Who is new House Speaker Mike Johnson and what can he accomplish?

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• Geoff Bennett:

  The House of Representatives has a new speaker after 22 days of leaderless, gridlocked chaos following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Mike Johnson of Louisiana won all 220 Republican votes cast earlier today. That's 20 more than the three prior GOP nominees managed on the floor or behind closed doors.

  After emerging from the leadership vacuum, Speaker Johnson said Congress must win back Americans' faith.

• Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA):

  Their faith is at an all-time low. And one of the reasons they have lost it is because the Congress over the years has not delivered for the American people well enough. We're in the majority right now. We have gone through a little bit of suffering.

  We have gone through a little bit of character building, and you know what it's produced? More strength, more perseverance and a lot of hope. And that's what we're about to deliver to the American people.

  (Applause)

• Geoff Bennett:

  Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins is on Capitol Hill, where she has tracked every twist in this unprecedented political drama.

  Lisa, it's great to see you, as always.

  So, weeks of infighting among House Republicans apparently opened a lane for Mike Johnson to emerge as a fourth-round draft pick and claim the gavel. How did it all come together?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  How about that? Three weeks, it took and four nominees.

  How? There were several dynamics at play here. For one, House Republicans simply exhausted themselves. Second, they ran through all of their top leaders, essentially, gave them all tryouts. They failed. And then they landed on Mike Johnson, who has allies and is well thought of in most every faction here in the House.

  And he has also liked and was endorsed by former President Donald Trump. One more thing. As he said today on the House floor, he has pledged to give House Republican members more power.

• Rep. Mike Johnson:

  The job of the speaker of the House is to serve the whole body, and I will, but I have made a commitment to my colleagues here that this speaker's office is going to be known for decentralizing the power here.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Now, that, of course, can lead to a more robust House floor, more legislation, but it is also a double-edged sword, as we have seen, because more power to members could mean problems for leadership and when you have big decisions, as Speaker Johnson will have soon with government funding due to run out in just three weeks.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Lisa, a decade ago, Mike Johnson wasn't even in politics. Now he's in the presidential line of succession as House speaker. Tell us more about him and his background.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Right.

  Let's get right to his bio. Mike Johnson is 51 years old. He was elected this same year as President Trump, came in 2016 to Congress. Now, he is someone who is a constitutional lawyer. He has actually litigated especially on socially conservative issues. He is also the co-host of a Christian broadcast — podcast with his wife.

  He's an evangelical Christian. That is a part not just of his faith, but of his politics as well. Let's talk about his beliefs and his policy here. Now, he is a fiscal hawk. He announced today that he wants to create a commission to look at the national debt. On Ukraine, he is someone who supports Ukraine.

  However, he has recently questioned larger funding bills, even voted against some. So we will watch him closely on that issue. Now, on gay rights, LGBTQ issues, in the early 2000s, he is someone who wrote about the idea that gay marriage should be allowed to be banned, and that states should be allowed to have sodomy laws.

  On abortion, he supports and, in fact, filed legislation for a national 15-week abortion ban. And as you can hear in some of his hearings, he had sat on the House Judiciary Committee, abortion is a key issue for him.

• Geoff Bennett:

  I thought we were going to hear some sound there from one of his…

• Rep. Mike Johnson:

  The quintessential…

• Geoff Bennett:

  There we go. Do we have that sound?

• Rep. Mike Johnson:

  The quintessential health care issue is the sanctity of every single human life, the sanctity of the life of the unborn child.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Believing that life begins at conception, he wants to restrict it more.

  And one more thing. When it comes to 2020 election, Mike Johnson, the constitutional attorney, was actually a big force in pushing — supporting that states lawsuit to try and object to the certification of results, filed an amicus brief.

  He also objected to the results on January 6. He later said that wasn't symbolic. However, that is something that we're going to hear more about.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Well, tell me more about that, Lisa, what he said about his role in working to undermine the 2020 election results and what Democrats have said about that.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Right.

  Johnson, on January 6, after the riot happened, did an interview in which he said that he never thought his actions would actually lead to and he didn't intend them to lead to overturning the election. He called them symbolic.

  However, some of the folks that listened to him thought otherwise. Now, this is a question that Democrats raised today. It is a chief objection they have. They say it's dangerous to have a speaker who holds these views.

  This is also a question that our Laura Barron-Lopez asked to President Biden today.

• Laura Barron-Lopez:

  After 22 days, House Republicans just elected Mike Johnson of Louisiana as the speaker of the House. Johnson advocated conspiracy theories about voting machines and a rigged election in 2020. He encouraged his colleagues to join a lawsuit to invalidate the results of four states.

