WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose job is in jeopardy, plans to travel to Florida on Friday to meet with the man who could save his uncertain speakership: former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Trump and Johnson, R-La., plan to make statements on “election integrity,” several sources said, including one that said the two Republicans will discuss legislation aimed at preventing noncitizens from voting. It is already illegal – and very rare — but Trump and many of his allies have falsely claimed that undocumented immigrants influenced the 2020 election and warned they could do so this year.
Johnson is on a pilgrimage to Trump’s Palm Beach golf resort, Mar-a-Lago, as he faces a continuing threat to his job from far-right Georgia firebrand and Trump loyalist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, who has stepped up attacks on the United States. started working in less than six months.
If Trump keeps quiet, Greene might see that as enough of an opening. But he’s unlikely to defy Trump if he pushes Johnson to keep his job and pressure him not to force a vote to remove him from office, known as a discharge proposal.
“Obviously, it would help,” said conservative Rep. Ralph Norman, who sometimes criticized Johnson but did not support impeachment, if Trump reiterated his support for him.
“Trump has a following; he’s our candidate … Now it’s Trump and Biden – there’s no other choice. So it’s good that they’re coming together,” Norman said, adding that he expects Trump to impress his views on Johnson. The No. 1 focus should be passing new immigration restrictions.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., a critic of Johnson, said when asked what Johnson would gain from visiting Trump: “President Trump has been a great negotiator, but he’s also very good at understanding what the American people understand. has ideas. I want,” he said, adding that he was looking forward to their announcement.
The speaker’s office had no comment for this article. Johnson’s Palm Beach visit comes just three days before Trump’s inauguration to be judged Accused of falsifying business records related to New York shut up cash payments to an adult movie star Stormy Daniels.
It will be the first one-on-one meeting between the two men since Trump took office Republican Paprobable candidate of rty. A meeting between the GOP speaker and the presidential candidate would not be unusual as the party is united behind its candidate. But it comes exactly three weeks after Green He filed a motion to oust Johnson and as other conservatives complain about his handling of many difficult issues.
Threats to Johnson’s job are mounting They are two controversial issues: Approval of aid to Ukraine and update control software without warranty under Article 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. In both cases, Johnson is facing pressure from his party’s committee leaders, centrist Republicans and a group of right-wing members of the Senate who oppose both issues to act against the wishes of members.
Greene, who released his proposal before a two-week House recess last month, has yet to launch it. If he does, a vote will be required within two legislative days. After the House return, and despite calls from his colleagues to resign, he only increased his attacks on Johnson.
Greene lashed out at the sweeping government funding bill passed last month, arguing that Johnson gave President Joe Biden and Democrats “everything they wanted” in the spending package. It is controlled by the Senate and the White House.)
“I will not tolerate our Republican Speaker-elect, Mike Johnson, serving the Democrats and the Biden administration and helping them carry out their policies that are destroying our country. He is driving our own razor-thin majority into chaos by not serving his own GOP conference that elected him,” Green wrote in a letter to colleagues this week, urging Johnson not to fund aid to Ukraine or renew Section 702 without a new document. “warranty claim”.
No other Republicans have said they will vote for Greene’s discharge bid, and Greene downplayed Friday’s meeting, saying “President Trump meets with people all the time.”
Johnson ally and Trump supporter Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., said he doesn’t think the threat to the speaker is real: “Johnson is standing very strong here despite all the noise.”
Some Democrats said they would vote to defend Johnson if the Republicans wanted to remove him from office because of his aid to Ukraine. Democratic leaders, who joined the conference last fall to oppose his predecessor Kevin McCarthy of California as speaker, are keeping the door open with Johnson.
“If the speaker did the right thing and allowed the House to exercise its will with an up or down vote on the national security bill, then I believe there are enough Democrats who don’t want to see the speaker. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y. he told reporters on Thursday that he was “making an observation, not a declaration, because we need to talk.”
Friday’s meeting comes as McCarthy flew to Mar-a-Lago to reconcile with Trump just weeks after McCarthy publicly denounced him for inciting riots at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. After Republicans took back control of the House of Representatives, Trump endorsed McCarthy for speaker and helped him win during a week-long deadlock.
But last fall, when Trump ally Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., forced a vote to oust McCarthy, Trump remained silent and made no effort to save him.
Given Trump’s role in efforts to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory, Johnson’s fate may be different. led Amicus brief signed by more than 100 House Republicans It supported a Texas lawsuit that invalidated election results in the four swing states Biden carried.