Trump Throws Support Behind Speaker Mike Johnson, Denounces 'Unfortunate' Motion To Vacate

 In a joint press conference Friday with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., former President Donald Trump said he “stand[s] with the speaker,” even as Johnson faces increasing pressure from far-right GOP House members on a motion to vacate, a charge led by Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

The presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee said he is “getting along very well with the speaker” and “getting along very well with” Greene, just hours after Greene referred to Johnson in an interview as “full of s**t.”

Trump lauded Johnson, saying “he is doing a very good job,” adding “Marjorie understands that” and “has a lot of respect for the speaker.”

When asked if he thought the motion to vacate rule should be changed, Trump said it is “unfortunate that people keep bringing” up the motion to vacate, appearing to reference the ouster of Johnson’s predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

“He’s doing about as good as you're going to do,” Trump said of Johnson.

Greene, an outspoken far-right former member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, had filed a motion to vacate Johnson from the speakership last month after the Louisiana Republican brought a $1.2 trillion funding package to the House floor in a bid to stave off a government shutdown despite far-right objections to increased federal spending. Greene this week called that motion “real” in an interview with CNN’s Manu Raju, arguing Johnson “is passing the Democrat agenda.”

Johnson was voted in as House speaker in October, ending a three-week government impasse halting the House in its tracks following McCarthy’s unprecedented ouster. Since McCarthy’s exit—also over far-right objections over government spending—House members deliberated on a group of GOP candidates, including Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who lost in three consecutive votes. Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., as well as Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., had also thrown their hats in the ring, but bowed out, with Emmer facing criticism from the far-right and from Trump, who blasted him as a “RINO” globalist.”

Trump, who is facing four criminal cases, also said at his joint press conference at Mar-a-Lago that he plans to testify in his upcoming New York criminal trial over alleged reimbursements for hush money payments to former adult film star Stormy Daniels. The trial in New York is slated to start Monday with jury selection, though Trump has tried repeatedly to delay the trial, and pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts.