Category Archives: Mike Johnson

Republicans erupt into open warfare over Ukraine aid package vote

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As the speaker of the House finally allows a vote to go forward on aid, GOP infighting is tearing apart the party

Republican divisions over military support for Ukraine were long simmering. Now, before Saturday’s extraordinary vote in Congress on a foreign aid package, they have erupted into open warfare – a conflict that the vote itself is unlikely to contain.

Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House of Representatives, triggered an all-out split in his own party’s ranks last week by finally agreeing, after months of stalling, to a floor vote on the $95bn foreign aid programme. Passed by the Senate in February, it contained about $60bn for Ukraine, $14bn for Israel, and a smaller amount for Taiwan and other Pacific allies.

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Senators kill first article of impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Mayorkas impeachment, read our story here.

Chuck Schumer has released a lengthy statement about the commencement (and presumably very swift termination) of the impeachment trial of homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this afternoon.

It is the “least legitimate, least substantive, and most politicized impeachment trial in the history of the United States,” the Democratic Senate majority leader said, encapsulating remarks he made in the chamber just now and posted to Facebook:

The charges brought against Secretary Mayorkas fail to meet the high standard of high crimes and misdemeanors. To validate this gross abuse by the House would be a grave mistake and could set a dangerous precedent for the future.

For the sake of the Senate’s integrity, and to protect impeachment for those rare cases we truly need it, Senators should dismiss today’s charges.

It is beneath the dignity of the Senate to entertain this nakedly partisan exercise.

Impeachment should never be used to settle policy disagreements. That would set a disastrous precedent for the Congress and could throw our system of checks and balances into endless cycles of chaos.

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Iran attack puts pressure on US House speaker to pass aid bill for Israel and Ukraine

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Mike Johnson has said he will aim to advance legislation to support Israel but has not clarified whether Ukraine funding will form part of package

The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, has said he will aim to advance a bill for wartime aid to Israel this week following Iran’s weekend attack, but did not clarify whether Ukraine funding would be part of the package.

US assistance for both nations has languished amid political bickering in Congress, with Johnson – an ally of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump – blocking an earlier $95bn in aid sought by President Joe Biden for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan which had passed the Senate.

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Trump boasts ‘We broke Roe v Wade’ as abortion dogs GOP election hopes

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Republican presumptive nominee struggles to articulate position on divisive issue after meeting with House speaker

Facing the press alongside the House speaker, fellow Republican Mike Johnson, Donald Trump bragged: “We broke Roe v Wade.”

The former president made the stark admission about his dominant role in attacks on abortion rights at the end of a week in which the rightwing Arizona state supreme court ruled that an 1864 law imposing a near-total ban could go back into effect.

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Trump and Mike Johnson push for redundant ban on non-citizens voting

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Planned bill to ban already illegal practice is latest Republican step to spread falsehoods about immigration and voter fraud

Donald Trump and the House speaker, Mike Johnson, plan to push for a bill to ban non-citizens from voting, the latest step by Republicans to falsely claim migrants are coming to the country and casting ballots.

Voting when a person is not eligible – for instance if they lack US citizenship – is already illegal under federal law. It is unclear what the bill Johnson and the former president will discuss in their Friday press conference at Mar-a-Lago will do to alter that. But it is one more way for the former president to focus on election security and to ding the Biden administration over the situation at the US-Mexico border, a key issue for likely Republican voters this November.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene files motion to remove House speaker Mike Johnson

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Far-right Republican says motion intended as ‘more of a warning than a pink slip’ and stops short of forcing vote to eject him

The far-right Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor-Greene filed a motion to remove Mike Johnson as House speaker on Friday but did not pull the trigger on a move that would probably pitch Congress into a repeat of chaos seen last October, when the right ejected Kevin McCarthy.

Speaking after Johnson relied on Democratic votes to pass a $1.2tn spending bill and avoid a government shutdown, Greene said her motion was meant as “more of a warning than a pink slip” because she did not want to “throw the House into chaos”.

