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House Speaker Mike Johnson will meet former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Friday, as the embattled Republican leader is facing a threat to his speakership from Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
“Johnson and Trump have already been at odds on the House passing an additional $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, which Johnson has for months declined to allow the House to vote on legislation already passed by the Democratic-led Senate,” Fox News reported.
“Trump has previously stated that he would end the war within 24 hours should he be reelected, while he has also touted converting the cost of weapons transfers to Ukraine into a loan. Trump also encouraged GOP lawmakers to successfully kill reauthorizing FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a measure Johnson backed. The speaker is set to try again to push the measure through the House,” the outlet added.
Greene, meantime, wrote a resolution earlier this month that required the House to hold a vote of no confidence in the speaker. Johnson came under fire from Greene for negotiating spending bills with Democrats and disobeying a GOP internal rule that mandates 72 hours of notice before a legislative vote.
She also vehemently opposes giving Ukraine additional aid. Johnson and Greene met on Wednesday, and Greene expressed her continued frustration with the speaker’s handling of a number of contentious issues.
Trump is anticipated to support Johnson’s leadership, though, as he represented the outgoing president during two impeachment trials.
Well, Friday’s meeting is billed as a “major announcement on election integrity,” and it is expected to feature legislation that would bar noncitizens from voting, though no other information has been made available.
Johnson will also have the chance to publicly highlight his close relationship with Trump during the joint appearance.
“It’s about Trump embracing Johnson,” former Speaker Newt Gingrich said of Friday’s joint appearance, per the New York Times. “This is Trump saying, ‘He is the speaker, I am his friend, we are together.’ That’s a pretty important thing for him. He just has to endure.”
Back in February, Johnson met with Trump and National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson to discuss the slim Republican majority in 2024.
“Just had a great meeting with President Trump this President’s Day. Together, we will grow the majority and save America!” Johnson said.
Johnson spokesman Greg Steele released a statement saying, “Speaker Johnson met with President Trump in Florida on Monday to discuss growing the majority and securing Republican victories up and down the ballot in November.”
The closer the country gets to the November elections, the better Trump appears to be doing against President Joe Biden when it comes to a range of key issues facing the country.
In a newly released ABC/IPSOS poll, respondents were asked to state which candidate — Trump or Biden — they believed would better handle a series of key issues in the country, including crime, immigration, the economy, guns, and more.
In general, it seems that Americans express greater confidence in Trump’s ability to address key current issues compared to Biden.
For example, 43 percent trust Trump to manage the economy, whereas only 31 percent feel the same about Biden, giving Trump a +12 advantage.
Forty-one percent indicated they have more faith in Trump’s ability to address the issue of crime in the country, while only 28 percent expressed the same confidence in Biden.
Additionally, Trump holds a ten-point lead in handling inflation, an 18-point lead in managing immigration, a one-point lead in addressing gun violence, and a three-point lead in dealing with matters concerning Ukraine and Russia.
Biden’s age has become one of his biggest drawbacks, as poll after poll has shown most Americans, as well as a significant number of Democrats, believe he’s too old to serve a second four-year term.
