Top Democrat Says He Will Protect Johnson

A leading Democrat said this week that he would attempt to squelch any motion to vacate against House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). The comment came as Johnson received considerable criticism from a number of House Republicans over his support for the foreign aid bills passed last week that included $61 billion for Ukraine.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said during an ABC interview this week that he would move to table any motion to remove Johnson from the position. When asked by ABC’s Jonathan Karl, Khanna said that Johnson deserved credit for the passage of the foreign aid bills.

“Look, we came into Congress together and he always cared about civility. He actually led the civility pledge. And he — we had one issue, which was give individual votes. Don’t lump things together,” said Khanna.

“And I give him credit for doing this. I would actually vote to table any motion to vacate him. You know, Congressman McCaul quoted Churchill. One of the things Churchill said is that America always exhausted every wrong option until doing the right thing,” said the representative.

Khanna then stated that following Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) motion to vacate he would protect Johnson until the current congressional term ended early next year. Then he would expect Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to become the next speaker.

“But look, I’m a progressive Democrat and I think you would have a few progressive Democrats doing that. And I disagree with Speaker Johnson on many issues and have been very critical of him. But he did the right thing here and he deserves to keep his job until the end of his term,” said Khanna.

The surprising comments followed speculation that Johnson may receive support from Democrats to retain the speaker’s position.

Johnson also received criticism from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who once called him “MAGA Mike Johnson.” When asked whether or not the speaker still fit that bill last week, Gaetz said that he was unsure.

Greene wrote a number of posts on social media over the weekend asserting that Johnson did not care about the current migrant crisis.

Speaker Johnson proved today that the only border he cares about is Ukraine’s. https://t.co/C198x48eVr

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) April 20, 2024

“Speaker Johnson proved today that the only border he cares about is Ukraine’s,” she wrote.