There was a highly charged confrontation at the White House that resulted in Donald Trump overriding Mike Johnson and others on the religious right, and after that the president had to be stopped by aides from leaking the details to the public, according to a new WSJ report.
Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal over the weekend dropped a report on how exactly it came to be that Trump made the decision to reschedule marijuana, an idea that has chilly support among many Republicans.
Posting the story on social media, the reporter wrote, “How a weed CEO ran an aggressive influence campaign to convince Trump to reschedule marijuana, which culminated in a dramatic Oval Office meeting with a Florida sheriff, Dr. Oz and many others — and Mike Johnson on the phone.”
In the story itself, Dawsey quotes people who were in the room, including the Florida Sheriff, Gordon Smith.
“House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) on speakerphone urged the president against the decision and senior aides warned the move could be dangerous to some Americans,” Dawsey reported. “After listening, Trump, a teetotaler who eschews alcohol and drugs, sided with the pro-marijuana camp and delivered the biggest softening of federal cannabis policy since U.S. states began legalizing recreational marijuana in 2012.”
The report continued:
“When Speaker Johnson called in, the president put him on the phone with the sheriff, who tried to persuade Johnson. ‘It’s a gateway drug,’ Johnson argued, according to the sheriff. Smith said Johnson was a ‘nice guy’ and he answered Johnson’s questions. Another person familiar with the meeting said Johnson cited studies and research. Oz argued for rescheduling as Schedule II, Smith and others said.”
Trump ultimately sided against Johnson and numerous Republicans, but was perhaps too excited to get out the announcement.
“The lawyers and his staff, they started yelling, ‘No sir, you can’t yet; there’s a 30-day period, it’s gotta go through this and that,’ ” Smith said, according to the WSJ. “They had to stop him from posting.”
The report notes, “Trump then instructed the sheriff and staffers to go into another room and put together an executive order. Trump wanted to put the ‘real story of why we are doing this in the order,’ Smith said.”
“I was in awe of the whole thing,” Smith added.
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