Playbook PM: Mike Johnson’s surprising remarks about Jack Smith

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THE CATCH-UP

THE WHITE HOUSE RESPONDS — In this morning’s Playbook we shared a tease from our big interview last night with Speaker MIKE JOHNSON in which he slammed President JOE BIDEN — with whom he’d worked hand in hand just weeks before on delivering foreign aid to Israel — for his new policy of withholding that aid to influence how Israel conducts its war against Hamas.

We heard this morning from Biden senior spokesperson ANDREW BATES, who flatly rejected the suggestion that Biden’s remarks to CNN’s Erin Burnett yesterday amounted to a possible “senior moment,” as Johnson told us.

“That’s simply false,” he said, noting that Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN confirmed that withholding arms is a part of the administration’s Israel policy in Senate testimony yesterday. (We’ll note that Austin did not go quite as far as Biden did: The secretary said a bomb shipment was being withheld because Israel had not produced a plan to protect civilians in Rafah; Biden said weapons would be withheld if Israel invades Rafah, period.)

Added Bates: “To be fair, we understand the Speaker has a lot to keep up with. Joe Biden is the only president in our history to have ordered the American military to actively defend Israel from a foreign attack, and the only president to have literally stood with Israel — on Israeli soil — during wartime.”

MIKE DON’T KNOW ABOUT JACK — We’d also like to highlight a couple of other newsy tidbits from Johnson, who spoke to us just a few hours after easily surviving the MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE-led attempt to remove him as speaker.

He described how he “didn’t think they would go through with it” after talking with the Georgia Republican and her allies. He talked about how he approached Greene, Rep. THOMAS MASSIE (R-Ky.) and Rep. PAUL GOSAR (R-Ariz.) on the floor afterward to make peace.

“I said … ‘I don’t carry grudges, and I’m not angry about this,” he said. “We have to work together. And I want to work with you guys and those ideas we were talking about. I’m still working on them, so I hope we can put this behind us and move forward.’”

But in one of his more provocative remarks, Johnson went in depth on what exactly he’d discussed with Greene & Co. — particularly their demand to defund special counsel JACK SMITH as part of the appropriations process. He essentially called their effort to target DONALD TRUMP’s chief prosecutor unworkable.

“That’s not something you wave a wand and just eliminate the special counsel as a provision,” the former constitutional law attorney explained. “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.”

We followed up: So are you prepared to write language eliminating Smith’s job into appropriations bills?

His answer? “No.”

While Johnson might be correct that targeting Smith is much easier said than done, his candor on this topic could land crosswise with Trump, who played a major role in holding off a GOP coup and offered measured support for the speaker yesterday.

The issue is clearly a sensitive one. This morning, we asked Trump’s campaign about Johnson’s special counsel remarks at 10:27 a.m. Four minutes later, we got a call from a person close with Johnson who offered what he sees as an important caveat: that Johnson is looking at other ways to go after Smith.

Indeed, Johnson used a good chunk of his news conference this week to denigrate Smith and Trump’s other prosecutors as politically motivated, and in our interview, he told us he’s been in touch with House Judiciary Chair JIM JORDAN (R-Ohio) about how they might rein Smith in.

“We were in the very beginning stages of even beginning to investigate what that would look like,” he said. “I do think there has to be accountability. I do think, you know, Congress has the power of the purse, of course. And we have oversight responsibility. And we’ve been vigorously using both of those powers that we have.”

Remember: Much more to come tomorrow in Playbook and the Deep Dive podcast …

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THE NEXT TURN OF THE SCREW — “Greene’s rebellion sparks new talk of consequences for House GOP rebels,” by Jordain Carney and Olivia Beavers: “Republicans are proposing to build specific punishments into conference rules that would be triggered if hardliners keep breaking ranks against leadership. Sanctions getting floated include arming the entire conference with the ability to force a vote on yanking their committees or even ejecting them from the conference altogether.”

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Today, in a show of kumbaya, a group of BARACK OBAMA alumni are throwing a fundraiser for the Biden campaign in D.C. The event is being hosted by former AG ERIC HOLDER and Biden campaign manager JULIE CHAVEZ RODRIGUEZ. The host committee also includes the Pod Bros: JON FAVREAU, JON LOVETT, DAN PFEIFFER and TOMMY VIETOR.

