Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) wants to hold House Speaker Mike Johnson‘s feet to the fire this week — or appear to — after Johnson produced decoupled foreign aid bills aimed at Israel, Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific.
Boebert asserts that before a White House meeting on February 28, Johnson was a genuine member of the MAGA congressional Ukraine refuseniks — and that afterwards he “flipped his position on Ukraine aid entirely.”
He gave his explanation on video last night. It was all over the media. She must’ve been busy doing something else. pic.twitter.com/oiLDWRV7Q9
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) April 18, 2024
[NOTE: It will come as news to Ukraine, the Senate, and House Democrats that Johnson’s flip came at the end of February, as after that White House meeting the Speaker continued to deny the House a chance to vote on a bipartisan security package including Ukraine aid that passed the Senate 70-30. That bill sat on Johnson’s desk, but it wasn’t utterly without use: the bills the Speaker introduced this week resemble the Senate bill in almost every particular.}
Boebert contends that she is mystified by Johnson’s “flip,” saying he owes House Republicans and “America” an “honest explanation” — presumably as to how he fell under Joe Biden‘s spell in the Oval Office. (And then managed to keep his capitulation dormant until six weeks later?)
Johnson also went to Mar-a-Lago to meet the former President, receiving Donald Trump’s support before introducing his foreign aid bills this week, a meeting which seems to have had at least as much impact as Johnson’s White House meeting.
Wow. I did not see this coming.
Mike Johnson finally became a Speaker of the House today.
But probably for only another week. pic.twitter.com/ArhjuEQZ4I
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) April 18, 2024
Boebert’s confusion about Johnson’s position conflicts with the known facts, as Johnson was exceptionally transparent about the reasoning behind his Ukraine support.
Johnson said believes the intel he’s received on Russia, China and Iran is accurate; he doesn’t trust Putin; and he would rather send “bullets” to Ukraine now than “American boys” to a European theater of war later — a situation he believes the failure to arm Ukraine could eventually produce.