Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said President Biden’s recent threat to withhold munitions shipments to Israel was completely unexpected and probably ‘off script.’

Biden said in a Wednesday CNN interview that his administration will halt munitions shipments to Israel if the nation continues with plans to invade the city of Rafah.

‘My reaction honestly was — ‘Wow, that is a complete turn from what I have been told even in, you know, recent hours,’’ Johnson told Politico in a Wednesday night interview. 

‘I mean, 24 hours ago it was confirmed to me by top administration officials that the policy’s very different than what he stated there,’ he continued. ‘So I hope that’s a senior moment.’

Johnson said he was already troubled by reports that U.S. support to Israel could be delayed before Biden’s interview. He told Politico that Biden administration officials dismissed his concerns and said delays were occurring with prior tranches of weapons, not aid recently passed by the House.

Johnson speculated that Biden’s comments may have been a ‘senior moment’ and at odds with the rest of the administration’s plans.

‘I believe he’s off script,’ Johnson said. ‘I don’t think that’s something that staff told him to say. I hope it’s a senior moment, because that would be a great deviation in what is said to be the policy there.’

Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett in the Wednesday interview that civilian deaths in Gaza have given him pause on supplying weapons for the planned Rafah invasion.

‘Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,’ the president said.

‘I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities — that deal with that problem,’ Biden said.

Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

A Republican senator is renewing the call to impeach President Biden following reports of aid to Israel being delayed during its war with the terrorist organization Hamas. 

‘The House has no choice but to impeach Biden based on the Trump-Ukraine precedent of withholding foreign aid to help with reelection. Only with Biden, it’s true,’ Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote on X on Thursday. 

A recently passed $95 billion supplemental foreign aid package included roughly $26 billion for both Israel and humanitarian aid for areas including Gaza. The aid was encouraged by the Biden administration, which had proposed it nearly six months prior. 

Cotton suggested that Biden should be impeached for delaying an aid shipment to Israel, which he claimed had to do with the president’s re-election bid as he balances a divided Democratic Party on the Israel war. 

The White House Counsel’s office did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

Earlier this week, Israeli officials claimed the U.S. had paused a shipment of ammunition from the U.S., as Axios reported. 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre maintained that the U.S.’s commitment to Israel is ‘ironclad,’ despite the report. 

The report was ultimately confirmed by a U.S. official, who said the administration paused shipments of two types of precision bombs to Israel. One shipment would provide 2,000-pound bombs, with 1,800 to be delivered. The second held 500-pound bombs, with 1,700 to be delivered. 

‘The U.S. position has been that Israel should not launch a major ground operation in Rafah, where more than a million people are sheltering with nowhere else to go,’ a U.S. official said. 

‘We are especially focused on the end-use of the 2,000-lb bombs and the impact they could have in dense urban settings as we have seen in other parts of Gaza. We have not made a final determination on how to proceed with this shipment,’ they added. 

Per the official, ‘None of these shipments have anything to do with the Israel supplemental appropriations passed last month. All are drawn from previously appropriated funds, some many years ago.’

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Biden drew a red line for ally Israel. ‘I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,’ he said. 

The White House did not immediately confirm the delayed shipment when prompted by Fox News Digital. 

The Democratic-led House’s impeachment of then-President Trump in 2019 indicted him on a charge of abuse of power, arguing he withheld aid to Ukraine while asking the country’s leader to investigate his political rivals, including Biden. The Senate acquitted Trump on the House’s charges. 

Cotton argued the same precedent should apply to Biden.

Trump’s campaign did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

Republicans in the House have appeared eager to impeach the president, heavily investigating Biden’s family’s business ties, particularly his son Hunter Biden. 

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

Fox News’ Liz Friden and Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As he helps raise money for former President Trump, Sen. Tim Scott says he’s got a message that he’s emphasizing as he meets with top Republican donors.

‘It is in the best interest of the United States of America to have four more years of President Donald Trump. It is in the best interest of our economy to have four more years of Donald Trump,’ Scott said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

Scott, who was one of roughly a dozen Republican candidates who unsuccessfully challenged Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination before ending his White House bid late last year, endorsed the former president in January.

