The US House of
Representatives is preparing to vote on a fourth Speaker nominee, a day after
the last candidate withdrew as Donald Trump assailed him.
The full chamber
is expected to vote on Louisiana congressman Mike Johnson's bid for the gavel
on Wednesday.
Mr Johnson was
chosen after three rounds in an internal party ballot late on Tuesday.
The House has
been leaderless and unable to pass bills since Kevin McCarthy was ousted on 3
October.
The selection of
Mr Johnson, 51, was announced by House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise
Stefanik.
He was put
forward just hours after the last nominee, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, dropped out
after failing to attract enough support.
It remains
unclear whether Mr Johnson can pull in the 217 votes he needs to win.
If he fails,
Republicans will be back to the drawing board.
In voting
earlier on Tuesday he came in second place to Mr Emmer, before the Minnesota
representative withdrew after former President Trump derided him on social
media as a "Globalist".
According to
Politico, Mr Trump called one person minutes before Mr Emmer dropped out of the
race and said: "He's done. It's over. I killed him."
But as he
arrived at a New York court for his civil fraud trial on Wednesday morning, Mr
Trump talked up Mr Johnson's prospects, saying "it looks like it's going
to happen".
"I haven't
heard one negative comment about him," he said. "Everybody likes him,
he's respected by all."
In the final
round of voting on Tuesday Mr Johnson received 128 votes while Byron Donald, a
Florida Republican, came in second with 29.
The party holds
a narrow majority over Democrats in the lower chamber of Congress, so their
nominee can only afford to lose a handful of votes from their own side to win.
"Democracy
is messy sometimes, but it is our system," Mr Johnson said on Tuesday
night.
Dusty Johnson, a
moderate Republican from South Dakota, told reporters: "It's a little hard
to imagine how anyone can get elected at this point."
Steve Womack, an
Arkansas Republican, said: "Pretty sad commentary on governance right
now."
But Ralph Norman, an ultraconservative South Carolina Republican, said: "This is what democracy looks like."
Mr Johnson is a
lawyer and former talk radio host who has served on the House since 2016. He is
also the former chairman of the Republican Study Committee and is considered a
close ally of Mr Jordan.
In 2020, Mr
Johnson was considered a key player in the bid to object to President Joe
Biden's victory in that year's presidential election.
The last
Speaker, Mr McCarthy, was ousted by a small band of right-wing lawmakers led
after he forged a deal with President Biden to keep government funded.
By Max Matza || BBC News
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