Johnson turns to Democrats on Ukraine aid amid ouster threat [Video]

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will lean heavily on Democrats to move a series of bills in the coming days providing aid to Ukraine, Israel and other democratic allies overseas — a strategy that acknowledges the nuances of governing in a divided Washington but also heightens the risk of his removal by disgruntled conservatives.

In rejecting a Senate-passed foreign aid bill favored by Democrats, the Speaker has sought to mollify his hard-line GOP critics and put a more conservative stamp on the contentious foreign assistance. Simultaneously, he’s moving a border security bill, also aimed at bringing conservatives on board, that is dead-on-arrival in the Senate.

But that alternative, multipronged strategy for moving almost $100 billion in overseas aidhas only aggravated his restive right flank, put a spotlight on his tenuous grip on the conference he leads, and triggered a new threat to his gavel, when Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) announced he’s ready to boot the Speaker …