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House Of Representatives Passes Four Foreign Aid Packages Including Aid To Ukraine And Israel; Foreign Aid Packages Pass House Of Representatives With Bipartisan Support; Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) States She Will Not Bring Motion To Vacate House Speaker Mike Johnson After He Brought Foreign Aid Bills To House Floor For Votes; Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) Interviewed On Possible Democratic Support For Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson If Motion To Vacate Filed; Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) Says He Believes Mike Johnson Cannot Win House Speakership In 2025 If Republican Maintain Majority; Israeli Foreign Minister Tweets Thanks To U.S. Congress For Passing Aid Package For Israel; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Thanks U.S. Congress For Passing Aid Package For Ukraine; Military Expert Claims Ukraine Would Likely Lose War Against Russia Without Further U.S. Military Aid. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired April 20, 2024 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:59:54]
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: But right now, it looks like the clock has ended on the voting for this Israel aid package in the form of $26 billion. Of course, we're waiting to hear it officially said. But look at the totals right, 366 to 58 in favor of passage. You hear a couple cheers there taking place, but we have not heard officially. Let's listen to it right now.
So voting has ended for the fourth and final of the foreign aid packages as of today's very rare Saturday session there in the U.S. House of Representatives. And you look at the totals, 366 to 58 in favor of passage of this $26 billion Israel aid package, $17 billion of it would go to offensive and defensive weapons for Israel, $9 billion in humanitarian an aid for Gaza. Of course, we still have to hear them officially say that this has been passed.
But Manu Raju back with this there outside there on Capitol Hill. They had four items today to accomplish. Checkmark on three of them. You've got to national security aid package that's been approved, the Ukraine package approved, and money for the Indo-pacific region allies, that of Taiwan as well. So this seemingly was embraced by a majority there, just looking at the tally. This was to be expected for the Israel package.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there was still some opposition, and then, as you say, it looks like this vote is not yet finalized yet. They're probably going to close this any second now. But yes, it's well on its way to passage here. But it's different from the other ones because there are more Democrats who oppose it, even though a majority of Democrats did support this. Still, it's just 37 Democrats, it looks like, and counting about who have opposed this, 21 Republicans and counting. There were those Democrats who were concerned. They signed on the letter that raised concerns about moving forward, Ukraine aid, wanting more of especially offensive weapons in Israel aid, and asking for more conditions on aid to Israel, which is why you're seeing some of those opponents on the left flank of Hakeem Jeffries opposes measures. Some of those Republicans voted against this, concern about the humanitarian aid that would be going, including some billions that could go to help in Gaza. That was important to for Democrats here.
But it sounds like they may be calling this vote any second here, Fred. So feel free to interrupt me if and when they do. But at the moment it is well on its way to passing.
WHITFIELD: All right, let's listen right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bill is passed.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid on the table. Pursuant to House Resolution 1160, the Senate amendment to HR-815 is considered as agreed to with the amendment described in Section 6 of House Resolution 1160. The chair lays before the House a communication.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The speakers trends, Washington, D.C., April 20th, 2024, I hereby desecrate the period from Saturday, April 20th, 2024, through Sunday, April 28th, 2024 --
WHITFIELD: All right, there you go, the fourth of four foreign aid packages today passed there on a rare Saturday session at the U.S. House of Representatives there on Capitol Hill. Our Manu Raju back with us, $26 billion going to Israel, and included that the $9 billion or so in humanitarian aid for Gaza. So for today, mission accomplished essentially for House Speaker Mike Johnson, but now new business is soon to begin for him.
RAJU: Yes. Look, it remains to be seen exactly how this ultimately plays out. I'm going to keep my eye up over here just in case some members who we're interested in speaking with, particularly some of the ones who have threatened to move against Mike Johnson, if they emerge from here we'll ask them what their plans are today.
But you are hearing just a lot of anger and frustration from the right flank of his conference's vote. So significant is because of what is happening in the Middle East with the war in Gaza, what is happening with Ukraine, which has desperately called for more aid at this key moment. So how they decide -- how these detractors decide to move ahead will be very important.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, she has the ability, as any one individual member does, to actually call for a vote seeking the ouster of a sitting speaker.
