Speaker Mike Johnson had a troublesome week. He’s going through a revolt from one of the vital conservative members of his caucus that would price him his job. The prospect of offering extra help to Ukraine continues to fulfill opposition. And it took three tries for the Home to resume a warrantless surveillance invoice.
Then, on Friday, he flew to Florida, the place the person who has contributed to lots of his challenges threw him an important lifeline in his hour of want.
“I stand with the speaker,” former President Donald J. Trump informed reporters at Mar-a-Lago, his personal membership and residence in Palm Seashore, Fla., as Mr. Johnson stood behind him and nodded alongside.
It was a message the speaker wanted at a tenuous second in his management, when he faces the risk from one among Mr. Trump’s most loyal allies, Consultant Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, of a movement to oust him.
It’s not clear how far Mr. Trump’s endorsement will go. The previous president wields outstanding affect on Home Republicans in terms of stymieing laws he opposes, however his help was not sufficient to maintain Mr. Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, from a five-day, 15-round ordeal to safe the speakership within the first place.
Mr. Johnson oversees a fractious and skinny majority within the Home, a actuality Mr. Trump acknowledged when requested about Ms. Greene’s risk to push Mr. Johnson from his place.
“He’s doing a really good job under really tough circumstances,” stated Mr. Trump, who has helped undermine Mr. Johnson’s legislative agenda by voicing opposition to a few of his efforts.
He known as the specter of a transfer to oust Mr. Johnson “unfortunate,” including “This is not an easy situation for any speaker,” And he stated: “I’m sure that Majorie understands that.”
Even in mild of Mr. Trump’s remarks, there seems to be little political draw back for Ms. Greene to comply with by means of on her risk to oust Mr. Johnson if he brings an help package deal for Ukraine to the ground.
Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly railed in opposition to offering extra help to Ukraine, didn’t absolutely again Mr. Johnson’s effort to supply extra U.S. army help to the nation because it continues to combat in opposition to Russia’s invading forces.
However he moderated his stance on Friday, saying that the 2 had mentioned the difficulty and that he believed they may discover frequent floor in providing help “in the form of a loan,” an concept the previous president has pushed for months.
Home Republicans have a slender majority that leaves little room for dissent if Mr. Johnson desires to advance legislative priorities. However the social gathering stays deeply divided, with many on its proper fringe attacking Mr. Johnson’s efforts to seek out compromise.
“The Lord Jesus himself could not manage this conference,” Consultant Troy Nehls, Republican of Texas, stated on CNN this week. “You just can’t do it.”
In a social media submit after Friday’s information convention, Ms. Greene signaled that Mr. Trump’s high-profile present of help had not modified her view of the speaker. After voicing her continued loyalty to the previous president, she stated, “But I do not support Speaker Johnson.”
Mr. Johnson, for his half, supplied on Friday a high-profile backing of Mr. Trump’s allegations of voter fraud, giving them public help and pushing a proposal to handle two points central to Mr. Trump’s 2024 marketing campaign: border safety and repeatedly debunked claims of election fraud.
Since his first presidential marketing campaign, Mr. Trump has claimed with out proof that Democrats are permitting or encouraging migrants to cross the border illegally in an effort to register them to vote.
It’s already unlawful for people who find themselves not residents to vote in federal elections. Reality checkers have discovered that it happens rarely, typically by mistake, and nowhere close to the extent that Mr. Trump has steered, reminiscent of when he claimed that millions of immigrants who are not citizens voted in 2016.
However Mr. Johnson repeated Mr. Trump’s claims, vowing to push a invoice that may require that anybody registering to vote in a federal election show their citizenship, and require states to take away noncitizens from their voter rolls. Mr. Johnson was not clear on how such a invoice may implement these necessities.
Stoking fears that undocumented immigrants try to govern U.S. elections is a handy means for Mr. Trump to grab on the migrant disaster whereas persevering with to sow doubt amongst his supporters concerning the safety of the nation’s elections.
In an announcement launched by the Biden marketing campaign, Consultant Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, preemptively labeled the announcement a “sham” and criticized Mr. Trump for repeating his election lies.
“Donald Trump and Mike Johnson don’t care about election integrity,” Mr. Thompson stated. “They care only about helping Trump’s campaign of revenge and retribution to regain power at all costs.”
Mr. Johnson performed a significant role in supporting Mr. Trump’s false declare that he gained in 2020, recruiting Home Republicans to signal a authorized transient that supported a lawsuit searching for to overturn the election outcomes. He repeated claims about voter fraud in interviews, and he supplied Republicans with arguments that some used to object to certifying Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory on Jan. 6, 2021.
Properly forward of Election Day this November, Mr. Trump — who faces prison costs associated to his efforts to overturn the 2020 race — has already tried to sow doubt concerning the 2024 election. He routinely insists at his marketing campaign rallies that Democrats can not probably win in November with out dishonest and has extra not too long ago urged his supporters to prove in droves to make sure that his vote complete is “too big to rig.”
Republicans in key battleground states have additionally since 2020 pushed for elevated restrictions on voting, together with legal guidelines requiring identification at polling locations and extra limits on mail-in voting and early voting, practices which have tended to favor Democrats in latest cycles.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly attacked each practices, arguing often that mail-in voting is rife with fraud and that elections should be restricted to “one-day voting.” Different distinguished Republicans, significantly in battleground states, have stated that the social gathering must encourage the apply in an effort to chip away at Democrats’ benefits.
Annie Karni contributed reporting from Washington.
