On Capitol Hill, House Speaker Mike Johnson says he will
not resign as Congress scrambles to pass aid for Israel
and possibly for Ukraine.
I am not resigning and it is,
it is, in my view,
an absurd notion that someone would bring a vacate motion
and we are simply here trying to do our jobs.
It is not helpful to the 'cause,
it is not helpful to the country.
It has not helped the House Republicans advance our agenda,
which is in the best interest of the American people
here.
A secure border of sound governance
and it's not helpful to the unity that we have
in in the body.
This comes as Johnson says he will break up the
votes and bring 4 separate measures to the floor that
include aid for Israel,
Ukraine and Taiwan. But some Republicans are already coming out
against it.
AB CS Jay O'Brien is joining me now from Capitol
Hill for more on this.
Thanks for coming back, Jay.
Really appreciate it. So what is inside these measures,
and could it threaten Johnson's future as speaker?
Well, this is an effort to try to get that
aid for Israel that so many Democrats and Republicans wanted
for really months now, but really gained steam,
particularly after that attack by Iran.
And so Israel aid is a component of these four
pieces of legislation,
but one of the other of the four components is
aid for Ukraine,
which has been long stalled and Johnson has said he
believes is important despite the fact that he hasn't brought
an Aid on Ukraine bill to the floor for months.
And it's that aid for Ukraine causing the hardliners in
Johnson's party to balk. Marjorie Taylor Green is saying she's
going to ramp up her efforts using a motion to
vacate,
which you already heard Johnson refer to there to try
to oust him from the speakership.
Thomas Massie has already now said that he's going to
join Marjorie Taylor Green in those efforts.
And Green has said she believes her ranks of Republicans
opposing Johnson are growing,
although other lawmakers haven't publicly said that they're going to
support her one way or the other.
Lot of Republicans have come out and said what she's
doing in their view is unproductive.
But certainly Johnson is now being pitted against the hardliners
in his own party because of this package that he's
now going to put on the floor this week.
Stephanie and Jay, we've also learned Speaker Johnson spoke with
President Biden before laying out this plan.
Any indication that Democrats may get on board with this?
These are proposals that Democrats have supported funding for Israel,
Ukraine, and the third is funding for Taiwan.
And then there's a fourth bill that's got some conservative
priorities in it.
We don't know exactly what the text of that bill
is going to look like,
so it's unclear to take the temperature of what Democrats
will think about that.
But on the whole, this is something Democrats have largely
supported.
And while the White House has said that they wanted
this legislation,
sources tell us to be in the form of a
bill that the Senate passed,
which is all of this stuff ranked wrapped into one.
Without that grab bag of conservative priorities,
Johnson's not going to do that.
So he's going to need Democrats to pass this.
It's very likely if this does get to the floor,
the Democrats will vote for.
And certainly because of these Republican defections that we're seeing,
Johnson really needs the help of Democrats.
So he's got to walk this fine line of keeping
Republicans happy,
but also making sure this legislation is appealing to Democrats
in the House.
That's setting aside the Senate where this legislation might face
a rocky path itself.
And you've said it, Jay,
he's he has to please both Democrats and Republicans.
But do you think this will get some more Republicans
on board with him and and kind of get him
on his side.
Do you think this will help him.
Well, look, we like we we've seen Republicans who say
they like
what he's done in terms of the ambitious nature of
this package,
the four bills and putting this Ukraine aid on the
floor,
something that some Republicans have thought Johnson might not ever
do.
And we've also heard from Republicans who may not like
this package.
Jim Jordan is a good example of this.
Who said they don't agree?
Maybe with some of the policy provisions in this four
bill package,
but they do not believe now is the time to
oust another speaker of the House.
Remember when Kevin McCarthy was ousted?
The House went 22 days without a speaker.
The business of the House was paralyzed.
So the only Republicans we've seen come out and say
they believe it's time for Johnson to go are Marjorie
Taylor Greene,
Thomas Massie. Again, they claim they've got a little bit
more support waiting in the wings who have not gone
public yet,
but we haven't seen that materialized.
And Jay also sources say Speaker Johnson did not fully
lay out all of the details for this plan
in for the plan for Ukraine,
Israel and Taiwan to Trump when he met with the
former president in Mar a Lago.
So the former president did not endorse the idea.
What kind of impact could this have on his speakership?
Well, that's the open question is what does Donald Trump
think about this legislation?
Because certainly, given the power that Trump has over House
Republicans,
hardliners and moderates alike, if he were to come out
against this legislation,
it could really pose a significant threat to this package
that Johnson wants to get over the goal line.
Think about when Trump came out against the reauthorization,
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,
FISA, last week. That doomed the legislation for a time
until there were some changes made that would appeal to
Trump.
And Trump finally then didn't necessarily get on board with
it but back down in terms of his criticism.
So Donald Trump has a lot of power over House
Republicans,
and if he really wants to take down this legislative
package,
he can. But the sense we're getting from the former
president's allies who are speaking to my colleague up here,
Rachel Scott and John Santucci and Catherine Fathers as well,
is that the former president wants to wait and see
the text of this legislation,
exactly what is put down on paper before he weighs
in one way or the other.
But certainly, Donald Trump is another factor Mike Johnson is
going to have to grapple with if he wants to
get this passed.
Absolutely. We will see what happens.
Jay, thank you so much for your time and for
breaking all of that down for us.
Really appreciate it.