House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) delivered positive news to special counsel Jack Smith in an interview published on Thursday. Johnson made it clear to Politico that he would not yield to the demands of some of the party’s more conservative members who wanted to defund Smith’s office. Despite pressure from House Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch Trump supporter, Johnson emphasized that it is not possible to simply eliminate the special counsel with a wave of a wand.
Smith is currently overseeing two active criminal cases against former President Donald Trump. These cases involve allegations of mishandling classified documents and attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election outcome. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges, claiming that they are politically motivated.
Johnson commented about helping Trump during this political witch hunt, saying: “That’s not something you wave a wand at and just eliminate the special counsel as a provision.”
Johnson continued: “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.”
Johnson’s response to the inquiry about endorsing an initiative to modify spending bills in order to defund Smith’s office was a straightforward “No.” Newsweek reports that President Biden is improbable to approve such a proposal, as it would not succeed in the Senate, which is currently under Democrat control.
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 rapport with the Speaker deteriorated in April when he supported a $95 billion funding bill for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel, despite his earlier opposition to allocating additional funds to Ukraine in particular. Greene further advocated for the defunding of Smith’s office in a post on June 12, 2023, a move that received backing from 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.”
Wake Up, Donald!
Johnson IS NOT OK!
He’s on the other team.
Check his lips for Kool Aid stains!
TaaRump, though a patruot, is Dangerously Naive!
Well, sir, you just cemented you position as an anti-American RINO, not because it’s Trump, but because these charges are made up to interfere with the upcoming election and citizens’ right to choose the candidate of their preference. It would not matter whose name was there. What does matter is that these are false charges, and purely political. Just like the charges against most of the J6 victims of unlawful entrapment, or Officer Chauvin, who no more murdered George Floyd than I did, etc. YOU sir, are enabling and supporting the politicizing of our courts! You SHOULD know there will come a day of reckoning for you over that, and other betrayals of Americans, if, as you claim, you are a Christian, because Yhwh God has said so. He will not overlook those… He cannot! His righteousness forbids it!
RINO traitor Johnson mist go! MTG must take his place.
Why? She has balls that Johnson does not have. Piglosi cut them off!