Former Donald Trump Official Slams Mike Johnson

A former Trump official has slammed House Speaker Mike Johnson on social media over comments about a situation at the Mexican border.

Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who has been indicted along with former president Donald Trump and 17 others over their efforts to overturn the Republican's election loss in Georgia, made the remarks in response to Johnson sharing an article reporting that Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, had ordered National Guard troops to the border with Mexico.

"Our border is so out of control that a Democrat Governor is sending the AZ National Guard," Johnson wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday.

"It's the federal government's job to secure it. Why does the Biden administration refuse to take action?"

Clark responded that while the move showed Democrats are "very worried" about how border security could affect the 2024 presidential campaign and that there was "a lot" of blame to go around.

He went on to criticize Johnson for not making "new specific border instructions" a condition of passing an annual defense policy bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

"Yes, Mr. Speaker, this is an audible gear shift from Gov. Hobbs that shows Dems are very worried about the impact of the #BorderCrisis on the #2024Election," Clark wrote.

"But there's *a lot* of blame to go around. You could have made it a condition of passing the NDAA that there be new specific border instructions to [President Joe] Biden to close it off like a drum, using President Trump's policies. But you didn't do that. Instead, the Dems got what they wanted on the NDAA and you let the House go home for the holidays."

Newsweek has contacted Johnson's office for comment via email. Clark has been contacted for comment via email through the Center for Renewing America, a conservative think tank where he is a senior fellow.

Other Trump allies have also taken aim at Johnson, a Louisiana Republican who won the speakership in late October following the ousting of Rep. Kevin McCarthy.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, said she had voted against the NDAA that Johnson "negotiated" with Democrats because it removed provisions she supported.

"I voted for the NDAA passed this summer under Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy that included a 30% pay raise for junior members of the military," she wrote on X.

"But the NDAA negotiated by Speaker Johnson, [Sen.] Chuck Schumer, [former Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell and [Rep.] Hakeem Jeffries removed that pay raise. Not only that, it didn't remove Ukraine funding and doubled it to $600 million, funded abortion vacations, and kept trans in our military."

Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon accused Johnson's religious views of being "all talk" after the House and Senate approved the NDAA without restrictions on abortion and gender-affirming healthcare for transgender service members.

"Speaker Johnson, just unacceptable," Bannon said on his War Room podcast on the streaming platform Real America's Voice.

"You talk a big game about Christianity. You talk a big game about a biblical worldview. You talk a big game about Moses and the Red Sea and all that. It's all talk. Talk, talk, talk."