Trump praises Mike Johnson for ‘trying very hard’ with a SLIM Republican majority and defends Speaker against Marjorie Taylor Greene’s bid to oust him

Donald Trump praised Mike Johnson and pushed back on his own followers’ efforts to oust the speaker in an apparently watered-down message after the House passed a $95 billion foreign aid package this weekend.

Trump appears to be calling off his key ally Marjorie Taylor Greene’s attempt to oust the Republican leader after abandoning the package – including $60 billion for Ukraine – without any border security measures.

“Look, we have a majority of one, okay? It’s not like he can go and do whatever he wants,” the former president said on Real America’s Voice on Monday night.

The Republican Party’s majority in the House of Representatives has shrunk to a one-vote majority following the departure of Wisconsin Representative Mike Gallagher.

‘I think he’s a very good person. You know, he stood very strongly behind me in NATO,” Trump continued. “I think he’s trying really hard.”

Although Trump has previously endorsed Johnson, appearing with him at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago weeks ago, it is the former president’s first defense of the speaker since he passed a bill to send more aid to Ukraine.

Johnson has riled conservative hardliners by striking deals with Democrats on a full year’s worth of government spending, introducing a bill to reauthorize FISA, a surveillance tool, without arrest warrants, and approving aid to Ukraine .

On Saturday, the House of Representatives approved a $95 billion package, including $60 billion for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel and Gaza and about $4 billion for the Indo-Pacific.

The Senate is poised to approve the package today and President Biden plans to sign it immediately.

Johnson has riled conservative hardliners by striking deals with Democrats on government spending for a full year, introducing a bill to reauthorize FISA, a surveillance tool, without arrest warrants and passing Ukraine.

Three Republicans — led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a staunch Trump acolyte — have signed a motion to remove Johnson from the speakership over his handling of spending and foreign aid.

Trump has not taken as hard a stand against Ukraine as some Republican Party hardliners. He noted that the country is “in desperate need” but insisted that Europe should do more to help.

‘Why doesn’t Europe give more money to help Ukraine?’ Trump mused on Truth Social. “How come the US is putting more than $100 billion into the war in Ukraine than Europe, and there is an ocean separating us!”

Three Republicans — led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a staunch Trump acolyte — have signed a motion to remove Johnson from the speakership over his handling of spending and foreign aid

‘As everyone agrees, Ukraine’s survival should be much more important for Europe than for us, but it is also important for us! GET EUROPE MOVE!’

The former president continued, “Also, I am the only one speaking for ‘ME’ and even though it is a total mess caused by corrupt Joe Biden and incompetent Democrats, if I were president, this war would never have started. !’

The package has exposed a rift within the Republican Party that is almost as wide as that between the two parties. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., attacked Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio over the weekend over his anti-Ukrainian aid stance.

Vance had written in an op-ed in the New York Times that Ukraine could not win the battle against Russia even with American help.

“Ukraine’s challenge is not with the Republican Party; it’s math. Ukraine needs more soldiers than it can deploy. And more equipment is needed than the United States can supply,” Vance wrote.

“That’s nonsense,” Graham responded on Fox News on Sunday.

Trump on Monday came out against banning TikTok; a provision in the foreign aid bill would force China’s ByteDance to divest TikTok within nine months or face a U.S. ban.

“Just so everyone knows, especially the young people: Crooked Joe Biden is responsible for banning TikTok. He’s the one encouraging its closure, and he’s doing so to help his friends on Facebook become richer, more dominant, and able to continue fighting, perhaps illegally, against the Republican Party. It’s called ELECTION INVESTMENT!’ the former president sounded off on Truth Social on Monday.

In 2020, Trump signed an executive order banning the platform within 45 days if it was not sold by ByteDance, but a court blocked the ban before it could take effect.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., meanwhile, raised concerns about the First Amendment, calling Ukraine “corrupt.”

Three Republicans — led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a staunch Trump acolyte — have signed a motion to remove Johnson from the speakership over his handling of spending and foreign aid

Trump again supported Speaker Johnson despite the $60 billion aid package to Ukraine

“The censors who abound in Congress will likely vote to ban TikTok or force a change in ownership,” he wrote in an op-ed for Reason. “It would violate the First Amendment rights of more than 100 million Americans who use TikTok to express themselves.”

He blasted Democrats for waving “corrupt” Ukrainian flags on the floor of the House of Representatives as they voted on the package.

“Ukrainian flags are flying in the chamber of the UNITED STATES House of Representatives as they vote to send more of your hard-earned money to a corrupt foreign regime.

And just like that they shout “UKRAINE! UKRAINE!”while we happily work to secure Ukraine’s borders, not ours.’