Newly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) publicly endorsed former President Donald Trump’s bid for the White House.
On Tuesday morning, Johnson, 51, who claimed he was “one of the closest allies that President Trump had in Congress,” appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and declared he was “all in for President Trump” as the Republican nominee. He also applauded him for his “phenomenal” first term.
“I expect he’ll be our nominee, and he’s gonna win it, and we have to make Biden a one-term president,” Johnson added.
Johnson also responded to the claims from Americans that Trump was ” fundamentally divisive to the country.”
He continued:
“Listen, I think when we’re voting for president it can’t be about personalities, it’s got to be about policies and principles. And if you want liberty, opportunity, and security for more people in the country, you contrast the two policies and the principles of Trump and Biden, it’s not even close.”
Furthermore, Johnson addressed Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen.
“I take him at his word, I do believe that he believes that,” he said.
He later said Trump’s adamancy over the results of the 2020 election is “deep in his heart.”
“I mean, I’ve talked to him personally about it, many of us have, and over the years you’ve heard him say repeatedly over and over the same refrain that he just felt like he was cheated in that election,” Johnson explained “And I think that’s a core conviction of his.”
Despite his disapproval of Trump in the past, where he stated Trump “lacks the character and the moral center we desperately need again in the White House,” in a since-deleted Facebook post in 2015, according to the New York Times, Johnson claimed he had a change of heart during Trump’s campaign in 2016. He endorsed Trump in 2020, according to CNBC
“During his 2016 campaign, President Trump quickly won me and millions of my fellow Republicans over. When I got to know him personally shortly after we both arrived in Washington in 2017,” Johnson said. “I grew to appreciate the person that he is and the qualities about him that made him the extraordinary president that he was.”
He added, “The president and I enjoy working together, and I look forward to doing so again when he returns to the White House.”
