House Speaker Mike Johnson met with former President Donald Trump Friday to push new election integrity efforts ahead of the 2024 election.
Johnson met with Trump in Mar-a-Lago to give remarks on legislation focused around election integrity efforts. The speaker announced legislation during the press conference that would require individuals to prove that they are an American citizen prior to voting in a federal election.
“So what we are going to do is introduce legislation to require that every single person who registers to vote in a federal election must prove that they’re an American citizen first. They have to prove it. That will be a new part of the federal law and a very important one,” Johnson said. “Our bill will establish new safe guards, it will put us on par with virtually every other democracy around the world that also prohibits non-citizen voting.”
The bill will require states to remove non-citizens from their existing voter rolls, Johnson said Friday.
President Trump: “We have millions of people coming into our country… they come from all over the world. Not just South America, they’re coming from all over the world.” pic.twitter.com/WntmHmc3Mg
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) April 12, 2024
Election integrity has been a hot button issue for Republicans, particularly those who are fans of the former president. With about eight months until the 2024 election, a number of key battleground states, including those that helped Biden into the White House, are still expected to use many of the election procedures in 2024 that outraged Republicans in 2020, according to a Daily Caller analysis. (RELATED: ‘They Are Miles Ahead’: Despite ‘Election Integrity’ Hype, GOP Could Be Walking Into 2024 Legal Buzzsaw)
Since taking over as co-chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), Laura Trump has continued to tout the party’s election integrity effort in various media hits. The party has filed about 78 lawsuits in 23 states, an RNC official previously told the Daily Caller.
The RNC has recently filed several lawsuits in both Michigan and Nevada over the alleged mishandling of the state’s voter rolls.
WH’s @AndrewJBates46 on Speaker Johnson-Trump event: “As fact checkers across the board have made clear, it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. The American people see through today’s stunt, which amounts to House Republicans wasting time … ” pic.twitter.com/mSg1KpCQDm
— Joey Garrison (@joeygarrison) April 12, 2024
Johnson said during the press conference that in all his travels around the country, 23 states since being elected speaker, the first topic Americans have asked him about is election integrity.
“So that is why House Republicans are going to act. I am going to announce here today, here standing alongside President Trump, that we will do everything in our power to ensure that we do have fair and free elections in our country. If we don’t have that in a constitutional republic, we have nothing. It is the basis of our nation and we owe it to the American people,” Johnson said.
Ahead of the meeting, a senior advisor to the former president told CNN that Trump and Johnson would discuss and “draw attention to” state proposals and lawsuits that would give non-citizens the ability to vote. The meeting between the two leaders was reportedly Johnson’s idea, sources told CNN.
“I would like to demand that our border be closed, because we have millions of people coming into our country. Millions and millions [of] people are pouring in at levels that no one is reporting, that no one is going to talk about,” Trump said ahead of Johnson’s remarks to emphasize the need for the legislation.
