House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) stated that House Republicans will support legal challenges if Democrats try to bypass primary voters and place a substitute for President Biden on the presidential election ticket at the last minute during a Sunday interview on CNN.
“Democrats are looking into potential legal hurdles to replacing their nominee so late in the process. Do you think that whoever emerges from the Democratic Convention as that party’s nominee for president and vice president, do you think those people should be on the ballot in all 50 states? Or would you support efforts to sue to keep those nominees off state ballots assuming it’s not President Biden or Vice President Harris?” asked CNN host Jake Tapper.
“Look, I’m a former litigator, you know a constitutional attorney. I’d just made note in some uh… comments of the last week that they have real problems,” Speaker Johnson replied. “I mean, every state has their own election system, that’s our constitutional system, that’s the way it’s done. And in some of these states, it’s a real hurdle, they have a real problem of replacing the nominee at the top of the ticket.”
Johnson went on to note that Biden was selected by Democratic voters to be their nominee through a months-long primary process. “It will be very interesting to see if the so-called party of democracy, the Democrats, go into a back room somewhere and switch it out and put someone else at the top of the ticket,” he said. “I mean, I think they’ve got I think they’ve got legal hurdles in some of these states, and it’ll be litigated, I would expect, on the ground there, and they’ll have to sort through that.”
Tapper pursued the matter further by inquiring about Democratic attempts to eliminate President Trump from the voting list in Colorado and Maine, which were invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court. “I mean, the comparison between the two last cycle and this one is apples to oranges. What they’re trying to do, a handful of people in the party, including some of the top elected Democrats in the country, are trying to push Joe Biden out,” Johnson responded.
“You know it’s an interesting question Jake. If he’s incapable of running for president, how is capable of governing right now? I mean there is five months left in this administration. It’s a real concern, and it’s a danger to the country because on the world stage, our adversaries see exactly what all of us see, and that’s a problem,” Johnson added.
Democrats speaking with top White House officials said last week they believe Biden is preparing to announce that he will not seek reelection, according to a new report.
The report from Axios suggested that the embattled president could make a decision this weekend, according to insiders who sought confidentiality to share confidential discussions. Co-founders Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, who are regarded as leaders in the Washington, D.C. political scene and have numerous contacts, noted that mounting pressure from senior Democrats, such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), has reached a point where it cannot be ignored.
The impending change in direction is expected to occur shortly after President Biden recovers from his recent bout with Covid. Currently in isolation and without a public schedule, this has left him alone with his thoughts, pondering the potential repercussions for his party should he choose not to step down, the report said. Even former President Barack Obama, one of Biden’s most trusted allies, has not put a stop to former advisors such as David Axelrod and liberal celebrity George Clooney from openly urging Biden to consider withdrawing from the race.