[14:05:05] That, of course, is a deal that Kevin McCarthy cut in order to assume the speakership. That same deal ultimately led to his ouster when Matt Gaetz led the charge back in the fall. Ultimately Mike Johnson came in. The conservative were very happy with him coming into the position because he's ideologically aligned with them. But as he came in recognizing the narrowness of his majority and the fact that he had to govern with Democrats and leading the Senate with Democrats in the White House, cutting a deal on keeping the government open, cutting a deal on issues such as a key surveillance law, and now calling this deal on this foreign aid package that includes billions, $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, all of which he aligned himself with Democrats and Democratic leaders, in part because of his own classified briefings and how he's learned about these subjects changing and evolving and his views. But as a result, angering those folks on the far right who are coming after.
Marjorie Taylor Greene has refused hey all day long if today was the day she would try to call for that vote. She could do that, and then within two legislative days, they would have to act on that. Now the House is all streaming out here because they're going on a one-week recess, so it's possible --
WHITFIELD: I'm going to let you go.
RAJU: -- this could get delayed until after recess.
WHITFIELD: OK.
RAJU: But it's also possible they could take it up immediately and try to kill it, too. So all that is uncertain. So if Marjorie Taylor Greene does not call for that vote today, asked her to push for it, then essentially, we're going to punt it until later in the month, and maybe some of that anger will have subsided over some days. And maybe that could hurt her ability to go ahead.
Now, one other important thing. What do Democrats do? Hakeem Jeffries, as we've been reporting, has not said what how the Democrats should deal it. A lot of Democrats are going to wait for Jeffries's decision on what to do here, about whether or not to push him out from the speakership. Jeffries just left the House floor. He was asked by our colleague Ali Main whether or not he is -- what he's going to do now, because he had said, let's wait for these bills to pass before I make a decision on that. He's simply declined to comment, refer back to his previous remarks.
So it's still uncertain what he will do, perhaps because they are waiting to see what Marjorie Taylor Greene decides to do, then they will decide whether it's time to save Mike Johnson's speakership. But here, I just want to alert you, Fred, because Marjorie Taylor Greene is now coming down the steps of the Capitol.
WHITFIELD: OK.
RAJU: And we're going to try to make sure that we grab here. So stay with me.
WHITFIELD: OK, very good.
RAJU: It may be a little chaotic as we go into position here.
WHITFIELD: I was on the edge of my seat, Manu, for you, looking over your shoulder and knowing I need to cut you loose to do your thing. But we're going to stick with you.
RAJU: We'll see if she has -- again, as I said, she has declined to comment over the course of the day. Stay with me live because we do want to get an answer to her.
Let them come down. Let them come down, guys. Let them come. Right here, right here, right here, right here. OK, so we saw what happened with this vote, we saw your amendment go down. We saw all your frustration with Mike Johnson. So is today the day you're going to call for the vote seeking his ouster.
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, (R-GA): I'm actually going to let my colleagues go home and hear from their constituents, because I think people have been too obsessed with voting for foreign wars and the murder industry here in America to actually understand how angry Americans are. When you have the strongest, loudest voices in the Republican movement, grassroots, furious, calling for Mike Johnson to be vacated, the people here, my colleagues, have not heard the message. So I'm looking forward for them to go home on hearing from the folks back at home.
But this is the sellout of America today. When we add members Congress in there waving the Ukrainian flag on the United States House of Representatives floor while were doing nothing to secure our border, I think every American in this country should be furious. Who is going to vote for these people? How can you vote for these people? They don't serve our country.
RAJU: Republicans --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to call on a motion to vacate eventually?
GREENE: I just, I don't think you were listening very well.
RAJU: You said you would wait for your constituents, but would you ever, given what you said, do Republicans deserve to be in the majority?
GREENE: That's up to the people, because this is the third betrayal by Mike Johnson. He delivered a two-part omnibus, funded the Department of Justice, 91 federal indictments against President Trump, funded the FBI that raided Mar-a-Lago, gave him a brand new FBI building, funded Joe Biden's open border policies that are killing America every single day. Then he reauthorized FISA that spied on American citizens, spied on President Trump's campaign. And he voted against the warrant requirement, the same warrant requirement that he was for six months ago. And then he did this bullshit in here on the House floor, a foreign war package that does nothing for America. It's unbelievable. I'm thankful America gets to see who this man is. I'm thankful that America gets to see who the people that voted for this is, because this is the only way it's going to change. People have to see the trace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is this fight against Russia not worth it? Ma'am, why is the fight against Russia not worth it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- you just said, are you waiting to see if there'll be more support in your conference before calling a motion to vacate.
[14:10:02]
GREENE: There is more support. It's growing. I've said from the beginning, I'm going to be responsible with this. I support my majority, I support the majority next time. I do not support Mike Johnson. He's already a lame duck. If we had the vote today in our conference, he would not be speaker today. He's already a lame-duck. He can't raise money. Everyone knows that. We know we can't win the majority next year without raising money. He can't be speaker. He doesn't have the votes. This is the process that just --
RAJU: Are you going to raise this with Donald Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you waiting for to drop this motion? This was the last big legislative push before September, something that you were going against for months. Now, what are you waiting for on triggering this motion?
GREENE: You know, there's some people that are rash and irresponsible and do things, like what happened last time. I'm not that person. I didn't come here to Congress to actually hurt our institution, hurt our majority. I'm handling this the right way. And so I'm allowing the process to happen.
The American people are going to have their way. Our voters are going to make their voices heard to my colleagues in the party. And like I said, the vote was held today, Mike Johnson has a lame duck. He's done.
RAJU: Are you going to talk to Trump about this? Are you going to bring this to Trump? Are you going to bring it up to Trump?
GREENE: President Trump watches the news. I'm sure he knows what's going on.
(CROSS TALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think President Trump could have been clearer? He was not very clear about this bill regarding Ukrainian aid?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please stop, please stop.
(CROSS TALK) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think President Trump could've been clearer about Ukraine aid.
RAJU: Ok, I'm sure you're still with me, Fred. So, that was -- yes, so, look, I mean there are a couple of takeaways from this, and if you want to move over this way a little bit so we can reposition ourselves, get out of the melee.
So this was one thing when now we just learned, she's not moving forward with the motion to vacate today. That was important. That means that Mike Johnson's job, which we've been reporting, it has been on the line because she has been leading the charge to try to oust them. She's not going to go ahead with this today. They're going back home for a weeklong recess. She believes that Republican voters --
WHITFIELD: OK, and Manu, I'm going to interrupt, because now let's listen to House Speaker Johnson.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON, (R-LA) HOUSE SPEAKER: -- as we all know. And we saw, had the disturbance here on the floor just a bit ago. I just want to say simply, what I think most people around the country understand and agree, we should only wave one flag on the House floor. And I think we know which flag that is.
I said these are not normal times. They're not. The world is destabilized and it's a tinderbox. It's a dangerous time. Three of our primary adversaries, Russia and Iran and China, are working together, and they're being aggressors around the globe. And they are global threat to our prosperity and our security. Their advance threatens the free world and it demands American leadership. If we turn our backs right now, the consequences could be devastating.
So this afternoon, the House acted and we sent over to the Senate, and it will be transmitted shortly, our supplemental national security legislation. And make no mistake, this is not a blank check like the Senate supplemental bill was. This is very different. instead of taking the path of least resistance and bringing up the Senate supplemental on the House floor, or just allowing a discharge petition to pursue, which come forward, which would have had the same outcome, we gave our members a voice. We gave them a chance. We gave them a better process and ultimately a much better policy.
Unlike the Senate's blank check, the House legislation has a number of very important features. It provides for greater accountability over Ukraine aid. It forces an endgame strategy for the Ukraine war. It includes a loan instrument of this foreign aid to Ukraine, and the REPO act to ensure that Russian assets pay for part of the bill. And unlike the Senate's bill, the loan system itself is a House innovation and allows for much needed inside.
Now, remember that 80 percent of the Ukraine funding will go to the replenishment of American weapons and stocks and our facilities and our operations. It also includes tough measures and sanctions on Iran and Russia and China, which most of the American people understand is a necessity in a very important thing. Our process in the end ensured that each member was able to consider
the individual supplemental elements on their own merits, which is exactly how the House is supposed to work. I know there are critics of the legislation. I understand that. It is not a perfect piece of legislation. We're not ensured that in a time of divided government, and in a time where there are lots of different opinions. But there's no question whatsoever that the House has made many strong improvements to the Senate bill, and the product that we've sent over there is much better.
This package, I will note, because it's very important, also includes national security priorities in many of them.
[14:15:02]
But it is the only way that we could have gotten Democrats to support aid to Israel. And that's a fact. There is a lot of misinformation out there about the bill, and I just want to make one point about one issue that has drawn a lot of attention, and that is could any of this funding go to Hamas or to terrorist organizations or what have you. And we put safeguards in the legislation to ensure that UNRWA is not funded, the U.N. agency that included terrorists who participated in the October 7th attack on Israel. We also have language that prevents it from going -- any of the funding going to Hamas or at any other bad actors. That's a very important element of oversight. Congress takes the oversight very seriously, and we will continue to keep an eye on every dollar that we are using and invest in at this time.
