Washington, D.C. – With the House GOP in utter chaos after Republicans ousted Kevin McCarthy from the Speakership, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) has been selected as the latest nominee to be Speaker of the House. In response, Congressional Integrity Project executive director Kyle Herrig said the following:
“Make no mistake: just like Jim Jordan, Mike Johnson is an extreme MAGA Republican and a fervent election denier. Johnson was a leader in the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election and will use the Speakership to undermine our democracy and restore Trump to power. Mike Johnson is just Jim Jordan with a suit coat. He has no business whatsoever leading the House and being second in the presidential line of succession.”
Johnson was a leader in efforts to overturn the 2020 election and undermine our very democracy, leading the litigation efforts. Throughout his time in the House, Johnson has consistently supported Trump, voting in-line with the former president 93 percent of the time. He has pushed radical proposals to slash Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and food assistance programs, and even a nationwide abortion ban. Johnson has demonstrated that he will only continue to use his position to attack President Biden and House Democrats in order to score political points and work toward re-electing Donald Trump. Above all, he is an extreme, hardline MAGA Republican who will follow Trump’s playbook of distracting from the real issues Americans are facing across the country with extreme partisan fact-free fights.
Mike Johnson Led The Legal Effort In The House To Overturn the 2020 Election. The day after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the election, Johnson said he called Donald Trump and told him: “‘Stay strong and keep fighting, sir! The nation is depending upon your resolve. We must exhaust every available legal remedy to restore Americans’ trust in the fairness of our election system.’” Johnson quickly became “the most important architect of the Electoral College objections” in the House, pressuring his colleagues to support the Texas lawsuit that sought to overturn the election on the unconstitutional premise that the expansion of vote by mail during the pandemic was illegal. Johnson boasted on Twitter of Trump’s approval of his efforts, calling the Texas suit “the big one” that would enable Trump to remain in office.
- Johnson Urged Trump Supporters To “Fight!” On The Morning Of January 6, 2021 On the morning of January 6th, Johnson tweeted that “We MUST fight for election integrity, the Constitution, and the preservation of our republic!” Later that day, Johnson voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Mike Johnson Is One Of Trump’s Top Defenders. Johnson has been described as “a trusted member of Trump’s inner circle” and as “one of President Donald Trump’s most ardent supporters in the House of Representatives.” Johnson frequently traveled with Trump on Air Force One during his term and proudly served on the defense team for both of Trump’s impeachment trials in the Senate. During Trump’s first impeachment Johnson made nearly 50 TV appearances to defend the president. Although he has not formally endorsed Trump for 2024, Johnson continues to aggressively defend the former president in his legal morass attacking Democrats after January 6 for focusing on investigating the attack, referring to it as a “third impeachment” and accusing Joe Biden of “weaponizing” the Department of Justice to indict Trump.
Johnson Supports Impeaching President Biden And Has Close Ties To Oversight Chair James Comer. Johnson has been working to impeach President Biden and expressed support for Kevin McCarthy’s move to unilaterally launch an impeachment inquiry into President Biden without a House vote. Johnson also holds close ties with Oversight Chair James Comer, who has been leading the impeachment inquiry. Johnson invited Comer to appear on his own podcast at the end of August, where he called Comer, “one of my good friends for the past seven years” and a “super talented guy.”
Just Like Jim Jordan, Mike Johnson Has All The Wrong Priorities. Instead of addressing the top priorities facing Americans, Johnson has prioritized petty right-wing grievances and investigations targeting the Biden administration in order to score political points. Over the past ten months, Johnson’s top efforts include pursuing baseless investigations into the FBI while serving on Jim Jordan’s MAGA Judiciary Committee, and investigating supposed radical leftist influence on public education. He even spread conspiracy theories about federal involvement in school board meetings that have long been disputed by fact-checkers as wholly unsubstantiated.
- Johnson Serves on The Hardline MAGA Republican Study Committee & Is A Member of the Far-Right Freedom Caucus. Johnson currently serves on the hard-right Republican Study Committee (RSC), which has released a steady stream of radical proposals to slash and privatize Medicare and Social Security, limit access to voting, oppose infrastructure funding, and ban abortion nationwide as early as six weeks into pregnancy. The RSC has also been working on new proposals to end Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug prices, cut food assistance, and cut Medicaid. Johnson is also a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, which has pushed a budget proposal to defund the FBI.