Donald Trump praised Mike Johnson and rejected his own supporters’ efforts to unseat the president in a seemingly subdued message after the House passed a $95 billion foreign aid package over the weekend.
Trump is apparently canceling the attempt by his main ally, Marjorie Taylor Greene, to overthrow the Republican Party leader by putting the package – which includes $60 billion for Ukraine – on the floor without any border security measures.
‘Look, we have a majority of one, okay? It’s not like he can go and do whatever he wants,” the former president said on Real America’s Voice Monday night.
The GOP majority in the House of Representatives has shrunk to a one-vote majority after the departure of Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher.
‘I think he is a very good person. You know, he was very firmly with me when it came to NATO,” Trump continued. “I think he’s trying really hard.”
Although Trump has endorsed Johnson before, appearing with him at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago weeks ago, it is the former president’s first defense since he signed into law a bill to send more aid to Ukraine.
Donald Trump praised Mike Johnson and rejected his own supporters’ efforts to unseat the president in a seemingly toned-down message after the House passed a foreign aid package over the weekend.
Johnson has irritated hardline conservatives by striking deals with Democrats on full-year government spending, introducing a bill to reauthorize FISA, a surveillance tool, without court orders and approving aid to Ukraine.
On Saturday, the House approved a $95 billion package, including $60 billion for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel and Gaza, and about $4 billion for the Indo-Pacific.
The Senate is set to approve the package today, and President Biden plans to sign it as soon as possible.
Johnson has irritated hardline conservatives by striking deals with Democrats on full-year government spending, introducing a bill to reauthorize FISA, a surveillance tool, without court orders on the floor and approving Ukraine.
Three Republicans, led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a staunch Trump acolyte, signed a motion to remove Johnson from the presidency over his handling of spending and foreign aid.
Trump has not opposed Ukraine as harshly as some hardline Republicans, noting that the country “is in desperate need” but insisting that Europe should do more to help.
“Why doesn’t Europe give more money to help Ukraine?” Trump reflected on Truth Social. ‘Why has the United States invested more than $100 billion in the Ukraine war more than Europe, and we have an ocean between us as separation?’
Three Republicans, led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a staunch Trump acolyte, signed a motion to remove Johnson from the presidency over his handling of spending and foreign aid.
‘As everyone agrees, Ukraine’s survival should be much more important to Europe than it is to us, but it is also important to us! MOVE EUROPE!’
The former president continued: ‘Also, I am the only one speaking for “ME” and while it is a total disaster caused by corrupt Joe Biden and incompetent Democrats, if I were president this war would never have started. !’
The package has exposed a gap within the Republican Party almost as wide as that between the two parties. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., lashed out at Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance for his stance against aid to Ukraine over the weekend.
Vance had written in a New York Times op-ed that Ukraine could not win the fight against Russia even with help from the United States.
‘Ukraine’s challenge is not the Republican Party; It’s mathematics. Ukraine needs more soldiers than it can deploy. And it needs more material than the United States can provide,” Vance wrote.
“That’s garbage,” Graham responded on Fox News on Sunday.
Trump spoke out on Monday against banning TikTok; A provision in the foreign aid bill would force Chinese-owned ByteDance to divest TikTok within nine months or face a U.S. ban.
‘Just so everyone knows, especially young people, corrupt Joe Biden is responsible for banning TikTok. He’s the one pushing to shut it down, and he’s doing it to help his Facebook friends become richer and more dominant, and able to continue fighting, perhaps illegally, against the Republican Party. It’s called ELECTORAL INTERFERENCE! The former president spoke on Truth Social on Monday.
In 2020, Trump signed an executive order banning the platform in 45 days if ByteDance did not sell it, but a court blocked the ban before it could take effect.
Meanwhile, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., expressed concern about the First Amendment and called Ukraine “corrupt.”
Three Republicans, led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a staunch Trump acolyte, signed a motion to remove Johnson from the presidency over his handling of spending and foreign aid.
Trump Once Again Backed President Johnson Despite $60 Billion Aid Package to Ukraine
“The censors who abound in Congress will likely vote to ban TikTok or force a change of ownership,” he wrote in an op-ed for Reason. “It would violate the First Amendment rights of the more than 100 million Americans who use TikTok to express themselves.”
He spoke of Democrats waving “corrupt” Ukrainian flags in the House of Representatives as they voted on the package.
‘Ukrainian flags fly in the chamber of the US House of Representatives as they vote to send more of their hard-earned money to a corrupt foreign regime.
And just like that they shout “UKRAINE! UKRAINE!”, as we happily work to secure Ukraine’s borders, not our own.