THE FLIP SIDE — “Middlemen plead guilty in Henry Cuellar bribery case,” by the San Antonio Express-News’ Guillermo Contreras and Nicole Hensley: “Two political strategists have agreed to plead guilty to conspiring with U.S. Rep. HENRY CUELLAR to launder more than $200,000 in bribes. The Department of Justice struck plea deals earlier this year with COLIN STROTHER, of Buda, and FLORENCIO “LENCHO” RENDON, of San Antonio.”

9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. THE TRUMP TRIAL: Trump attorney SUSAN NECHELES got into it with STORMY DANIELS in a fiery cross-examination today at the former president’s criminal hush money trial. Necheles tried to argue that Daniels had fabricated her allegation of an extramarital hookup with Trump, and that the porn star was motivated by money. Daniels fired back that she was telling the truth and that the experience of going public has been a net negative for her.

“You have a lot of experience making phony stories about sex appear real,” Necheles said at one point. “Wow … that’s not how I would put it,” Daniels responded. “The sex in the films is very much real — just like what happened to me in that room.” Live updates from our colleagues in Manhattan

N.Y. Mag’s Olivia Nuzzi and Andrew Rice have a vivid look into not only Daniels’ testimony but her frame of mind, as she tries to take ownership of a story that has haunted her in a legal system she feels hasn’t protected her. Is she the victim, or is Trump? “A jury will now have to decide whose narrative is more credible with maybe nothing less than the fate of the nation hanging on its verdict.”

2. ISRAEL FALLOUT: Biden’s big declaration on CNN that the U.S. wouldn’t supply Israel with offensive weapons for a major Rafah invasion is rocking Israeli politics today. Many Israeli leaders were outraged or defiant, per the NYT, and a far-right minister said Hamas loved Biden. In public, they insisted Biden’s decision wouldn’t change their strategy in the war, which has killed 35,000 Palestinians. PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU vowed that Israel “will stand alone” if it must. But one former Israeli official told WaPo’s Shira Rubin that it could make his government think twice as it weighs its next steps.

At home, Biden encountered some pushback from moderate front-line Democrats: Sen. JON TESTER (D-Mont.) told CNN’s Manu Raju that he should release the aid to Israel, and Rep. JARED GOLDEN (D-Maine) said Biden’s moves “signal weakness.”

The U.S. pause could affect Israel’s military capabilities in the long term in “one of the worst crises ever in Israeli-American relations” since RONALD REAGAN’s similar decision in 1981, WSJ’s Jared Malsin and Anat Peled report. Nonetheless, Israeli forces amassed outside of Rafah and struck the eastern part of the city, killing three people, per Reuters’ Nidal Al-Mughrabi, Mohammad Salem and Jarrett Renshaw. The U.N. said 80,000 people have fled Rafah this week. Meanwhile, new aid is on the way via the floating pier the U.S. has built off the coast of Gaza: Cyprus said the first shipment departed today, AP’s Menelaos Hadjicostis and Sam Mednick report.

But it looks like a cease-fire agreement is still out of reach: CIA Director WILLIAM BURNS left Cairo today, per CNN’s Alex Marquardt, as did Hamas, and the negotiations have paused, Erin Banco reports. That’s largely because Hamas has pulled back due to Israel’s actions in Rafah. But it “does not mean talks have broken down completely.”

3. CLIMATE FILES: “What Trump promised oil CEOs as he asked them to steer $1 billion to his campaign,” by WaPo’s Josh Dawsey and Maxine Joselow: “At the dinner [at Mar-a-Lago last month], he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted … Giving $1 billion would be a ‘deal,’ Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him … Trump’s remarkably blunt and transactional pitch reveals how the former president is targeting the oil industry to finance his reelection bid. At the same time, he has turned to the industry to help shape his environmental agenda for a second term.”

The details: Trump told the oil execs he would undo the freeze on liquefied natural gas export permits, expand drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and the Alaskan Arctic, hammer wind power and trash Biden’s tailpipe emissions rules.

4. PRIMARY COLORS: Was EMILY’s List too late? That’s the big question five days out from the Maryland Democratic Senate primary, where the group just started to run ads supporting Prince George’s County Executive ANGELA ALSOBROOKS against Rep. DAVID TRONE, NBC’s Bridget Bowman and Ben Kamisar report. Alsobrooks’ backers say she should have gotten outside support earlier against the ultra-wealthy, heavy-spending Trone.

