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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Revolt against Johnson opens up fresh talk over House GOP
leadership’s future
By Melanie Zanona, Annie Grayer and Manu Raju, CNN
Updated:
8:51 PM EDT, Tue April 16, 2024
Source: CNN
Speaker Mike Johnson’s weakened position inside the House GOP
conference has sparked delicate internal discussions about who could
potentially replace him – whether it’s in this Congress or the next
one, according to interviews with over a dozen Republican lawmakers and
aides.
While no one is looking to challenge the Louisiana Republican outright
and few are even interested in taking the reins of the chaotic and
razor-thin majority, there’s a widespread belief that there could be
another leadership shakeup in the future – and some Republicans are
quietly positioning themselves for such a scenario.
Among the GOP lawmakers whose moves are being watched closely: House
Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who unsuccessfully ran for the speakership in
October.
Emmer, the No. 3 Republican, has taken steps to not only repair his
relationship with Donald Trump – who helped to quickly derail his
speakership bid last year – but also to work behind the scenes to win
over House Republicans once skeptical of the Minnesota Republican,
sources said. That includes voting last week for a House Freedom
Caucus-backed amendment to a foreign surveillance law. Emmer was the
only member of GOP leadership to support the provision, which
ultimately failed. And Emmer also traveled to Pennsylvania over the
weekend to attend a roundtable and reception with Trump ahead of his
rally in the state, multiple sources told CNN.
“Tom was very well praised by the president. … He was very pleased
to see the whip there,” Rep. Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, who was also
in attendance, told CNN. “A lot of people were happy to see the whip
there.”
Asked about Trump burying the hatchet with Emmer and recently endorsing
him, Meuser said: “I handed it to Trump for doing that.”
In recent days, proxies close to Emmer have also reached out to some
Republicans to gauge his standing inside the conference, according to
three sources, including a GOP leadership aide. Neither Emmer nor his
office have been making any calls on his behalf, and Emmer has made
clear he is firmly against a motion to vacate the speaker’s chair.
Still, sources believe Emmer is working to improve his stock inside
both the House GOP and MAGA world, and keeping his options open for the
future.
“They’re testing the waters,” the GOP leadership aide told CNN.
Another potential contender who sources believe could run for the top
job in the next Congress: House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, who also
mounted an unsuccessful bid for speaker last year. Jordan has publicly
backed Johnson and wants him to keep his job. But the Ohio Republican
is still beloved by conservatives, and sources believe he could have a
strong case to lead the conference next year – especially if Trump is
back in the White House.
Others who could be waiting in the wings: House Majority Leader Steve
Scalise, who also previously ran for speaker, and House GOP Conference
Chair Elise Stefanik, a top Trump ally.
But working to Johnson’s advantage, at least in this Congress: the
GOP’s inability to get behind a successor, as well as Democrats
signaling they’d be willing to save him if a motion to vacate were to
come to the floor.
Still, the quiet maneuvering inside the House GOP conference shows a
level of uncertainty among Republicans about the long-term political
future of Johnson, who unexpectedly came into the job after the
unprecedented ouster of their last speaker, Kevin McCarthy.
And those conversations could soon intensify, particularly after GOP
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky announced Tuesday he was signing on to
the motion to vacate led by GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia
– a precarious development for Johnson in a shrinking majority. The
speaker will not be able to lose more than one Republican on party-line
votes.
“It keeps bubbling around,” one GOP lawmaker said of the quiet
discussions about a potential Johnson successor.
Some Republicans are now privately – and in some cases, publicly –
questioning whether Johnson will be able to hang on to his post next
Congress, especially if he needs Democrats to bail him out this year.
There’s ample uncertainty about what the mood will be next year,
which could depend on the election results in November.
“He’s definitely not going to be speaker next Congress if we’re
lucky enough to have a majority. I think that is a widely held belief
throughout the Congress,” Greene told CNN.
But in terms of what happens during the remainder of this session,
Greene was less definitive: “That is to be determined.”
For his part, Johnson insisted he would not need Democratic support to
hold onto his gavel, telling reporters they would “work this out.”
But he also referred to himself as a “wartime speaker” – a
recognition of the embattled role he finds himself in – and warned
Republicans that a motion to vacate “is not helpful to the cause.”
