House Speaker Mike Johnson said he felt betrayed by President Biden’s threat to withhold US arms shipments to Israel and said he expected the remarks to be attributed to a “grave moment” .
“I hope — I believe he’s going off script,” Johnson (R-Louisiana) said on his next show. politiko‘s “Playbook Deep Dive” podcast.
“I don’t think that’s what the staff told him to say. I hope it’s a crowning moment, but it would be a huge departure from what is said to be the policy there.” Body.”
The 81-year-old commander-in-chief told CNN’s Erin Burnett in a prime-time interview Wednesday night, citing concerns about the rising civilian death toll in the Jewish state’s war against Hamas. , the United States said it would stop sending munitions to Israel. They invaded the densely populated southern city of Rafah in Gaza.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a result of bombs and other attacks on populated areas,” Biden said of the U.S. arms shipment.
“That’s just wrong. We’re not going to supply the weapons or shells we use.”
Over Republican opposition, Mr. Johnson worked with the Biden administration and House Democrats to pass a $95.3 billion aid package for war-torn nations such as Ukraine and Israel, as well as a defense package for Taiwan, last month.
Following the bill’s passage, several of Mr. Johnson’s Republican colleagues, led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), are pushing to oust the House speaker from the leadership post he has held since Mr. Johnson’s painful ouster. I tried, but it ended in failure. His predecessor, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), took office last October.
Just hours after surviving the gavel attempt, Johnson told the podcast host that he had heard reports about plans to delay arms shipments to Israel even before Biden’s comments on CNN, but that the Biden administration Officials said they had assured them the report was correct. was wrong.
“And my honest reaction was, ‘Wow, that’s a complete reversal of what we’ve been hearing for the last few hours,'” the chairman said after hearing of Biden’s unexpected reversal. .
“So, 24 hours ago, we got confirmation from government officials that the policy is very different from what he said there. So we hope it’s the best moment.”
Mr. Johnson said Mr. Biden’s comments in the interview ignored the promises he made with Mr. Biden when hammering out a deal to ensure passage of the package.
He said the White House had told him that the shipment delays Biden mentioned were from the “initial arms tranche” and “have nothing to do with the additional aid package that you passed.”
But Johnson said he considered Biden’s comments a betrayal.
