{"id":2228791,"date":"2024-04-24T04:11:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T08:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-speaker-johnson-didnt-cave-on-ukraine-funding-because-of-secret-intel-briefings\/"},"modified":"2024-04-24T04:13:14","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T08:13:14","slug":"no-speaker-johnson-didnt-cave-on-ukraine-funding-because-of-secret-intel-briefings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-speaker-johnson-didnt-cave-on-ukraine-funding-because-of-secret-intel-briefings\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaker Johnson did not back down on Ukraine funding due to undisclosed intelligence briefings"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fno-speaker-johnson-didnt-cave-on-ukraine-funding-because-of-secret-intel-briefings%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2228791&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses how Republican House Speaker \u2064Mike Johnson faced criticism for \u2063working \u2062with Democrats to\u200c pass a foreign aid \u200bpackage sending more funds to Ukraine. His change in stance \u200craised questions as\u200c he previously opposed such funding until border security was addressed. Johnson cited intelligence \u2063briefings as a factor in his decision,\u2063 sparking debate over \u200bthe shift and\u200b lack of action on border issues.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson is now being feted by the likes of Politico and The New York Times for selling out Republican voters and working with Democrats to pass a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mitch-mcconnell-leads-delegation-of-gop-senators-to-ukraine\/\" title=\"Mitch McConnell Leads Delegation of GOP Senators to Ukraine\">foreign aid package<\/a> last week that will send tens of billions more taxpayer dollars to Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>If you recall, this is something Johnson repeatedly vowed he would not do until Democrats agreed to secure the southern border. He said this <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/17\/mike-johnson-promised-to-fix-the-border-before-funneling-money-overseas-hes-doing-the-opposite\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">over and over<\/a>, both before and after he became speaker. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-508867807\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-94d10e2595058dafb1ec6674aa10db69 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-94d10e2595058dafb1ec6674aa10db69\"><\/div>\n<p>So what explains Johnson\u2019s about-face? According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2024\/04\/23\/mike-johnson-ukraine-shift-00153825?nname=playbook-pm&#038;nid=0000015a-dd3e-d536-a37b-dd7fd8af0000&#038;nrid=0000014e-f115-dd93-ad7f-f915a6170001&#038;nlid=964328\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a fawning piece in Politico<\/a>, it was \u201csobering briefings\u201d he received after becoming speaker. \u201cIt was the intelligence, it was the Europe generals who are in charge of the freedom of the world and of course it was the developments as well, everything has escalated,\u201d he told the outlet.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/21\/us\/politics\/mike-johnson-house-foreign-aid.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">gave a similar line<\/a> to the Times: \u201cI really do believe the intel. I think that Vladimir Putin would continue to march through Europe if he were allowed. I think he might go to the Baltics next. I think he might have a showdown with Poland or one of our NATO allies.\u201d He said the same thing to CNN\u2019s Jake Tapper last week, that he wants to make sure Putin \u201cdoesn\u2019t march through Europe.\u201d (Notice now that Johnson has helped pass the Democrats\u2019 agenda, he\u2019s become a darling of the corporate press, complete with an <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/elainaplott\/status\/1782498221006184673\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in-depth puff profile just published in The Atlantic<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>Never mind that the Putin-will-march-through-Europe line was hard to believe when it was trotted out over two years ago. Today it\u2019s preposterous and indefensible \u2014 and no one really believes it. Events on the ground have demonstrated pretty conclusively that Moscow cannot even secure all the territory it claims to have annexed in eastern Ukraine, let alone march on Poland or other NATO members.<\/p>\n<p>So what exactly did Johnson find out in these <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-no-need-for-trump-to-still-receive-intelligence-briefings\/\" title=\"Biden: \u2018No Need\u2019 For Trump To Still Receive Intelligence Briefings\">classified briefings<\/a>? How did he go into a SCIF (a secure facility used for classified briefings) with one set of priorities and come out with a completely different one? Did he learn that Ukraine was running out of weapons? We\u2019ve all known that for some time now (the Pentagon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/01\/23\/pentagon-ukraine-ammunition-congress-00137274#:~:text=Ukrainian%20soldiers%20on%20the%20front,support%20the%20war%20has%20lapsed.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said exactly that in January<\/a>). Did he learn that military recruitment in Ukraine was collapsing? That\u2019s been <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ukraine-russia-war-draft-b2ca1d0ecd72019be2217a653989fbc2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">widely reported for months<\/a>. You don\u2019t need a SCIF or a sit-down with the CIA to know any of that. You just need to follow the news.