I've said it very simply. I'll say it once again. It's an old military adage, but we would rather send bullets to the conflict overseas than our own boys, our troops. And I think this is an important moment and an important opportunity to make that decision. We allowed the House to do that, and I expect the Senate will make the same decision.
One or two questions.
(CROSS TALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- do you plan to if it's brought?
JOHNSON: No. Listen, as I've said many times, I don't walk around this building being worried about a motion to vacate. I have to do my job. We did. I've done here what I believe to be the right thing, and that is to allow the House to work it's will. And as I've said, you do the right thing and you let the chips fall where they may. And I will continue to do that.
(CROSS TALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a great step, but at the same time it took too long for aid to Ukraine and maybe too long. Why you decided to do it right now?
JOHNSON: Listen, the House had a lot of important work to do here. We had to get the government funded in our appropriations process. We had to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. We had a lot of important measures that had to be done, and we got to this as quickly as we could. This is an important matter. I think it's timely. I think you've heard from leaders around the world, including in Ukraine, that this has been done on a timely basis, and the House had to have the time to deliberate and do this in the right manner. I think we did our work here, and I think history will judge it well.
WHITFIELD: All right, you're hearing from House Speaker Mike Johnson there are after all four foreign aid packages just today passed in the House of Representatives. He says overall he has now sent this to the U.S. Senate, but he also underscores this is not a blank check. However, he says it provides for greater accountability, a better outcome of the war in reference to the war with Russia and Ukraine. And he says it does have that loan aspect.
We've got Priscilla Alvarez who is with us now from Washington. This is encouraging news, of course, from the White House. This is the kind of outcome that they were looking for. What are you hearing?
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Fred, we are getting a statement right now from President Biden on the passage of this national security package. Let me read part of this to you. It says "Today, members of both parties in the House voted to advance our national security interests and send a clear message about the power of American leadership on the world stage." It goes on to say, "At this critical inflection point, they came together to answer history's call, passing urgently needed national security legislation that I have fought for months to secure." It later goes on to say, "I urge the Senate to quickly send this package to my desk so that I can sign it into law and we can quickly send weapons and equipment to Ukraine to meet their urgent battlefield needs."
Now, Fred, to remind viewers, the president asked for these funds back in October, these $60 in additional funds to Ukraine. And he addressed the nation that month and he framed this as a national security priority, noting that it isn't just about helping allies abroad, but that it does affect national security here in the U.S., and making the point that the U.S. and its allies should not cede any ground to Russia. This is something that White House officials have been working on behind the scenes with congressional staff and members of Congress as they repeatedly tried to make the point that this was an urgent need for Ukraine.
It was also a recurring theme and topic of discussion between the president and world leaders as he tried to provide and project confidence to world leaders that the U.S. would stand by Ukraine. Of course, a difficult argument to make over the course of the last few months when this aid was continually stalled in Congress. And we have gotten more warnings over time. The president in an op-ed earlier in the week saying it was, quote, "a pivotal moment." And CIA Director Burns saying on Thursday that Ukraine could lose the war by the end of the year if it didn't get the funds.
[14:20:00]
So clearly, you can see the urgency sort of ramping up over the last several months as this aid wasn't getting through. So this moment right now is a very significant one for the White House. It's one they had been waiting for for months. You hear it here in the statement by the president that he is welcoming this news. And the White House press secretary was asked yesterday, how quickly they could get equipment to Ukraine. Once this goes to the process, the White House press secretary said it would be quick and immediate and swift.
WHITFIELD: OK, Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much.
Of course, we heard some response coming from the House speaker there and Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a real contrast within the Republican Party.
Join me right now, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. She is a Democrat from Texas. Congresswoman, great to see you. OK, we heard real contrasting views on how to see the passage of these four foreign aid bills today from the House speaker. As it pertains to Ukraine, he says it provides for greater accountability, better outcome of the war, and there's that loan aspect. Contrasting that with Marjorie Taylor Greene who says this is a sellout of America. Where do you stand on this?
REP. JASMINE CROCKETT, (D-TX): Well, I take issue with things that both of them said. I do want to applaud the speaker for finally waking up and deciding that he wanted to stand on the side of governance instead of obstruction. And he said that this aid is timely. It is not timely by any stretch of the imagination. This is one of those things that he finally had to settle in realize that there's actually more support for Ukraine than he thought.