The conservative senator from South Carolina over the past few months has become a top Trump surrogate and is considered to be among a small group of contenders being considered as Trump’s running mate on the 2024 Republican ticket.

Scott has been meeting with donors as Trump and the Republican National Committee try to close the large fundraising gap they face in the race against President Biden and the Democratic National Committee in the 2024 rematch between the president and his GOP predecessor.

‘The one thing you can discern as a top donor and Republican and, frankly, a strong business person is that a strong economy makes all things possible,’ Scott said in an interview Wednesday on Capitol Hill.

Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, has been very active in helping Trump raise money. He was among the potential Trump running mates on hand this past weekend at an RNC spring donor retreat that was headlined by the former president.

The senator helped organize a major fundraiser for Trump this year ahead of the South Carolina primary. Next week, he’s scheduled to attend a top-dollar fundraiser in New York City for the former president. And as the New York Times first reported, Scott will host a gathering next month in the nation’s capital that will include major GOP donors who remain uncommitted to Trump.

‘What I’m going to say to the donors across the country and specifically next week is that four more years under Donald Trump is good for our economy. It’s good for your pocket book. But more important, it’s good for America’s future.’

Scott was a voracious fundraiser as he cruised to a very comfortable 2022 Senate re-election, and he transferred much of his unused campaign cash over to his 2024 White House effort.

Asked if his fundraising efforts on behalf of Trump give him a leg up in the competition for the vice presidential nomination, Scott kept on message, saying, ‘I certainly hope that all of our efforts will lead to a better America with one result: Donald Trump having four more years.’

As for any competition between him and the other potential contenders, Scott would only say that ‘my goal isn’t to be in a better position than someone else who wants something. My goal is to make sure that the next generation of leaders looks at me and others and says, ‘Those guys, they burned a path that we get to walk down.”

Scott was interviewed the day after Indiana’s Republican presidential primary, where former Ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley won over 21% of the vote against Trump, even though she ended her White House bid two months ago.

Haley, who was the last candidate standing against Trump before dropping out in March, has not endorsed the former president.

Asked if he had reached out to his fellow South Carolinian in an attempt to mend relations with Trump’s political orbit, the senator said no.

But Scott argued that ‘the good news is that the voters and the fundraising machine that supported [Haley’s] candidacy and our candidacy and other candidates are all coming back into the fold. The good news is President Trump is a unifying force for our party.’

President Biden is getting a boost from a major group of former medical officials who say they are concerned about the ‘threat’ former President Trump poses to public health.

The group of 48 individuals is led by Dr. Andrew Gurman, former president of the American Medical Association (AMA), and includes six other former AMA presidents, a former U.S. surgeon general, four former acting surgeons general, a number of other former deputy and assistant surgeons general and former representatives of the American College of Physicians.

‘We write today as people who have dedicated our lives to helping people. As former leaders of national health care and delivery organizations, we have come to understand how policy can impact public health and, just as importantly, the ability of American families to afford the healthcare they need,’ the group wrote in a letter addressed to the American People and shared exclusively with Fox News Digital.

‘If he is elected president, Donald Trump will make our fears a reality. The price of healthcare for American families under Trump would skyrocket, while millions would lose access to healthcare altogether. While his specific policies are at best ambiguous, his track record and his words make clear the damage he would do.

‘We therefore encourage anyone concerned about the price, availability, and safety of healthcare to keep Mr. Trump out of the White House,’ they added.

The group argued that because of Trump’s ‘ambiguity’ concerning health care policy, all they could do was ‘surmise’ how the former president might proceed based on his record in office and his remarks on the campaign trail.

They described what they foresee as ‘troubling,’ including Trump’s expressed desire to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Additionally, the group argued Trump would cut funds from the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), eliminate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), cut funding for veterans’ health care and try to further restrict abortions.

‘I am concerned that, based upon what I saw during the Trump presidency and what I have heard him say during the campaign, that returning Mr. Trump to the Oval Office could have real and negative effects on the health of our country,’ Gurman told Fox News Digital ahead of the letter’s release.

