Chairman Mike Johnson has had a difficult week. He faces a revolt from one of the caucus' most conservative members that could cost him his job. Prospects for additional aid to Ukraine continue to be met with opposition. And it took three attempts for the House to renew the warrantless surveillance bill.
Then, on Friday, he flew to Florida, where the man who had been instrumental in many of his challenges gave him a vital lifeline in his straits.
“I support the Speaker,” former President Donald J. Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, with Johnson standing behind him and nodding. ” he said.
This comes at a time when the speaker's leadership is at stake, as he faces the threat of a removal motion from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), one of Trump's staunchest allies. It was the message that was needed.
It is unclear how far Trump's support will extend. Former President Johnson, who has wielded significant influence over House Republicans in blocking bills he opposes, has made 15 calls in five days to secure the House speakership over his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy. His support was not enough to save him from the ordeal. first place.
Johnson oversees a fractious minority in the House of Representatives, a reality Trump acknowledged when asked about Greene's threat to oust Johnson from her position.
“He's doing a really good job under very difficult circumstances,” said Trump, who has helped undermine Johnson's legislative agenda by expressing opposition to some of his efforts. .
He described the threat of a move to oust Mr Johnson as “disappointing”, adding: “This is not an easy situation for any speaker,” adding: “I'm sure Majority understands that. ” he said.
Even in light of Trump's comments, there appears to be little political downside to Greene following through on her threat to expel Johnson if he brings the Ukraine aid package to the floor.
Trump, who has repeatedly opposed additional aid to Ukraine, did not fully support Johnson's efforts to provide additional U.S. military aid to the country as it continues to fight Russia's invading forces.
But on Friday, he softened his stance, saying the two men had been talking about the issue and believed they might find common ground on providing aid “in the form of loans,” which the former president had been pushing for months. Stated.
House Republicans hold a narrow majority, leaving little room for opposition if Mr. Johnson wants to advance his legislative priorities. But divisions within the party remain deep, with many on the right attacking Mr Johnson's efforts to find a compromise.
“The Lord Jesus Himself could not run this conference,” said Rep. Troy Neals, R-Texas. This week on CNN. “You can't do that.”
In a social media post after Friday's press conference, Greene suggested that Trump's high-profile endorsements had not changed her view of the speaker. “But I do not support Chairman Johnson,” she said after expressing her continued loyalty to her former president.
Meanwhile, Mr. Johnson on Friday voiced major support for Mr. Trump's allegations of voter fraud, giving him public support and supporting two issues central to Mr. Trump's 2024 campaign: border security and repeated falsehoods exposed. proposed proposals to address the identified issues. Claims of election fraud.
Since his first election, Trump has claimed without evidence that Democrats are allowing or encouraging immigrants to illegally cross the border to register to vote.
It is already illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections. Fact-checkers say this rarely happens and is often done by mistake, including when Trump suggested in 2016 that millions of immigrants who were not citizens had voted. It turned out that it was far from the same level.
But Mr. Johnson reiterated Mr. Trump's claims and vowed to push for legislation that would require people registering to vote in federal elections to prove their citizenship and require states to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls. Johnson was not clear on how such a bill would enforce these requirements.
Stirring fears that illegal immigrants are trying to manipulate U.S. elections is a convenient way for Trump to capitalize on the immigration crisis while sowing doubt among his supporters about the security of the country's elections. That's a good way.
In a statement released by the Biden campaign, Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson preemptively branded the announcement a “phony” and accused Trump of repeating his election lies.
“Donald Trump and Mike Johnson don't care about election integrity,” Thompson said. “All they care about is supporting the Trump campaign in its quest for revenge and retribution to regain power at all costs.”
Mr. Johnson played a key role in supporting Mr. Trump's false claim of victory in 2020, urging House Republicans to sign a legal brief supporting a lawsuit seeking to overturn the election results. Ta. He repeated his claims about voter fraud in the interview, providing Republicans with an argument that some had previously opposed the certification of Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory on January 6, 2021.
Trump, who faces criminal charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election long before Election Day this November, is already trying to sow doubts about the 2024 election. He has regularly argued at campaign rallies that there is no way Democrats will win in November without cheating, and recently told supporters that his vote total was “too large to be rigged.” We are calling on people to gather in large numbers to confirm this.
Republicans in key battleground states have also been pushing for stronger voting restrictions since 2020, including laws requiring identification at polling places and stricter restrictions on mail-in and early voting, with trends favoring Democrats in recent cycles. It is in.
Trump has repeatedly attacked both practices, frequently claiming that mail-in voting is rife with fraud and that elections should be limited to “one-day voting.” Other prominent Republicans, especially in battleground states, say the party needs to encourage the practice to chip away at Democrats' advantage.
Annie Carni Contributed to reporting from Washington.