Trump endorses Johnson in speaker’s race ahead of critical vote

Washington (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that Speaker Mike Johnson has his “complete” and “total” endorsement, a major boost for the top House Republican ahead of a critical vote this week.

Trump’s endorsement comes as some House conservatives have warned they are not committed to backing Johnson in the speaker’s race. The President-elect’s endorsement could help Johnson lock down the votes he will need, especially after he navigated a chaotic government funding fight earlier this month that drew the ire of some members of his right flank.

But Johnson faces an extraordinary narrow margin and can only lose a single Republican vote to still win the gavel, leaving little room for error. One House Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie, has already said he doesn’t plan to vote for Johnson, and the Kentucky Republicans told CNN on Monday that Trump’s endorsement does not change his position.

Members had been preparing for a Trump endorsement, one source told CNN. But the same source warned that it may not be enough.

Johnson allies are keeping close tabs on members who have not committed to backing him yet, including Rep. Victoria Spartz.

The source told CNN that Spartz is viewed as unpredictable and that there are “also six or seven other members” who similarly remain wildcards.

Over the last several weeks, Johnson’s deputies have launched an expansive whip operation, but there are still intense challenges to getting Johnson to 218 votes – the magic number needed to win the gavel.

One Republican member familiar with the outreach told CNN that while the vast majority of GOP members understand how “monumentally stupid” it could be to have an extensive speaker’s battle, not every member is swayed by an argument that the party needs to be united going into the inauguration.

“A vast majority of Republicans are rational, but not every member of the Republican conference is rational,” the member lamented.

Trump praised Johnson on Monday, saying he is “hard working” and “will do the right thing.”

“The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration. Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

After Johnson cut a deal with Democrats over spending in mid-December, Trump injected a last-minute demand to raise the debt ceiling that left Johnson grasping for a plan B. A revised GOP plan ultimately failed to get enough Republican votes to pass and caused grumbling among Johnson’s right flank that the speaker wasn’t up to the job. It also caused some to wonder if Trump would stick with Johnson ahead of the speaker fight.

Massie said earlier this month that he did not plan to back Johnson in the speaker’s race. In response to Trump’s endorsement, Massie wrote on X, “I respect and support President Trump, but his endorsement of Mike Johnson is going to work out about as well as his endorsement of Speaker Paul Ryan. We’ve seen Johnson partner with the democrats to send money to Ukraine, authorize spying on Americans, and blow the budget.”

Separately, a CNN tally of members prior to Trump’s endorsement found that nearly a dozen others had not yet committed to Johnson. Johnson will face a vote on the House floor on Friday when the new Congress convenes.

Another challenge is that so far the House Freedom Caucus, which includes some of the members who are most weary of reelecting Johnson, has not come out with a unified list of demands creating a situation where every single member is acting a bit as a free agent.

For some members, there are concerns about how the party will begin to pass individual spending bills again that address reducing the country’s debt and deficit. That could be difficult given that House Republicans have shown repeatedly they don’t have the votes to pass all 12 spending bills with just GOP votes. Not to mention the fact that Republicans will continue to need Democratic votes even in a Trump administration to keep the government funded given that Republicans don’t have the 60 votes needed in the Senate to pass bills on their own.

Johnson is also telling people that he is not open to reducing the number of members it would take to force a vote to oust a speaker after the GOP conference agreed to raise the threshold. As part of a conference-wide negotiation in November, Republicans decided to increase the number of members it would take to force a vote on what is known as the motion to vacate from one member to nine. A source familiar with Johnson’s thinking says that the speaker does not believe that he can reverse course on what he sees as a conference-negotiated position.

When former Speaker Kevin McCarthy went 15 rounds to get the speaker’s gavel in 2023, he eventually acquiesced to conservative demands to lower the threshold for the motion to vacate to a single member, a move that ultimately led to his ouster.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Alayna Treene contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire