Jeffries declines to take position on saving Speaker from conservative coup

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) declined to say Thursday if he’d help protect Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from a conservative revolt. 

In an interview with The New York Times a day earlier, the Democratic leader had suggested that “a reasonable number” of Democrats in his caucus would cross the aisle to keep Johnson in power in the face of a coup — if the Speaker agreed to consider legislation providing aid to foreign allies, including Ukraine.

On Thursday, Jeffries emphasized that he wasn’t stating his own position, but was simply making an assessment based on “observations” of the members of his caucus. 

“The comments that I have made on this issue speak for themselves,” Jeffries told reporters in the Capitol. “The only comments that I have made on this issue are observations, but not a firm declaration.”

Johnson, since taking the Speaker’s gavel in October, has said he supports more military aid for Ukraine. But former President Trump has come out against the assistance, and Johnson is under heavy pressure from conservatives in the GOP conference to keep any such bill off the floor. 

Amid the fight, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has vowed to force a vote to remove Johnson from power if he does stage a vote — a threat with teeth since the new House rules stipulate that a single lawmaker can bring such a motion.

Democrats are scrambling for ways to get the Ukraine bill to the floor, and a number of them have already emerged to say that they’d help Johnson survive a motion to oust him if he agrees to certain conditions, such as considering the Senate-passed foreign aid package. 

“Just like I told McCarthy: Talk to Hakeem, and there are some of us that can support you,” Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) said last month, referring to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who was booted from his leadership post last year at the hands of disgruntled conservatives. “I’ll say the same thing [to Johnson].” 

More recently, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) delivered a similar message. 

“If we get a vote on the appropriations bills and we get a vote on the supplemental, there’ll be enough Democrats that Johnson will not be removed as Speaker,” Smith said. “That’s just my view.”

In his interview with the Times, Jeffries said he hasn’t overlooked that message being sent by members of his party. 

“It does seem to me, based on informal conversations, that were Speaker Johnson to do the right thing relative to meeting the significant national security needs of the American people by putting it on the floor for an up-or-down vote, there will be a reasonable number of people in the House Democratic Caucus who will take the position that he should not fall as a result,” Jeffries told the Times on Wednesday. 

The debate is evolving differently than the one that preceded McCarthy’s removal in early October. In that case, a number of Democrats had also offered their support, but a defiant McCarthy rejected the help, expressing confidence that he’d “hold on” despite a slim majority. 

The strategy backfired, with every Democrat voting to remove him.