The question of whether the president-elect would back the speaker for another term has hung over Republicans, especially after recent tensions over an end-of-year spending bill.
President-elect Donald J. Trump endorsed Mike Johnson for another term as House speaker on Monday, roughly two weeks after Mr. Trump helped put Mr. Johnson’s chances in jeopardy by sinking a bipartisan spending bill that the speaker had negotiated to avert a government shutdown.
The announcement from Mr. Trump on his website, Truth Social, ended days of private discussions by the president-elect and his allies about whether to try to save Mr. Johnson or find another option, as some conservatives have been agitating for.
The House is set to choose a speaker on Friday, just three days before Mr. Trump’s Electoral College victory is certified by a joint session of Congress, and Mr. Johnson needs to cobble together a majority to keep the job. Given Republicans’ scant margin of control, his re-election is no sure thing. Failure to have a speaker in place by then could delay the certification process and focus attention on the deep divisions within the narrow House Republican majority as Mr. Trump is seeking to pursue an ambitious agenda.
“The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration. Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man,” Mr. Trump wrote in a discursive post that praised himself and his campaign, attacked Democrats and mocked the Rev. Al Sharpton, with whom he has a long and contentious history.
Mr. Trump said Mr. Johnson would “do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!”
A person close to Mr. Trump, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the fact that House Republicans bucked the president-elect on the debt limit demand helped Mr. Trump realize that some members of the House posed challenges, but that Mr. Johnson was not one of them.
