Greene, who is set to resign from the House in January, had a public spat with Trump over the past few months as Trump took issue with the Georgia Republican's push to release documents related to the investigations into deceased sex predator Jeffrey Epstein. Trump had withdrawn his endorsement of Greene and called her a "traitor" over their public feud.

"I want you to know that Johnson is not our Speaker. He is not our leader," Greene told The New York Times as part of a lengthy interview.

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"And in the legislative branch - a totally separate body of government - he is literally 100 percent under direct orders from the White House," she continued. "And many, many Republicans are so furious about that, but they're cowards."

When reached for comment, Johnson's office directed Fox News Digital to comments the House Speaker made in November.

"I'm a jealous guardian of Article one of the Constitution. I mean, the legislative branch is the most important. And I'm in charge of that in the house, but I don't think the president has overstepped his bounds. I think he's used that, that tariff authority wisely. And it's given him leverage in the strategy on these trade agreements. A lot of good has come out of that. I think the court should give deference to the Article two branch. And hopefully it continues," Johnson said on FOX Business.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle provided the following statement to the Times: "President Trump remains the undisputed leader of the greatest and fastest growing political movement in American history - the MAGA movement. On the other hand, Congresswoman Greene is quitting on her constituents in the middle of her term and abandoning the consequential fight we're in - we don't have time for her petty bitterness."

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A fair share of other GOP lawmakers have directed their anger at Johnson in recent weeks.

"I think there's a lot of concerns about the way things have been handled the last several months, starting with leadership, let this redistricting war break out, which is gonna upend the districts of dozens of our members. And then the fact we just weren't here for two months," Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., told Fox News Digital in December. "And then the way that the House is really not in the driver's seat on a lot of the key issues around here - I think all of that is pretty frustrating to a swath of the conference."

Others are frustrated at Johnson over more personal issues. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital she believed Johnson was blocking her efforts to build a National Women's Museum, an effort she said had Trump's support.

"It's been stalled by the speaker, in committee, despite having 165 sponsors from both parties," Malliotakis said.

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., meanwhile, was angered earlier this month by the way Johnson handled the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

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"We're getting shoved, and we just have to eat it, or, you know, vote against increasing pay to our military service members. It's a very unfortunate situation to be in, that the speaker keeps putting us in," Steube said. "I think getting Trump's signature piece of legislation through is excellent, and everybody should be commended for that, because that was just a huge accomplishment, and it'll do great things for the country next year. Now that we've gotten over tha t… now you're kind of, like, what can we do next?"

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., recently wrote a scathing op-ed in The New York Times, where she wrote, "Here's a hard truth Republicans don't want to hear: Nancy Pelosi was a more effective House speaker than any Republican this century."

"Speaker Mike Johnson is better than his predecessor. But the frustrations of being a rank-and-file House member are compounded as certain individuals or groups remain marginalized within the party, getting little say," Mace wrote.

Fox News Digital's Landon Mion and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.