He could have actually passed every single piece of legislation on a suspension. He didn't even have to go through rules. That's how much bipartisan support existed. Now, honestly, we know that the Democrats, per the usual, are the ones that held it down. But Marjorie Taylor Greene saying that we need to fund the border, she needs to go talk to her master, aka Donald Trump, who specifically said, do not go through with the border bill. And that's the only reason they don't have anything. So if she has a problem, she needs to go talk to Donald instead of blaming her speaker.
And also, she's talking really big talk about how she believes in governance. And so that's what she wants to be responsible, because she cares about the institution. She didn't care about the institution on January 6th or even after January 6th as she continues to support those that were trying to tear us down.
So I don't really have much patience for Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has done everything that is the opposite of anything that will keep this country on track. I really hope that her district is paying attention and they decided to pick someone else.
WHITFIELD: I wonder if todays of vote, votes also underscore, perhaps does this cement a commitment to the House speaker as well, Mike Johnson, who, even though we heard from Marjorie Taylor Greene that right now she's not going to initiate this motion to vacate, but it could be coming. Does today's support of these foreign aid packages, is that also a parallel support for the House speaker? CROCKETT: I don't think so. Listen, I don't know that we give you a
pat on the back because you do the job that you were elected to do. Governing is what we are supposed to do, keeping America safe as what we're supposed to do. Honoring our obligations to our friends and allies, that is what were supposed to do.
I will tell you this. The difference between Mike Johnson and McCarthy is that Mike Johnson believes in communication, and he understands when he needs to go and talk to Hakeem Jeffries. So ultimately, what I imagine will happen is if the speaker feels like he is actually facing an eviction, I think he'll go and talk to Leader Jeffries, and they will decide whether or not Leader Jeffries can offer him some support.
WHITFIELD: All right, we'll leave it there. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, glad you could be with us. Thank you so much.
CROCKETT: Have a good one.
WHITFIELD: All right, so among the packages approved today, $26 for Israel. I want to bring in Nic Robertson, who is there in Jerusalem. And so, Nic, was this the expectation there? And now that it has been passed, what's the expectation on when some of this funding or weaponry will make it there to Israel?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, I think the expectation was that it would pass eventually, but of course, it's important. I mean, imagine a week ago this night, Iran sent more than 350 missiles here. Israel fired back in the week. It seems to be that part of the conflict seems to be over. But imagine a scenario where actually the escalation that happened. Israel would have 100 percent needed every piece of that aid support coming in terms of military packages of ammunition, of weapons, of high-tech equipment, all of that it would have needed.
[14:24:57]
And I think we got a sense of that this evening from the foreign minister of Israel, Israel Katz, tweeting very quickly on social media platform X, tweeting very quickly after that vote saying thank you to Speaker Johnson, thank you to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for this bipartisan support. This bipartisan support, he says, shows the strong ties and strategic partnership between the United States and Israel, is it a very strong and substantial position.
So this really, you can tell the fact that the foreign minister put that out on social media so quickly shows that obviously the government here has been watching it. They expected it to happen. But this is -- this is an important moment, or a step along the way, an important moment for them. And they point to that bipartisan support strengthening ties, strategic partnership between the two countries.
WHITFIELD: All right, Nic Robertson in Jerusalem, thank you so much.
All right, it's been a very busy day, $95 billion in foreign aid, all approved by the U.S. House of Representatives today in a rare day of activity on Saturday. The measures now make their way to the U.S. Senate. We'll have much more coverage after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:30:54]
WHITFIELD: All right, it's been a very busy day on Capitol Hill. Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed for foreign aid bills. They are now on their way to the U.S. Senate, including $60 billion to Ukraine, $26 to Israel, and $8 billion to the Indo-pacific region and Taiwan, and a national security package. But it's not sitting well with everyone, particularly some Republicans who voted against this and are now throwing their efforts into dethroning the House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Our Manu Raju caught up with one representative, one of three who was on board with voting to remove him, Thomas Massie of Kentucky. This is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So obviously, you're very disappointed about this result. Why are you guys not moving forward on the motion to vacate? You made your points clear. Wouldn't this be the time to do it?
REP. THOMAS MASSIE, (R-KY): We want him to resign and to announce his resignation so that we don't go speaker-less for a period of time. The honorable way for him to leave right now is to announce his resignation ahead of time and give us time to replace him. We prefer not to go into that loop like we had last fall.
