Speaker Mike Johnson had a troublesome week. He’s dealing with a revolt from some of the conservative members of his caucus that would value him his job. The prospect of offering further support to Ukraine continues to satisfy 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 a vital lifeline in his hour of want.
“I stand with the speaker,” former President Donald J. Trump informed reporters at Mar-a-Lago, his non-public 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 menace from one in all Mr. Trump’s most loyal allies, Consultant Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, of a movement to oust him.
It isn’t 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 assist 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 menace to push Mr. Johnson from his place.
“He’s doing a very good job beneath actually robust circumstances,” mentioned Mr. Trump, who has helped undermine Mr. Johnson’s legislative agenda by voicing opposition to a few of his efforts.
He referred to as the specter of a transfer to oust Mr. Johnson “unlucky,” including “This isn’t a straightforward scenario for any speaker,” And he mentioned: “I’m certain that Majorie understands that.”
Even in gentle of Mr. Trump’s remarks, there seems to be little political draw back for Ms. Greene to observe by way of on her menace to oust Mr. Johnson if he brings an support bundle for Ukraine to the ground.
Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly railed in opposition to offering extra support to Ukraine, didn’t absolutely again Mr. Johnson’s effort to supply further U.S. army help to the nation because it continues to battle in opposition to Russia’s invading forces.
However he moderated his stance on Friday, saying that the 2 had mentioned the problem and that he believed they may discover widespread floor in providing support “within the type of a mortgage,” an thought the previous president has pushed for months.
Home Republicans have a slim majority that leaves little room for dissent if Mr. Johnson desires to advance legislative priorities. However the get together stays deeply divided, with many on its proper fringe attacking Mr. Johnson’s efforts to seek out compromise.
“The Lord Jesus himself couldn’t handle this convention,” Consultant Troy Nehls, Republican of Texas, mentioned on CNN this week. “You simply can’t do it.”
In a social media put up after Friday’s information convention, Ms. Greene signaled that Mr. Trump’s high-profile present of assist had not modified her view of the speaker. After voicing her continued loyalty to the previous president, she mentioned, “However I don’t assist Speaker Johnson.”
Mr. Johnson, for his half, provided on Friday a high-profile backing of Mr. Trump’s allegations of voter fraud, giving them public assist and pushing a proposal to deal with 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 with the intention 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 occurs hardly ever, typically by mistake, and nowhere close to the extent that Mr. Trump has recommended, similar to when he claimed that tens of millions of immigrants who should not residents voted in 2016.
However Mr. Johnson repeated Mr. Trump’s claims, vowing to push a invoice that might 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 control U.S. elections is a handy approach for Mr. Trump to grab on the migrant disaster whereas persevering with to sow doubt amongst his supporters in regards to 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 mentioned. “They care solely about serving to Trump’s marketing campaign of revenge and retribution to regain energy in any respect prices.”
Mr. Johnson performed a major position 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 legal expenses associated to his efforts to overturn the 2020 race — has already tried to sow doubt in regards to the 2024 election. He routinely insists at his marketing campaign rallies that Democrats can not presumably win in November with out dishonest and has extra lately urged his supporters to end up in droves to make sure that his vote whole is “too large 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 must be restricted to “one-day voting.” Different outstanding Republicans, notably in battleground states, have mentioned that the get together must encourage the apply with the intention to chip away at Democrats’ benefits.
Annie Karni contributed reporting from Washington.