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Netanyahu addresses Senate Republicans days after Schumer calls for his ouster

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Israeli PM speaks via video link and answers questions after his request to talk to Democrats was turned down

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, virtually addressed Republican senators in Washington on Wednesday, days after the chamber’s majority leader, the Democrat Chuck Schumer, called him an impediment to peace in an unsparing floor speech.

The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, told reporters, shortly after leaving the Senate Republicans’ policy lunch, that Netanyahu joined the gathering via video link, delivered a presentation, and answered questions.

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Judge says Fani Willis affair was ‘tremendous lapse in judgment’ but rules she can stay on Trump Georgia case – live

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Scott McAfee rules Willis can continue case on Trump attempts to overturn 2020 election result if deputy steps down but says court cannot condone relationship

House speaker Mike Johnson has acknowledged that it is unclear if House Republican impeachment investigation into Joe Biden will disclose impeachable offenses.

Johnson admitted that “people have gotten frustrated” with the inquiry as he spoke to reporters on Wednesday.

I know that people have gotten frustrated sometimes that it’s [dragged] on too long. But in our constitutional system, that is the way it’s supposed to work.

Does it reach the ‘treason, high crimes and misdemeanor’ standard? Everyone will have to make that evaluation when we pull all the evidence together.

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White House lawyer tells House speaker to end Biden impeachment ‘charade’

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Scathing letter from White House counsel tells Republican Mike Johnson ‘it is clear the House Republican impeachment is over’

The White House’s top lawyer told House Republicans to give up on their impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, calling the investigation a “charade”.

The White House counsel, Ed Siskel, told the House speaker, Mike Johnson that “it is clear the House Republican impeachment is over” in a scathing letter sent on Friday morning.

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Rand Paul filibusters over Senate’s $95bn foreign aid package – as it happened

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Kentucky senator who opposes the aid package has indicated he will use every tool at his disposal to delay the final vote

The House majority leader, Republican Steve Scalise of Louisiana, will return to Capitol Hill tomorrow after undergoing cancer treatment in recent weeks.

The House speaker, Republican Mike Johnson of Louisiana, welcomed Scalise back with a tweet noting that the majority leader was now in remission.

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Biden blames Trump for imminent death of immigration bill – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For more on Biden’s address, you can read our full story:

This right here is what Joe Biden, most Democrats and the apparently dwindling number of Republicans who support the immigration bill are up against.

The House speaker, Mike Johnson, is leading the campaign against the compromise legislation, which would enact hardline policies Democrats generally oppose while also sending military assistance to Ukraine and Israel. In remarks today, he expressed approval at reports that the deal is on “life support” in the Senate:

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House Republican leaders demand Senate reject immigration compromise; Haley joins opposition to deal – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For the latest on the Senate immigration bill, read our most recent report:

In a just-released statement, the top Republicans in the House called on the Senate to vote down the bipartisan immigration policy legislation.

“Any consideration of this Senate bill in its current form is a waste of time. It is DEAD on arrival in the House. We encourage the U.S. Senate to reject it,” speaker Mike Johnson, majority leader Steve Scalise, whip Tom Emmer and conference chairwoman Elise Stefanik said.

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US Senate releases draft bill to toughen border measures while securing aid to Ukraine and Israel

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Biden urges Congress to pass bill which includes measures to temporarily close border if over 5,000 undocumented people cross a day

US senators on Sunday evening released the details of a highly anticipated $118bn package that pairs federal enforcement policy on the US-Mexico border with wartime aid for Ukraine, Israel and others, launching a long-shot effort to push the bill past sceptical, hard right House Republicans – whom Democrats accuse of politicizing immigration while being in thrall to Donald Trump.

The proposal is the best chance for Joe Biden to bolster dwindling US wartime aid for Ukraine – a major foreign policy goal that is shared by both the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, and top Republican, Mitch McConnell. The Senate was expected this week to hold a key test vote on the legislation, but it faces a wall of opposition from conservatives.

