Biden had no idea he signed natural gas export pause, Johnson says

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., connected Friday recounted a gathering with President Biden from aboriginal past twelvemonth erstwhile the president appeared to hide helium signed an enforcement bid pausing the export of liquified earthy state (LNG).

Johnson publically recalled the communicative for the archetypal clip to Bari Weiss during an occurrence of her podcast "Honestly" for The Free Press aft saying that done his "personal observation" successful dealing with Biden, the president "has not been successful complaint for immoderate time." Johnson’s communicative was archetypal reported by the Wall Street Journal successful June, though the newspaper’s reporting relied connected anonymous sources astatine the time.

When Weiss asked Johnson to elaborate connected his observations, the talker began his communicative of however Biden’s unit kept brushing disconnected his attempts to docket a gathering with the president successful January 2024 amid "big nationalist concerns" that Johnson said helium "was losing slumber over."

Johnson said that Biden’s unit yet relented aft immoderate unit from the media and invited him to the Oval Office to conscionable with the president. Johnson, however, said the gathering did not commencement arsenic expected.

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"I amusement up and I recognize it's really an ambush 'cause it's not conscionable maine and the president," Johnson said. "It's besides Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem, you know, The CIA Director."

Johnson said the radical began to "hot box" him connected Ukraine backing when Biden asked if helium could person the country with him, a petition that Johnson said near the president’s unit visibly concerned.

Once Biden and Johnson were unsocial successful the Oval Office, the talker asked the president astir his intermission connected LNG exports. 

"I cannot reply this from my constituents successful Louisiana," Johnson recalled telling Biden. "Sir, wherefore did you intermission LNG exports to Europe? Liquefied earthy state is successful large request by our allies. Why would you bash that? Cause you recognize we conscionable talked astir Ukraine, you recognize you are fueling Vladimir Putin’s warfare machine, due to the fact that they gotta get their state from him."

Johnson recounted however a stunned Biden replied: "I didn’t bash that."

Biden initiated a intermission connected caller LNG export permits successful January 2024, a determination which has been widely criticized by the lipid assemblage and bipartisan lawmakers successful the House.

Johnson said that erstwhile helium reminded the president of the enforcement bid helium had signed conscionable weeks ago, Biden denied that what helium had signed was a intermission connected LNG.

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Johnson said helium argued that the intermission would bash "massive harm to our economy, nationalist security," and helium adjacent suggested that the president’s caput people retired a transcript of the bid truthful that the 2 of them could work it together.

"He genuinely did not cognize what helium had signed," Johnson said. "And I walked retired of that gathering with fearfulness and loathing due to the fact that I thought, ‘We are successful superior trouble—who is moving the country?’ Like, I don't cognize who enactment the insubstantial successful beforehand of him, but helium didn’t know."

Biden’s LNG intermission threatens astir 1 cardinal jobs implicit the adjacent 2 decades if the regularisation remains successful place, according to a survey by the National Association of Manufacturers, which Fox News Digital antecedently reported on.

The export ban would stifle the U.S. GDP by betwixt $122.5 cardinal and $215.7 cardinal successful 2044, portion betwixt $26.9 cardinal and $47.7 cardinal successful taxation and royalty revenues to federal, authorities and section governments would beryllium astatine hazard successful 2044 if the licence intermission persists, the survey found.

President-elect Trump, however, reportedly "plans to spell beardown connected the issue" of LNG exports erstwhile helium assumes office, sources told Reuters successful November.

Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady and Eric Revell contributed to this report.