House Speaker Mike Johnson told USA TODAY he is spending a lot of time working with President Donald Trump “because that’s what we need to do.”
Mike Johnson talks about his close relationship with Trump
House Speaker Mike Johnson talks about his trusting relationship with President Donald Trump and weighs in on tensions with Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump can be hard to please. Even the most experienced Republican politicians are struggling to keep up with his ever-changing demands.
He is known for blowing up bills, making surprise nominations, posting furious posts about sitting Republicans and retaliating by endorsing his major opponents.
Only one Republican leader seems to know how to deal with Trump: House Speaker Mike Johnson. The partnership between Mr. Johnson and Mr. Trump was a consequential combination.
Johnson, 54, a Louisiana resident and a Washington outsider like Trump, who was elected in 2016, says the key to their relationship is mutual respect and trust.
“I don’t always tell him what he wants to hear. I tell him what I think he needs to hear,” Johnson told USA TODAY in an exclusive sit-down interview. “I will always remain honest with him and I know he appreciates and respects that.”
This dynamic has been central to whether Republicans can pass signature legislation in President Trump’s second term, including a tax cut and spending bill and significant increases in funding for immigration enforcement.
President Trump has raved about Johnson, calling him a “great speaker” who will go down as one of the House’s greatest leaders. “He gets it all done,” President Trump said on May 22.
But even Mr. Johnson is not immune to the painful consequences of dealing with a president who critics say treats Congress as an obstacle rather than an equal, and often exercises his powers through executive orders.
Two weeks ago, President Trump canceled the signing ceremony for a landmark affordable housing bill at the last minute, citing an unrelated dispute with the Senate. Aides on Capitol Hill were actively building the stage for a celebratory event aimed at communicating to voters the big cost-of-living victory when the president abruptly canceled it. He has refused to sign the bipartisan bill until Congress passes a voting restriction bill called the SAVE America Act.
The housing issue was one of several recent issues in which President Trump suddenly threw a wrench into Republican leadership’s plans. This unpredictability, and Johnson’s narrow vote margin, are testing the seemingly cozy relationship between the speaker and the president ahead of the midterm elections.
With just four months until Election Day, the House is having trouble with the fundamentals of legislation, let alone moving typical election-year messaging legislation aimed at boosting voter turnout. Amid the revolt against the SAVE Act, Mr Johnson lost control of the House of Commons for the second time this week, sending MPs home early for the July 4 recess.
The speaker once again found himself caught between the challenge of managing his own members, some of whom have a special relationship with the president, and the dominant party leadership that some Republicans acknowledge does not necessarily put the party’s wants ahead of their own.
Rep. Mike Haridopoulos (R-Fla.) called Johnson a “patient” man and said he’s working hard to get Republicans in Washington on the same page. Khalidopoulos told USA TODAY that part of that process includes ensuring that Johnson “does everything in his power to maximize his relationship with the president.” That includes visiting the White House multiple times a week if necessary.
“When I disagree with the president, like I did on the housing bill, I will go to him and have a longer conversation,” Khalidopoulos said.
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Relationship with President Trump‘
Prime Minister Johnson has been spending a lot of time in meetings in the Oval Office lately.
Johnson said in an interview on June 29 that he spent an hour on the phone briefing the president’s staff on the Iran war and spent nearly two hours with Trump at the White House earlier in the day.
“In some ways, as the liaison between the Legislature and the White House, I take that responsibility very seriously,” Johnson told USA TODAY. “I spent a lot of time on it because that’s what it takes.”
Part of the purpose was mediation. A group of House hardliners viewed President Trump’s SAVE ultimatum as permission to effectively freeze the legislative agenda. On the same day that Johnson recently rallied at the White House, President Trump urged House Republicans to “stand together.” Relinquishing control over legislative policy “will result in even worse outcomes,” he said.
“No more grandstanding!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Message was not received correctly. Led in part by Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, also a relatively close ally of President Trump, Republican lawmakers continued to refuse to accept Mr. Johnson’s compromise to pass the SAVE America Act the following week. (Some people are angry about an unrelated border security bill.)
Among other election reforms, the bill would require proof of citizenship and a photo ID to vote. With little chance of surviving the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, known as the filibuster, Johnson vowed to try to pass the budget with a simple majority in the other chambers.
However, this strategy remains unlikely. Another promise to combine SAVE with a must-pass defense policy bill also doesn’t satisfy people like Luna.
“God bless you,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told USA TODAY of Johnson. Mr. Roy is one of the Republicans who frequently withholds votes to elicit demands from Republican leadership.
“He’s coming through a tough environment with a thin majority,” Roy acknowledged. “It’s a tough job.”
Thun factor
Mr. Trump’s dissatisfaction with Capitol Hill has grown in recent months, and his relationship with Mr. Johnson contrasts with that of the other top Republican in Congress, Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
The president has repeatedly pressed Thune to abolish the Senate filibuster, but the South Dakota Republican insists that is impossible. Trump also called for the removal of lawmakers, the bipartisan appointees who decide whether key parts of the bill comply with Senate rules. Thun can’t do that either.
And President Trump wants the SAVE America Act to pass in the Senate, even though Thune, who supports the bill himself, has told the president he just doesn’t have the votes.
Throughout this period, Mr. Trump continued to publicly support Mr. Thune, who enjoys broad support in the Senate Republican conference. A close aide to Mr. Thune said the two speak regularly by phone and text messages. Johnson said the two “have a tremendous amount of respect for each other.” Johnson said he has lunch with Thune every week. After a recent lunch at the Capitol, the president described Thune as a good person and “a wonderful man.”
Despite this praise, the chairman occasionally offers advice to senators.
“I encourage both gentlemen to spend more time together,” Johnson told USA TODAY. “I always say that the human relations part of leadership tune is very important.”
They’ll have a chance to do just that when they watch fireworks together at Mount Rushmore on July 3.
Zachary Schermele is USA TODAY’s Congressional Correspondent. You can email us at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and on Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social..
Francesca Chambers is USA TODAY’s White House correspondent, covering foreign policy, the State Department and U.S. presidential elections.
