Trump and Mike Johnson to Make Announcement on ‘Election Integrity’

Speaker Mike Johnson had a tough week. He’s dealing with a revolt from one of the vital conservative members of his caucus that might value him his job. The prospect of offering extra assist 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 an important lifeline in his hour of want.

“I stand with the speaker,” former President Donald J. Trump advised reporters at Mar-a-Lago, his non-public membership and residence in Palm Seaside, 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 risk from considered one of 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 exceptional affect on Home Republicans in relation to 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 risk to push Mr. Johnson from his place.

“He’s doing a extremely good job below actually powerful circumstances,” stated Mr. Trump, who has helped undermine Mr. Johnson’s legislative agenda by voicing opposition to a few of his efforts.

He known as the specter of a transfer to oust Mr. Johnson “unlucky,” including, “This isn’t a straightforward scenario for any speaker.” And he stated: “I’m positive that Majorie understands that.”

Even in mild of Mr. Trump’s remarks, there seems to be little political draw back for Ms. Greene to observe by on her risk to oust Mr. Johnson if he brings an assist package deal for Ukraine to the ground.

Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly railed towards offering extra assist to Ukraine, didn’t absolutely again Mr. Johnson’s effort to offer extra U.S. army help to the nation because it continues to struggle towards 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 frequent floor in providing assist “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 celebration stays deeply divided, with many on its proper fringe attacking Mr. Johnson’s efforts to search out compromise.

“The Lord Jesus himself couldn’t handle this convention,” Consultant Troy Nehls, Republican of Texas, stated 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 stated, “However I don’t assist Speaker Johnson.”

Mr. Johnson, for his half, supplied on Friday a high-profile backing of Mr. Trump’s allegations of voter fraud, giving them public assist and pushing a proposal to handle 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 a purpose 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 happens rarely, typically by mistake, and nowhere close to the extent that Mr. Trump has instructed, akin to when he claimed that tens of millions of immigrants who will not be 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 would possibly implement these necessities.

Stoking fears that undocumented immigrants try to govern U.S. elections is a handy means 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 stated. “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 looking 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.

Nicely forward of Election Day this November, Mr. Trump — who faces felony 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 probably win in November with out dishonest and has extra not too long ago urged his supporters to prove in droves to make sure that his vote complete is “too huge 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 incessantly that mail-in voting is rife with fraud and that elections have to be restricted to “one-day voting.” Different distinguished Republicans, notably in battleground states, have stated that the celebration must encourage the follow with a purpose to chip away at Democrats’ benefits.

Annie Karni contributed reporting from Washington.