Evening Report — GOP hard-liners mad over House passage of bipartisan spending plan

Speaker Mike Johnson‘s (R-La.) job could be on the line.

The Louisiana Republican, who only took the GOP leadership role in October, is facing a revolt from hard-line conservatives in the House after he helped broker a bipartisan deal to keep the government from shutting down at midnight.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) filed a motion to vacate against Johnson, after the $1.2 trillion government funding package — also called the “minibus” — was advanced in the House in a bipartisan vote.

Greene’s motion to oust Johnson won’t be considered until after lawmakers come back from a two-week recess.

A Johnson spokesperson said he was unbothered by the move.

“Speaker Johnson always listens to the concerns of members but is focused on governing,” Johnson spokesperson Raj Shah said in a statement. “He will continue to push conservative legislation that secures our border, strengthens our national defense and demonstrates how we’ll grow our majority.”

Johnson’s predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was removed from the leadership post last fall after a similar revolt. He ultimately resigned from the House at the end of 2023.

Several Democrats — who voted unanimously in support of McCarthy’s removal — have said they will help rescue Johnson, as long as he works with President Biden on issues like government funding and Ukraine aid.

Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Liz Crisp, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.

• Married adults in the U.S. are more likely to be thriving than those who have never been married, are divorced or live with a domestic partner, according to a new Gallup survey.
• Passengers on an Alaska Airlines flight who experienced a midair blowout earlier this year have received a letter from the FBI saying they may be crime victims.
• Ronna McDaniel, the former head of the Republican National Committee, will join NBC News as a contributor.

Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC) shareholders have approved a merger with former President Trump’s media startup, teeing up Truth Social’s stock market debut and a potential $3.5 billion windfall for the former president as he faces mounting legal fees.

The long-delayed merger between the company and Trump Media & Technology Group received regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission last month.

The former president, facing legal fines that could cost him nearly half a billion dollars, stands to make about $3.5 billion from the deal.

If Trump cannot secure the money from his fraud case by Monday, he could risk the seizure of his assets. The New York attorney general’s office has already made moves on Trump’s golf resort and private estate known as Seven Springs in Westchester County. 

But, the former president won’t have immediate access to the money from the Truth Social windfall, because he can’t sell any of his new shares for six months.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken that his forces will fight against Hamas in Rafah whether the U.S. supports them or not.

The remarks came after Blinken said publicly that such a move would be a “mistake.”

Netanyahu has vowed to press on in the southern Gaza city, where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering from the war that’s been waging since militant group Hamas’s Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israeli civilians.

The Biden administration’s official position has been to staunchly support Israel in the fight, even as many have noted the toll on Gaza citizens. But Blinken has said explicitly that an Israeli invasion into Rafah would be “a mistake.”

“A major military operation in Rafah would be a mistake, something we don’t support,” Blinken said. “And it’s also not necessary to deal with Hamas, which is necessary.”

NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel.

CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas).

NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday”: Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).

MSNBC’s “The Weekend”: Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.); Biden campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu.

ABC’s “This Week”: Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.).

Fox’s “Fox News Sunday”: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.)

Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures”: Gov. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.); Lt. Gov Dan Patrick (R-Texas); Senate candidate Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio); Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)

House Republicans have spent months mulling an impeachment of President Biden, attempting to tie him to his son’s business dealings. But, after an unfruitful hearing earlier this week, they appear to be giving up on the effort.

House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), in an appearance on conservative network Newsmax, suggested that an impeachment vote against Biden may not be the “best path.”

“I believe that the best path to accountability is criminal referrals,” he said.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Democrats pressed for any evidence of wrongdoing and pressured Republicans to identify the criminal conduct they are alleging, receiving few answers.

Democrats control the Senate, so it’s unlikely that an impeachment would go beyond the House. A similar situation happened in reverse when Democrats controlled the House and impeached former President Trump twice, but the GOP-controlled Senate wouldn’t convict.

Comer said he instead will send the information they’ve gathered to the Department of Justice.

Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, says she’s been diagnosed with cancer, asking the public for “time, space, and privacy” amid a media frenzy surrounding her absence from public appearances.

“It’s been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family,” Kate, 42, said Friday in a video posted on social media. (The Hill)

Two top Republican House members announced Friday that they are stepping back, or away altogether, from Congress.

Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, told GOP leadership Friday that she will be stepping down from her post. She had already announced that she would not seek reelection.

In a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, Granger requested a replacement on her coveted post be named “as soon as possible” through the end of the year.

“My goal for the next nine months is to return to where I began my career, as an educator. I will remain on the Committee as Chair Emeritus to lead as a teacher would, providing advice and counsel for my colleagues when it is needed,” the nine-term lawmaker wrote. 

That’s not all for the House GOP: Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) announced Friday he would resign from Congress before his term is up, shrinking the GOP’s already razor-thin majority in the House.

Gallagher, a four-term lawmaker who is considered a rising star within the GOP, announced last month that he would not seek reelection. But Friday, he said he would leave the House on April 19.

His departure will leave House Republicans with 217 members to Democrats’ 213, Johnson can afford to lose only one vote on any bill that doesn’t have Democratic support.

“Will Progressives confront left-wing antisemitism?,” writes Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute.

“Robocalls are the least of our AI worries,” writes Jason Green-Lowe of the Center for AI Policy.

115 days until the Republican National Convention. 

150 days until the Democratic National Convention.  

227 days until the 2024 general election.

Saturday: Vice President Harris will visit Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and meet with with families of victims of the 2018 school shooting there.