U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson 4th District of Louisiana | Official U.S. House headshot
U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson 4th District of Louisiana | Official U.S. House headshot
WASHINGTON — At the weekly House Republican Leadership press conference this morning, Speaker Johnson addressed the House response to the trial of President Trump, President Biden’s election-year border policies, and efforts to hold the International Criminal Court accountable.
On the Congressional response to President Trump’s trials, Johnson stated: "We’re going to do everything we can within our scope of responsibility in Congress to address it appropriately. And I announced this morning to our conference, we're working on a three-pronged approach. You heard Leader Scalise and others reference it today. But we're looking at various approaches through the appropriations process, through the legislative process, through bills that will be advancing through our committees and put on the floor for passage and through oversight. All those things will be happening vigorously. Because we must do that, because the stakes are too high and because people are losing faith in our institutions. And that at the end of the day is something that should concern every single one of us, and I think it does."
Regarding President Biden’s election-year border policies, Johnson remarked: "It was 126 days ago today that Joe Biden said, 'I've done all I can do.' He was asked about why he wouldn't use his extensive executive authority to address the border catastrophe that he himself created. And 126 days ago, he looked into the cameras and said 'I am out of options. I've done all I can do.' He tried to convince us all for all this time that there was no way he could possibly fix the mess. Remember that he engineered it... He began this on the day he took office over three and a half years ago when he walked into the Oval Office and started issuing executive orders... We counted 64 specific executive actions that President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas took to open that border wide. They did it intentionally.
They engineered an open border... now suddenly oh, now he wants to issue some weak Executive Order by the way, one Executive Order supposedly to try to address the issue. It's window dressing. Everybody knows it... If he was concerned about the border, he would have done this a long time ago... from what we're hearing, it will ignore multiple elements that have to be addressed - elements in our legislation passed over 14 months ago..."
On holding the ICC accountable for its actions against Israeli leaders during conflicts with Hamas, Johnson asserted: "The idea that they would issue an arrest warrant for [the] Prime Minister of Israel [and] Defense Minister of Israel at [a] time of their fighting for their nation's very existence against [Hamas], as a proxy of Iran is unconscionable to us... The ICC must be punished for this action... If allowed...[they could] go after leaders whose actions they disagree with...[including America]."
Johnson called on President Biden: "We know [he] doesn't like to listen to us but I hope he'll listen to members of at least his own party who are denouncing [the ICC] and calling for action."