But a new Emerson poll today finds a very tight race, with Alsobrooks having caught Trone: She leads 42 percent to 41 percent. More importantly, Republican LARRY HOGAN’s early lead in the general election looks to have diminished. Emerson finds both Dems leading him by 10 to 11 points.

5. IT’S NOT EASY BEIN’ GREEN: “Green Party alleges it’s the target of mischief in Arizona Senate race,” by WaPo’s Liz Goodwin: “The state’s Green Party, a liberal group with just about 3,000 registered voters, suspects that one candidate for its nomination, ARTURO HERNANDEZ, is being boosted by Republicans and that the other, MARK NORTON, is actually supported by Democrats. … [Co-chair CODY] HANNAH says that neither candidate has been a volunteer, officer or dues-paying member of the Green Party. The Green Party rejects both candidates on its July 30 primary ballot and is urging its members to write in Green Party of Pima County Chairperson EDUARDO QUINTANA.”

6. WHITHER NIKKI HALEY: Two months after exiting the presidential race, Haley is starting to reappear with a donor retreat next week, WSJ’s John McCormick scooped. She and her campaign team are expected to tell donors that her effort raised $162 million. But she still doesn’t have any plans to endorse Trump as of now. Instead, she has joined the Hudson Institute and started jogging more.

7. BIG PLANS FOR 2025: “Trump-affiliated group releases new national security book outlining possible second-term approach,” by AP’s Lynn Berry, Didi Tang, Jill Colvin and Ellen Knickmeyer: “Making future military aid to Ukraine contingent on the country participating in peace talks with Russia. Banning Chinese nationals from buying property within a 50-mile radius of U.S. government buildings. Filling the national security sector with acolytes of Donald Trump. … The book, shared with The Associated Press before its release Thursday, is the latest effort from the America First Policy Institute.” (But this is separate from Trump’s campaign.)

PLAYBOOKERS

Kamala Harris warned that the Supreme Court could threaten “fundamental freedoms across the board.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he thinks there should be no government limits on abortion, even at full term (contradicting his running mate).

Charlie Spies’ RNC ouster came after right-wing influencers launched an effort to take him down.

Jeff Fortenberry is facing federal prosecution again.

Jennifer Wexton is “too young for this.”

Eric Schultz is in the season finale of “The Girls on the Bus.”

IN MEMORIAM — “Jack Quinn, prominent lobbyist and White House counsel, dies at 74,” by WaPo’s Emily Langer: “Mr. Quinn was the consummate Washington insider, sought after by politicians, corporations and other clients for his legal expertise, his political instincts and his ability to navigate the city’s centers of power.”

BOOK CLUB — “Gov. Gavin Newsom is working on a memoir as he builds his image beyond California,” by the L.A. Times’ Ben Oreskes and Taryn Luna

OUT AND ABOUT — Sens. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) hosted a bipartisan Congressional Chess Tournament in partnership with the Saint Louis Chess Club yesterday, in which members played games against chess students and two world-renowned chess players. SPOTTED: Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), Senate Chaplain Barry Black, Xavier Underwood, Will Scott, Scott Sloofman, Robert Braggs, Rex Sinquefield, Maurice Ashley and Gulrukhbegim “Begim” Tokhirjonova. Pic

— Canadian Ambassador Kirsten Hillman hosted the GlobalWIN 15th-anniversary gala last night, followed by an after-party at Silver Lyan. SPOTTED: Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.), Jim Himes (D-Conn.), Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), Ami Bera (D-Calif.), Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) and Gabe Amo (D-R.I.), Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, British Ambassador Karen Pierce and Charles Roxburgh, Helen Milby, Melika Carroll, Tiffany Moore, Nicole Mortier, Amy Ricchetti, Liz Johnson, Reema Dodin, Elizabeth Falcone, Caitlyn Stephenson, Senay Bulbul, Angeli Chawla, Amanda Slater and Susanna Samet.

— SPOTTED at a D.C. Women in Tech happy hour hosted by Niki Christoff at The Line hotel yesterday evening: Penny Lee, Amena Ross, Allie Brandenburger, Amanda Anderson, Stephanie Gunter, Ashley Gold, Maggie Severns, Susan Hendrick, Nancy Scola, Alex Veitch, Carol Melton, Wendy Anderson, Kat Mauler, Courtney Robinson and Lauren Culbertson Grieco.

Send Playbookers tips to [email protected] or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.