Johnson's impeachment headache
Speaker Mike Johnson has a new headache: President Donald Trump's call to impeach federal judges.
Trump is pushing to impeach U.S. District Judge James Boasberg after the chief judge tried to halt Trump's deportations of alleged gang members over the weekend, as well as 'many' other judges who have ruled against his administration's policies. The effort, overseen by Congress, is already threatening to become a major distraction for GOP Hill leaders, our colleagues Rachael Bade and Meredith Lee Hill report, just as Republicans want to focus on crafting their party-line bill to enact Trump's legislative agenda.
The impeachment efforts are unlikely to go anywhere, since it would require 67 votes in the Senate. Plus, a few GOP House members are opposed to the idea — Rep. Don Bacon told Meredith he doesn't support it.
But the House Judiciary Committee, which would oversee the proceedings, isn't ruling anything out yet. 'Everything is on the table,' said Russell Dye, a spokesperson for Chair Jim Jordan.
And lawmakers are already pushing ahead. Texas Republican hard-liner Brandon Gill quickly announced he would file a measure to remove Boasberg. This judge isn't the first to have impeachment articles filed against him in this Congress, but it's Trump's first public endorsement of an effort to oust a judge.
That brings us back to Johnson, since putting an impeachment vote on the House floor ultimately falls on him. The speaker has resisted pursuing any of these efforts, despite pressure from hard-liners, and key Republican leaders have kept quiet on the issue so far.
Privately, Johnson's leadership circle is dreading the push for an impeachment inquiry, knowing it's all but certain to fail, according to two senior aides who were granted anonymity to speak candidly. Johnson has been trying to focus on advancing the party's border, energy and tax package through reconciliation before the Easter break, but he needs to keep Trump happy to keep his narrow majority in line.
A Johnson spokesperson said that the speaker 'looks forward to working with the Judiciary Committee as they review all available options under the Constitution to address this urgent matter.'
Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee expressed little to no appetite for impeaching federal judges before Trump's comments on Tuesday. Sen. John Kennedy called the proposed impeachments 'idiotic' earlier this month. And Sen. John Cornyn said around the same time that 'you don't impeach judges who make decisions you disagree with, because that happens all the time.'
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THE LEADERSHIP SUITE
Hakeem Jeffries defends Chuck Schumer
The House and Senate minority leaders both insist they are on the same page after an outwardly public split over whether to support the stopgap funding bill, our colleagues Jordain Carney and Emily Ngo report. The New Yorkers made their comments separately on Tuesday — Jeffries during a press conference in Brooklyn and Schumer in interviews with CBS, ABC and MSNBC.
Jeffries also expressed confidence in Schumer's continued leadership of Senate Democrats when asked at his event. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi also reiterated her confidence in Schumer on Tuesday, though she added about his vote to help avert a shutdown: 'I myself don't give away anything for nothing. I think that's what happened the other day.'
She's not the only one inside the party publicly breaking this week with Schumer's decision to help advance the House GOP-authored funding bill: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker also on Tuesday criticized the top Senate Democrat for his decision.
POLICY RUNDOWN
STEFANIK'S RELEASE DATE — The Senate is finally expected to move on GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik's UN ambassador nomination once Republicans seat the winners of two April 1 special elections, two people familiar who were granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations told Jordain and Meredith. That tees up the Senate to move as soon as April 2. Senate Republicans kept her in nomination purgatory as they looked for a clear signal from the White House that officials were comfortable losing Stefanik's vote in the House, as we scooped earlier this year.
GOP TIKTOK CONCERNS — A key House Republican said any deal the White House makes on TikTok must ensure that the Beijing-based owner, ByteDance, has no control of the app or its underlying technology, our colleague Anthony Andragna reports. Rep. John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on Countering China, noted in a National Review op-ed: 'The law is clear: any deal must eliminate Chinese influence and control over the app to safeguard our interests.'
Hill Republicans are meeting with Oracle, an American software company interested in making a deal to acquire TikTok, this week. The White House is seriously considering the offer, as the April 5 deadline to find new ownership approaches.
REMEMBER RECESS APPOINTMENTS? — Trump raised some alarm when he repeatedly floated the possibility of recess appointments, a process that would let him bypass Congress to install his administration picks. But this week, the Senate's first recess of the year, the chamber is holding brief 'pro forma sessions' that technically prevent Trump from making such appointments — a further sign Republicans aren't looking to have that fight, Jordain reports.
To green light recess appointments, Republicans would need to have a knock-out fight with Democrats over adjourning, not to mention win over skeptics within their own conference. Republicans instead focused on moving Trump's nominees quickly during the normal legislative session. GOP Sen. Rand Paul told reporters he hasn't 'heard much talk' about recess appointments.