‘I am concerned that millions might lose access to health care altogether, and that for the rest it might well become much more expensive. I think that people need to hear those concerns, and that’s why I signed the letter.’

Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler reacted to the letter by telling Fox News Digital ‘every chance Trump got while in office, he made it his mission to rip health care away from working families.’

‘Pushing to ‘terminate’ the Affordable Care Act is just the start for Trump if he’s re-elected. He’s now running to go even further. A second Trump presidency would mean the American people would risk getting sicker, going broke, both or worse with soaring prescription drug costs, the elimination of protections for patients with preexisting conditions and wins for Big Pharma at the expense of working families,’ he said. 

‘This November, voters will send President Biden back to the White House because he is the candidate who won’t just protect our health care, but will do everything he can to lower costs and improve our health care.’

Fox News Digital has reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment and a Trump spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, said the claims were false.

‘These claims are outright lies. While President Trump is running to make less expensive healthcare options available for people without eliminating the Affordable Care Act, Joe Biden is destroying Obamacare and the entire healthcare system with his open borders invasion,’ said Leavitt. ‘It was recently announced that Joe Biden is giving free government healthcare to illegal aliens. Every penny of this will be funded by American citizens, taken out of their paychecks and wallets. It will mean higher taxes, higher premiums, higher deductibles, and longer wait times to see a doctor. And it will mean the border invasion Biden launched will become even larger as the world floods over in search of free government benefits. This is all part of Biden’s war on the working class. Day 1 of a Trump Administration we will seal the border, deport the illegals and cut off their government benefits.’

The U.S. will face a difficult decision if the Palestinians should succeed in establishing a workaround toward official recognition, which could trigger America pulling all funding from the U.N. in protest, according to experts.

‘If the draft resolution as it currently stands is adopted, U.S. law demands that the U.S. withhold all funds from the U.N.,’ Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro University Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, told Fox News Digital. ‘The question is: Where is Congress? It needs to make it very clear, very publicly, that American law will be upheld and take immediate steps to do so.’

The U.S. in 1990 passed Public Law 101-246, which focused on authorizing appropriations for fiscal 1990 and 1991 for the Department of State. Section 414 of the bill highlighted concerns over the inclusion of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the United Nations and specialized agencies.

The section states, ‘No funds authorized to be appropriated from this act or any other Act shall be available for the United Nations or any specialized agency thereof which accords the Palestine Liberation Organization the same standing as member states.’

The broad language – ‘any other Act’ – has created some confusion about what the U.S. would need to do if the PLO, a group internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people, were to obtain the privileges and powers of a full and recognized U.N. member. 

‘It is no surprise that Biden officials are not hitting the airwaves clearly announcing that a General Assembly end run around the U.N. charter, purporting to grant the so-called state of Palestine the trappings of full-member state status, is not only contrary to the spirit and intent of the U.N.’s own charter but is contrary to American law,’ Bayefsky said.

‘A majority of U.N. member states are not free democracies,’ she said. ‘The Islamic and Arab blocs of states, a large percentage of which continue to dispute even Israel’s right to exist, wield enormous power, and despite American isolation in U.N. circles on issue after issue of importance to the United States, including the constant aggression and antisemitism meted out to Israel, American citizens still bankroll the place and host the institution in its midst.’

The U.S. likely did not think it would have to wrangle with this problem, especially as American representatives at the U.N. continue to veto measures to recognize the Palestinians as a full member of the organization.

However, a new draft resolution would seek what some have called a ‘workaround’ that would seek the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to approve powers to vote and veto without official recognition as a full member of the organization.

‘They’re still carelessly killing Americans and killing Israelis through terrorism and then giving those who do it if they’re arrested, if they don’t die to a suicide bomb, payments and a guaranteed position in the PLA when they get out of prison,’ Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., told Fox News Digital. ‘That’s [one] of the ugliest, most anti-democracy and anti-human rights policies I’ve ever heard of.’ 

