Speaker Mike Johnson had just delivered President Donald Trump his biggest legislative win of the year, but as he sat in his office in mid-June surrounded by a group of furious senior Republicans, the mood was sour.
To secure that win, Johnson had been forced to make a deal with a gang of hardliners, led by firebrand Rep. Chip Roy, to help bring a bill cracking down on border security to the floor. Roy and others said he’d vowed to do so before the July 4 recess.
But now, just ahead of that deadline, Johnson was receiving a stark warning from his powerful center-right faction, including several high-ranking Republicans, three people familiar with meeting told CNN. If Johnson brought the bill to the floor, these members threatened to raise their own demands — namely, a list of long-awaited bills to overhaul the US immigration system, making it easier for certain groups to gain lawful entry into the country.
That previously unreported sit-down helps explain the House GOP’s descent into chaos in recent weeks as the fractious GOP conference repeatedly derails the speaker’s agenda. Johnson and his team lost an ugly floor fight last week, in part, because the speaker chose not to put that border security bill on the floor — sparking a revolt by Roy and other hardliners that paralyzed the chamber and forced leadership to scrap their agenda and send members home early instead.
