Speaker Johnson insists, "I am calling the shots," not Trump while being grilled about the border deal

Speaker Johnson insisted that Trump is “not calling the shots ” after NBC News’ Meet the Press host Kristen Welker pressed him about the border deal.

Welker went straight to the point

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The host told Johson, “You have an opportunity to do something right now about the situation at the border, which you’ve been calling for new legislation on the border since you first took office.” She then asked about Trump, saying, “He said any Republican who votes for this deal should be ashamed of themselves. You said you speak to him frequently and that you’ve discussed this deal with him ‘at length.’ Is Donald Trump calling the shots here, Mr. Speaker?”

House Speaker’s firm answer

Johnson responded, “Of course not. He’s not calling the shots. I am calling the shots for the House. That’s our responsibility. And I have been saying this far longer than President Trump has. I’ve been saying what the requirements are to fix the problem.”

Trump on the border deal

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Writing on Truth Social, the former president and likely GOP presidential nominee shared, “We need a Strong, Powerful, and essentially ‘PERFECT’ Border and, unless we get that, we are better off not making a Deal.”

Jeffries criticized Johnson and other Republicans

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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke on ABC News’s This Week to anchor George Stephanopoulos. He said that a stand-alone Israel military aid bill proposed by Speaker Johnson isn’t “comprehensive” enough “to address the national security priorities of the American people.”

Jeffries doubled down

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The Democrat wondered, “How can a bill be dead on arrival, and extreme MAGA Republicans in the House haven’t even seen the text? They don’t even know what solutions are being proposed in terms of addressing the challenges at the border.”

Jeffries also had questions regarding Mayorkas’ impeachment

House Minority Leader told Stephanopoulos, “What does impeaching Secretary Mayorkas have to do with fixing the challenges at the border? The answer is absolutely nothing.”

Oklahoma Republican also blasted House GOP

Senator James Lankford, censured by Oklahoma GOP for negotiating with Democrats, slammed House Republicans during an appearance on Fox News Sunday. He stated, “It’s interesting, Republicans four months ago would not give funding for Ukraine, Israel, and for our southern border because we demanded policy changes. So we actually locked arms together and said, we’re not going to give you money for this. We want a change in law.”

Now what?

Lankford continued, “Now it’s interesting, a few months later, when we’re finally getting to the end, they’re like, ‘Oh, just kidding, I actually don’t want a change in law because of the presidential election year.'”

Another Republican expressed concerns

House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican, told CBS Face the Nation during a CBS interview that he was also “concerned” about the bill that would only address aid to Israel. Turner stated, “I think that we have four significant national security threats: We have Asia, we have Ukraine, we have Israel, and, of course, we have our border,” adding, “I do think that all these are coupled.”

Bipartisan deal is finished

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Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who played a pivotal role in the border deal, told Dana Bash on CNN, We do have a bipartisan deal. We’re finishing the text right now.”

Blaming House GOP

Murphy continued, “This bill could be ready to be on the floor of the United States Senate next week. But it won’t be if Republicans decide that they want to keep this issue unsettled for political purposes.”

“Dead on arrival”

Johnson wrote on January 26 that the bipartisan border deal would be “dead on arrival. ” Still, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, an Independent from Arizona, said on CBS in February that “everyone has an opportunity to be persuaded.”

The Senator urged lawmakers to read the deal

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Sinema, another critical figure in the border deal, explained, “Read the legislation, understand how it works,” adding, “These are powerful new tools that allow any administration, this one and future administration, to gain control of the border by changing the asylum system so that cartels can no longer exploit it.”