‘Pay-to-slay is exactly what happened with Hamas just recently; obviously it’s been an ongoing problem with Oct. 7, [and] they’re part of the Palestinian effort,’ Smith said, calling the approach an ‘impermissible act’ and asking ‘how do you reward’ an organization like Hamas that ‘calls for the evisceration of Israel.’

‘If you’re going to play some game at the United Nations that somehow this isn’t a full-blown membership, [then] this shows a deceptive approach to dealing with member states,’ Smith added. ‘How dare they even think of doing this? It may pass in the General Assembly – they need two thirds, as we all know – but they also need the Security Council to do it as well, and thankfully, the United States will veto that.’

A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the U.S. is ‘aware of the draft resolution and reiterate[s] our concerns with any effort to extend certain benefits to entities when there are unresolved questions as to whether the Palestinians currently meet the criteria under the U.N. charter.’

‘The United States is committed to intensifying its engagement – with the Palestinians and the rest of the region – not only to address the current crisis in Gaza but to advance a political settlement that will create a path to Palestinian statehood and membership in the United Nations,’ the spokesperson added, noting ‘direct negotiations’ as the path toward statehood.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan said the resolution provides de facto status and rights of a state and that he fully expects the U.S. to ‘completely stop funding the U.N. and its institutions, in accordance with American law’ should the resolution pass, he said in a recorded video statement.

Then-President Obama, for example, cut funding to UNESCO (U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 2011 after the organization granted full membership to the Palestinians, which crippled the agency as the U.S. accounted for 22% of the budget. UNESCO froze job hires and cut programs after losing U.S. funding, according to Reuters. 

‘We are coping in very difficult circumstances,’ UNESCO’s Irina Bokova told reporters at the time. ‘We’re fundraising this year, but it’s not sustainable on a long-term basis. We’re not closing UNESCO, but member states will have to rethink the way forward. UNESCO will be crippled.’

The U.S. fully left the organization in 2017 as part of concerns over perceived anti-Israel bias from the group, with Israel following out the door in 2018. The U.S. rejoined UNESCO in July 2023 over concerns that China had gained an outsized level of influence in the group during America’s absence.

But that absence provided a glimpse of the impact the U.S. could have if it cut its broader funding to the United Nations. Brett Schaefer, the senior research fellow in international regulatory affairs at the Heritage Foundation, noted the U.S. currently accounts for around a quarter of all funding to the U.N. regular budget and the peacekeeping budget.

‘In one fell swoop, one rash decision, they could essentially prohibit the U.S. from providing a fifth of the U.N.’s funding,’ Schaefer told Fox News Digital. But he noted that the way the resolution’s adoption plays out could provide the U.S. some wiggle room.

‘If the Palestinians don’t join other organizations, technically, that funding could continue to the special interest groups,’ he said. ‘However, every single one of those specialized agencies basically grants membership opportunities to any other member of the United Nations.’ 

‘They have been successful in getting into several U.N. special organizations, especially agencies including UNESCO,’ Schaefer added. ‘So, if they have the votes to get into the U.N. in this manner, what’s to stop them from doing and following a similar path with specialized agencies?’

Schaefer laid out the ongoing issues that admitting the Palestinians into the United Nations would pose, such as the fact that Hamas remains the official ruling party of the Gaza Strip, which would mean admitting a terrorist organization into the United Nations with the power and benefits of a member state. 

‘There is no question that Palestinians do not meet that criteria,’ Schaefer insisted. Referring to Hamas, he noted that ‘their founding documents call for the destruction of Israel. They have sponsored terrorist acts for decades.’

‘Even the Palestinian Authority, which the United States has been negotiating with … celebrated the terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, so this is not a situation where there is a peace-loving state,’ he added.

More importantly, however, Schaefer said China has become the second-largest funding source for the United Nations, which would revive U.S. concerns over what influence Beijing could command in the absence of the U.S. 

According to Schaefer, China tripled its contributions over the past decade to account for around 15% of the regular budget. Other wealthy nations, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, contribute about 1% to 2% of the U.N. general budget, respectively.

But the impact of America cutting its funds from the U.N. would still prove crippling to the organization, according to Schaefer. 

