House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) leadership position among Republicans is currently “in a state of collapse,” according to a top GOP lawmaker.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said that Johnson was losing control of his party ahead of the midterm elections.
“He certainly wouldn’t have the votes to be speaker if there was a roll-call vote tomorrow,” Stefanik explained. “I believe that the majority of Republicans would vote for new leadership. It’s that widespread.”
On Tuesday, Stefanik had lashed out at Johnson on social media because one of her provisions had not been included in the annual defense authorization bill. The language would require the FBI to notify Congress if it investigates a candidate running for president or other federal office. By Wednesday, Stefanik announced that the provision would be added to the bill after a “productive discussion” with Johnson and President Donald Trump.
“It’s all bubbling over,” Stefanik said of Republican discontent over Johnson. “Whereas Kevin McCarthy was a political animal, Mike Johnson is a political novice and boy does it show, with the House Republicans underperforming for the first time in the Trump era.”
The New York Republican noted that Trump “is the leader of the Republicans and he certainly doesn’t need Mike Johnson.”
Stefanik said she was also supporting a push by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) to go around Johnson by forcing a vote on a stock trading ban with a discharge petition.
“It’s no secret that House leadership is refusing to do anything about congressional insider trading,” Rep. Greg Steube (R-LA) agreed. “If the Speaker and Majority Leader won’t step up and do the right thing, we will.”
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