House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office tells Breitbart News exclusively that he intends to remain Speaker of the House after voting Friday to oppose ending warrantless surveillance of Americans by the deep state. He spoke clearly.
Johnson is currently rushing to Mar-a-Lago in hopes that former President Donald Trump will provide him with a lifeline, but there are serious questions about whether he can stay in office after a series of major policy failures. are faced with questions. Prime Minister Johnson is scheduled to hold a press conference with President Trump to announce a messaging bill aimed at preventing illegal aliens from voting. The proposal is not serious and has no chance of being considered by the Senate. This use of Trump as a cover for an unserious messaging bill has seriously hurt many pro-Trump movement leaders.
Asked about rumors that he was considering resigning, Raj Shah, the chairman’s press secretary, told Breitbart News: “He is not resigning.” Asked if Mr Johnson was considering resigning, Mr Shah reiterated “no”.
It is noteworthy that the Speaker of the House’s staff regularly acts like this at the end of life for their boss. In September 2015, literally the night before he announced his resignation, then-House Speaker John Boehner’s spokesperson told Breitbart News that he would not resign.
On September 24, 2015, when Breitbart News reported that anti-Boyner forces had rallied enough Republicans to oust them, Emily Schillinger, then-Speaker Boehner’s press secretary, said, “This is… It’s ridiculous and the sources are wrong,” he told Breitbart News. He came from the Presidency.The next day, Beyner announced he will resign.
Mr. Johnson is in a much tougher position than Mr. Beyner ever was. It started with lackluster fundraising numbers in the first quarter, in which he raised just $20 million compared to the large sums raised by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over a similar period, but the government A series of policy failures, from failures in funding to mismanagement of government oversight, continued into the next quarter. It has sparked a controversy that seeks to thwart conservatives by increasing foreign aid to places like Ukraine. Furthermore, Mr. Johnson received a much smaller percentage of the vote than Mr. Beyner, and is eyeing a possible resignation motion by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and others. Mr Green has not introduced the bill as a privilege motion that would require a vote in the House of Commons, but that possibility remains on the table as Mr Johnson continues to make mistakes and cause controversy. The chances of something like that happening from Greene and other Republicans only increase.
When asked if Team Johnson is copying Team Beyner intentionally or by accident, Shah said, “We’re not copying anyone.”
Republicans from across the House Republican Conference, from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), said Johnson would support bipartisan amendments to the foreign intelligence update package. He has torn apart Mr Johnson after casting the decisive vote against him. Section 702 of the Surveillance Act (FISA) required federal law enforcement officers to obtain a warrant to surveil Americans.
Thus the Constitution disappears.
An amendment to require a warrant for spying on Americans was defeated by a majority vote.
This is a sad day for America.
The Speaker does not always vote in the House, but today the Speaker cast the tie-breaking vote. He voted against the writ. pic.twitter.com/i49GnCzyPm
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 12, 2024
Republican chair voted against warrant requirement for American citizens after this very process was blatantly abused for spying purposes @realDonaldTrump And his campaign is beyond common sense.
— Congressman Greg Steube (@RepGregSteube) April 12, 2024
Meanwhile, Mr. Johnson’s subordinates argued that Mr. Johnson had voted early in the roll call and that Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) had voted later than Mr. Johnson. Although they claim that it was not a vote, the chairperson often does not vote. Prime Minister Johnson then decided to consider this particular provision and focus his efforts on defeating the amendment by a tie vote. Shah sent Breitbart News this tweet from Turning Point’s Charlie Kirk, who claimed he wasn’t the final vote.
Description: The final vote went to Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Chairman Mike Johnson voted first. We hear they did not vote in favor of the warrantless surveillance amendment.
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) April 12, 2024
In Mr. Massey’s comments, he literally said that Mr. Johnson’s casting the deciding vote here on Friday was like setting the U.S. Constitution on fire. Breitbart News asked Johnson’s office about this, specifically the question, “Is Mike Johnson ashamed of setting the Constitution on fire?”
“That question is beside the point,” Shah replied. “He is at odds with others regarding warrant amendments.”
Things certainly look dire for Johnson at the moment, and his control over the speakership is as weak as any modern speaker ever, but only because there’s literally no one else in the Republican Party who can get there. He might survive. Everyone else on the current leadership team, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and former Majority Whip Tom Emmer, tried unsuccessfully to win the House speaker’s seat in October. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, came closest to the gavel after Mr. McCarthy’s ouster, but 25 intransigent voters, many of whom will not run for re-election or are now They were stopped by a group of people (dropping like flies heading for the exit). Jordan received the vote in the full House for the third time in a row.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), center, is the Republican candidate for Speaker of the House of Representatives after failing to receive enough votes to become Speaker of the House, center, on the floor of the Capitol on Tuesday, October 17, 2023. It can be seen at. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty)
Mr. Johnson has always been in a very difficult position since he was first elected president, and since then the number of Republicans in the chamber has only diminished, further weakening his control. If House Republicans expel him, Democrats could retake the chamber before the next election in November, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) taking the gavel. There is a possibility that it will happen. Some Republicans privately complain that there is not much difference between the way Mr. Jeffries is going to operate and the way Mr. Johnson is operating now, and that the next They claim it could help Republicans in elections.
But regardless of how things pan out, the turmoil surrounding House Republicans is not a good factor for them to maintain or even increase their majority in November. But the election situation is not as bad as it seems, and the list of battleground states that could determine which party holds the majority is heavily skewed toward Republicans.
Another thing to watch is how President Trump will deal with all of this. Johnson’s future could depend on whether Trump warmly embraces him or distances himself from Johnson’s repeated failures and mistakes. The first evidence of that is likely to emerge when the two sides hold a joint press conference on Friday afternoon. But the fact is that while President Trump himself has been open to providing that opportunity to Johnson, the chairman is currently in a very, very short position, and he has no idea what negative opinions Johnson has. Depending on who he is, the Trump world may dump him sooner or later. Enter Trump’s orbit. Trump is currently doing very well in the presidential election, and Trump’s entire focus at the moment is on defeating Democratic President Joe Biden and taking back the White House, so Johnson will unload on Trump. Luggage can become an unbearably bulky burden.
