Trump insists he 'gets along very well' with Speaker Johnson as his 'very good ... trends now
Donald Trump said he 'stands' with Mike Johnson and he's done a 'very good job' as the pair appeared at a joint news conference amid threats of another motion to oust the speaker.
'He's doing really good job under tough circumstances,' the former president said at Mar-a-Lago.
Johnson's future is in a precarious position after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch Trump ally, launched a motion to vacate him last month.
She has not called it to the floor, leaving the threat hanging over Johnson's head.
Donald Trump said he 'stands' with Mike Johnson and he's done a 'very good job' as the pair appeared at a joint news conference amid threats of another motion to oust the speaker
'He's doing about as good as you're going to do. And I'm sure that Marjorie understands that and she's a very good friend of mine. And I know she has a lot of respect for the speaker,' Trump claimed.
Trump also said he was 'looking at' Johnson's expected Ukraine proposal, putting him at odds with Greene and other House hardliners who are outright opposed to any more aid in the fight against Russia.
'We're looking at it right now and we're talking about it,' he told reporters.
'We're thinking about making it in the form of a loan instead of just gift — we keep handing out gifts of billions and billions of dollars.'
Johnson's appearance next to Trump comes after he helped tank the speaker's efforts to pass renewal of a spy tool earlier this week.
The bill finally passed Friday morning. Johnson made an agreement withTrump and his allies to renew it only for two years instead of five, so they could hash out more reforms under a potential Trump administration.
'KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!!! DJT,' Trump wrote on Truth Social ahead of a failed rule vote to reauthorize Section 702 of FISA earlier this week.
Another part of the law that is not up for reauthorization - Title 1 - was used to spy on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in 2016 when he was suspected of communications with the Russians. Trump reauthorized FISA in 2018.
Trump at the news conference on Friday had a more subdued