MEDICAID MUSINGS — Paul also told reporters Tuesday that 'one of the biggest, easiest ways' to save money in the GOP's reconciliation bill was to reduce the federal share of payments for people covered under Medicaid expansion, bringing it on par with traditional enrollees, Jordain and Ben Leonard report.
In the same breath, Paul poured cold water on the idea. He said 20 House Republicans are already saying they wouldn't support it, and 'at least four or five' GOP senators have expressed the same. Sen. Lisa Murkoswki seems to be one of them, saying in a speech to Alaska state legislators Tuesday that she would not support a cut to Medicaid 'that hurts our people or puts you in a budget hole.' Those cuts could also draw the ire of Republican governors because of the negative impact to state budgets.
House Republicans on Energy and Commerce are weighing options for how to achieve at least $880 billion in savings. But they are awaiting final instructions on how to proceed on the reconciliation bill, with the House and Senate still needing to resolve their differences. Meeting that ambitious savings threshold will all but certainly require cuts to Medicaid.
TESTIMONY TO COME — House Judiciary Chair Jordan is demanding testimony from prosecutors who oversaw Trump's criminal investigations, our colleague Hailey Fuchs reports. Jordan is looking for testimony from the Justice Department's Thomas Windom and former staffer J.P. Cooney, who both previously worked on former special counsel Jack Smith's investigations into allegations against the president. Jordan asked for Attorney General Pam Bondi's cooperation in getting the testimony.
DR. OZ TAX LOOP — Democrats have seemingly dropped their issue with Dr. Mehmet Oz's tax payments as quickly as they raised it, our colleague Robert King reports. While Democratic senators labeled Oz a tax dodger the day before last week's confirmation hearing to become administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, they barely addressed it during the hearing itself.
Tax experts suggested a reason to Robert: Oz used a controversial, but common, tax loophole that is currently under litigation — using it to reduce Medicare and Social Security taxes on the media production company in which he owned a stake.
Oz looks like he will coast to confirmation when senators return from recess, Robert reports.
Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E:
CAMPAIGN STOP
Murkowski openly speculated during a press conference in Juneau, Alaska that her frequent criticism of Elon Musk's efforts to gut the federal government could earn her a well-funded primary challenger if she decides to run again in 2028. But she said she's not backing down.
'I get criticized for what I say, and then everybody else is like: 'Well, how come nobody else is saying anything?'' the Alaska Republican said, adding that her colleagues are 'afraid they're going to be taken down' and 'primaried.'
THE CARRY OUT
Note: We're using the slightly less hectic recess schedule to talk about what's important: food. We've asked lawmakers about some of their culinary go-tos on Capitol Hill, and we'll highlight them here during recess days.
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam said his favorite meal in the Capitol complex is the Longworth Cafeteria bibimbap bowls.
Think you or your boss has the best food recommendation on the Hill? Email it to us: mmccarthy@politico.com.
THE BEST OF THE REST
House majority rules: When a 'calendar day' isn't what it seems, from Hunter Savery and Daniel Hillburn at Roll Call
CAPITOL HILL INFLUENCE
Former Rep. Jeff Duncan is joining the board of Nuclearis Energy, a New Mexico-based company dedicated to building 'sustainable and massively scalable' small modular reactors, our colleague Andres Picon reports.
Austin Bryniarski is now government relations coordinator at the National Family Farm Coalition. He previously was legislative director for Rep. Alma Adams.
JOB BOARD
Brianna Tibbetts is joining the Senate HELP Committee as an education policy adviser. She most recently was legislative assistant for Rep. Erin Houchin.
JJ Carola is now deputy digital director for the House Judiciary Committee GOP. He was previously a digital content specialist at FlexPoint Media and is a Lee Zeldin alum.
Brian Benko has joined the Select Committee on China's communications team as deputy communications director. He has previously worked for Tim Scott's campaign and Marco Rubio's Senate office.
Sam Mulopulos, who served for almost seven years as an aide for then-Sen. Rob Portman, has joined USTR as chief of staff.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Anatole Jenkins … KPMG's Ian Hainline … Yujin Lee … Drew Marrs of Norfolk Southern … Jake Westlin … Leah Schaefer … former Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) … Zach Parkinson … Betsy Barrows
TRIVIA
TUESDAY'S ANSWER: Robert Summer correctly answered that there have been 23 U.S. presidents with Irish heritage.
TODAY'S QUESTIONS, from Mia: How many federal judges have been impeached in U.S. history?
The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@politico.com.
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