Mike Johnson and Donald Trump to Promote Bill to Prevent Non-Citizens From Voting
Johnson will hold a joint press conference with Trump on Friday at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence, where the top House Republican will tout the legislation to “elevate the issue of non-citizens voting in federal elections,” according to a person familiar with the planning.
The event is also an effort to rally Republican lawmakers to "get on the team," on the issue of election security, the person said.
However, non-citizens are already not allowed to vote in federal elections in the United States, and it's not a common occurrence. No state currently allows non-citizens to cast a ballot in state-level elections either, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, though some municipalities may have their own rules for local races.
The former president has long falsely claimed that there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. He has pleaded not guilty in two criminal cases – one federal and one in the state of Georgia – accusing him of trying to steal the election from President Joe Biden.
Nevertheless, the bill supported by Trump and Johnson also comes as House Republicans hope to portray a united front in 2024, despite the chaos that has often consumed the lower chamber.
Their meeting will be the first public event with the two Republicans and comes at a critical moment for Johnson’s speakership. The speaker is currently facing an ouster threat from conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and has also drawn the ire of other ultraconservatives in the House.
Nineteen House Republicans shot down a procedural step known as a “rule” vote in the House on a controversial spying law this week, a GOP rebellion that effectively froze the House and left the legislation in a state of limbo.
House Speaker Mike Johnson met with previous President Donald Trump Monday night at Blemish a-Lago, as indicated by a GOP source acquainted with the gathering. Johnson was at Blemish a-Lago for a pledge drive for GOP Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Florida, as per two Trump counselors. Johnson and Trump met momentarily, the consultants said, and Johnson was not there exclusively for a gathering with Trump.
The gathering at the previous president's Florida resort comes almost seven days after the brand new speaker openly embraced Trump's 2024 bid for the White House, turning into the most elevated positioning conservative such a long ways to do as such. It was not promptly clear what the pair talked about during the gathering.
Johnson, a Louisiana conservative, is a long-term Trump partner and served in the previous president's prosecution group, however the job was to a great extent stylized. He casted a ballot to support the issue with discretionary decisions on January 6, 2021.
Last week, Johnson, who said he has supported Trump "earnestly," let CNBC know that he was "perhaps of the nearest partner that President Trump had in Congress" and that the previous president had "a marvelous initial term. Trump stays the leader for the conservative official selection, with a huge lead over his GOP rivals.
The representative profited from Trump's help in his effective bid for speaker last month, after the previous president had openly opposed the conservative gathering's short speaker-chosen one Tom Emmer, considering the Minnesota conservative a "Globalist RINO" and saying that deciding in favor of him "would be a terrible error.