Khanna says House Speaker Johnson ‘deserves to keep his job’

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) defended House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Sunday, saying he “deserves to keep his job” as he faces a threat to remove him after supporting aid to Ukraine and Israel.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) leads a group of three GOP members who have signed a motion to vacate the speakership, a move that could throw the House into chaos for the second time in a year.

Khanna is among Democrats who said he could not support such a motion after Johnson allowed a vote on aid to Ukraine and Israel totaling $95 billion that passed on Saturday.

The congressman said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” with Jonathan Karl on Sunday that Johnson deserves credit for passing the aid package.

“We entered Congress together and he was always concerned about civility. In fact, he led the civility pledge,” Khanna said. “And we had a problem, which was giving individual votes, not mixing things up. And I give him credit for doing that.”

“In fact, I would vote to bring forward any motion to vacate it,” he added.

The progressive is known for his tendency to go out on his own, but he said other progressives might also be willing to vote to save Johnson from impeachment.

“I’m a progressive Democrat, and I think some progressive Democrats would do that,” he said. “And I disagree with Speaker Johnson on many issues and have been very critical of him. But he did the right thing here and deserves to keep his job until the end of this term.”

Greene’s motion to vacate has not yet been put to a vote as she did not make the resolution privileged. She warned that she could take such action at any time, increasing pressure on Johnson’s position as the Republican majority in the House shrinks.