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US House to vote next week on standalone $17.6bn bill for aid to Israel

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Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing for the package without addressing aid to Ukraine or security for the US-Mexico border

The US House of Representatives plans to vote next week to advance $17.6bn in military aid to Israel without any accompanying spending cuts or assistance for Ukraine, according to Mike Johnson, the chamber’s speaker.

Johnson announced to his fellow House Republicans on Saturday that the vote would take place, while also criticizing a parallel move in the US Senate to pair funding for Israel in its military strikes in Gaza with aid for Ukraine as it fends off Russia’s invasion. The Senate measure also aims to attach a raft of tough border and asylum measures favored by rightwingers to aid for Israel.

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State department identifies Israeli citizens targeted by US sanctions as Netanyahu rejects them as ‘unnecessary’ – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For more on the US involvement in the Middle East crisis, you can read:

During the news conference, Austin said the US would have a “multi-tiered response” to the Jordan attacks that killed three US service personnel. He added that the US had the ability to respond a “number of times depending on what the situation is”.

Austin said the deadly attack was carried out by groups funded and trained by Iran, but said it remains unclear how much Tehran knew in advance.

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House passes US bill to expand child tax credit and revive business tax breaks

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Lawmakers pass a $79bn tax cut package with broad bipartisan support, giving both parties coveted policy wins

The House accomplished something unusual Wednesday in passing, with broad, bipartisan support, a roughly $79bn tax cut package that would enhance the child tax credit for millions of lower-income families and boost three tax breaks for business, a combination that gives lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle coveted policy wins.

Prospects for the measure becoming law are uncertain with the Senate still having to take it up, but for a House that has struggled to get bills of consequence over the finish line, the tax legislation could represent a rare breakthrough. The bill passed by a vote of 357-70.

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Biden signs measure to avert shutdown but Ukraine aid remains frozen

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Hard-right Republicans ensure chances of more money and weapons for Kyiv hinge on immigration reform negotiations

Joe Biden signed a measure to keep the US government funded on Friday but as Washington shivered under its second major snowfall in a week, the bill did not unfreeze funding for Ukraine.

Hard-right House Republicans, led by the speaker, Mike Johnson, are ensuring the chances of more money and weapons for Kyiv in its fight with Moscow hinge on negotiations for immigration reform.

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Congress agrees on stopgap bill to fund federal government into March

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US media reports congressional leaders have agreed on a ‘continuing resolution’, which extends deadlines

US congressional leaders have agreed on a two-tranche stopgap spending bill to keep the federal government funded into March and avert a partial government shutdown starting late next week, US media reported on Saturday.

Politico, CNN and Punchbowl reported that congressional leaders have agreed on what is called a “continuing resolution” or “CR”, that would fund the government – extending two deadlines through 1 March and 8 March. The media outlets reported that House of Representatives Republicans will unveil the plan Sunday night.

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House speaker’s Christian nationalist ties spark first amendment fears

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Mike Johnson’s links to key leaders prompts alarm he might try to erode elements of constitution on separation of church and state

Links between the new Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, and key Christian nationalist leaders have sparked fears the devout Louisiana congressman might seek to erode elements of the first amendment, which protects key US civil liberties including freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.

Long before th eevangelical conservative Johnson became speaker, he had forged close ties with Christian nationalists like David Barton, whose writings claiming the country’s founders intended to create a Christian nation have been widely debunked by religion scholars.

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Liz Cheney: Speaker Mike Johnson can’t be trusted to defend the constitution

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Former congresswoman makes comments as she continues to warn of dangers that a second Trump presidency would present

US House speaker Mike Johnson and his fellow Republicans who comprise a majority in the chamber cannot be trusted to protect the American constitution, former congresswoman Liz Cheney said Sunday.

Cheney made the comments on ABC’s This Week as she continued to warn of the dangers that a second Donald Trump presidency would present following the release of her book Oath and Honor: A Warning and a Memoir. In the book, she is deeply critical of Johnson, who played a key role in Trump’s legal strategy to contest the election and organized an amicus brief signed by 126 US House members urging the supreme court to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden.

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