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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) gave special counsel Jack Smith some good news during an interview posted on Thursday.
Johnson told Politico that he would not agree to a demand from some of the party’s more conservative members to defund Smith’s office as he continues to pursue cases against former President Donald Trump.
House Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch Trump supporter, has repeatedly attempted to cut off funding to Smith, a special counsel for the Department of Justice, over the past year. However, during the interview, Johnson stated that one cannot simply “wave a wand and eliminate the special counsel.”
Smith is managing two active criminal cases against Trump, involving allegations that he mishandled classified documents following his departure from office in January 2021 and illegally tried to reverse the 2020 presidential election outcome. The former president has entered a plea of not guilty to all charges, asserting that the accusations are politically motivated, Newsweek noted.
Johnson responded to calls for Smith to lose federal funding to hinder his legal actions against Trump: “That’s not something you wave a wand at and just eliminate the special counsel as a provision.”
He also defended the role of special prosecutors, who investigate suspected wrongdoing in a specific case. Johnson said: “There 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.”
When he was asked if he would support an effort to amend spending bills to defund Smith’s office, Johnson responded, “No.” According to Newsweek, President Biden is unlikely to sign such a measure, which would never pass the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Newsweek added:
On Tuesday, CBS News Congressional Correspondent Scott MacFarlane reported on X, formerly Twitter, that Greene had included a call for the “defunding” of Smith as part of her list of demands to the speaker to avoid her pushing a motion to vacate, triggering a House vote on his future.
The following day, Greene did bring forward her motion to vacate aimed at Johnson but the House overwhelmingly voted to table her effort in a bipartisan 359-43 result.
Greene’s relationship with the Speaker turned negative in April after he agreed to a $95 billion funding bill for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel after initially stating that he was against spending more money in Ukraine, especially.
Greene also called for Smith’s office to be stripped of funding in an X post on June 12, 2023, which was supported by Florida Representative Matt Gaetz.
She wrote: “This morning, I’m writing an appropriations rider to DEFUND Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office and the entire investigation. I will not vote for any appropriations bill to fund the weaponization of government. I hope every one of my Republican colleagues will join me.”
Last month, Johnson introduced a major election integrity reform bill following a meeting with Trump at the latter’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
“Every single person who registers to vote in a federal election must prove they’re an American citizen first” under the bill, Johnson told reporters. “Our bill would put us on par with virtually every other democracy around the world that also prohibits non-citizen voting.”
“It seems like common sense. I’m sure all of us would agree that we only want U.S. citizens to vote in U.S. elections,” Johnson added.
Trump has come out in support of Johnson and urged Greene earlier this week to hold off on her privileged motion to vacate the Speaker’s chair, adding that the Louisiana Republican was doing the best he could with just a single vote majority in the House.
