FULL PRESSER: Mike Johnson Faces Questions On GOP Losses And His Leadership Future — AC1D

[0:05] hey everybody welcome back um it's good to be back here in the capitol with all of our colleagues [0:10] after a a long and and uh demanding campaign cycle to be certain the results were not what we [0:18] hoped for and worked for as you all know but this is our system i know without any shadow of a doubt [0:23] that we left it all on the field i personally raised well over half a billion dollars for this [0:29] campaign cycle and i i logged enough miles campaigning for my colleagues to circle the [0:34] globe over nine times um there's not much more uh that any of us could have done uh and the the [0:41] people have have spoken um are we disappointed with the results of course we are but we're never [0:46] discouraged that's not in our world view and i just want to say we made our case uh in in plain and [0:53] simple terms the american people voted and we're going to have a new crop of members take their [0:57] seats at the start of the new year this is our system i was delighted to welcome all the new [1:02] members on the house floor last night uh hakeem jeffries and i uh met them and we'll be doing a [1:09] reception a dinner for the new republican freshman class and we're very excited about this group it's [1:15] an extraordinary talented group of people patriots who are willing to step forward and and serve their [1:20] country and i could not be more proud of of who they are you're going to get to know them well and [1:24] you'll be duly impressed uh the question facing the republicans right now is how do we respond [1:29] after getting knocked down and the answer is to get right back up we stand for enduring principles [1:36] we stand for and defend every day the founding principles of the greatest nation in the history [1:40] of the world and you all have said me say over and over it's objectively true that we are the freest [1:45] most successful most powerful most benevolent nation that has ever been on the earth but it is not [1:50] guaranteed to us and ronald reagan used to remind us that freedom is never more than one generation [1:55] away from extinction we do not pass it in the bloodstream he said it's got to be fought for [1:59] and protected and then it has to be taught and preserved and passed along to the next generation [2:04] so that they too will have the same liberty and opportunity and security that we have known and [2:09] sadly too many americans have taken for granted and so what we fight for is you all have heard me [2:14] refer to what i what i call the the seven core principles of american conservatism individual freedom [2:19] and limited government and the rule of law and peace through strength and fiscal responsibility and [2:24] free markets and human dignity we believe in the principles that have endured that have made us [2:29] the longest lasting constitution the envy of all governments and countries everyone wants to be [2:35] like america and there's a reason for that and those principles are under assault they're under great [2:40] challenge and i fear that in the days ahead in the next two years of this congress they will be [2:44] openly challenged here perhaps even in the halls of congress and so we're we're entrusting that our team [2:52] even though we will be in the minority in the next congress uh we'll stand strong and defend those [2:56] principles and we look forward to doing it and and we will this is a moment of sober reflection for us [3:01] as a party in terms of uh how we handle that i we were so proud to run on our extraordinary record [3:07] because as you all know and you and you you cataloged here every day in spite of having [3:11] one of the smallest margins in the history of this institution and an unprecedented obstruction by [3:16] democrats who brought shutdowns and the longest shutdowns in u.s history 120 days to be [3:22] to be uh complete even then we delivered for the people and we brought it you know famously the [3:27] largest tax cut for working families and middle class earners in american history uh we we had the [3:33] biggest spending cut in u.s history 1.6 trillion dollars focusing on rooting out fraud and waste in [3:39] government making it work more efficiently and effectively for the people we secured the border [3:43] tight that was the number one issue in 2024 and we took care of that problem and we restored common [3:50] sense uh we did things like cutting burdensome crushing regulations to allow job creators and [3:55] entrepreneurs to do more of what they do and add more jobs and more opportunity for more americans [4:00] because of that we're experiencing the lowest poverty rate in the history of those of those data points [4:06] since they began in 1959 we have the lowest poverty rate in america right now we also have uh the safest [4:11] streets we have the lowest violent crime rate in 126 years because of our policies and what we did we've [4:16] had the biggest decline in prescription drug cost in over 60 years you had a million uh jobs added in [4:22] the private sector uh just