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JUST IN: Mike Johnson Gets Massive News As First Speakership Vote Approaches

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Washington, D.C. held its collective breath Friday morning as the U.S. House gathers to select a Speaker for the 119th Congress, and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) just got bad news that winnows down his chances of keeping the gavel.

Despite having the support of President-elect Donald Trump, Johnson is in a precarious position where he can only afford to lose two Republican votes and still remain House Speaker in the face of ubiquitous Democratic opposition. The vote is expected to take place around noontime and will reveal whether some of the party’s most conservative members believe Johnson has what it takes to guide the caucus through another two years. Some of those figures, including Johnson opponent Thomas Massie (R-TN), spoke with OAN host Matt Gaetz on Thursday night as he asked how they plan to vote.

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“Oh no,” Massie replied to Gaetz when asked if the appointment of Rep. Chip Roy (R-LA) to Chair of the Rules Committee could secure his vote for Johnson. “You can pull all my fingernails out. You can shove bamboo up them. You can start cutting off my fingers. I am not voting for Mike Johnson tomorrow, and you can take that to the bank.”

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Roy, another critic of Johnson, has reportedly been furious with the GOP leader and is on the fence heading into Friday’s vote. He has made clear his wish to chair the powerful Rules Committee, which designates which bills hit the floor of the House for a vote, while moderate Republicans abhor the idea of putting Roy in charge, the Washington Post reported. Gaetz also spent part of his show speaking with Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Victoria Spartz (R-IN), two Johnson critics who must be wooed for different reasons. Boebert, a firebrand conservative and member of the House Freedom Caucus, has called for Johnson to take a harder line against Democrats in debt ceiling negotiations while Spartz, a centrist, has threatened to leave the party if its agenda lurches too far to the right.

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If no Speaker is elected on Friday, the House will be unable to take up legislation, hold committee meetings, or even certify the results of the 2024 election. The stakes are equally high for President-elect Trump, who reaffirmed his support for Johnson on Thursday and is prepared to help whip votes if necessary, sources told Politico. “Trump has a lot of capital on the line, so he’s gonna have to lean in for Johnson,” one Republican said.

“The president correctly feels like [the] hurdles to Mike becoming the speaker are not as high as the saber-rattlers would have you think,” a Trump world insider continued. “It is clear that he’s got a little bit of work to do now within his caucus to make everyone feel confident in his leadership. But fundamentally, he’s pretty close. … I think the plane can be landed.”

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