'Completely unacceptable': Johnson gavels House out for 3-day weekend to attend far-right event in Paris
Written by Carl Gibson
November 10, 2023
Even though a potential federal government shutdown is just eight days away, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) sent lawmakers home early for a long weekend to tend to a different priority: Catching a flight to Paris.
The New Republic reported Friday that Johnson — who still has yet to present a plan to fund the government before the November 18 deadline — gaveled the House of Representatives out of session on Thursday so he can make it to the Worldwide Freedom Initiative's (WFI) upcoming conference in Paris, France, where he's due to speak Friday night.
'We are just 8 days away from a devastating government shutdown — and instead of working in a bipartisan way to keep the government open, Speaker Johnson sent Congress home early for the weekend,' tweeted Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Virginia). 'This is completely unacceptable.'
According to the New Republic, this weekend's WFI conference features an array of prominent far-right figures. In addition to Johnson, Governor Kristi Noem (R-South Dakota) will also be in attendance, along with her paramour Corey Lewandowski, who was found to have had a years-long affair with Noem earlier this year despite Noem still being legally married to her husband. A spokeswoman for far-right public education activist group Moms for Liberty — an anti-LGBTQ group whose school board candidates suffered multiple staggering losses in five different states Tuesday night — is also speaking. A promotional flyer for the event also teases appearances by Truth Social CEO (and former California Congressman) Devin Nunes, as well as former Trump campaign manager David Bossie.
Johnson will also be joined at the conference by various international far-right activists, including Brexit architect Nigel Farage, French politician Eric Zemmour — who has defended the Nazi Party's French collaborators — and Balázs Orbán, who serves as political director to extremist Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán (no relation).
This weekend isn't Johnson's first introduction to the WFI, with TNR reporting that the newly minted House speaker delivered the keynote speech at the group's launch event earlier on the 4th of July prior to his colleagues giving him the speaker's gavel. Johnson has also been making his rounds with right-wing media since becoming speaker, giving multiple interviews to Fox News, Newsmax and One America News Network.
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