in the last 19 months or so and and it goes on and on and on trump accounts [4:28] for every newborn you have the first ever nationwide school choice program codified into law over 100 and [4:34] nearly i think 130 executive orders uh codified and signed into law and and so much more and so we're [4:41] going to double down on the things that worked when we do this uh this reflection after an election which [4:46] both parties do uh we're going to fix what doesn't and we're going to spend the next two years fighting [4:51] tooth and nail to put ourselves in the best possible position to win back congress and preserve this [4:56] grand experiment in self-governance so i want to say the house republican conference is blessed with [5:02] hard-working thoughtful talented members they're dedicated and they're they're ready to stand in the [5:07] gap and fight for these principles that will preserve this grand experiment on our 250th anniversary [5:14] right now that starts by setting a good example and finishing the 119th congress strong and we [5:18] will do just that and i believe that america remains the last best hope on earth that was reagan [5:24] used to remind us of that he was quoting the first republican president abraham lincoln he said in dark [5:29] days of the country that we are still the last best hope man on earth we believe that we're going to [5:34] continue to fight to ensure that that remains true with every fiber and nrb so i'll take a couple [5:41] questions mr speaker speaker thank you mr speaker there is a trend that we have seen in recent years [5:46] where when the speaker loses power they then leave congress early so right now do you commit to [5:52] serving out your term of the 120th congress well my plan is here we're focused on finishing the 119th [5:58] strong we're going to do that i'm still in charge here until uh early january uh and we're going to [6:02] do our duty and after that my uh my commitment and my objective is to help my team ensure that [6:08] the republican party has a very successful 120th congress and um and we'll see how all that [6:14] develops and that's my commitment they know it i i decided not to run for a minority leader uh really [6:20] the only person in the modern era that that um that decided us to uh to to stick around and serve in [6:27] the speaker emerita uh position was nancy pelosi and um i just didn't feel after a lot of prayer and [6:33] reflection i didn't feel like that was the best uh thing for me to do um we we we have a leadership [6:40] uh election tomorrow as you know and we have uh two extraordinary guys that are running to uh lead [6:45] the conference and i'm close to both of them and we'll see how that shakes out but um i had uh you [6:50] know three years over three years now as speaker of the house um most of you all didn't know if i'd last [6:55] three weeks and that's okay that's nobody did uh but we did it uh by a lot of patience and prayer and [7:01] faith and with a great team and i'm i genuinely love my colleagues uh i have enjoyed uh leading [7:06] this group and i'm really grateful we got so much done yes well look with regard to the polls um that [7:27] wasn't my opinion i mean everybody saw the polls were off they were off all over the place no one [7:32] no one none of you uh projected the final outcome the polls were wildly inaccurate and what i was [7:38] reporting when i was on the campaign trail is is reminding people just in the last you know month [7:43] you had two polling organizations wedgwood and socal strategies that were exposed for being [7:46] completely fraudulent they were literally making numbers up they're they're publishing it as though [7:51] it was authentic it was going into the ecosystem and it was being reported and and calculated in [7:56] all the you know all the major news outlets and then um you had groups like the pew research center [8:01] that that came out and acknowledged you can go you know google it you'll see they said our [8:05] polling is inaccurate we are oversampling democrats we are under representing republicans in the polls [8:10] and they they lamented that republicans don't participate in polls anymore we saw that was [8:15] true i was traveling around the country i mean i went to over 40 states i mean hundreds and hundreds [8:19] of campaign events we would be in ballrooms and and airplane hangers and big big you know i'd have [8:25] three four hundred people and i'd say raise your hand if you participated in a poll in the last [8:28] six months and it would be three hands out of 300 and i saw that all around the country coast to coast [8:34] you had cnn reported uh the week before the election it was on a monday morning they had a [8:39] data story and they said that uh 15 out of the last 16 elections the october uh uh generic ballot for [8:46] congress underrepresented republicans by an average of four points that was the average so what i was [8:52] saying was not breaking news i think everyone acknowledges the polling there's a serious problem [8:56] in the polling industry uh it missed it yet again by a mile this time and uh i