Trump says he'll lobby Republicans to back Johnson, if necessary

Jenny Leonard, Bloomberg News on Dec 31, 2024

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WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said he would lobby House Republicans to help elect Mike Johnson as speaker if needed, acknowledging that some lawmakers in the party had reservations about allowing him to retain the gavel.

Asked if he would press Republicans to back Johnson, whom he endorsed on Monday for the post, Trump said he would do so “if necessary.”

“I think really we’re going to have a great time, we’re going to get a successful vote. He’s a good man, he’s a very wonderful person and that’s what you need,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday night at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida where he was ringing in the new year. “He’s the one that can win right now.”

“People like him. Almost everybody likes him. Others are very good too but they have 30 or 40 people that don’t like him, so that’s pretty tough,” he added.

Trump’s comments come a day after he offered his “Complete & Total Endorsement” to Johnson in an effort to avert a potentially crippling leadership fight that threatens to delay his second-term agenda in the new Congress.

The House is scheduled to hold a vote for speaker on Friday. While no declared challenger to Johnson has emerged, some Republicans worried that a clash over the position could hamper efforts to enact Trump’s agenda and even the certification of his election victory.

The party will hold a narrow majority in the incoming House, and Johnson faces criticism from some ultraconservative lawmakers after backing a temporary spending deal that failed to include the president-elect’s demands for lifting the U.S. debt ceiling.

Johnson has only been speaker since October 2023, following a conservative rebellion that toppled Kevin McCarthy from the speakership and led to a struggle in the GOP ranks to coalesce around a replacement.

High-skilled visas

Trump on Tuesday also defended his stance on H-1B visas, rejecting a suggestion that he had changed his position on an immigration program for highly skilled workers.

“I didn’t change my mind. I’ve always felt we have to have the most competent people in our country. We need competent people. We need smart people coming into our country. We need a lot of people coming in,” Trump said.

The debate over the visa program exposed divides between Trump’s supporters in Silicon Valley, who are in favor of hiring foreign workers for specialty occupations, and parts of his base that have embraced staunchly anti-immigration views.

Billionaire Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, both of whom have been tapped by Trump to lead a government efficiency panel, have strongly defended the visa program.

Trump weighed in on the controversy, which has played out on social media, in a recent interview with the New York Post, where he said he had “always been in favor of the visas” and was a “believer in H1-B.”

Trump during his first term restricted several visa types including H1-B, citing the need to protect American workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

The president-elect on Tuesday also said he would attend the funeral of President Jimmy Carter next week. Carter, who died at the age of 100 on Sunday, will receive a state funeral in Washington.

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