‘Your entire operations would come to a halt right away,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t mean you couldn’t do your job, but it would have a massive impact on your daily operations’ and that the bulk of the U.N. general budget goes toward staff salaries and benefits, utilities and maintenance.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Many Republicans will be shocked to learn that Election Day 2024 happens long before Nov. 5.

In fact, it hurts the Republican cause – and the elections of President Donald Trump and House and Senate Republicans – to focus narrowly on Nov. 5.

The first election dates are Sept. 16 in Pennsylvania and then Sept. 20 in Minnesota and South Dakota. The next election days are Sept. 23 in Mississippi, and Sept. 24 in Missouri. There are 43 other states and the District of Columbia that follow with their early voting dates. Only Alabama and New Hampshire do not have early voting.

Here’s an example of why this matters: In 2022, the Republican Senate campaign in Pennsylvania was focused on Election Day in November. The campaign did not begin advertising until long after early voting had started. As a result, 40% of Pennsylvanians had already cast their ballots before the first major Republican ad had aired. 

This pattern was not unique to that race.

Republicans have a history of failing to get the vote out early. This has a compounding negative effect. 

First, it means Republican turnout on Election Day must be dramatically higher to make up for the number of Democratic votes already in the ballot box. Second, and probably more important, it means that Republican candidates have not been able to focus on the low propensity voters – those who are least likely to turn out.

The Democrats have focused on early voting in large part because they want to be able to identify everyone who has not yet turned out. That way, they can focus on phone calls, direct mail, text messages, and even visits to remind those voters that they should vote. They keep it going until the people vote, and their name comes off the list.

Republicans have a history of failing to get the vote out early. 

This long campaign approach has proven for the last decade that it is more likely to win close elections than the focus on the federally designated official Election Day.

Shifting Republicans from their focus on Election Day – and their reluctance to vote early – is a major job. Getting it done in one year will require a really focused, determined, and enthusiastic effort. 

The fact is that, despite all the talk about ‘Bank the Vote,’ it had no discernible impact on the special election for New York’s 3rd District. Republicans lost the early voting decisively and simply could not make it up on Election Day. It wasn’t due to any conspiracy. There was a big snowstorm on Election Day which reduced turnout. The Democrats already had a head start on ballots, so they were fine.

Turning around the Republican attitude, getting people to vote early, and creating a new commitment to win the vote throughout the campaign will require new focus and determination.

Every time we focus on Election Day, we undermine and weaken our chances of winning the early vote.

<!–>

As my friend and former U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg Randy Evans suggested in a recent paper, Republicans should start by focusing on ‘winning day one of voting.’

As Evans wrote: ‘This means identifying the first day of voting of every kind in each State and D.C.; educate GOP voters of that day with an explanation of how to vote that day; set as an objective to win the voting on that day with commitments by Republican voters to show up and win beginning on day one.’

Evans then suggested that Republicans should then continue to build momentum by focusing on ‘winning week one of voting.’ 

As he put it, ‘To generate momentum this requires full follow-up to all who commit to vote on Day One who fail to do so that we can win Week One. It also involves pushing hard to create a sustainable push throughout early and absentee voting beyond Day One and Week One.’

He then suggested systematically following up with voters in each state up to their official election days. By Evans’ theory, the cumulative effect of this focus on winning early voting should culminate in winning all the pre-election day activity and, of course, election day voting (which should be a simple cleanup day).

The Republican National Committee should establish a set of 51 Election Day countdown clocks that include early voting-to-election day periods for each state and the District of Columbia. 

President Trump and all the Republican candidates should begin emphasizing early voting.

The party and campaign systems should focus on winning the first day of early voting, because it will give them the organization and momentum to continue executing on turnout.

Conservative radio and TV hosts and key activists should be encouraged to quit focusing on Election Day and instead focus on winning the early vote in every state. Every time we focus on Election Day, we undermine and weaken our chances of winning the early vote.

A serious win from day one approach will significantly increase the likelihood of Republican victories in 2024. And it is the right response to the campaign world the Democrats have built.

The time to change is now.

