GOP rep on effort to oust Speaker Johnson: ‘I don’t know who would want the job at this point’ 

Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-La.) on Wednesday slammed Republican lawmakers seeking to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), saying the Louisiana Republican “very admirably” given the circumstances. He claimed to be working.

“I stand with the Speaker of the House because I actually consider him a friend, and I think the Speaker is trying to do the toughest job in politics. And every situation… I think he’s done that very well given that,” Armstrong said in an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell.

“My advice to colleagues who are thinking of doing this is to go back in October and consider all of this in 13 weeks,” he continued. “Right now we’re in an election cycle. We have a ton of things we can push forward by campaigning district-wide and throwing ourselves into chaos without having a real succession plan.” To be honest, at this point I don’t know how I’d want to take the job if this were successful.

Mr. Johnson is at risk of being ousted from his position following a motion by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to step down as speaker. Representative Thomas Massey of Kentucky emerged Tuesday as the first Republican to publicly support the motion, which plans to bring Johnson’s aid to Ukraine to the floor, as well as his handling of government funds and U.S. warrantless surveillance. The reason for this was the reauthorization of authority.

Mr Armstrong joins a growing number of MPs who have warned against proceeding with the motion to step down. This comes just months after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted from the House leadership over his handling of government funding and other policy disagreements. .

“I do not support removing Mike as Speaker of the House,” Armstrong said. “Again, I had the opportunity to come to Congress and serve with Mike. I think he has an incredibly tough job, but he’s doing a good job.”

Due to infighting within the Republican conference, the House of Representatives has been without a permanent speaker for nearly three weeks.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the expulsion was “unreasonable” and “useless” and he would not resign.