President-elect Donald Trump offered public support to embattled House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), whose speakership could be in jeopardy after House Republicans rejected a continuing resolution Wednesday to fund the government.
“If the speaker acts decisively, and tough, and gets rid of all of the traps being set by the Democrats, which will economically and, in other ways, destroy our country, he will easily remain speaker,” Trump told Fox News Digital.
Despite the conditional vote of confidence for Johnson, Trump appeared more hesitant about the House speaker in a separate interview with NBC News.
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When asked about the future of Johnson’s speakership, Trump said, “We’ll see.” He also called the funding deal “unacceptable” and a “Democrat trap.”
Johnson has come under heavy fire after the thousand-page continuing resolution to keep the government funded was unveiled and shown to include additional unrelated funding. It would have extended government funding levels until mid-March 2025, but it is unclear what next steps congressional leaders will take to replace the continuing resolution.
House GOP leadership was eventually forced to cancel a vote on the legislation Wednesday evening after tech billionaire Elon Musk, Trump, and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance all weighed in to denounce the spending bill.
“Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch,” Trump and Vance said in a joint statement. “If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.”
The influential House Freedom Caucus was also among the most vocal critics of the deal, which includes a pay raise for congressional lawmakers, more than $100 billion in natural disaster aid, and $10 billion for farmer assistance.
Johnson will face the ire of the GOP on Jan. 3, 2025, when the speaker vote is held.
In a separate interview Thursday morning, Trump pushed for Johnson to nix the debt ceiling after he called Wednesday for the debt limit to be increased.
“The Democrats have said they want to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I would lead the charge,” said Trump on NBC News.
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The president-elect also said eliminating the debt limit would be the “smartest thing [Congress] could do. I would support that entirely.”
If lawmakers are unable to agree to a spending bill before Friday at midnight, the government will shut down beginning at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, an unpleasant event just days before Christmas.
Trump seemed to already place the blame on President Joe Biden and the Democrats.
“If there’s going to be a shutdown, we’re going to start it with a Democratic president,” he said.
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However, Democrats are refusing to take the blame for any possible government shutdown, saying the GOP will be responsible for any negative outcomes.
“House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people that results from a government shutdown or worse,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) during a Wednesday press conference. “An agreement is an agreement. It was bipartisan, and there is nothing more to say.”