Mike Johnson's Defense of Jack Smith Sparks Renewed MAGA Outrage

Supporters of the MAGA movement expressed renewed outage this week over House Speaker Mike Johnson's defense of Special Counsel Jack Smith.

"I triggered my Motion to Vacate yesterday because Mike Johnson refused to commit to defunding Special Council Jack Smith. Now, he's not just saying he won't defund it, he's promising to PROTECT it," Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. "If the Democrats saving Mike Johnson's Speakership didn't convince you he's, in fact, their Speaker of the House, this should!"

Greene's post was in response to Johnson's recent remarks about Republican efforts to defund Special Counsel Smith amid his investigations into former President Donald Trump.

During an interview with Politico on Thursday, Johnson was asked about calls to remove federal funding to Smith, to which he responded by saying, "That's not something you wave a wand and just eliminate the special counsel as a provision."

"There is a necessity for a function like that because sometimes the Department of Justice—which is an executive branch agency—can't necessarily, without a conflict of interest, investigate or prosecute the president who's their boss, or the president's family," Johnson told the outlet.

When further asked if he has any plans to add language to future appropriation bills that remove Smith's job, Johnson said, "No," Politico reported.

In a statement to Newsweek, a spokesperson for Johnson's office said, "The Speaker has been clear that our judicial system has been weaponized against President Trump. He is actively working with Chairmen Jordan and Comer on measures to hold the Special Counsel Jack Smith accountable."

Smith is overseeing two of the ongoing criminal cases against Trump, one over claims he mishandled classified documents after leaving office in January 2021 and another that he allegedly attempted illegally to overturn the 2020 presidential election result. The former president has pleaded not guilty to all counts and claims the charges against him are politically motivated.

Several other MAGA Republicans expressed outrage over Johnson's recent remarks.

Steve Bannon, a right-wing media personality and former White House chief strategist under the Trump administration, shared a post on the conservative social media site, Gettr, saying, "Weasel."

Libby Emmons, the editor-in-chief of The Post Millennial, responded to Johnson's remarks on X, "This is what weakness looks like."

X user Gunther Eagleman, a self-described MAGA supporter, said, "Mike Johnson is a sellout c***...Protecting Jack Smith is pathetic."

Last week, the Republican-led House voted against a motion to vacate Johnson from his position as speaker. Greene has been vocally critical of Johnson in recent months and introduced a motion to vacate his position in March after he worked across the aisle to pass a $1.2 trillion federal spending package that avoided a partial government shutdown.

The House overwhelmingly voted to table the motion by a margin of 359 to 43, with 196 Republicans and 163 Democrats voting against the proposal.

Update, 5/10/24, 2:11 p.m. EST: This story has been updated with further information.