Speaker of the House Mike Johnson advances aid to Ukraine and Israel in the House, and former President Donald Trump's hush money trial adjourns until Monday.

RELATED LINKS

House advances Israel, Ukraine aid despite GOP threats to oust Johnson

The House of Representatives on Friday advanced a long-stalled foreign aid package of $95 billion for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, clearing the way for passage on Saturday and consideration in the Senate — despite a growing movement from House Speaker Mike Johnson's own party to remove him.

The procedural hurdle in the House was cleared with a widely bipartisan 316-94 vote, with 165 Democrats joining 151 Republicans in the majority to push the measure over the top. Fifty-five Republicans and 39 Democrats opposed the rule vote.

The package of four bills also includes a measure that would ban or force the sale of popular social media app TikTok, impose sanctions on Iran, Russia, China and criminal organizations that traffic fentanyl, and a proposal that would allow the U.S. to seize Russian assets to help aid Ukraine.

"Ukrainians desperately need lethal aid right now," Johnson said on The Mark Levin Show, a conservative talk program. "We cannot allow Vladimir Putin to roll through another country and take it. These are very serious matters with global implications."

While the action from Johnson scored rare approval from President Joe Biden — and, in an even more rare move, no detraction from former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president — the Louisiana Republican is facing backlash from a motivated far-right wing of his conference, which could cost him his leadership job.

“The world is watching what the Congress does," the Biden administration said. "Passing this legislation would send a powerful message about the strength of American leadership at a pivotal moment.”

Far-right Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a “motion to vacate” the speaker from office, and has drawn at least one other Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky as a co-sponsor. It could launch a bid to evict Johnson from the speaker's office, should she call it up for a vote, much the way Republicans booted Kevin McCarthy from the position last fall.

Greene would not comment when asked if she would call for a vote on her motion to oust Johnson.

Full jury set for Trump hush money trial after alternates picked

The full panel of 12 jurors and six alternates have been selected for the hush money trial against Donald Trump, signaling that the first criminal case against a former president in U.S. history will soon move into its next phase.

Trump faces 34 charges of falsifying business records around purported efforts to cover up his alleged infidelity with an adult film actress during his 2016 presidential campaign. The former president has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

Judge Juan M. Merchan told newly selected jurors in Donald Trump's hush money trial that opening statements are set for Monday at 9:30 a.m.

Bob Graham's funeral plans announced

Funeral plans have been announced for former Florida governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, who died earlier this week. Next Friday, Graham will lie in state at the Florida Historic Capitol Museum, informally known as the “Old Capitol,” for two hours starting at 11 a.m.

Graham will then be buried in the Oakland Cemetery in Tallahassee, just blocks from the governor’s mansion where he lived from 1979 to 1987. Flags across the state will be at half-staff until the burial next Friday.

Former U.S. Sen. and two-term Florida Gov. Bob Graham, who gained national prominence as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks and as an early critic of the Iraq war, has died. He was 87.