RAJU: But he's not, he's not going to resign. So then what are you going to do?
MASSIE: Right, right. So he will say what John Boehner said until the very day he said I resign. He will say, I'm staying here and there's nothing you can do. And John Boehner said that the day before we had the Pope speak on the floor. Then he came to HC-5 the next day and said, I resign.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But Congressman, respectively, why does he need to listen to three Republicans who are calling on him to resign?
MASSIE: Well, I mean, right now, three is the magic number. If we called the motion to vacate, he's going to lose absent Democrats saving him, like they did today. But if they do that, he's really become tainted at that point.
RAJU: Why is he tainted if Democrats killed this on the first procedural vote?
MASSIE: Because I don't think it's ever been done that Democrats would save him. The question would then be the same question we have today, which is, what did he trade? We weren't in those negotiations that went on for hours while the Rules Committee was in recess day before yesterday. What was he trading with the Democrats in exchange to maintain power long enough to pass this foreign aid bill? We don't know there and we won't know if he crosses the aisle to get Democrats.
By the way, this is something that Kevin McCarthy could have done but did not do. He didn't cross the aisle, cut deals.
RAJU: He did the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
MASSIE: To remain speaker he did not, which was your question, I think. He didn't cross the aisle and try to get Democrats to save him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Congressman, will you commit to bringing a motion to vacate on the floor if Speaker Johnson doesn't resign?
MASSIE: I'm pretty sure one will come to the floor if he doesn't resign at some point. We're trying to avoid that.
RAJU: But have you missed your moment? This was one of the big last moments here before we get into the fall on legislating, right? And then now you're going into recess, and the anger may subside among some folks. Maybe not you, but some. Maybe you missed your moment?
MASSIE: So let me say what I think you're thinking. So he betrayed three times. He had three big things he had to do to betray us and American people. Number one, he had to spend more than Nancy Pelosi on an omnibus, and he shoved that through about 72 hours ago. That was the first infraction. The second infraction was reauthorizing FISA with no warrant. And he worked hard to make sure Americans don't get a warrant if they're being spied on. That was the second betrayal.
To your point, today the pressure cooker is fit at a very high local maximum because he has taken away every bit of leverage we had to do something on the border by sending $100 billion overseas.
[14:35:01]
So your question is, what's left? He's already screwed you and there's nothing to screw you on again. Well, he's going to cause us to lose the majority at this point. He's completely demotivated our base. He has disappointed us in the conference. And everybody out in America will acknowledge this, but they won't acknowledge it here in D.C. yet. He can't be speaker again. You can talk about with the Democrats save him from a motion to vacate, all that sort of stuff? Do we want to go through trying to replace him midterm? Those are questions that are up in the air, but one that is without doubt is he can't win on January 3rd, 2025.
And I don't like that it's this way, but the speaker of the House is the fundraiser in chief for the majority party and tasked with keeping and growing the majority by raising money. He is not able to raise money because he is the lame duck. We need to have somebody in that position that can raise the money and grow our majority instead of losing it. He's not that guy. And that's why even though he's betrayed his three times and we can't see anything that's immediately on the horizon that would cause us to be upset, that's the big issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie there. Our Manu Raju caught up with him. There are three Republicans who have been very clear that, while they're not going to move to vacate House Speaker Mike Johnson, they don't want them there any longer. You also caught up with Georgia Republican Representative and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who underscored the same kind of messaging.
So while they're not going to move to vacate now, they're hoping either he will resign on his own or they might revisit it in some other fashion later. This after a day of passages of four foreign aid bills.
RAJU: Yes, this is significant moment for the Republican Party, for the wars abroad as the American allies who have been clamoring for that, as well as for the institution of the House which has descended into absolute chaos in the aftermath of the ouster of Kevin McCarthy. This is the Republican Party that is still so bitterly divided over how to proceed that it led their -- what America's place is in the world, how to spend U.S. taxpayer dollars, their agenda as they head into the majority, this infighting has played out. And because of the narrowness of Mike Johnson's majority is why his speakership continues to be at risk.
But clearly it is he is not going to be at risk, at least in the short term, because as what we heard from Marjorie Taylor Greene, she's now going to move forward today. She said she is going to wait until there's backlash in the district as voters are outraged at the Republicans who did vote to move forward on Ukraine aid. We'll see if that happens. I've talked to a number of swing-district Republicans who are proud of their vote, who say they're proud of Mike Johnson for standing up to the far-right elements of the conference.
