The Republican Party could potentially bring legal challenges against attempts to replace President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party's nominee, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson.
"These elections are handled at the state level," the Louisiana Republican said on ABC News' "This Week." "Every state has its own system and in some of these, it’s not possible to simply just switch out a candidate who has been chosen through the democratic, small D, democratic process."
Johnson added that it would be "wrong and I think unlawful in accordance" to some state rules "for a handful of people to go in the back room and switch it out because they don’t like the candidate any longer. That’s not how this is supposed to work."
But no matter how it works out, "the Democrats are in total disarray, and I know the Republican Party is united like never before," he said.
Johnson also disagreed with polls stating that Biden and Republican nominee Donald Trump are in a dead heat, saying that he can cite that the former president "may be headed for a landslide."
"Don’t take my word for it," he said. "Take the word of some of the top leading Democrats and elected Democrats around the country who are in panic mode. That’s the headlines that we’ve been reading for weeks, and I think that’s true."
He added that his Democrat colleagues in the House are doing "lots of handwringing" over the Biden situation, as "they don't have a viable plan B," and don't think Vice President Kamala Harris is a viable candidate.
But it won't matter if Harris is the nominee, said Johnson, as she "owns all these policy failures" of the Biden administration.
Still, the election also will hinge on policies, not personalities, said Johnson, rejecting the program's argument that Trump attacked Harris personally in his rally speech Saturday night.
"He has a lot to say because he has a lot of ideas," said Johnson.
He added that Trump's claims to be able to end the war in Ukraine in one day has some merit.
"President Trump has the ability to pick up the phone, call and make threats and demands of adversaries around the world that they pay attention to because they fear him in some ways," said Johnson. "There’s real value in that."
Johnson also discussed last weekend's assassination attempt against Trump and told ABC News that he had called on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign.
When she wouldn't, he called on Biden to fire her.
"The buck should stop at his desk," he said. "We absolutely must ensure accountability so the American people can trust that this job will be done, that we will protect our presidents and former presidents. It’s the No. 1 job of the Secret Service. Not anything else."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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