just we've all learned [9:02] that you know you really can't put a lot of emphasis on that now whether the second question whether [9:07] leadership elections should be delayed i mean we these were these dates were published in advance [9:12] and everybody knew it um i suppose if you're running for an office you'd always want more time to uh to [9:18] do that but the reason we can't change the date is because all this was set in stone and we have all [9:23] the new members here and we're doing all the member orientation and if we if we had uh if we delayed [9:28] leadership elections that that interferes and all of that and i think um the the democrat leadership [9:35] elections is the following week and um they're going to do their caucus and and uh you know there's [9:39] a lot of logistics that goes into all that moving everybody around so it's just not something that [9:44] logistically we could do but that's that's that's really all there is to it [9:47] on behalf of the candidates tomorrow and do you want to see your leadership team you obviously have [9:54] some members of your current leadership team running again do you want to see them continuing in a [9:58] leadership position as congress well look i've been speaker for three years and and what i tried to do [10:04] and what i held to was the commitment to my colleagues when i came in i was i saw myself as [10:09] almost sort of a caretaker speaker because it was a tumultuous time as you all remember uh three years [10:13] ago when i when i took over and um i i committed to my colleagues to have uh transparency in everything [10:19] we do to to try to diffuse as much as possible that the immense power the speaker's office because [10:26] the speaker's accumulated so much and i wanted to disseminate that more spread it out among the [10:30] members and have it be a member driven uh organization i told i committed to them integrity [10:35] no backroom deals and part of that was that i would not go into steering uh meetings and as we choose [10:42] chairman and other positions that i would not go into any kind of election like that and put my thumb [10:46] on the scale and so i have been very consistent in that i've not gone in and and you know tried to [10:51] dictate the outcome of elections because i want the the body i want the members to make those decisions [10:56] themselves um so i have not done that i'm not weighing in here uh on on the leadership elections [11:01] and and uh we'll see uh may the best man and best men and women uh win tomorrow and i i'm sure they [11:07] will we're we're blessed we have an embarrassment of riches because we have extraordinary people who [11:12] stepped up to lead in all these positions and uh tough tough decisions ahead for everybody so the last [11:17] one yeah last one well let me let me say this okay uh we we tabulated uh how much how many bills were [11:27] actually passed because we lose track of it on any given day in 119th congress the house republicans [11:32] led in the majority we have passed 1 000 measures of the house okay almost 700 of them are stacked up [11:40] in the hopper in the senate right now why because the senate democrats refused to move any legislation [11:44] they did not want to give the president and republicans any any more wins as we went into this election [11:50] cycle so um the question really is for the senate the house will work we will stay here around the [11:55] clock if necessary push things over we got things pending over there right now big things the farm [12:00] bill the ndaa you got faiza you have a reconciliation bill that's still uh sitting there we have government [12:06] funding you know issues they didn't even pass a single appropriations bill in the senate it's been a [12:11] great frustration to us the house has been one of the most productive chambers the most productive [12:16] houses in the history of the institution certainly in the modern era but the senate blocked it all and so [12:22] the question is what are we going to be able to accomplish in this lame duck we really have to ask [12:26] the senate because the house is willing and able to pass and continue to move legislation but we it [12:31] hits a stone wall over there so i'm hopeful that their leadership elections get resolved quickly and that [12:36] they can move things there's some good indication just here within the last hour i'm told they [12:40] got the cloture to move forward on the permitting bill which is a big important thing we have things [12:45] like the college sports bills that are still pending there's all sorts of of uh really important initiatives the [12:50] ratepayer protection uh act uh you know and all the rest so um the question is for the senate not [12:56] the house um we'll get our job done we'll we'll have the personnel here to get the uh legislation [13:01] passed and and we certainly hope we can have a very very productive uh lame duck and send much more [13:05] to the president's desk uh before we have to turn the keys over in january so we'll see how that goes [13:10] thank you all it's good to see you heads up thank you