Trump demand put Mike Johnson in 'jam' — and he may face MAGA leader's 'wrath': reporter
Former President Donald Trump has put House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in an impossible position with his demand to either pass an already-dead government funding bill laden with provisions to make it harder to vote or let the government shut down.
That's according to CNN congressional correspondent Manu Raju, who spoke with CNN anchor Jake Tapper on Wednesday.
"The former president is not making Speaker Johnson's job any easier right now," said Tapper.
"No, he's absolutely not," Raju replied. "In fact, putting Johnson in a bit of a jam here. Johnson will have a choice to make once this bill fails tonight ... he can decide to go along with what Donald Trump was saying, which is to not pass any extension of government funding unless they get that immigration bill, which Democrats say is dead on arrival, or he can agree with what Democrats want to do, which is to extend government funding for three months, don't include any of those other provisions and potentially endure Donald Trump's wrath in the process."
Meanwhile, Raju noted, Republicans on both sides of the debate that he talked to this week are growing restless with Johnson, with Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR), who wants to get the funding done, saying, it's "counterintuitive to somebody in government to think about shutting the government down."
Meanwhile, firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who plans to vote against Johnson's deal, raged that Johnson "has had a lot of time to do this ... he's on his own to figure it out."
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Raju continued that at least a dozen Republicans are expected to vote no.
"We'll see if Donald Trump has changed the equation in any way, but that is not the expectation, as Democrats are expected to vote en masse against," he said.
Johnson can only afford to lose four Republican votes in that scenario.
Raju noted that Johnson wouldn't directly answer his question about whether he agrees with Trump that the government should shut down if the bill fails.
"He simply said that he was in Mar-a-Lago this weekend, he has spoken to Donald Trump about this issue, and he said that they both are fighting to deal with these anti-immigration measures," but he did not articulate the plan "if and when this fails in a matter of hours."
All of this comes as, on the Senate side, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is openly expressing frustration over his party risking a shutdown that could tank the election for them with fewer than 50 days to go.
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