House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) on Sunday rejected suggestions that former President Trump is exerting undue influence over House decisions on a potential border deal.
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Kristen Welker asked Johnson if President Trump was “making the decision here,” but Johnson said he has no intention of agreeing to any border deal. He continued to insist that it should be equivalent to HR2. It has little chance of ending up on the president’s desk.
“Of course not. He doesn’t call the shots. I’m in charge of the House. That’s our responsibility. And I’ve been saying this much longer than President Trump. I kept saying what I needed to do to fix the problem,” Johnson told Welker.
As lawmakers move closer to agreeing on a bipartisan border deal in the Senate, some Republicans are worried that President Biden will has already begun asserting its authority to act through executive power.
Meanwhile, President Trump has publicly and privately discouraged Republicans from accepting the border deal, saying it could benefit him in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.
But Mr Johnson insisted Mr Trump had no influence on his decisions and said his position was consistent.
“We don’t care if they call this law HR2. What we’re saying is, we have to stop that trend. Right now, the president has executive power. If Congress does this… “We’re negotiating, we’re debating, we’re debating, and the president could stop that,” Johnson said.
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