Mike Johnson Claims White House Staffers Have Told Him He’s Trump’s ‘Co-President’

(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

House Speaker Mike Johnson says White House staffers have told him he’s like President Donald Trump’s “co-president.”

In an interview with NOTUS, the Speaker claimed that he has the hardest job “in the world” in trying to unite a fractured Republican caucus that holds such a slender majority. The dynamics of the House have necessitated constant contact with the president, and Johnson told NOTUS the frequent communication between the two has led some in the West Wing to give Johnson a lofty informal title.

“Some on his staff have said, ‘No, it’s really like you’re co-president,’” Johnson recalled to NOTUS. “Because the president and I speak all the time.”

Of course, that comment doesn’t figure to sit well with Trump — who is not exactly renowned for sharing credit with others. In fact, the president recently tried to take credit for doing Johnson’s job as well as his own.

“I have two jobs: being president and being speaker,” Trump said privately back in June, according to NOTUS.

Still, Johnson expects to have the job of Speaker for at least another two years — as he expresses confidence the GOP will retain the majority in the House in the midterm elections.

“We’re going to win,” Johnson told NOTUS, adding, “I intend to be the speaker going forward.”

But NOTUS reports that if Democrats take the majority, “Republicans across the House GOP conference, including some in leadership, don’t believe Johnson will run for minority leader and will step down from House leadership.”

“In the political burn down that’s coming, we slaughter everybody at the front of the room,” an unnamed senior GOP member told NOTUS.

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