Then you hear Thomas Massie. I tried to get that question, as you heard there at the end, about, look, this is a point where the tensions are really at a peak, because after this, the House goes on recess, people go back. They're with their families or their districts. They come back and they're really it is not any major, major issue that is going to divide the GOP really until the fall when they had to keep the government open past that September 30th deadline. So we have a significant amount of time before then. So what is the point -- at what point are they going to go move forward if they're not going to move forward today?
And that's something that they are struggling with at this moment. The calculation has to be, one, do they have the votes? They seem to think they do, but Democrats likely would come to save him, although they have now said so officially. And two, they don't -- they don't really know what the game plan is if they were to somehow succeed. If they become the dog who caught the car, what happens if Johnson is vacated? Who is the successor? Do they throw this institution yet again into a state of paralysis? Because this House cannot do anything until a speaker is elected, as we saw last fall.
So all those things are part of the discussion. Marjorie Taylor Greene continued to say she's being responsible in this because she's trying to argue that she's not doing what Matt Gaetz did in the fall, which was call for the vote that led to the ouster of Kevin McCarthy, and then Republicans had no idea what to do, ultimately leading to the election of Mike Johnson. But Mike Johnson making the calculation here and deciding it is time to take on those far-right elements in his conference, take them on, work with Democrats and deal with the aftermath. At the moment he's in his speaker's chair because Democrats very well could come to his defense.
WHITFIELD: It also sounds like -- yes, it sounds like an issue of also buying time, Manu, because when you spoke with Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, she really put it on, you know what, I'm not going to make that decision right now. I'm going to let my colleagues go home and hear from their constituents. A buying time measure. Maybe the constituents really will give some of these members of Congress and earful about their point of view on the House speaker.
[14:40:03]
Is this really an issue of, well, maybe we don't have the consensus right now, and we're looking for another way, another avenue in which to potentially make the motion to vacate or let it go yes?
RAJU: Yes, look, I mean, they don't have -- the big problem is that there's no consensus candidate. I mean, yes, if he were to resign, then what? We saw what happened in the fall. There is absolutely no consensus candidate, and that is a problem.
So two things can be true. One, there's nobody to replace Mike Johnson. Perhaps he survives this motion to vacate vote, but he is badly damaged, there's no doubt about it, by the deals that he had to cut in this narrowly divided House and not having much leverage with the Democrats in the Senate and himself evolving on some of these key issues. The question will be, as Thomas Massie said and other critics are saying, can he be speaker again if the Republicans keep the majority and it comes up again in January of next year, will he have the votes?
And I'll tell you, I've talked to a lot of Republicans. They do not believe that Mike Johnson will be able to sustain this. Yes, maybe you can survive to the end of this Congress. But next Congress, that is a different situation, especially if Democrats are forced to come to his defense which would be seen as something that would essentially weaken him even further in the eyes of a lot of his colleagues. So that is key.
One other point is that Thomas Massie made the argument to me here that this will demotivate our base, he says. He said all this will make our base not want to come out in the fall and help us push to the finish line. I put that question to the member, the leader of the House Republican campaign arm, Richard Hudson, a congressman from North Carolina, if he's concerned this will cost them the majority. He said absolutely not. He said they're more concerned about other issues, grocery prices and the like, not Republican infighting.
So we'll see how that will play out. But as you can see, different calculation since here as Republican leadership ready to plow ahead and hope that voters don't care about that come the fall.
WHITFIELD: Right, Massie and Greene also saying it was an issue of fundraising. So again, it's contentious. All right, Manu Raju, thank you so much, and thanks for hanging with. And of course, House speaker there saying he's not worried about a motion to vacate at all. We'll see what the next chapter is.
All right, thanks, everyone. And thanks, Manu, because you're a busy man on the Hill all day with today. And then back on the desk tomorrow, don't forget to watch Manu Raju tomorrow morning on INSIDE POLITICS at 8:00 a.m. eastern, right here on CNN.
We'll be right back.
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[14:46:52]
WHITFIELD: All right, just moments ago, the House of Representatives passed a crucial aid bill for Ukraine, $61 billion in all. Ukraine's President Zelenskyy has been warning for months that UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: aid is crucial to his country's survival. And just moments ago, he posted a message thanking the U.S. for its support.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in a Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Fred, tell us more about his statement and how this aid package is going to help.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Fredricka. First of all, I think pretty much the entire Ukrainian government and anybody who is in the Ukrainian military, probably the whole country was on edge watching this vote go down in the House of Representatives. And the president of the country, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he came out in a matter of seconds with his first tweet thanking the United States.