–>

Former President Donald Trump called on House Republicans to not vote in favor of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., saying ‘this is not the time’ to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday killed an effort by Greene and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., to vote on vacating the chair.

Green appeared to catch most Congressional watchers by surprise when she moved to force a vote on her motion to vacate the chair, which should have allowed for the vote.

Though she has been seen in the past touting a MAGA hat in favor of Trump, the former president called on Republicans to table her motion.

‘I absolutely love Marjorie Taylor Greene. She’s got Spirit, she’s got Fight, and I believe she’ll be around, and on our side, for a long time to come,’ Trump posted on Truth Social. ‘However, right now, Republicans have to be fighting the Radical Left Democrats, and all the Damage they have done to our Country. With a Majority of One, shortly growing to three or four, we’re not in a position of voting on a Motion to Vacate. At some point, we may very well be, but this is not the time.’

He continued to say he is leading in the presidential polls, both nationally and in swing states.

Trump said Republicans are doing well in the Senate, and he believed the party would do well in the House.

He then warned about giving off the message that Republicans were not unified.

‘But if we show DISUNITY, which will be portrayed as CHAOS, it will negatively affect everything,’ he wrote. ‘Mike Johnson is a good man who is trying very hard. I also wish certain things were done over the last period of two months, but we will get them done, together.

‘It is my request that Republicans vote for ‘THE MOTION TO TABLE,’ Trump added. ‘We WILL WIN BIG – AND IT WILL BE SOON!’

Johnson got overwhelming Democratic and Republican support for the table vote, which passed 359 to 43, averting a vote on her motion. Just 11 Republicans voted against tabling the measure, along with 32 Democrats.

On the Republican side, Johnson won the support of 196 members, while 163 Democrats also voted to shield him.

The House GOP side of the chamber erupted in cheers when her move was squashed.

Greene has been threatening to force a vote on taking Johnson’s gavel since late March in protest of his handling of government funding and foreign aid.

Her resolution, known as a motion to vacate the chair, will now have to be voted on or tabled after Greene noticed it as ‘privileged’ on Wednesday night — meaning House leaders have two legislative days to take it up.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

The House of Representatives squashed an effort by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., to force a House-wide vote on Speaker Mike Johnson’s ouster.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., appeared to catch most congressional watchers by surprise when she moved to force a vote on her motion to vacate the chair, the procedural move that would allow for the vote. She noticed her resolution as ‘privileged,’ meaning House leaders had two legislative days to take it up.

But her bluff was called immediately when House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., rose to call for a vote on tabling Greene’s motion – which effectively kills it before the vote on Johnson’s ouster itself.

Johnson got overwhelming Democratic and Republican support for the table vote, which passed 359 to 43, averting a vote on her motion. Just 11 Republicans voted against tabling the measure, along with 32 Democrats.

On the Republican side, Johnson won the support of 196 members, while 163 Democrats also voted to shield him.

The House GOP side of the chamber erupted in cheers when her move was squashed.

‘I want to say that I appreciate the show of confidence from my colleagues to defeat this misguided effort. That is certainly what it was,’ Johnson told reporters after the vote. ‘I’ve said from the beginning, and I’ve made clear here every day, I intend to do my job. I intend to do what I believe to be the right thing, which is what I was elected to do. And I’ll let the chips fall where they may.’

Greene, R-Ga., declined to say if she planned to force another vote but accused Johnson of being aligned with Democrats after they helped save his job.

‘That’s not something that I’ve said,’ she said when asked if she would try a repeat. ‘I think today it has proven the uniparty is alive as well. And the Democrats now control Speaker Johnson. That was something that everybody suspected all along. They just voted to save him. And I think that’s the message.’

Greene has been threatening to force a vote on taking Johnson’s gavel since late March in protest of his handling of government funding and foreign aid. .

Her resolution, known as a motion to vacate the chair, will now have to be voted on or tabled after Greene noticed it as ‘privileged’ on Wednesday night – meaning House leaders have two legislative days to take it up.

The Republican side of the House chamber erupted in boos as Greene listed off her gripes against Johnson, prompting Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., to shout, ‘The House is not in order – and is about to fall into chaos,’ prompting some sparse laughs from their side of the chamber.

