A public feud between Speaker Mike Johnson and Rep. Elise Stefanik ended Wednesday with the involvement of President Trump, as her proposal requiring disclosure of congressional counterintelligence investigations of lawmakers was added to the annual defense policy bill.
The provision would require disclosure when the FBI opens counterintelligence investigations into an elected official or candidate, such as the Biden-era “Arctic Frost” probe that secretly targeted Republicans. The proposal is now tacked onto the must-pass annual defense bill.
Ms. Stefanik, New York Republican, had threatened to help tank the National Defense Authorization Act and claimed that Mr. Johnson was blocking her provision. She came away from the fight saying she got a win.
She took to social media early Wednesday morning to announce the provision’s addition after a discussion between her, Mr. Trump and Mr. Johnson.
“This is a significant legislative win delivered against the illegal weaponization of the deep state,” she said.
She said that the provision will “strengthen this accountability and transparency to deter this illegal weaponization,” having previously passed out of the House Intelligence Committee.
A floor vote on the package is expected next week.
Ms. Stefanik, a senior member of the House Intelligence and Armed Services committees, had vowed to vote against the bill for the first time if her proposal wasn’t included.
“If Republicans can’t deliver accountability and legislative fixes to arguably the biggest illegal corruption and government weaponization issue of all time, then what are we even doing?” she said.
She pointed to three political scandals as her reasoning for the provision: Crossfire Hurricane, Arctic Frost and leaks of Trump administration Special Envoy Steve Witkoff’s conversations with foreign counterparts.
Arctic Frost sparked the ire of Republicans, in which a Justice Department probe under the Biden administration targeted Mr. Trump and congressional Republicans after the president challenged the 2020 election results. Phone records of lawmakers were secretly subpoenaed.
Ms. Stefanik, who serves as a member of Mr. Johnson’s leadership team, initially claimed he excluded her measure from the defense bill and lied about it.
During a Tuesday press conference, Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said all of her accusations were “false.”
“I explained to her on text message since I heard this yesterday, I was campaigning in Tennessee, and I wrote her and said, ’What are you talking about? This hasn’t even made it to my level,’” the speaker told reporters Tuesday.
He added that he would vote for the provision and that he was not sure why it wasn’t included, “so I don’t know why she’s frustrated with me.”
“I literally had nothing to do with it, but I’m happy to roll up my sleeves and help her,” he said.
But Ms. Stefanik doubled down on him, claiming his statements were lies.
“The Speaker texted me yesterday claiming he ’knew nothing about it.’ Yeah right. This is his preferred tactic to tell Members when he gets caught torpedoing the Republican agenda,” she said on social media. “It wasn’t on your radar? This is the ONLY provision in the bill to root out the deep state rot. This is not regular order.”
Ms. Stefanik rebuked the speaker for siding with Democrats against Republicans to block the provision, saying on social media that it was a “scandalous disgrace that Republicans are allowing themselves to be rolled by the Dems and deep state on this.”
“Republicans have the House, Senate, and the White House, yet the deep state is alive and well with the Speaker getting rolled by House Dems attempting to block my provision,” she said.
Democrats are opposed to her provision.
Mr. Johnson previously said he supported Ms. Stefanik’s language in the bill but that the policy dispute was handled at the committee level, where Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, vetoed the measure.
The battle was a sore spot for Mr. Johnson’s leadership credibility, as House Republicans increasingly splintered from Mr. Trump’s MAGA movement while the GOP aims to hold onto its razor-thin House majority.