I want to read you part of it, because I think it is quite significant and just shows how big a deal this is for the Ukrainians. He writes, "Democracy and freedom will always have global significance and will never fail as long as America helps to protect it. The vital U.S. bill passed today by the House will keep the war from expanding, save thousands and thousands of lives, and will help our nations to become stronger." So you can see just how important this bill was for the Ukrainians.
Of course, some of the things that they've been saying is that they are running extremely low on ammunition and also on missiles for air defense. In fact, we've also already been in touch with a soldier who is fighting on the front line here in Ukraine in the southern direction towards Zaporizhzhia. And he told us that they badly need air defense missiles to keep the city safe so the soldiers know that their families are safe.
But also they say that the issues they've been having with ammunition, and I've covered this for months here in this country, as the ammunition stocks of the Ukrainians have been dwindling, that has now really reach critical levels. So they say they badly need artillery ammunition. Of course, we know that a lot of the U.S. aid is staged in European countries, and so it could get here very quickly once that bill is approved by the Senate and then passes the president's desk. Definitely something that the Ukrainians are looking for very quickly.
Also, I have something just to couple of seconds ago for you, Fredricka, because the foreign minister of this country, Dmytro Kuleba, he had a comment specifically for us. This is him to CNN, saying that this is a historic day when not only Ukraine got a boost of hope, but also the United States and all the free world. In the end, defeating Putin as Ukraine is about averting developments that will shatter the security and prosperity of the United States and every American." So obviously the Ukrainians trying to say that the aid for them, will also benefit the United States, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Fred Pleitgen in Kyiv, thanks so much.
We'll be right back.
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[14:54:09]
WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. The foreign aid package for Ukraine and Israel has now passed the U.S. House of Representatives. It delivers billions of dollars in U.S. aid, as both countries are in the midst of war.
Let's get more analysis now with Colonel Peter Mansoor. He is a former aide to General David Petraeus and a senior fellow at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies. Colonel, great to see you.
COL. PETER MANSOOR, U.S. ARMY (RET): Thanks for having me on.
WHITFIELD: All right, so will the first rounds of this $23 billion to replenish U.S. arms to Ukraine be enough for them?
MANSOOR: For this year it might, but they will need continual infusions of aid and weapons to fight Russia over the long term until this war reaches some sort of negotiated conclusion.
[14:55:00]
But it is a welcome relief for them as they were running out of artillery ammunition and air defense missiles. And if we had not passed this aid, very likely Russia would have ended the war this summer.
WHITFIELD: And this $60 billion aid package to Ukraine also means a lot of the money was going to go toward the U.S. weapons replenishment. How quickly does something like that get underway?
MANSOOR: Well, I'm sure the administration has been leaning forward with all of the particulars to use this money to replenish U.S. stockpiles. They are -- I'm sure there are stockpiles in Europe that are ready to go forward into Ukraine. So as soon as the Senate passes the bill and the president signs it, I foresee very quick action at all levels on this package.
WHITFIELD: And Colonel, Ukraine has been losing territory to Russia along the frontlines, especially in the east. Is it your view that Russia is gaining the upper hand?
MANSOOR: Well, they were. Ukraine lacked the artillery ammunition to stop these Russian advances. Ninety percent plus of casualties in this war due to artillery fire. And when you lack the shells to fire at the Russian troops, then they're going to advance. And drones are not a substitute for the massive artillery fire that both sides have been using. So yes, it was a dicey situation. It will be until they can get an infusion of artillery ammunition and air defense missiles to turn the tide.
WHITFIELD: And in your view, what's the message that this is sending globally, the passage of these aid bills, aid that will go to Ukraine, to Israel, to the Indo-pacific, and of course, to national security as well?
MANSOOR: Well, I think what the message it sends is the democratic world really can't defend itself without the United States being involved. There simply isn't the money or the willpower or the political leadership in Europe or various Asian states to do it without the United States help. And this was a package that was delayed in its passage, but it once again puts the United States in the forefront of leading the free world, the democratic world in opposing those forces that would take over other countries by force and wants to dominate the world.
WHITFIELD: All right, $95 and all on its way now to the U.S. Senate. Colonel Peter Mansoor, thanks so much.
MANSOOR: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: We'll be right back.
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