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-0b0eb7ff344ac096477ce8ffd3dc39fc fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-0b0eb7ff344ac096477ce8ffd3dc39fc\"><\/div>\n<p>Maybe, then, it was something worse, that Moscow is planning to use a nuclear weapon of some kind. If, as Politico put it, \u201cIt only took a higher level of intelligence briefings, granted to congressional leaders, for him to pick up that old Cold War hymnal,\u201d then Johnson should come out and explain as much to the American people. We\u2019re all adults, we can handle it, and we deserve to know where our billions are going and why.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the crux of it. If what Johnson learned in his intelligence briefings was so dire, so terrifying, that he went from opposing $300 million for Ukraine in September to happily giving $61 billion for the country last week, then he needs to come out and explain himself. Because that\u2019s a hell of a 180 to pull on an issue that has deeply divided the Republican Party (a majority of Johnson\u2019s own conference voted against his foreign aid package).<\/p>\n<p>But suppose Johnson did find out something in the SCIF, some new intelligence about an apocalyptic threat that changed his entire perspective on the war and inspired him to repudiate his past views on America\u2019s role. The proper response in that case would have been to immediately fix the border so Congress could address this new threat, just as he had promised his constituents he would.<\/p>\n<p>Yet Johnson did nothing about the border. He just pretended he had never made those promises and pushed ahead for Ukraine funding, throwing away whatever leverage he had with Democrats to help secure the border.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-8d3ec6e03510b296304a804b6e18e98b fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-8d3ec6e03510b296304a804b6e18e98b\"><\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s actually worse than that. He didn\u2019t just fail to deliver on his repeated promises to secure the border before sending more aid to Ukraine, but his foreign aid package will <em>make the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-data-shows-bidens-border-crisis-worsened-during-april-disaster-doesnt-even-begin-to-describe-it\/\" title=\"New Data Shows Biden\u2019s Border Crisis Worsened During April: \u2018Disaster Doesn\u2019t Even Begin To Describe It\u2019\">border crisis worse<\/a><\/em>. Included in the bill was\u00a0roughly <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Oilfield_Rando\/status\/1782147735367319930\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$4 billion<\/a> for \u201cmigration and refugee assistance,\u201d which is doled out to NGOs operating along the border and tasked with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-rep-rashida-tlaibs-campaign-paid-170k-to-anti-israel-activist-who-called-for-defunding-police\/\" title=\"Report: Rep. Rashida Tlaib's Campaign Paid 0K to 'Anti-Israel Activist' Who 'Called for Defunding Police'\">giving funds<\/a> and travel assistance to illegal immigrants who have been released from federal custody. In other words, Johnson isn\u2019t just neglecting the border crisis, he\u2019s actively funding it. <\/p>\n<p>By doing so, Johnson has managed to give Democrats exactly what they wanted on Ukraine <em>and<\/em> the border, while giving Republican voters nothing except a proverbial middle finger, especially since Johnson refuses even to acknowledge that he\u2019s changed his tune and gone back on his word.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s much more likely that this narrative about classified intel briefings swaying Johnson\u2019s view is just that: a ridiculous story cooked up by the permanent bureaucracy in D.C. and dutifully trotted out by the regime press to explain away Johnson\u2019s duplicity and make him look like a serious statesman.<\/p>\n<p>The simplest explanation for Johnson\u2019s duplicity, however, is not some secret briefing that\u2019s so terrifying no one can know about it, but that Johnson is a feckless, easily manipulated creature of Washington who was wholly unprepared, as speaker, to fight for Republican voters and serve their interests. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-acd3a55580c184888b71a5c9063c0b08 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-acd3a55580c184888b71a5c9063c0b08\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson is receiving recognition from Politico and The New York Times for collaborating with Democrats to approve a foreign aid package, sending additional taxpayer funds to Ukraine. This move has led to criticism from Republican voters, as Johnson&#8217;s actions contradict his previous stance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":518,"featured_media":2228792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Mike-Johnson-3.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2228791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Mike-Johnson-3.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/518"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2228791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2228792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2228791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2228791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2228791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}