Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) expressed his wish that President Biden's mention of withholding weapons from Israel was due to a lapse in memory.
Johnson, in a wide-ranging interview with Politico — which will air in full on a forthcoming episode of its “Playbook Deep Dive” podcast — suggested Biden’s comments violated what the Speaker understood to be promises from the president to secure Johnson’s support for the $95 billion emergency foreign aid package.
“I hope — I believe he’s off script,” Johnson said. “I don’t think that’s something that staff told him to say. I hope it’s a senior moment, because that would be a great deviation in what is said to be the policy there.”
On whether he felt betrayed by Biden’s threat, he said, “I got to say that I do, yeah.”
His comments come after Biden warned in a CNN interview that he would delay sending Israel offensive weapons, such as bombs and artillery shells, if Israeli forces launched an invasion of Rafah, laying down a clear line amid outcry over the conflict in Gaza.
“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities — that deal with that problem,” Biden said Wednesday evening.
Johnson told Politico that Biden’s remarks added to his concern about reports that the U.S. had paused shipments of heavy bombs to Israel.
“And my reaction honestly was, ‘Wow, that is a complete turn from what I have been told even in, you know, recent hours,’” Johnson said. “I mean, 24 hours ago it was confirmed to me by top administration officials that the policy’s very different than what he stated there. So I hope that’s a senior moment.”
The Speaker said, however, that he was assured by Biden administration officials that reports of weapons being cut off were not accurate and did not violate Johnson’s agreement with the president.
“My concern was we got word about these, you know, this shipment of munitions being delayed. And that was a great concern to us, because I got commitments from top administration officials before we passed the supplemental package for the aid to Israel that that would not happen,” Johnson said to Politico.
He added that he was told “in writing and verbally” that there was “no delay in the delivery of weapons to Israel, because it’s so desperately needed.”
Johnson said the White House told him the delayed munitions were from “earlier weapons tranches” and had “nothing to do with the supplemental package that you all passed.”
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