  So, if you win reelection in 2024, are you worried that a Speaker Johnson would again attempt to overturn the election?

  Joe Biden, President of the United States: No, just like I was not worried that the last guy would be able to overturn the election. They have about 60 lawsuits, and they all went to the Supreme Court, and, every time, they lost. I understand the Constitution.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  And I think we're eager to hear where Mr. Johnson is right now in the 2020 election. I should Speaker Johnson. Have to get used to that.

  He was asked about it last night shortly after he was nominated. He said, "Next question," didn't answer. And also today he gave his first remarks. He did not take questions.

  So I think that is something that we hope to clarify with him. But, meanwhile, Democrats, who do have that concern, also some of the most progressive Democrats told me today they liked Speaker Johnson's remarks on the floor today and they want to see how he does before they judge any more.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Lisa Desjardins, thanks, as always.

  For a view from inside the House Republican Conference on the new speaker, we're joined by Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa.

  Thank you for being with us.

• Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA):

  My pleasure.

• Geoff Bennett:

  As we just heard, Mike Johnson was the architect of an effort to overturn the 2020 election results. Why was that not a deal-breaker for you, given that you were someone who did not object to the certification of Joe Biden's election win?

• Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks:

  As you know, I voted to certify all of the electors. I think that's what constitutionally that we are to do.

  However, other individuals interpreted that a different way. As you know, we have been 22 days without a speaker; 208 Democrats voted with eight Republicans to oust Speaker McCarthy. I think that that was an erroneous decision. I voted against the motion to vacate Speaker McCarthy. And so we're left in a position where, in order to have a candidate that, by consensus, all of the House Republicans could vote on, that person ended up being Mike Johnson, after several other candidates were eliminated.

  So I think we need a speaker. We need to put forth our resolution to condemn Hamas and to support Israel. We need to get back American hostages, and we need to pass appropriations bills, because we know that we're coming up against another deadline on November 17 to be able to fund the government.

• Geoff Bennett:

  The job of House speaker requires one to be bipartisan. That's especially true in this current scenario, where there's a Democratic-led Senate and White House.

  Will the current House Republican Conference allows Speaker Johnson to do deals with Democrats?

• Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks:

  Well, I think that, if you know Representative Johnson, now Speaker Johnson, he is a person that is very humble.

  He is willing to work with individuals. He is respectful of other individuals. And so I think — although we don't have a track record from him, I think that he is someone that puts the best interests of the country both in mind and in heart. And so I think that you will see that displayed in action.

• Geoff Bennett:

  You mentioned earlier this prolonged speaker race. You ultimately voted twice against Jim Jordan, voted for Mike Johnson, obviously.

  Mike Johnson is more genial than Jim Jordan, but he's no less a hard-liner. He is on the far right of the spectrum when it comes to issues like reproductive rights, same-sex marriage. Why vote in support of Johnson and against Jordan?

• Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks:

  I had reasons for voting against Jim Jordan. And we sent out a press release to that effect.

  And I think we have yet to see how Representative, now-Speaker Johnson will be and what policies he will put forward. So, remember, we have a conference that has a lot of different members, and one of the jobs of the speaker is to gain the majority and protect their members.

  And so I think that there are a lot of voices in our conference that will be speaking with Speaker Johnson, and then that will help to direct where we go with policy.

• Geoff Bennett:

  You received death threats for voting against Jim Jordan. How did that affect you and your view of extremism within the party?

• Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks:

  I think that death threats are not acceptable, no matter what party you are. And, as matter of fact, they're not acceptable if you're an ordinary citizen.

  And so I think that you move through that process. And if you have a rationale and reason for doing what you do, and you feel that it's the best decision and ethical decision for you, then you make that decision. So I put it into perspective of what is happening in Israel.

  And this is minor compared to what's happening in Israel, quite frankly.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Looking ahead, lawmakers have until November 17 to come up with some plan to keep the government funded and avoid a shutdown. What is the path forward?

• Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks:

  So I think first and foremost was getting the speaker put in place. That has been achieved.

  Today, we're going to be voting on it just a little bit our resolution condemning Hamas, and in support of Israel and making sure Israel has the resources that it needs to combat terrorism and the atrocities that occurred. And then, next week, we will be staying here, and we will be voting on appropriations bills.

  So we're going to try to get through as many appropriations bills as possible. And then the next step will, if we need to, reconsider a continuing resolution, and then that will determine, will there be things added to the continuing resolution to continue to fund the government?

  Certainly, from the Republican side, we would want to get that across before anything came from the Senate.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, thanks so much for your time this evening.

• Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks:

  Thank you.

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