BREAKING: Speaker Johnson Holds A Press Briefing After FISA Extension Vote Fails

Well, I don't know if the American people just saw what happened on the floor, but it is shameful and it is very, very dangerous. Let me just tell you what's happened here. Today, we just offered a simple, clean three-week extension of the FISA national security law. The Democrats, 199 of them, voted against a clean three-week extension for political purposes, and when the bill went down, they applauded. They applauded it. That record and that video is going to live in infamy. I pray that we do not have a serious calamity on our shores over the next few weeks. We have done everything we possibly can. House Republicans are trying to govern. We're trying to keep the American people safe. On April 29th, we passed a three-year extension of the FISA national security law. It has been sitting over in the Senate, and because the Democrats in the Senate are playing political games as well, they're unable to pass it. So we did everything within our power to try to ensure that this statute does not expire, and the Democrats are using it as a political hostage. Now, this is their custom in the 119th Congress. This is what Democrats do right now. You will remember that earlier this year, they took the Department of Homeland Security, two of its most important agencies, and turned those into hostages. They shut down the government. They shut down TSA agents and border security and cyber security capabilities, and the Coast Guard. Why? Because they were insistent that we no longer secure the national border. They wanted to give zero dollars to that, and they were insistent that we do not continue to remove criminal, illegal aliens from American communities to keep the American people safe. That is what the current Democrat Party stands for in Washington. They are willing to jeopardize the safety and the security of the American people to make a cheap political point. Now, Hakeem Jeffries is a Democrat leader in the House. They put out a statement this morning saying, what is their reason? What is their excuse for this? Their excuse is that they're upset about a very temporary appointment that the President of the United States has already said would be very temporary in nature while he searches for and selects a new Director of National Intelligence. That is an important process that takes some time and thought and deliberation, and the President of the United States has the right, the ability, the responsibility, the duty to do that well. He has a lot going on right now, as we all know, and the President is deliberate about that. I spoke with him less than an hour ago about it. He is very close to a decision, and the Democrats know that, but they see this as a political moment that they can somehow score political points. It is detestable. It is dangerous. It is going to jeopardize the safety and security of the American people. We all know what's going on around the country right now. We're hosting the World Cup, FIFA. We have big soccer matches all around the country, 11 cities around America. We have the America 250, Freedom 250 events going on here in the capital and all around the country. There are large sporting events, local communities. Those things are in jeopardy right now because the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is exactly what the name implies. It is how we monitor terrorists who are plotting and planning dangerous events in the country, in our homeland. The reason we have not had a mass casualty event like 9-11 since that great tragedy is because we have this statute. Today, the Democrats in the House just voted it down—199 of them voted against it—and they applauded. They applauded when the statute went down. I think that speaks for itself. I'll take a couple of questions. The President of the United States is fulfilling his responsibility. The President has named someone who would serve for a very short period of time while he seeks a new director of national intelligence. The responsibility, the questions are for the Democrats in the House and Senate about why they're willing to jeopardize the lives of millions of Americans to make a political point because they have a disagreement about someone that the President has appointed for a short-term position. It is absurd. There is no way to defend it. Everybody in the Capitol Hill press should be chasing every Democrat before they go get on planes and leave, so proud of themselves that they just jeopardize the safety of every American citizen. I'm going to be praying that we do not have an event on our shores. There will be a lot to answer for if we do. Why shouldn't Congress have a vote in what is clearly an escalating situation with Iran, with the President now threatening, going after the oil infrastructure? Why shouldn't Congress vote on this? Operation Epic Fury was an epic success. It achieved the desired ends, the very specifically and limited objectives of that operation, as were articulated at the time. Right now, the President has been trying to broker a peace and get the Strait of Hormuz reopened. All of the nations of the world have an interest in that, most more than us, and we have called upon our NATO allies and the Arab states in the region and the neighboring states there to assist in this very important endeavor to get the Strait of Hormuz reopened. The President is negotiating a peace, and the Iranians continue to provoke us. As you know, they sent a drone into one of our—two of our pilots. We're flying one of our helicopters, one of our jets. They're firing on us all the time. The helicopter, as you know, the President described it, this drone lodged into the middle of where they were flying it, and they had to take the thing down into the water to put the fire out. Miraculously, they survived. We have the greatest military equipment of any fighting force on the planet. That was a very provocative thing for Iran to do, and the President felt—he's the Commander-in-Chief and his top advisors of the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff—they felt that it required a proportional response. Right now, they are working to have that situation resolved, and they're doing the best they can. We have negotiators over there, our envoys, who are working around the clock to bring this to a conclusion, but the Iranians have shown, at least for the time being, that they're unwilling to do that. We are hopeful that that works out. We have to allow the space to do it. We're about 100 days into this conflict, and the Congress has to allow the Commander-in-Chief to do what it is he's doing, so we'll see how that goes. The question has just been asked, would I bring everyone back to vote on FISA again? I'm going to ask you to answer the question yourselves. What would be the point? We passed a three-year extension on April 29. It is sitting in the hopper over there as a live bill. Just now, I attempted to pass a short-term extension for three weeks—clean extension, no changes to the law. Just make sure that the people are not subjected to great harm. The Democrats—199 of them—voted against it and applauded themselves as they left the building. What would be the point of me going through this exercise over and over? The House has done every single thing. The House Republicans have stood and led for the safety and security of the American people, and the Democrats are playing political games. The questions are for them. I think I've told you everything you need to know.