Speaker Johnson reveals how Matt Gaetz's resignation can 'help' Republicans (video with transcript)

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Posted on 11/14/2024 7:22:10 AM PST by RoosterRedux

Transcript:

Sean: Donald Trump was on Capitol Hill today meeting with House Republicans, who are now only one seat away from reaching that magic number of 218. It's expected they will have 222 at the end of the day, officially retaining control of the chamber. After a big endorsement from Donald Trump, House Republicans then unanimously backed Mike Johnson to remain as Speaker of the House in January. He joins us now.

Mr. Speaker, thank you, we appreciate it. So, the polls were showing a 70-80% chance he would lose the majority. That did not happen. You have a majority, albeit a small majority, but a bigger problem is that you will fairly soon be losing -- you already lost Matt Gaetz because he resigned today. But how do you handle that so that at no point does control of the House get into the hands of the Democrats?

Speaker: Yeah, it's a great problem to have. We have an embarrassment of riches, lots of talented people who are very attuned to the America First agenda and who can serve the country well in other capacities. But I've told President Trump, enough already, give me some relief. I have to maintain this majority.

He understands it; we've been talking hourly almost every day. I think we will be settled. The numbers we projected, I think, will be the reality, and we will have the majority. I think these seats, Matt's, for example—his resignation today was to help us because it starts the clock. Under Florida state law, it's about an eight-week process to fill the seat. So if we do this quickly—and I've already called Governor DeSantis to ask them to kick-start this thing—we could have the seat filled by January third when the new Congress begins. That would be one seat replaced almost immediately.

Sean: What a beneficial...

Speaker: Deep red district.

Sean: Would it be beneficial if Florida did the same thing?

Speaker: I'm going to talk about it with him tonight. The timing matters. We need to stagger these things. He's going to fill a very important position for the President in the country, and we don't want to delay that. He doesn't have to be appointed by the Senate, his position. We will be able to figure that out. I know Governor DeSantis will be very busy working on all of these matters and the one you discussed in the previous segment—filling the Senate seats. He will be an active participant, and we will get this done.

We are assured to have Republicans reelected, and we will work with the smaller majority for the amount of time we have to, but we are going to be very aggressive. We are going to move the America First agenda for the American people beginning on day one. We have all this work stacked up, and we are ready to go.

Sean: Let's talk a little bit about New York. How does the process work there?

Speaker: A similar situation under New York state law. The governor there can't play games with this; it's about an 80-day process, roughly. Elise Stefanik comes from a red state. County chairs are putting together their nominee. President Trump has committed he will go up and do a rally. We will get this job done. She will do an extraordinary job as the ambassador. She's Harvard-educated, really smart, very sharp, and unflappable, and she will advance America's agenda at the U.N. again. That's a really important position, so I'm delighted she got it.

Sean: It almost sounds like it would be better if she were to resign sooner rather than later also. Let me ask, tell us first about the meeting with President Trump today, where he endorsed you, and have you had any conversation with the new Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who was very supportive of the Trump agenda? Do you believe that the House, the Senate, and the President are all going to be on the same page? Because in my mind, you have between 18 and 24 months to get a lot of this agenda through.

Speaker: You are exactly right. The atmosphere on the Hill is one of euphoria. The Republican Party is united and energized like I've never seen it. We had a great time with President Trump this morning. He came and visited with the House Republican Conference and gave a ringing endorsement of me and our leadership team, and that’s very helpful. The unity aspect of this is very important because we have to work together.

I did call Leader Thune to congratulate him on his victory. We talked for a short period of time about the agenda going forward and how we have to do this. We need the House Republicans and Senate Republicans to be in lockstep, and we will be. He's excited about that and committed to the America First agenda. We laughed about how our home cities and counties—his county, my parish—voted overwhelmingly for President Trump in a landslide. Our people, and all the American people, really desperately want, need, and deserve this, and we are going to deliver.

Sean: I'm encouraged by his words and everyone else's, but I am a trust-but-verify guy, and I want to see that agenda adopted and adopted soon.

1 posted on 11/14/2024 7:22:10 AM PST by RoosterRedux

To: RoosterRedux

2 posted on 11/14/2024 7:25:19 AM PST by kiryandil (No one in AZ that voted for Trump voted for Gallego )

To: RoosterRedux

3 posted on 11/14/2024 7:29:38 AM PST by Gaffer

To: kiryandil

4 posted on 11/14/2024 7:35:48 AM PST by RoosterRedux (Emerson paraphrased, "If you strike at the king, don't fail." They failed. )

To: kiryandil

5 posted on 11/14/2024 7:41:25 AM PST by crz

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