The House Democrats could have helped Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene torpedo Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s Speakership, but they didn’t. Instead they sided with Speaker Johnson and helped sink the motion to vacate the speaker’s chair put forth by MTG and supported quite vocally by Rep. Thomas Massie, though pushed back on by former President Donald Trump.
Then, shortly after 163 House Democrats sided with pro-Johnson House Republicans to save his speakership, Speaker Johnson spoke to Politico and said that he would not try to use Congress’s power of the purse to shut down special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of former President Donald Trump by yanking funding from Smith’s office.
Commenting on special counsel Smith’s office not being in danger of being slashed through the budget, Speaker Johnson told Politico, “That’s not something you wave a wand and just eliminate the special counsel as a provision. here is a necessity for a function like that, because sometimes the Department of Justice — which is an executive branch agency — can’t necessarily, without a conflict of interest, investigate or prosecute the president who’s their boss, or the president’s family.”
Then, when Politico directly asked if he planned on using appropriations bills to cut special counsel Smith’s position, Speaker Johnson said that he would not do so. Politico asked, “So are you prepared to write language eliminating Smith’s job into appropriations bills?” and he said, plainly, “No.”
Politico added that the issue is “sensitive” and that Speaker Johnson backtracked somewhat shortly after the Trump Campaign became aware of his comments. Politico reported, “The issue is clearly a sensitive one. This morning, we asked Trump’s campaign about Johnson’s special counsel remarks at 10:27 a.m. Four minutes later, we got a call from a person close with Johnson who offered what he sees as an important caveat: that Johnson is looking at other ways to go after Smith.“
Speaker Johnson also reportedly said that he and Jim Jordan are looking at ways Smith could be reigned in, though he gave no indication of what that might look like. He said, Politico reports, “We were in the very beginning stages of even beginning to investigate what that would look like. I do think there has to be accountability. I do think, you know, Congress has the power of the purse, of course. And we have oversight responsibility. And we’ve been vigorously using both of those powers that we have.”
Johnson’s reluctance to take on Smith on Trump’s behalf comes despite Trump generally supporting him and even pushing back on the motion to vacate. In a post on Truth Social, for example, he said, “I absolutely love Marjorie Taylor Greene. She’s got Spirit, she’s got Fight, and I believe she’ll be around, and on our side, for a long time to come. However, right now, Republicans have to be fighting the Radical Left Democrats, and all the Damage they have done to our Country. With a Majority of One, shortly growing to three or four, we’re not in a position of voting on a Motion to Vacate. At some point, we may very well be, but this is not the time. We are leading in the Presidential Polls by a lot, both Nationally and in the Swing States. Likewise, we are doing well in the Senate, and I believe will do well in the House. But if we show DISUNITY, which will be portrayed as CHAOS, it will negatively affect everything! Mike Johnson is a good man who is trying very hard. I also wish certain things were done over the last period of two months, but we will get them done, together. It is my request that Republicans vote for “THE MOTION TO TABLE.” We WILL WIN BIG – AND IT WILL BE SOON!”
Trump also posted a video about the situation and captioned it by saying, “I absolutely love Marjorie Taylor Greene. She’s got Spirit, she’s got Fight, and I believe she’ll be around, and on our side, for a long time to come. However, right now, Republicans have to be fighting the Radical Left Democrats, and all the Damage they have done to our Country…” Watch him here:
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112412541554491778
Featured image credit: By Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America – Mike Johnson, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=139920652
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