New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik railed against House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday, accusing the lead Republican of siding with House Democrats to “protect the deep state” in a social media post.
Stefanik, a member of Johnson’s leadership team, has voiced outrage that a provision she is advocating for to bar illegal weaponization by the intelligence community could be stripped out of a year-end defense policy bill due to Democrats’ objections. The New York Republican said she would work to defeat the legislation if Johnson did not reverse course and stop “getting rolled” by Democrats.
“[T]he Speaker is blocking my provision to root out the illegal weaponization that led to Crossfire Hurricane, Arctic Frost, and more,” Stefanik wrote on X on Tuesday morning. “He is siding with [Democratic Maryland Rep.] Jamie Raskin against Trump Republicans to block this provision to protect the deep state.”
Stefanik, who is a senior member of both the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees, pledged to vote against the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) absent her measure’s inclusion in the bill.
“This is an easy one. This bill is DOA [dead on arrival] unless this provision gets added in as it was passed out of committee,” Stefanik said.
Johnson can afford to spare to lose just two Republicans on party-line legislation given the razor-thin House majority. Republican Rep Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna announced Tuesday she would also vote “no” on the NDAA if Stefanik’s provision is not included.
Stefanik’s amendment was drafted in part due to repeated occurrences of weaponization seen in the FBI’s investigation into President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, Russiagate and the Arctic Frost scandal. The provision would require the FBI to notify Congress if law enforcement opens investigations into candidates running for president and other federal offices.
Johnson immediately pushed back on Stefanik’s claims when asked by the Daily Caller News Foundation on Tuesday.
“All of that is false,” Johnson said. “I don’t exactly know why Elise won’t just call me. I texted her yesterday. She’s upset that one of her provisions is not being made…I think into the NDAA.”
Johnson, who said he supports the provision, said Stefanik’s amendment was struck from the legislation after passing out of committee due to disagreement between committee chairs. The speaker noted that the decision is not final and signaled the provision could become law as a standalone bill or different legislative vehicle.
NDAA text could be released as soon as Thursday, Politico first reported.
“I don’t know why she’s frustrated with me,” Johnson continued. “I literally had nothing to do with it, but I’m happy to roll my sleeves and help. I want everybody to be successful and we’re going to try to make the bill the best it can be.”
Stefanik took aim at Johnson’s comments following the press conference, writing “Just more lies from the Speaker” in a post on X.
“You torpedoed this siding with Jamie Raskin,” Stefanik wrote. “You said you would fix it, so fix it.”
Stefanik is leaving Congress at the end of her current term to seek statewide office. She launched a campaign in November to challenge Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul during next year’s midterm elections.
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