The vote is expected to be close but ultimately fail, with both Republicans and Democrats voicing opposition to a move that would effectively paralyze Congress until a new speaker is found.

The vote is a culmination of six months’ worth of frustration from the most right-wing conservatives in Johnson’s conference, who have felt sidelined by him on nearly all critical legislation including foreign aid and government funding, during which they demanded he leverage a government shutdown to force the Democrats who controlled the Senate and White House to pass Republican policies.

Greene’s push got two more backers in Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., after Johnson ushered a foreign aid bill along bipartisan lines that includes $61 billion for Ukraine.

But it’s largely fallen flat among the House GOP, where even Johnson’s critics have shown little appetite for going through another three weeks of chaos like what followed the ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in October – particularly six months out from an election.

With just a razor-thin majority of two seats, it would take little dissent for Johnson to lose the top House job if it fell along party lines. Eight House Republicans had voted with all Democrats to oust McCarthy in early October. 

Unlike McCarthy’s case, however, House Democrats have pledged to come to Johnson’s aid by voting to table the resolution if it came up – a vote to table a measure, which essentially kills it, is a procedural hurdle that allows Democrats to block Johnson’s ouster without having to actually vote on whether to fire him.

Johnson’s critics seized on the left-wing support as evidence that the Louisiana Republican was not representing the interests of his own party.

‘The entire Democrat Party is lining up behind Mike Johnson. First, it was the entire leadership team for the Democrats. Now, Nancy Pelosi, who impeached President Trump TWICE, has given Johnson her seal of approval. What deal has been made??’ Greene wrote on X on Monday along with a video of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., backing House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ decision to help Johnson.

The move could save Johnson’s job, but could also cost him some Republican support.

Massie told Fox News Digital last week when asked about how much GOP backing he expected, ‘I think it’s a kinetic situation. And Hakeem and the entire Democrat leadership team endorsing Mike Johnson is going to cause a lot of people who weren’t with us, to be with us.’

Johnson, for his part, has repeatedly told reporters that he’s not afraid of Greene’s threats and has insisted his focus is on governing.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., unveiled legislation on Wednesday aimed at blocking non-citizens from voting in U.S. elections.

Johnson held a high-profile press conference at the base of the U.S. Capitol to promote the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act alongside the bill’s leaders in the House and Senate, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

The speaker warned that a ‘dangerously high number’ of illegal immigrants are able to vote in U.S. elections and said it could even affect who wins or loses.

‘Due to the wide open border that the Biden administration has refused to close, in fact, that they engineered to open, we now have so many non-citizens in the country that if only one out of 100 of those voted, they would cast hundreds of thousands of votes,’ Johnson said. 

‘And since our elections are so razor-thin… and a few states decide the makeup of Congress and who is elected to the White House, this is a dangerously high number, and it is a great concern to millions and millions of Americans. It could obviously change the outcome of our elections.’

Johnson later conceded that it’s not known how many illegal immigrants or non-citizens have voted in U.S. elections, but said the bill would definitely stop any instances of it from taking place.

‘States are not allowed right now to prove if somebody claims on that simple form that they’re a citizen, they can vote. They’re not allowed to prove whether it’s true or not. We all know intuitively that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections, but it’s not been something that is easily provable,’ he said. ‘We don’t have that number. This legislation will allow us to do exactly that. It will prevent that from happening.’

Roy, meanwhile, told reporters that a majority of the American populace supports stronger voter ID protections.

‘We’re here for the simple proposition supported by the vast majority of the American people, that only citizens of the United States should vote. That we should have documentary proof. That we should have a system to guarantee that only citizens of the United States vote in federal elections,’ Roy said.

Also in attendance at the press conference were former Trump administration officials Stephen Miller and Hogan Gidley, now top officials at conservative think tank America First Policy Institute.

‘It is dangerous lunacy to ignore the law and allow people who are not American citizens to vote in American elections,’ Gidley said.

Johnson did not answer shouted questions from Fox News Digital about when he wants the bill to hit the House floor.