“I am not resigning. And it is in my view an absurd notion that
someone would bring a vacate motion when we are simply here trying to
do our jobs,” he told reporters Tuesday. “We need steady
leadership. We need steady hands on the wheel.”
Emmer courts Trump world
After Emmer’s speakership bid was derailed at the hands of Trump in
just hours – with the former president slamming Emmer as a
“RINO,” an acronym for “Republican in name only” – the
Minnesota Republican recognized he needed to repair their frayed
relationship to preserve his political future, according to sources
close to him.
As part of his effort to curry favor with the former president, Emmer
endorsed Trump ahead of the Iowa caucuses in January, which sources say
Trump relished in and marked a key turning point in their relationship.
Trump soon returned the favor, endorsing Emmer for reelection in April
and calling the congressman “fantastic.” One month earlier, Emmer
hosted a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, where sources say Trump praised his
leadership. Trump also tapped Emmer to serve as Minnesota state chair
of his 2024 campaign, in another sign of their improved ties.
Sources say Emmer has also been attempting to make inroads with key
conservative hardliners in the House, talking to members of the House
Freedom Caucus constantly on the floor and showing support for issues
they care deeply about.
And Emmer has also ramped up his fundraising, which could be another
selling point for any future leadership bid. Emmer’s team touted that
he raised $7.2 million for GOP candidates and incumbents in the first
quarter of the year – a record for the Minnesota Republican.
For his part, Emmer has expressed support for Johnson amid threats to
his speakership, even as he has shown some distance from all the drama.
When asked Tuesday if he was frustrated by the threats, Emmer said:
“My job is to count votes, make sure our people are getting the
information they need, we are going to get stuff done.”
Pressed on why it’s important for Johnson to keep his job, Emmer
said: “Again, we are going to be focused on the things we have in
front of us this week, we have some great bills on the floor tonight
and tomorrow, we are waiting to see text on the supplemental.”
GOP finger pointing underway
Meanwhile, Johnson has been making his own moves to shore up support
from Trump to counter Greene, one of Trump’s most vocal congressional
allies.
Johnson trekked down to Mar-a-Lago last week to deliver a joint press
conference on so-called “election integrity,” which was Johnson’s
idea, as CNN previously reported. And as the Louisiana Republican
pitches his conference on foreign aid legislation, he also has been
working to keep Trump in the loop on his plans, sources said.
During the press conference, Johnson got some key backup from the
former president.
“I stand with the speaker,” said Trump, who also called the
continued threat of a motion to vacate “unfortunate.”
Asked Tuesday if he would protect Johnson, Trump said, “Well, we’ll
see what happens with that,” adding, “I think he’s a very good
person.”
Sources say Trump is not interested in another messy speaker fight,
worried it could undermine Republicans ahead of November. And a large
swath of the House GOP conference agrees.
Republicans descended into a round of angry finger pointing Tuesday
after Greene’s effort to oust Johnson grew by one.
Rep. Marc Molinaro, a swing district New York Republican, told CNN that
the push to vacate Johnson was an “absolutely ridiculous concept,”
adding, “The concept of another motion to vacate is an utter waste of
time, and frankly a distraction from really important business. It
hopefully has no ability to move forward.”
Another GOP lawmaker told CNN that Republicans should accept the hand
they have been dealt: “We have Johnson and we did it to ourselves.
Every decision we as a conference make should be in the best interest
of getting the White House back in 2024. Period!”
And the scars still run deep from the protracted speakership fight
following McCarthy’s ousting, which exposed internal divisions and
left the House paralyzed for three weeks.
Louisiana GOP Rep. Garret Graves warned against the idea of ousting
Johnson without another speaker candidate waiting in the wings.
“I don’t think that the threat is really real at this point, just
because you don’t have an alternative. We saw what happened last
fall, whenever this all went down. There’s not an alternative,”
Graves said. “I don’t think that folks are going to go through it
at this point.”
Jordan also insisted that Republicans needed to fall in line behind
Johnson, telling CNN of threats to oust the speaker, “We don’t need
that. No way, no way. We don’t want that. We shouldn’t go through
that again.”
Morgan Rimmer and Haley Talbot contributed to this report.
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