The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Aid to Ukraine seemed dead. Then secretive talks revived it.

In one meeting, Biden and others sprang a surprise effort to persuade Speaker Johnson to pass the aid package

By
, 
and 
April 24, 2024 at 7:56 p.m. EDT
President Biden and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) after a Friends of Ireland lunch on Capitol Hill last month. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
10 min

House Speaker Mike Johnson had walked into something of an ambush.

President Biden had called the four congressional leaders — Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), along with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) — to the Oval Office in late February ostensibly to talk about heading off a government shutdown. But Biden and the others had devised a plan to pressure Johnson to push through a Ukraine aid package that was deeply dividing House Republicans.