Former President Donald Trump is praising House Speaker Mike Johnson — even as some Republicans want him removed from his post.
In the tense atmosphere of the vote to send aid to Ukraine, three Republican members of the House, led by Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, have indicated they think Johnson should go the way of deposed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
But during a Monday night interview, Trump indicated he is not on board with that strategy.
“How do you square this divide now between MAGA and Mike Johnson, with your support of him and our base?” interviewer John Fredericks asked Trump in a clip posted to Rumble.
“Well, look, we have a majority of one,” Trump said.
“It’s not like he can go and do whatever he wants to do. I think he’s a very good person. You know, he stood very strongly with me on the NATO when I said NATO has to pay up, and they have to pay up soon and fast. He has stood strongly on that. He agrees with that,” Trump said.
“He also got some of the money in the form of a loan, quite a bit of the money in the form of a loan,” Trump said.
The bill that passed Saturday calls for $5 billion in seized Russian central bank assets to support Ukraine and $9.5 billion as a loan, according to the New York Post.
“It’s a tough situation when you have one. I think he’s a very good man. I think he’s trying very hard. And again, we’ve got to have a big election,” Trump said in the interview.
Would you like to see Mike Johnson replaced as speaker?
“We’ve got to elect some people in Congress, much more than we have right now, and we have to elect some good senators. Get rid of some of the ones we have now, like Romney and others. And we have to have a big day, and we have to win the presidency. If we don’t win the presidency, I’m telling you I think our country could be finished.”
“We are absolutely a country in decline,” Trump said.
Trump made similar comments while talking to radio host Chris Stigall, according to The Hill.
Noting the one-vote GOP majority in the House, Trump said, “You can’t really get too tough when — Look, we all want to be tough guys and all, and I have a lot of friends, and frankly I have friends on both sides.”
“You know, if you look at the vote, a lot of Republicans, a lot of good Republicans, voted for it. But Mike is in there, and he’s trying, and some people were disappointed, and a lot of people were very disappointed that nothing happened with the border. I’ll straighten out the border,” he said.
Although Greene’s motion to vacate remains alive and is backed by Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona, it’s unclear if she will move forward with it, according to The Hill.
“Mike Johnson’s Speakership is over,” she said in a Fox News interview on Sunday.
“He needs to do the right thing — to resign — and allow us to move forward in a controlled process. If he doesn’t do so, he will be vacated.”
But others are urging restraint.
“My judgment and estimation is that this is not the time to do that,” said Republican Rep. Bob Good of Virginia, leader of the Freedom Caucus.
